2) Eamonn Bailey guides Mae to present three mantras to The Circle to clarify its culture of transparency: SECRETS ARE LIES, SHARING IS CARING, PRIVACY IS THEFT. Offer a defense or critique of these mantras. Do these mantras have any traction in the “real” world? Support your claims with evidence from the text and from examples from culture.
Though the mantras presented above are key to how the Circle operates and spreads its ideals through society, they have surprisingly little bearing in the real world. To be sure, they reflect certain elements of our own digital world, but the essence of them is actually in opposition to what most people think about online transparency.
Mae's first statement is "secrets are lies", rationalizing that they make crimes possible and inspire speculation that can be incredibly damaging to people. However, for most of us, secrets are in fact true. Think about it; why go to the trouble to hide something from others if it was simply made up, as the Circle purports lies to be? We keep secrets because we're sometimes afraid of the truth, or sometimes others' reaction to it, not because we expressly set out to lie. Mae uses the metaphor of a locked door to illustrate that transparency shows only one truth, but fails to understand that humans are infinitely more complex. We keep secrets because we're afraid of what others may think of us, and it's our right to do so; they're our truths to tell or withhold at our discretion. We keep secrets to spare others' feelings, because sometimes the truth is just too painful to know. We keep secrets to protect ourselves; sometimes it can even be a matter of life and death. But Mae fails to understand these ideas, instead maintaining the naive and hypocritical opinion that transparency is ultimately best, even as she struggles to keep her own personal life private. In the real world, we value our secrets because they're essential to maintaining our relationships and even our sanity. In a way, our secrets help define who we are; many of our actions are guided by them, for good or ill. But ultimately, our secrets are the truth, pure and objective, which is why we go through so much trouble to keep them.
The second mantra, "sharing is caring", also has many of the same faults as its predecessor. Though many of us are taught this statement from an early age, associating it with sharing our own happiness with others, the Circle takes it far beyond sharing childhood toys on the playground. Bailey paints it in a positive light, using the excuse of his son's cerebral palsy to justify invading peoples' private experiences. Though knowledge is a basic human right, and sharing is how we learn and grow as a society, there's such a thing as sharing too much. Mae certainly feels that way when Francis videos them in an intimate moment; she can't believe that he's done something so blatantly violating. Certainly in our world, we don't want our private moments getting sent to everyone, lest we end up like many unfortunate celebrities caught unawares mid-coitus on video. Mae feels more than hurt by his actions, even though he shared their experience with what I can only assume were good intentions; did Mae feel cared for then?
The last mantra, "privacy is theft"is perhaps the most flawed. We consider privacy so sacred that we react extremely when it's taken from us, while the Circle maintains a completely opposite view. The mantra itself is a logical fallacy; if things were private, nobody would be able to take them, would they? It implies that the theft is of already public knowledge, leaving the true definition of privacy behind. In this situation, Mercer's reaction is perhaps most accurate, feeling violated when Mae shares his chandelier with her followers, and criticizing her for failing to see the dangers of living so publicly.
Like many things at the Circle, these mantras are meant to be sincere but ultimately ring hollow in our own world.
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