Private moments for public consumption… right or wrong?

From my standpoint, private moments are “intended for or restricted to the use of a particular person, group, or class.”  Over the past few weeks, however, many private moments have been made public, and not by the subjects of the incidents.
Donald Sterling. Michael Sam. Jay-Z.

Does success mean that one’s private life is now completely open to the public? And why is the public starving for peeks into the darkest parts of the lives of celebrities? We seem less concerned with the work and effort that public figures put in behind the curtain that makes them great than we are with their dirt, their flaws, their weaknesses.  Maybe it allows us to bring these figures down to our level… or lower.

Our smart phones put a video camera and audio recorder in every pocket, allowing anyone of us to capture the most private moments of someone else’s life, no matter how inappropriately obtained the truth on tape may be. Social media networks provide immediate, global and eternal exposure to the sound bytes and 6-second video clips of the best at-their-worst situations that are not ready for public consumption. And anyone can post anything, without ever having taken any ethics courses.

And why, once those unauthorized media are made public, do we feel we have the right to observe, critique, and publicly bash the private lives of others, regardless of how distasteful their opinions or lifestyle may be to us? After all, it wasn’t their choice to make those moments public.

When a person makes the decision to publicize their own private lives, then they open themselves to scrutiny.  But when this is done by someone else without their consent, I’m not so sure.

I’m not a lawyer, so I won’t pretend to argue the legalities of this situation. To me, it’s just not acceptable to publish someone’s private lives without their consent.

Contrary to what so many now think, every private moment is NOT for public consumption.

So, until I’m ready to relinquish MY own privacy and allow others to expose my private conversations, intimate moments and family issues – even my ugliest of opinions – I’m not ready to discuss another person’s private moments made public by someone else.