Mae's Ideas

Secrets are lies.  Sharing is caring.  Privacy is theft.  These three phrases are used by Mae to justify the need for people to share all of their data and information.  Although, I do not believe that Mae thought she was going to continue to be an example for these ideas, by becoming transparent.  Each of these phrases have a different degree of truth to them, and vary in how much they relate to the real world.

According to Mae, "Secrets are lies."  I don't completely agree with that statement, but she makes a good argument.  She talks about how when people notice secrets, they make up lies to tell themselves what the secret is.  This is what leads her to make her statement, that "Secrets are lie."  However, ask yourself this, is a lie you tell yourself really a lie?

I believe the answer is no, because even though you are telling yourself a lie, because you create the lie, you know that it is not true.  So truly, you can't lie to yourself if you know that it is a lie.  I feel like this is very confusing, and there is probably a philosophical theory about this idea, although I do not know of it.  Even though I believe that the phrase, "secrets are lies," is itself a lie, I do agree with Mae's idea that, "sharing is caring."

Mae's second idea, "sharing is caring," had much more truth to it.  All of my life I remember hearing this phrase, and it has been said around the world for many years.  It is true that when you share what you have with people, be it your time, money, or toys (when you were a little kid), you are able to show someone how much they mean to you. Even though I agree with this statement more than the other, it still has its flaws.

The problem with "sharing is caring" is when you share too much, to where it hurts the other person.  An example of this is when Francis videos himself and Mae.  When Francis chose to do this, he really did not take in Mae's feelings, and because he shared to much, they were pushed apart.  Even though Bailey talked about how, things should be shared for the good of other people, no one would benefit from Francis's video.  "Sharing is caring" may have been at least partially true, but the phrase "privacy is theft" is the exact opposite of the truth.

The idea that "privacy is theft" is completely false as far as I am concerned.  An example of this in Mae's life, was when she shared the chandelier that Mercer had created.  Due to Mae's theft of Mercer's privacy, Mercer feels violated and is made uncomfortable.  Examples of this are not only in the circle, but in real life.

 It our society today, it is seen that when anyone goes against your privacy, that itself is theft.  An example of this is plagiarism, when a person's ideas are stolen, because they were not private. In this case, if the person had not shared their ideas with the public, no one would have had a chance to take them.  This idea is the exact opposite of Mae's idea that "privacy is theft."

Mae's ideas may have sounded very progressive to her fellow peers at the Circle, but they would not have been as well received in the real world.  Each of these ideas had varying degrees of truth to them, but none of them was completely sincere.  Mae's life at the Circle so far may have led her to create these ideals, but now that she has gone transparent, will she continue to believe in them?