One
of the teacher ladies who I share an office with has a daughter at
university. Her daughter has to write an essay for English
class, but doesn't like writing. So, she asked me if I would
write something for her daughter. After the initial shock of a
teacher asking me to write something for her daughter to plagiarizer
I though , why not, its an interesting topic and should be fun.
So
here it is.
Who
are you?
What
is the first thing that came to your mind? Your name? Your
occupation? Your nationality? These are the typical and
indeed anticipated responses. But these things hardly make you
unique as a person. So who are we really? For centuries
thinkers have pondered the question of what makes us unique as
humans, and have sprouted a muli-hued garden of theories,
explanations and propositions. Thus far, the question of
identity has been confined to discussion of philosophy, psychology
and sociology. Only recently has the attempt to answer the
question of, "Who are we?" branched out to the field of
computer science and technology.
With
the advent of the internet, human beings are more connected and
consequently mroe interested that ever in answering the question,
"Who are you?" However, the joy and pitfall of the
internet is its quality of anonymity. We can say and do
whatever we want. We can be whoever we want. After all,
who's going to know? Massive Multi-player Online video games
like World of Warcraft give players the ability to assume the
identity of wizards and trolls and such. Social networking
sites such as Facebook allow users to choose for themselves what
name, age, job and nationality to present the public. Discussion
forums like reddit and 4chan allow users to participate in
discussions while revealing nothing of their personal background or
history. With the rise in anonymous human interaction we have
lost much of the structure traditionally used to define our
identities
With
greater connectivity, so too do we lose personal accountability.
Traditionally, our answer to, "Who are you?" must
pass though our peer. Our identity must be verified and agreed
upon by the people who wish to use it. The vast majority of
internet users lack the tools to do this. So who are you? Are
you white male American teacher? Are you a collection of
Facebook status updates. Are you an anonymous contributor to a
larger social structure? I think the truth must be, "all
at once." The internet has not changed who we are. It
has only given us the platform to explore the depth and complexity of
our identity. "Who are you?" The answer is not
any collection of transient character traits, but something much more
ephemeral.
Good
luck with your plagiarism unknown ESL student.
