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?

Welcome to White Bear Park

In the episode White Bear we follow the story of a lost and confused woman. She wakes up in what she believes to be her house, and finds a picture of a young girl. When she steps outside she is constantly chased by someone with intentions of hurting her. Through out the entire film I felt bad for her, up to the point where I find out what she did.
Now, is it moral to put the woman through the same pain and torture day after day? I thought the punishment was fit, until the credits. It is not correct to make a show out of anyone's punishment. I remember when my brother use to get yelled at and I laughed my mother used to get on me too. Punishment is not made for other's entertainment, it is to punish the person for what they did wrong. They went a bit to far with this, to hire/recruit volunteers to do this day after day to teach her a lesson that she will not remember tomorrow is a bit excessive.
I will agree that she deserves a punishment, that she needs to pay for what she has done by watching the recorded video over and over again in a cell all alone, but to have people come and record this elaborate punishment is just not right.

White bear, nightmare

The video we watched in class stayed with me for a while. It made me feel sympathy for someone who had murdered a young girl. It made me feel disgusted at what the other people had done to her. But it also made me think about what justice truly means. Are we even capable of instilling real justice? Do we as humans have the right to punish other people? I feel like what the other characters in the movie we watched did was immoral. It was to the point where the woman could no longer remember what she had done anymore. How can we punish someone for something they have done when they can no longer remember what it is? This makes me wonder how we treat prisoners. I do think that people need to be held accountable for their actions. I feel like what they did in the video was overkill. I know that people have the need to feel like justice has been served. I also know that people often don't realize the extent to what they are doing when they are too close to it. I think that seeing it from an outside perspective helped me gain a better understanding of the cruelty that was being instilled. I also think that watching it helped me see what was truly happening. I feel like if I had read about this in an article I would have leaned to supporting the punishment rather than seeing its cruelty. I also liked that this movie showed the actions from the person who was being tortured point of view. I think a lot of times when we hear about these issues they are biased towards the person who is doing the punishing. I wonder if they would have left the main character's memory intact at the end if she could have done something to better herself? Maybe she would feel guilty about what she had done and might gain perspective into that young girl's feelings. I think that would have been more productive than just torturing the main character over and over. I feel like that should be the goal of our justice system. It should be about legitimate rehabilitation rather than just feeling like we are punishing people who have done bad things. I feel like what the main character had done was truly wrong. But what made this movie linger with me is that I can see something like this really happening. I can see people actually participating and agreeing with this form of "justice". There is something disturbing about how excited the actors are at the end of the movie. They truly believe what they are doing is just and productive. I feel like people in our society might feel the same way.

Is Torture Really Justified?

This week, our class watched a TV episode called “white bear.” It centers on a girl who is being tortured for a crime she committed. I thought this gave very interesting insight into whether torture is okay to do or not. It seemed like most of the people in the class were disgusted when they found out the terrifying situations the girl had to go through were all staged as a punishment for kidnapping a child. I have never been supportive of punishing people by torturing them, no matter what crime was committed. This is because I believe torture takes away the humanity of the person, which is something I believe should never be allowed under any circumstances. Everyone deserves to retain their humanity. I feel some people may be okay with torture because the person is seeing the human in front of them as a personification of the crime they committed, rather than a person. Seeing the torture from the perspective of the girl and getting to watch her go through the same sequence of events with the same amount of knowledge of what’s going on allows us to empathize her and see her as an individual human life rather than the personification of a kidnapper. I wonder if this episode had anyone rethink what they thought about torture and whether it is justified.

Are You Serious?

In the short film, "white bear" the main character was tortured repeatedly for the crime that she committed. The crime was helping her boyfriend kidnap and kill a young girl. Now to most that is just a big no no, everyone knows that kids are off limits, out of the question. For some reason the only excuse she had for her actions were that she was basically manipulated by her boyfriend into doing the crime. They showed her repeatedly day after day what she had done, and she continued to ask to be put out of her misery. Now I know what she did was wrong, but who gives anyone but the law the right to decide someone's punishment. At this point I felt that they were messing with her mental state and that is something people should not play with. Mental torture can do some serious damage to someone. Any type of torture is wrong, physical/ mental it is all still immoral no matter how you look at it. I believe that the community got justice confused with revenge. The community revolves around this "holier than thou" facade, i'm pretty sure if someone pulled the skeletons out of their closet they would be in the same predicament as the girl.  In a way I feel as if the community is no better than she is, they watched a woman get terrified and borderline tortured without saying one word about it. I'm pretty sure they felt as if they were doing what was right for the community and avenging the girl's murder, but in the end it is just tearing down another person along the way. If they felt so strongly about what the woman did they should have went about it the right way; and took her to jail. It all leads to the fact that the communities' actions are not just or moral at all.

Wrong, wrong, wrong

In the episode "White Bear," the main character was tortured for punishment. She seen a picture of a little girl that she thought was her daughter. When she walked out of her house and seen the people recording her, we all could not figure out what was going on. The episode kept the classes attention by inflicting pain on her to make her not know who she was. She told one of the other characters she did not know her name. The goal of the Justice Park was to punish her for her and her fiancé's crime. She seen this symbol every where she went. Later, they took her to a forest that seemed familiar to her. After awhile, we seen that the forest was where they abducted and killed the little girl. As we watched the film, the questions rose "Is this moral?" and "Is this just or unjust?". I do not believe that this is moral. Even though the crime was wrong  there are other ways to address the situation. The forms of torture that they performed were immoral. Not only were they physical harm but also mental. Also, the actions were unjust. I know some may think that she deserved it for her crime. Yes the crime was very wrong but they mentally brain washed her. She does not want to live anymore. Therefore, it is going to cause more problems for her in the future. The Justice Park is immoral because they are getting enjoyment out of her pain and misery. At the end, they put her in a chair and made her watch videos of the little girl then placed electrodes on her head to swipe the memory as she screams. I think this is the most tortuous pain because this is mental pain she will never be able to recover from.  Overall, the episode kept the classes' attention the entire time.

"white bear"

This week, we watched an episode called “White Bear”. Within the film, the main character was tortured every day for at least 3 weeks for committing a crime. The crime was helping her estranged boyfriend kidnap and murder a little girl. She claimed to be “mesmerized” or manipulated into helping him. The community in which she lived decided to “mesmerize” her every day by making her forget who she was, thinking the community was all hypnotized by a radio signal that flashed across all TVs and radios, and having her think she was able to save herself. It was a full production called “The Show”.

While she was captured and shown the truth, she begged for them to kill her to put herself out of the misery. After they showed her the truth, they took her back to the house and repeated the process. Now, the questions are “Is this just? And Is this moral?”. My initial thought was yes it is just, but no it is not moral. My reason for that initial reaction was that yes she deserves punishment for what she did, but not using that method. It is cruel to repeatedly punish someone under mental torture.

After I looked at is in a different way, my opinion changed. To me, because it is immoral, it is also unjust. If it is not acceptable under morality, it also should not be accepted under the law. Yes she committed a horrific crime, but should we be the people to punish her mentally? I feel as if she should be put in jail. If she is put in jail, she would have plenty of time to think about what she has done and essentially punish herself. Mental torture is something human beings should not be able to use for punishment because humans are faulty.