A World Without Privacy?

Dangerous precedents at Medium and elsewhere

The famous Native American warrior Crazy Horse vehemently refused to allow anyone to take his photograph or even draw a likeness of him. He believed that was a soul invasion; that photographing someone was stealing part of their soul. It also allows for psychic sabotage. He believed it was a very inhumane and malicious thing to do.

Unlike almost all other Americans, I happen to agree wholeheartedly with Crazy Horse. Generations of all other Americans have been conditioned (brainwashed) through decades of TV and internet addiction and our broken educational system and other societal structures to never believe anything a Native American says. Many Americans do not even believe we have a soul. They have been taught that their physical image that can be photographed is who they are.

Through TV and internet addiction most Americans (and Earthlings everywhere) have been slowly brainwashed into relying solely on their eyeballs to make all their decisions and judgments. They have been trained to be utterly vision oriented.

If there is no photograph of something or someone then that something or someone simply does not exist.

This has allowed those in power who want total control over all people to move them into an Orwellian surveillance state; a state in which they can steal everyone’s soul, know everything about them, and have complete control over them.

Facial recognition technology is now making that Orwellian state a reality.

Imagine participating in a peaceful protest. A police officer video tapes the entire crowd. The way things are going peaceful protest will soon no longer be legal in America — especially if Trump gets re-elected. That police video tape will then be put through facial recognition technology so that everyone participating in the protest is identified and then everyone later will be fined or arrested based on having participated in the protest.

This is where we are headed as a society. While it may take a little longer to change the laws, the facial recognition technology is already here and thanks to the unknowing willingness of people the databases are now almost full of everyone’s mugshots.

And no one is pushing more fervently for this Orwellian state than internet billionaires like Mark Zuckerberg, Jack Dorsey, Sergey Brin, Larry Page, Bill Gates, and Ev Williams.

In the almost quarter of a century that I have been on the internet there has never been a single photograph of me placed on the internet. I am extremely emphatic about that. I have never used a photograph of my face on any website in any way. I have never even used a photograph of my face on any of the dozen or so books that I have published. And I never will. I maintain my God-given human right to privacy. I may be one of only a few Americans left who is not in “The Database.” I may be one of the few free Americans left — although I’m sure there are plenty of Amish folk out there who also refuse to trade away their soul and their God-given human right to privacy.

A few days ago I received a note from a new Medium publication called, Innovation, asking me to become a writer for them. But it was stipulated that I follow a certain set of their rules, one rule of which required me to change my Medium icon photo from the photo of a snowy egret that I use to a “clear photograph of my face.” I immediately declined the offer. I will not relinquish the principles I have maintained for over a quarter of a century for some Medium publication! I will not relinquish my God-given human right to privacy!

The only time I have allowed my face to be photographed in the last few decades has been at the government mandated insistence of the Department of Motor Vehicles. With them I have no choice if I want to be able to drive and not be thrown in jail every time a cop pulled me over. It was with great reluctance but this has been the only exception I have ever made to not allowing my photograph to be taken.

What I want to know is how the Medium publication Innovation got the governmental authority to demand my photograph! It’s wrong. It’s immoral. And I’m pretty sure it may be illegal!

In our vision-centric society before a reader will read anything they first must see a photograph of the author — to see if they are pretty or ugly, fat or thin, old or young, male or female, black or white or brown — so that they can formulate judgments before ever reading a single word the author wrote. That is how we have been trained to respond. If a reader insists on judging me, fine, but judge me on my writing, my art and not on societal judgments of prettiness, or age, or gender, or the color of my skin! When did we as a society become so arrogantly judgmental and disgustingly shallow?

Luckily, Medium does not make a “clear picture of one’s face” a requirement to post here — not yet anyway (even if some publications have made it mandatory). Medium did, however, add this to their list of “suggestions” in their curation guidelines. If we are okay with never, ever being curated then we can use a symbol instead of a “clear picture of one’s face.” I am convinced that is one of the main reasons I have not been curated in over eight months and why I most likely never will be again. It’s because I won’t give up my God-given human right to privacy. I won’t sell my soul to the Medium machine.

I figure it is only a matter of time before this photo requirement becomes mandatory site-wide on Medium. That is the day I will leave this platform. It will prove once and for all that “quality of writing” simply is not Medium’s primary concern.

If a Medium publication can demand that a writer first give up their God-given human right to privacy by providing a “clear photo of their face’ before their work can be published then what’s next? Will Social Security numbers be required? Fingerprints? Blood samples and DNA samples? Iris scans? Location of birth marks? Credit reports? Criminal histories? Bank records? Dick pics? Proof of vaccinations?

Give a Medium publication an inch and they will want a mile. They don’t care that by posting a “clear photo of our face” on Medium or anywhere puts us into a vast nefarious facial recognition database from which we can never extricate ourselves. There are also plenty of other databases out there that want us to give up our God-given human right to privacy. These databases, controlled by the internet billionaires want every bit of private information about us that they can get. Why are Medium publications helping these billionaires bring about an Orwellian state?

I have always detested the term, brand, that is so ubiquitous on the internet today. Branding is for cattle, not humans. But I have to admit that I inadvertently created a brand without intending to do so. So many years ago, after being faced with coming up with a personal photo icon at so many websites, and vehemently refusing to use a photo of my face, I decided to use a photo of a snowy egret taking off in flight. They are white birds with plenty of white feathers and my name is White Feather. (Plus I’m a bird freak.) It seemed perfect.

Every time I joined a site or opened an account it was real easy to upload that photo for my personal photo. It took me a while before I realized that I was creating a brand with that bird. Now, everywhere you can find me on the internet there is that picture of the snowy egret. After twenty years of using that photo it became my brand.

I’m not as upset about being asked to lose my brand as I am about being forced to give up my God-given human right to privacy by providing a “clear photo of my face,” but I figure that a lot of other people who have spent twenty years (even if unintentionally) creating a personal brand would get rather pissed if they were told by some Medium publication that they would have to give up their brand in order to write for them.

Power hungry Medium publications are getting completely out of control with their dictatorial rules.

I once knew a psychic healer who did long-distance healing work. She was quite successful. All she needed was a clear photo of a person and she would look into their eyes in the photograph and she was able to connect to their soul and do loving healing work on them no matter where on the planet they were.

“The eyes are the window to the soul.” People have been saying that for centuries because there is truth in that statement. But Americans have been brainwashed into believing that is pure hokum. And they have also been brainwashed into never, ever, ever, ever, ever questioning what they are told.

If a healer can do benevolent healing work by looking into the eyes in a photograph does it not stand to reason that someone can also do malevolent work through the eyes in a photograph? Why do you think that some celebrities in the know always wear dark sunglasses? They know that they will constantly be photographed so they shield their eyes in order to protect themselves from malevolent psychic sabotage.

Yet some Medium publication insists that I give up my God-given human right to protect myself from psychic sabotage?

I don’t think so!

Once, many years ago, I was in a long distance relationship with a woman. It started out in-town but then she took a job in a town a couple of hundreds miles away. Before she left for that job she gave me a 8X10 glossy of herself that she used in her profession.

After a while I suggested that we play a psychic game. Several times a day I would look at her photo, gazing intently into her eyes as I sent her a strong psychic rush of love energy. I kept a little notebook and wrote down the times at which I did this. For her part she also kept a little notebook and whenever she felt a wave of my energy she would write down what time she received it.

We did this for a week and then compared the times in our notebooks. Every single time in the notebooks matched within two minutes.

I suggest anyone with an open mind to try this. You will be amazed.

So I know firsthand of the powerful energy conduit a “clear photo of one’s face” can be. It is very, very serious. And it is not something any Medium publication should be demanding!

About fifteen years ago I did a book signing in a small town in Colorado. It was a late afternoon/evening book signing so I spent the night there. The next morning I took a walk down Main Street looking for a place to have breakfast before I drove home.

As I walked alone down the sidewalk I suddenly heard my name called out. Looking ahead I saw a woman waving at me and walking toward me.

“Hello White Feather. I’m a big fan. I’ve read all your books and I just love them. I heard that you’ve got a new book that will be out soon. Do you know when that will be?”

I stood there with dropped jaw utterly freaked out. At first I figured she must have recognized me from the book signing I did the night before but I did not recall seeing her there. And furthermore I never once mentioned a new book coming out at the book signing.

Who the hell was this woman? And how the hell did she recognize me?

The encounter shook me to my core. I never in a million years ever wanted to be recognized by strangers as I walked down the street. What a horrible, horrible thing! I did a lot of soul searching.

That is when I decided to never do another book signing ever again — and I never have. I already never used a photo of myself on any of my books and on the internet yet this strange woman still managed to recognize me. I realized that I was leaving myself open to being photographed by doing book signings. What if someone came to one of my book signings with a camera — or worse, a smart phone with a camera? I simply could not take that chance ever again.

Am I being silly? Or psychopathic? More importantly, how did this decision affect my book sales?

Well, the decision drastically influenced my book sales. They fell precipitously and have remained meager ever since. I know that I could seriously increase book sales if I did book signings and interviews and placed photos of myself all over the internet and on my books. But I will never do that. I will never give up my God-given human right to privacy.

I write because that happens to be my chosen art form. I have absolutely no egoic cravings for fame. I don’t ever want to be recognized by strangers on the street. If refusing to be photographed means that I will never be a famous writer then I am perfectly okay with that. I don’t want to be a famous writer. I just want to write, to do my art — and hopefully make at least a few bucks for my hard work.

I will not sell my soul and give up my God-given human right to privacy for money or fame. I have put a tremendous amount of effort over the last thirty years into NOT being photographed and maintaining my visual anonymity and privacy. Seriously, it ain’t easy! Try going 30 years without being photographed in today’s visual centric world.

And some Medium publication expects me to throw all those 30 years of hard work out the window just because they demand it?

I don’t think so!

Some readers might now be thinking that I’ve got some serious mental problems; perhaps a severely paranoid J. D. Salinger complex or worse. Refusing to be photographed or even drawn is surely a sign of a deeply troubling psychosis. Considering privacy to be a God-given human right in today’s world is surely a sign of extreme anti-social behavior. Over 99% of all Americans have already gleefully given up any of their rights to privacy. Why don’t I just shut up and do what everyone else has done without question? What the hell is wrong with me? Someone call the men in white coats!

Sure, I might be a tad ‘off’ mentally. Plenty of people hold that opinion. But that is not what this is about.

This is about principle! It’s about human rights!

I stand with Crazy Horse! I will not let my soul be stolen. I will not give up my God-given right to privacy. I will not allow anyone to photograph me. As long as I am still breathing I will stand up for my rights. And no Medium publication is going to force me to give up those rights.

If we acquiesce to giving up our God-given human right to privacy what God-given human right will we be asked to give up next?

Copyright by White Feather. All Rights Reserved.