The Wirelss Trail...

It's been an interesting journey. I've travelled to 7 Canadian cities in 7 days. My fingers are cramping up in anticipation of the carpel tunnel I am about to get from sharing my jet set journey with you (if you're still out there). Unfortunately, I'm plagued by an idea that has been known since we recently heard the in Parliament or found that picture of Eve or even remember the story of Milli Vanilli: It only takes one mistake, one ignorant slur, one defeated moment of peer pressure, one outburst of anger, naivety, or risque behaviour to be have the eternal dark shadow of shame hover over your life. And it's all thanks to the wirless trail.

On the plane back from Quebec last night, thinking about the exhaustive list of things to talk about, thoughts I had, my process of growth from the anti-feminist/ pro-womanist to feminist-womanist who had the priviledge of participating in a historical and global political movement. I said earlier that I am interrogating my thoughts and language about "political correctness", and so have used them if only for me to look back and assess how absolutely stupid or insightful that thought, phrase or idea was. I need a point of reference and vegan-eating-tree-hugging-anti-capitalist-pro-Gap-jean-wearing (Trust me, I've seen it with my own two eyes) activists isn't a place that I want to start. So, I try to draw inspiration from the Globe and Mail.

I despise tabloids and gossip columns, but when I came across "15 Minutes of Shame" with pictures of the Star Wars Kid and scenes from One Night In Paris (Hilton) I could feel my hands quiver, as if I was experiencing withdrawl from the gossip-lessness of my life. I was hungry for that dish of dirty secrets. Assuming that the article was about voyeurs or incredibly stupid people whose voyeurism and idiocy is exposed on camera in ways that they'll regret (or laugh about many years down the line), I burried my head in the newspaper. However, I was only partially right.

The article used the Star Wars Kid and Paris well-known examples of a scary, but very real truth- the world wide web has become more dangerous than a paper trail. Instead of fingerprints, there are IP numbers that, in addition to identifying you (provided they find the match) investigators can also retrieve addresses, phone numbers, credit history, falling short of telling you the day that your grandmother's sister's cousin in-law's stepfather's adopted son's daughter's niece first learned to walk.

This thought has haunted me for the past 12 hours. I could tell you about the politically incorrect passenger who told me jokes (that I sometimes laughed at) on my way to Ottawa from Winnipeg or the government official in Yellowknife who used sexist language to "joke around" with the Executive Director of a women's organization. But I can't. I'm afraid that somewhere out there, someone is waiting, voice recording, camera and videocamera in tow, for my 15 minutes of shame to happen. Keep waiting.

The danger of the wireless trail is a port less travelled by older generations. However, 20-somethings like myself now have the ability to remember, no, store more memory thanks to faster, cheaper and more efficient techonology. My 15 year old brother can laugh about Milli Vanilli because he can read about them on the internet, look at how others have ridiculed them and even listen to some music clips. Complete with bad fashion and even worse hairstyles, the memory of Milli Vanilli can suddenly become his own memory, as if he was old enough to experience this memory in real-time. The homophobic and anti-semetic messages thrown around by Jewish kids in private schools playing "cool" connect the wireless trail to a web of uptown rich kids who thought that the coast was clear when engaging in hate speech.

As is the case with many things, the wireless trail has its advantages and disadvantages, but one thing is for sure. Whenever there is a story to tell and an open forum to tell it, you better believe that you've already been trapped in the web- the world wide web.

And so, as a result of this revelation you will only get the politically correct, activist friendly, feminist loving, heal the world feeling report.