Messy Rhetoric: Identity Performance as Rhetorical Agency in Online Public Forums

"Identity performances are understood to be a central part of the discursive practice of everyday life. As Charles Antaki and Sue Widdicombe explain, ‘‘Membership of a category is ascribed (and rejected), avowed (and disavowed), displayed (and ignored) in local places and at certain times, and it does these things as part of the interactional work that constitutes people’s lives’’. (Grabill and Pigg, pg 102)

I chose this quote because I thought this was very interesting to think about. I feel like this fits in to the discussion about Myspace and Facebook and all of the ways we are conditioned to prove our selves to others. For example, a person might put thought into their status updates (or it is assumed they do) simply for the fact that they want a certain person or group of people to "like" their status or think its funny or whatever that may be. Social media keeps making it easier and easier to prop yourself up, make yourself look better than you are, and to more importantly, make the people who don't know you personally wish they did. In today's world, there are many people who cannot go without checking their phones and Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, whatever it may be, at least every 15 minutes (I'm not saying that I do not fit into this category). But where is their identity? I don't know, but it's definitely interesting to think about.