Hiding in Plain Sight!

I had an interesting conversation today with a co-worker about hiding in plain sight. He and two others were hanging out sitting by a window ledge, pretending to look busy assuming if they looked busy no one would notice them.  This led to the comment that they were hiding in plain sight.

I got to thinking about that notion. Hiding in plain sight is all about blending in. Going unnoticed being unobtrusive.  I used to be one who is all for that.   That changed when I hit a certain age and experience level.  I will admit I have gotten outside the standard demographic that most shows, games, movies, etc try to target, 25-44.   That is when I realized I have the right to express myself. I have experience, history, and knowledge.  I am my own person and I have a viewpoint. I understand recent history.  I know what Camelot means in reference to JFK. Hell for that matter I know who JFK was.  I understand sacrifice and service to others.

I have conviction and character. I have empathy and caring. I do what I believe is right and fair and of benefit to a the most people.  <Geek alert>  I am a true believer in “The Needs of the Many outweigh the needs of the few.”

In this increasingly digital world, it is hard to hide in plain sight.  I have chosen to make my avatar my public side at this point in time due to personal security issues. (I googled my avatar and my RL self once, my avatar is much more interesting – LOL) My avatar is the person I would be if I could on the visual side.  The character of my avatar is the same as my RL.  The biggest change I made with my avatar was to get an older skin and and hair and not pretend to be a 20 something.

There are a few people in SL who know my real name and how to contact me. These few people who know how to contact me also know and understand my personal security issues. But in general, I have been in SL for 8 years and prefer to keep my SL and RL separate as possible. I don’t completely hide behind my avatar.  But in issues relating to Second Life I use this avatar and this blog as my voice.

But now to get back to the original premise Hiding in Plain Sight.  The idea of hiding in plain sight in SL is an interesting idea.  There are many ways to accomplish this, chief among them is to main a stable of alts.  I can understand having an alt.  I will admit that I have 4, three of them work in my store.  Once is my banker. There has been a great deal of talk in the SL blogosphere about who is an alt, who isn’t an alt, and who uses alts to fuck people over.

Hiding behind an alt to do evil things is like hiding in plain sight.  In my mind it is evil, shows no conviction and a great lack of character.  Not taking ownership of vile, blatantly dishonest hateful vitriol shows lack of conviction and character. Playing on an alt to mess with someone shows a great lack of character. Hiding behind an alt to do evil while you pretend to show sympathy and understanding to someone just to gain their trust and to mess with them.  DEFINITE lack of character.

I have been wanting to get this off my chest for some time.  There its done and over.

There it is 600 words.

Petr