Not About Catfish

I lied. Catfishing is becoming a bigger problem with more social media sites and even more personal information being shared online. It was never a problem for me since I might be considered a catfish. Being taught how bad the world is at an early age, I never put my real information on the web. I watched shows like Unsolved Mysteries and murder shows with the creepy old man telling about how people, including children, ended up kidnapped or murdered, and it gave me formal knowledge of how easy it is to get into sticky situations. Fearing that some man would look me up and kidnapp me, I lied about most of my information like my birthday, age, address, and other vulnerable info like that. It wasn't until social media officially took over the world and started to become an actual part of us, that I felt the need to show who I really was. Social media and our digital selves now actually affect who we are in real life. From jobs, seeing people who you only saw on social media, to even situations like craigslist where you actually have to meet someone you only knew from a computer screen, the digital self of people today is almost directly connected to who and where we are.

The Amazing Catfish

So, cat-fishing has become a surprising;y popular thing around the internet that has recently been reveled. The's catfisher's use applications and websites from Facebook, to whatsAPP, to Kik, to Blogs, It is a scary thought to think about and the video we saw in class about Catfishing really dove into the life of a catfisher. This women told lie after lie to try and stop the ship form sinking. About her "cancer", then about Abby's Drinking problem, and the fact that her husband never knew about what she was doing. Although she is a pathological lair, I believe she used it as a way to escape from her life in the real world. So she became this attractive 18-20 year old girl, that had a near perfect life, for she hated what her life had become. And deep down, I think she thought that everything she said had some kind of "Half truth" to it.

Can I have some catfish with the please?

When the film Catfish was made, cat-fishing was not new. However, the term for it was. In the film, Nev is communicating with what he think is three different people: Abby, Megan, and Angela. What surprised me in the film was how well Nev responded when he went and to Angela's house and say that Angela looked nothing like her pictures. Although the people he was with was very uncomfortable with the situation Nev seemed as though he was not. If I were in the situation that Nev was in, I do not think I would have responded the same way. Frankly, I do not think that I would go to someones house that I barely know unannounced. Even after Nev found information that proved that Angela was not who she  claimed to be, he continued for the sake of the documentary. I cannot say that I would do the same thing. With this film, cat-fishing was brought to my attention. I knew it existed and that people were cat-fished all the time, but actually seeing the process and seeing Nev go from getting really comfortable with the person to being basically freaked out was an eye opener. Angela's husband take on the situation was odd to me. He made it seem as though cat-fishing is alright although it is not. He used the example of how catfish keeps the cod agile. Comparing it to people, he said that we need catfish in our lives to keep things interesting and to keep us on our feet. I do not agree with this. Cat-fishing has resulted in people being abducted and even killed all because they seemed nice and they wanted to meet each other.

Let me turn to mush! I dont need a catfish!

We don't need catfish in this world. There is too much confusion happening enough to have to worry about fake identity. What's worse is you never know when someone else is using your information to lie to someone else. Yes, this was a real relationship and real feelings were there, but it was on the foundation o a lie. therefore, it destroys the entire relationship as a whole. looks don't matter, but i at least want to know what you look like. We saw the results. In a consequential view, the film maker was devastated.
Sure this led to him having a show and informing others. but others are being abused by perverts that wish to exploit young people online. Others may truly not having anything else better to do. As for the lady in the film, i felt sorry in a way. However, I had no sympathy for her as to what she did, but more so in the fact that her life...pretty much sucked. she gave up so much to be with her husband and she hasn't reaped the rewards from her love for him. therefore, she created a fake Facebook account to sell her art and have a love interest on the side. Its almost sad to think of how elaborate this actually was and the time to  even make what she did happen.
And she isn't alone. I've experienced people trying to talk to me with fake accounts. Its quiet creepy. and if they were using a picture of someone that looked too good, I had to be suspicious. Funny how that was my determining factor, but it's true. some things really are too good to be true and have to be watchful. Im glad that this documentary exists to educate people on this phenomena, and i hope more watch it for others not to be trapped in a web of lies.

Catfish

This week, I watched a film called catfish. In this movie, it teaches us about real life depictions of ourselves and the made up view of ourselves that we have in our head.  I believe you can tell a lot about a person by what they use the internet for. However, I believe the persona someone uses on the internet is the person they try to be in reality.
   I did, however feel some type of sympathy for Angela, because she was highly dissatisfied with her life at home, but on the other hand I did not approve of her deliberately deceiving other people and how premeditated her actions were shown to be.

Catfsih?

I have watched the show and this movie many a times and each time its still aggravating watching it happen to Nev. And that Nev just lets it happen to him even after he figures it all out. I understand that they were doing this for a documentary but the emotional toll it ended up having on Nev and Angela both is unsettling. At one point, Angela talks in Megan's voice for Nev and he is seen to be sad at the sound of her voice coming from Angela.
Angela's reasonings for why she has all of these facebook profiles made me sympathize for her because of how unsatisfied she is with her life. She feels that becoming all these different people on facebook gives her almost a second chance or a feeling of the life she wanted to have. But, in doing so, she created a lot of hurt. Nev going out there and exposing her made her realize what she has done and also made people more aware of how easy it is to fake yourself on the internet.

Nev: An Unusually Willing Codfish

      This week, we watched a documentary called "Catfish." As part of the class directive, we were asked to consider whether or not our virtual/digital selves are accurate representations of who we are in real life. I think most people would agree that you can tell quite a bit about a person based on their internet use, social media accounts, search history, and general on-line participation. However, after watching this documentary, I found it more difficult to say that this was true. This claim of virtual personhood requires more specification; therefore, I would say that a person's virtual self can provide details about the life they wished they lived, or their aspirations, wants, and desires. That being said, it is clear that the people Angela created were fake; however, after hearing the real Angela's story it is also evident that the fake profiles were, in a sense, fragmented aspects of what she aspired to be.
      We also took a small poll at the end of class to see how many people felt some kind of empathy towards Angela. In class, I raised my hand to indicate that I did feel bad for her and felt that she could not be fully blamed for her actions. However, the more I think about how calculated and planned out her every move was, I start to think of her less as a victim of her circumstances and more of an opportunist. For example, she created a fake persona named "Abby" who was a young girl based on her own daughter then she had "Abby" make the initial contact with Nev. I sort of skimmed over this detail of the documentary at first, but its a crucial detail in understanding Angela's motives. Why not just send Nev the painting as the real Angela? I am sure he would have appreciated the gesture regardless of who was sending him the fan mail.
      After much consideration, I think Angela created these fake profiles and fake life with the intention of deceiving Nev which, in my opinion, makes her a much less sympathetic character. That being said, I also think Nev caught on to what she was doing a lot quicker than he may be willing to admit. It is quite obvious that some of the scenes in the documentary were either staged or recreated. In other words, I do not find Angela to be a sympathetic character but I also do not find Nev to be a sympathetic character either. He was sure that Megan, and everyone else for that matter, did not actually exist but he continued to play along (though with noticeably less enthusiasm). I cannot seem to shake the thought that Nev unnecessarily exploited Angela for a documentary. I am pretty sure we'll all want to talk about Angela in class next week, but I am also curious to know what everyone's thoughts are on Nev's role in this whole situation?

Karma

According to Webster online, Karma (in Hinduism and Buddhism) is defined as “the sum of a person's actions in this and previous states of existence, viewed as deciding their fate in future existences.” This definition is used worldwide as “What goes around, comes around”. Karma can be a good thing, like for instance if you donate to a charity or feed a homeless man on a corner, you may find a twenty dollar bill on the ground or get a free meal from your favorite restaurant. Karma could also be a bad thing, for example if you tease a homeless man with food or maybe break someone’s heart; you may find that your spouse cheated on you with your best friend or may have a flat in the rain. Where am I going with this? Well, in the short film we watched last week called White Bear, a lady and her fiancé were charged for torturing a little girl. Her fiancé did all the torturing, she just recorded. For her sentence, she was sent to this kind of Amusement park called White Bear Justice Park and there, she was given the same treatment as the little girl. The only difference it happened to her every day for 3 weeks. They would have her wake up, chase her around the park, which she thought was a town, humiliate her in front of a group of people, and then clear her brain with this little device of all the memories she had of that day. Now, depending on your definition of Justice and Morality how would you define this scenario? Is it just? Is it moral? Why or why not? Also, in a case such as this, would you consider this to be the Karma that she deserves?