Smile, you're on camera!

One of the wonderful things about the timing of my recent vacation was that BOTH political parties held their conventions during the weeks I was gone and - what with deciding what kind of seafood I would eat and where, laying in the sun being a slug for hours at a time and reading 9 books – I missed every single minute of both of them!

(Frankly I don’t know why we need conventions these days when the outcome is NOT a surprise and the money could certainly be put to better use. Besides, if you don’t know by now who you’re voting for, you’ve been living under a rock – and truly it might be better for all of us if you just sit this election out!)

Anyway…  here I am, back in the ‘real’ non island world and, even with the concerted effort of purposely not watching more than 30 minutes a day of news and limiting the amount of commercial TV I watch, being barraged with political crap is inescapable.

Two items in the headlines since I’ve been back caught my attention and, oddly, I think they’re related… Mitt Romney’s privately recorded remarks to a group of fundraisers and the topless pictures of Kate Middleton aka Duchess of Windsor. (And yes, ‘boobs’ are involved in both events!)

I won’t even go into how disturbing I think it is that Romney cavalierly writes off nearly half of the American public he supposedly wants to represent as President or what a privileged, snarky elitist I think he is… no, the issue for me is how indistinct the boundaries are between public and private these days.

Romney’s entitled to his own opinions. He’s entitled to express them to friends in a setting in which he feels totally comfortable (a country club surrounded by other millionaires) in the same way Kate and William are entitled to prance about in all manner of dress – or undress as the case may be -  while in a private home miles from the nearest road without any of them  having to worry that someone with money for the best zoom lens or microscopic recording device can surreptitiously document and publish their every moment.

We run into these issues more and more in the ER… families who attempt to record our conversations, (for example, about sexual abuse procedures), pissed off parents who take photos of staff involved with their child, parents who place phones back in their purse which we suspect are not only not turned off but have an extended family member listening in etc …

I’m not sure any of us would want, or could stand, the scrutiny of having every remark or moment of our lives recorded, isolated, taken out of context and then exposed to the world for display/comment.
I know I couldn't.

I also know the genie is out of the bottle and there’s no going back… but it’s neither pretty, helpful nor beneficial for the 'greater good'.

God, I wish I was still on an island…
instead,  I’m working to find ways of creating my own ‘island escape’ while being tethered to work and the mainland!

Wish me luck – but don’t call… you never know who might be recording our conversation!