MEME Friday!
Yeah. I know it's not the same as a Flashback Friday! Sorry to be blunt, but some of you people have a little addiction. You know who you are.
Instead, I've thrown together a little philosophy MEME. It's actually something I'd like some feedback on, so whether you play along...or not...I'd like to know how you feel about these things.
#1) You are taking a walk, alone, in a public park. It's a lovely day and you have all afternoon to spend any way you choose. You happen upon a beautiful and voluptuous young woman nursing her child on a shaded bench. A friend joins her and they strike up a conversation. All the while, the baby continues to nurse. If you choose to stand and admire her exposed breast is that an invasion of her privacy? What expectation of privacy should she have when she has exposed herself in a public place?
#2) While putting away laundry, you happen across your teenager's diary, inadvertently left out on a nightstand. You're alone in the house, but you know they would prefer you not read their private thoughts. Do you put the clean clothes on the bed and walk away...quickly...or do you pull up a chair and read it anyway? Do your actions change if it's the journal of an adult (significant other, sibling, etc.) for whom you are not "responsible", or the day planner of your boss left on out on a desk?
#3) A next door neighbor is having a backyard party. Plans have been months in the making. Just yesterday, when you were taking out the trash, you noticed decorations going up. You haven't been invited to the soiree. In fact, you and your neighbor don't get along particularly well. Do you find an excuse to be out in your yard when the party is going on, so that you can watch the extravaganza from a distance?
#4) Every year you look forward to a drive through town to see the beautiful Christmas decorations. And, even if you're not Lisa Gibson, you enjoy looking in people's windows to see their tree and/or inside decorations. This year, one family's decorations have completely flabbergasted you. The yard is brimming with lights on every surface and, within, you can see a HUGE Christmas tree festooned with every imaginable thing. If they have opened their blinds, would you consider that an invitation to park in their driveway and walk on up to the porch to gawk through the window?
Now, you guys are a smart bunch? And I definitely respect your opinions. So, tell me, how would you handle these situations?
Lastly, have a good weekend. Send some positive vibes Mr. Norton's way, as he (as usual, unfortunately) has his hands full. And, maybe, just maybe, if you're all on the nice list by then, I'll give you a Flashback Friday! next week. (I realize Mark Gibson's gonna jeopardize it for everyone. No matter WHAT his evil-o-meter reading says...;)
Instead, I've thrown together a little philosophy MEME. It's actually something I'd like some feedback on, so whether you play along...or not...I'd like to know how you feel about these things.
#1) You are taking a walk, alone, in a public park. It's a lovely day and you have all afternoon to spend any way you choose. You happen upon a beautiful and voluptuous young woman nursing her child on a shaded bench. A friend joins her and they strike up a conversation. All the while, the baby continues to nurse. If you choose to stand and admire her exposed breast is that an invasion of her privacy? What expectation of privacy should she have when she has exposed herself in a public place?
#2) While putting away laundry, you happen across your teenager's diary, inadvertently left out on a nightstand. You're alone in the house, but you know they would prefer you not read their private thoughts. Do you put the clean clothes on the bed and walk away...quickly...or do you pull up a chair and read it anyway? Do your actions change if it's the journal of an adult (significant other, sibling, etc.) for whom you are not "responsible", or the day planner of your boss left on out on a desk?
#3) A next door neighbor is having a backyard party. Plans have been months in the making. Just yesterday, when you were taking out the trash, you noticed decorations going up. You haven't been invited to the soiree. In fact, you and your neighbor don't get along particularly well. Do you find an excuse to be out in your yard when the party is going on, so that you can watch the extravaganza from a distance?
#4) Every year you look forward to a drive through town to see the beautiful Christmas decorations. And, even if you're not Lisa Gibson, you enjoy looking in people's windows to see their tree and/or inside decorations. This year, one family's decorations have completely flabbergasted you. The yard is brimming with lights on every surface and, within, you can see a HUGE Christmas tree festooned with every imaginable thing. If they have opened their blinds, would you consider that an invitation to park in their driveway and walk on up to the porch to gawk through the window?
Now, you guys are a smart bunch? And I definitely respect your opinions. So, tell me, how would you handle these situations?
Lastly, have a good weekend. Send some positive vibes Mr. Norton's way, as he (as usual, unfortunately) has his hands full. And, maybe, just maybe, if you're all on the nice list by then, I'll give you a Flashback Friday! next week. (I realize Mark Gibson's gonna jeopardize it for everyone. No matter WHAT his evil-o-meter reading says...;)
posted by SuperWife | 12:30 PM
4 Comments:
First off, no fair giving a homework assignment on a Friday. That needed to be said.
1) What privacy? She's nursing in a public park, in broad daylight. She should have no expectation of privacy at all in a public place, anymore than I should expect a conversation about a business venture held in the open-air seating area of a cafe to remain exclusive and not acted upon by others nearby.
2) You never read someone else's hand-written journal without their express permission, no matter where they've left it, unless you are investigating either their gory murder, or the string of gory murders you believe they've committed (and in the second of those latter cases only after obtaining and executing a search warrant lawfully issued by a judge).
3) No, if I don't like my neighbor, I could care less about some stupid party they're throwing. Unless Weird Al is playing the party, in which case I'll brazenly gate-crash and get another autograph. Weird Al rules!
4) I'd park in the street. But yeah, open curtains/blinds with that kind of display outside is definitely an invitation to check out the tree inside.
It would seem to me that public privacy issues are a general theme here. Let's just say that "decorum" and the individual situation would dictate how I would proceed in all cases.
Anything that would make me or the other party uncomfortable would be where I'd draw the line.
Out of curiousity, does it change anything if we're talking about someone you don't like or respect? Do you still feel obligated to do these things?
And if the young woman nursing her child asks you, nicely, not to watch her as it makes her uncomfortable, do you ignore that request and continue on because, hey, she's sticking her tit out in public and by all means, she gets what she gets, or do you have enough self-respect to stop?
While there may be no expectation of privacy in a public place (or if you've opened your private area to a place where others can peer inside), but is it possible to respect the fuzzy boundaries anyway?
Sorry about the homework on Friday, Nate. I'll try to refrain in the future.
If she asks, I'll try, sure. But I'm only human, and a guy, so no guarantees. She might want to consider nursing in private if being watched bothers her that much.
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