I was recently watching an amazing TV show called This American Life. It is a brilliant documentary show spun-off from the popular NPR radio show of the same name. As a Canadian without regular access to NPR except for the podcasts, I wasn’t aware of this show (it also has a podcast, which I will now definitely subscribe to).The theme of this particular show (clip above – watch it or the rest of this won’t make sense) was in T.A.L.’s words:

Three stories of people hatching a plan and believing they’ve made a dream—big or small—come true. Instead, they’re snapped back to reality: an experience that, as everyone knows, can be unpleasant.

This really got me thinking about the unintentional transparency that occurs on the Web’s permanent recording of everything. The story is that an unknown band called Ghosts of Pasha played their most memorable gig when loads of “hardcore fans” literally came out of nowhere for a show in New York. These “hardcore fans” knew the lyrics, wore bootlegged shirts and were part of a random act of chaos and joy from a group called Improv Everywhere (which appears to be part flashmob and part candid camera). The only thing that got in the way of everyone coming out a winner, was the truth.

As someone who works in advertising, but believes in transparency, I think a lot about where the line is drawn between a good yarn or entertaining hyperbole and an actual lie. And while I want more transparency from corporations, politicians and marketers, there are some limits to how much I want to know about.

Now perhaps Ghosts of Pasha would have found out that they were the victims/beneficiaries of a ruse without the Web (likely when the TV show aired at least), but the point I am making is that truth and transparency can sometimes be a lot less fun than believing in a lie (e.g. Easter Bunny, Loch Ness Monster, Thor – God of Thunder, etc.). When a spoiler is only a search or a forwarded email away in our Web panopticon, something is lost.

When I was ten I wondered why I needed to send Santa a letter, wondering why I couldn’t just pray to God for what I wanted and there would be some kind of all-knowing info swap between the too. This line of thought got me wondering if Santa Claus (or God) were really real. Today, kids need not wonder when they can google.

I guess I just hate the top return in google for “Is Santa Claus real?”

[tags] transparency, ghosts of pasha, NPR, This American Life, Improv Everywhere, panopticon, Santa Claus[/tags]

This entry was posted on May 28, 2007 at 8:12 pm. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Posted in Issues Opinion Podcast Social Media TV Trends by dwalker 1 Comment