Insert your Certificate of Authenticity Here

Wouldn’t it be great if the people we encounter on a daily basis came complete with a Certificate of Authenticity?  A nice little slip that declares them to be the genuine article, exactly who they claim to be.  It could come in especially handy with the individuals we encounter online. But who would determine if the person was truly who they said they were?

When you meet someone face-to-face, you obviously can recognize if it’s John, the guy that works at the auto repair shop down the street, cousin to Mark, who you met at that party last year, the one that was once married to Evie, the girl that cuts your hair, but what do all those facts really tell you about John? Could you claim to know the real John?

What if you were married to John? He slept next to you every night. He was there when your children were born, and he nursed you when you had that nasty stomach bug last year. You know his favorite food is chili, he can’t stand Burger King, is allergic to latex, bowls every Friday and loves the blues. Do you know John?

What if you met John one late night in a BDSM chat room? He tells you he can only cum with pantyhose stuffed down his throat and that he dreams of leaving his wife and living with Rick the plumber, the guy he fucks every Friday night when he’s supposed to be bowling.  Could you vouch for John?

What if you are John, the mechanic, cousin to Mark, ex of Evie, married to a stomach flu prone wife, Friday night fucker of Rick, lover of the blues? Obviously, John knows John, right? Or does John not really even understand himself. Why does he do the things he does, and why does he act on certain impulses, while resisting others?  John may be an enigma, even to himself.

Who could verify a person’s authenticity? Is there really even a such thing as a truly authentic person?

What would it take to know someone was real, truly who they represent in an online, anonymous setting like Second Life?

4chan founder, Christopher Poole said “We choose to filter ourselves based on what others will think of what we say. If there is no risk of someone judging me there need not be a filter. Consequently anonymity allows me to speak without fear of social reprisal. I can say what I genuinely think. Ergo, authenticity.”

I disagree. I think we continue to filter ourselves, even online. There’s a calculation, a slight manipulation, not purposefully, but it’s there. Perhaps we’re so used to filtering ourselves at work, with our families that we can’t help but continue the process online? Or perhaps, since we spend so much time online now, the lines are blurred.

Though, interestingly enough, I would say that the average person may choose to reveal what he would filter normally in real life, and hide the details online that are most obvious to the individuals he encounters in the real world.

Here, we sometimes reveal the deep, dark personal stuff, early on. The arrests, the dirty one night stands, the time you saw your aunt topless or your sister walked in on you jacking off in the shower, it all comes out in amusing anecdotes or whispered in private to semi-strangers, nasty little personal revelations. Possibly, we reveal those things, because we think our secrets are our most interesting tidbits.  Maybe, we tell them here, because they are screaming to come out, and of course you can’t tell your boss or the lady at your dry cleaners. We might suffer from some sort of  confessional inclination. Or perhaps, we reveal those tidbits to confuse. Obviously, if we amusingly or achingly tell the dirty dish about ourselves, then we must be telling the truth about the everyday boring facts, right?

For me personally, it’s not the number of skeletons or the condition of the corpses that you pull out for show and tell with me online that convinces me of your authenticity. It’s how much I can relate to them, and how well you relate to my revelations that convince me you are someone worthy of my trust.

It all comes down to a connection. Connect with me, and I’ll believe your every word.