Privacy is committing Harakiri

Lucretia by Andrea Casali

Protecting one’s privacy is protecting one’s integrity, but doing so is becoming démodé...

Last month; while skimming BBC, I came across an interesting title “CNN presenter announces he is gay”. My immediate thought was “Why should anyone care about which CNN presenter is gay? As far as I’m concerned, Anderson Cooper could scream he’s gay and still I wouldn’t give a jot about it!” Still, I clicked the title and there he was: Anderson Cooper announcing he is gay. All right, he’s gay; so what? It is not like we didn’t know; however we appreciated the fact that at least one celebrity gay in the world behaved like a normal human being (i.e. he lived his life; he did his job and, like most of us, kept his sexual life private).

I like Anderson Cooper’s AC360º, I have fun with his ridiculist; I laugh my eyes out at his girly giggles; I like the way he asks the toughest questions and puts pressure wherever pressure is needed. In summa, he is one of the best journalists on earth. However, after he announced his homosexuality, people stopped talking about him because of his work and competence and, began speaking of him due to his sexual orientation – nicht gut.

His announcement raised questions like: “Is this why he never hooked up with Isha Sesay?” and “Did he succumb to the pressure of Gay Rights Groups?”

For now, I will not expand on how annoying Gay Rights Groups can be, however I’d like to ask two questions: if heterosexuals tend to keep their sexuality private (particularly when they have lovers), why do homosexuals want to be different? They claim to want equality, and fight against discrimination; so why the need to discriminate themselves?

Anderson Cooper was the symbol of the Right to Privacy and when he decided to quit that position, he not only started an interesting debate but he may have also started a dangerous trend. Once society is forced to shift its citizens’ sexuality from the private sphere into the public arena, it incurs the risk of rendering these matters trite. As a result of this, one day job applicants may be asked about their sexual orientation in a way that circumvents laws against discrimination (don’t be shocked for many hiring-entities, until recently, required that the CVs would come with a photo – a subtle way to discriminate people based on race, looks etc).

Our society is being afflicted by a corrosive plague: exposure of what should be kept private.

“As a culture I see us as presently deprived of subtleties. The music is loud, the anger is elevated, sex seems lacking in sweetness and privacy” - Shelley Berman