Contemplating blogosphere

Think about this. Why is it that people seem to feel a greater degree of freedom regarding what they write/blog about than what they would say in person to or about people or their own views? Has anyone else noticed that?

It reminds me of when Jen and I went to Boston last fall, and rode the commuter train out to a neighboring town called Gloucester, and the way back include an hour long delay in the town of Salem, MA. Now, this also happened to be Halloween night. For those you who don't remember your US history like we didn't that evening, 10/31 in Salem, MA happens to be probably the biggest Halloween party on the planet. Regardless, I made this observation as we watched hordes of people on the train and at the train stop: people put on a costume, and they immediately lose a degree of shame. We observed that under costume people felt unnaturally free to act, say, and carry on in manners that aren't normal for uncostumed people. And for the most part, these people seemed sober as the evening was still young so they didn't appear to be under the influence so to speak.

I wonder if blogging is a costume to some that offers a false sense of shielding that gives a sense of freedom that otherwise does not exist in person to person conversation. People will write, for instance, anonymous letters to the editor and say things they would never say should their name be identified. Or a person may call a talk show and say things under a false name because they don't want their identity known. Some how these things seem to be related. Or consider for instance MySpace. I have visited a few spaces of Christian friends only to find myself very dissapointed, perhaps discouraged at the material they say and post. Although not anonymous, apparently behind the veil of false obscurity the true colors of many individuals comes out.

Behind this veil I think people are also more open with their thoughts than otherwise. Which is not necessarily all bad. In face to face conversation we humans are good at disguising what is really on our minds. It is interesting to observe what things are important to people by what blogg about.

So, why the freedom of pen that is not found in the spoken conversation?