Quote of the Week...from Oscar Wilde

There is only one thing in life worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.

                                                              ---Oscar Wilde

Late nineteenth century Irish novelist and playwright Oscar Wilde is probably best known for his book The Picture of Dorian Gray, and he has a lot of witty things to say about this thing and that.  As for the above quote, I'm assuming I'm not to take it literally for I can come up with a lot of things in life worse than being talked about.  But I get what Wilde is trying to say here...let me expand upon it a bit.  It seems that in today's world, more than ever before, people at large are letting themselves get caught up in two seemingly diametrically opposite offenses. On one hand they are obsessed with privacy about their personal lives and while in public are sensitive to anyone passing their low threshold of what constitutes undue attention.  But on the other hand, they want to be known by others...in a good sense, of course...with their sense of self-worth tied in to how attractive their appearance and personality shows in public...and being ignored is offensive.  I just saw a social media post laying out a number of ways someone can determine whether another is stalking them in their gym...then saw an ad for my own gym that emphasizes how one can use it to make their bodies look like those of professional models, an obvious appeal for those prospective customers wanting to turn others' eyes toward them.  Social media is kind of peculiar in this regard, too, with the clamor for privacy always a major beef among various sites' users...yet they're using the sites to come out into the public arena, aren't they?  I have come to believe that while privacy is a legitimate and major concern for people to have, the fear of a future in which everyone has forgotten them becomes worse...as Mr. Wilde so eloquently stated.  I think people in general are unrealistic in that they want to control who pays attention to them and talk about them, while if they are realistic about it they will acknowledge that there's always going to be some unwelcome reactions to their presence and message  Still, there's a limit to what I'll put up with on this blog with some past trolls...you don't have to agree with me but you also don't have to be a jerk about it...