PostSecret

This assignment asks us to write an extended critique on a non-classmate, non-friend's blog. So I went out searching for a blog that possibly tied in with some of my research interests including blogging and visual rhetoric. As I linked from site to site, I ended up at Samantha Blackmon's blog. As I searched through her postings I ran across a link that piqued my interest. The heading for the entry was simply "This is phenomenal and disturbing!" Below the heading was a link: PostSecret. Okay, she had my attention and what else could I do but click the link? What I discovered was both phenomenal and disturbing, and also very engrossing.

Part of the way down the page is this excerpt:

PostSecret is an ongoing community art project. People from around the world share their secrets anonymously on one side of a homemade postcard. If you would like to mail in your secret(s) too, scroll down to the bottom of this page for directions.-Frank

At he bottom of the page you find:

You are invited to anonymously contribute your secrets to PostSecret. Each secret can be a regret, hope, ,experience, unseen kindness, belief, fear, betrayal, desire, feeling, confession, or childhood humiliation. Reveal anything - as long as it is true and you have never shared it with anyone before.

Essentially, individuals create these postcards, which include some sort of secret, mail them to "Frank," and he creates the post. I would encourage you to look over the blog. It is at once funny, heartbreaking, human, and cathartic. I do question how many of these "secrets" are really true. For all we know, many are simply made up by individuals trying to see if there postcard makes it onto the site. On the other hand, if even only a fraction are true, and the confessions help these people make it through another day, week, month, year...well, that's a pretty good thing isn't it? So far, I have been approaching blogging academically, and this helped me see another side of the equation. The side that involves personal expression and creativity.

Some of these posts are funny and questionably ethical at the same time. For instance, one post from 4/17, shows a traffic ticket. The text on the postcard explains that the person found a ticket on his/her windshield. The car in the next space also had a ticket, so this person switched the tickets. That ticket was paid, but the other one wasn't as it was used to send in for the post. I'll have to admit that I laughed in spite of myself and at the same time wondered where the responsibility and accountability had gone. Other posts were more disturbing as the one about the person who only sleeps well when he/she dreams of being shot. There are many others and I will leave them for the curious to browse on their own.

This site is an amazing commentary on our culture. The web has often been held up as a place for all to freely share their sins. With anonymity, the outpouring is continual and neverending. This blog also says a lot about our society and how we accept, or reject, others based on superficial information. Where else do these people go for confession? Recent events in the Catholic church have made many uneasy about the clergy and psychotherapists charge an arm and a leg for counseling. To top it off, many insurance plans only minimally cover the counseling visits. So here we sit, with our monthly connection charge, pleading our case to the world, never worrying about judgment from those who would critique us. Cyberconfession, if you will....