Thanks for editing me on my thin side

Mark’s last point is the most salient, I think. Al Capone went to prison for lying about his taxes — not any of the other crimes he could’ve been convicted on.

If you look at how we react to fallen icons, almost everything can be forgiven but the cover-up or the lie. There’s a lesson in this when it comes to identity and authenticity in a network which is that as scary as it is to be yourself (worts and all), it’s a far more destructive thing to have the veil removed when one insists on holding onto it.