As you can see in the picture to the left, Lt. Commander Data (in a scene from Star Trek:  First Contact) is loaded and ready for bear, as they say.  But just a few minutes earlier, he was almost ready to collapse into a puddle of trembling jelly, full of fear.  While talking with his captain, Data expressed his feelings of fear of impending battle with the Borg.  This feeling was a “gift” newly available to him from an emotion chip that he had recently found.

As we know, Data is an android, a machine full of information and devoid of emotion.  The chip changed that.  However, he also had to deal with negative, paralyzing feelings while the emotion chip was active.  So, naturally, when Data expressed his fear, Captain Picard very logically suggested that Data turn off the chip.  So he did and he calmed down.  In the next breath, Picard expressed his envy of Data in that moment, when the android could just turn off his emotions like you would turn off a lamp.

Haven’t we all felt that way at one time?

Emotional fuel (or fire)

Our emotions are powerful motivators.  Joy, love, anger, envy, and fear:  they make us want to do things.  Or keep us from doing things.

Unlike Data, we really can’t shut off our emotions.  We can train ourselves to ignore them, we can accept them, and we can use chemicals to temporarily deaden them, but they don’t go away.  Feelings don’t have on and off switches.

Fear is one of the strongest feelings, at least it is in my experience.  How many things have I kept myself from doing because of fear?  (Note:  I don’t claim that the fear stopped me; I let the fear stop me.)  Perhaps you’ve had the same experience?

No matter how you feel about privacy, there’s no doubt that having a social media presence using your real name is a test of fear and bravery.  After all, people can Google you and find out what you’re saying.  They can judge you, for good or evil.  You can be made fun of.  Hell, your boss might read your blog and decide that what you’re doing isn’t in her best interest, or that of your employer.  And so on.

Fear of exposure

I’ve done it both ways:  I’ve used aliases and I’ve used my own name.  Every now and then it’s very tempting to create a new identity so you can write and rant about your more extreme views without fear of reprisal.  The possibility of telling the unembellished truth is seductive and perversely empowering when you can do so without connecting the words back to your true identity.

To borrow one of the most famous analogies of our times, I consider that to be the Dark Side.  Power without responsibility, without remorse, without accountability – that is both the lure and the damnation of the anonymous blogger.  Better to keep your name and face in the light, to add power to your thoughts.

However, that doesn’t mean that you need to share everything.  Despite any trends in technology and society, we all have a right to some privacy.  We don’t need to continually bear our souls, we don’t need to expose all of the secrets.

Authenticity is worth pushing through the fear

But if you want to say something with power, it sure helps to have your real name and face behind it.  It may be scary and you may wish for your own emotion chip to deactivate your fear, but fear can be mastered and that energy can be used.   One of my favorite super-heroes is focused on willpower and mastery of fear.  It can be done and you can use your courage to do great things.

If you have something reasonable to say the world, please don’t be afraid to say it using your own real face and voice.  It could be the best thing that you ever do.

Data, Picard, Star Trek are all properties of Paramount.  Please don’t sue, guys.  Kthksbai.