Honest(l)y

For some reason the latest fad, both in the blogosphere and in Facebook notes (which is basically the shallow end of the blogosphere), is to offer to give honest answers to a series of set questions or, in some cases, any one question upon request from a given individual. Some of these are along the lines of ‘list seven wacky things about yourself,’ ‘twenty five things no one knows about you,’ or ‘ask me any one question through a private means (e-mail or PM) and get an honest answer.’

Here’s one example of the last one (because it’s the shortest type):

One chance
One honest answer
That’s all you get
You get to ask me one question (to my inbox)
Any question, anything, no matter how crazy it is
No catch
Just between me and you
No one else will ever know
But I DARE you to repost this
And see what people ask you

While this is all in good fun, all of these, the last in particular, strike me as odd. If I have a burning question I want to ask someone, I’ll ask it and expect an honest answer. Or, if I’m feeling cynical, I’ll expect them to believe that I think I’m getting an honest answer. So now I know I can ask you a question and get  what is labeled as an honest answer… what’s the difference?

Yes, there are some questions you wouldn’t normally ask, but might do so anomynously. This new method, however, offers no anomynimity. Maybe if you handed out the username and password to a disposable e-mail address by which they could send you messages, but that’s beginning to get too complicated.

So, for the record, anyone can ask me a question and expect an honest answer. And this post has nothing to do with it.