There is a distinction between real life and online. Psudonimously posting under a screen name is very different from making real life statements as yourself.
If you chose to be yourself online that is your choice. You can be someone else on the internet. You can choose to be an asshole on ocasion, that’s kind of the entire premise of trolling.
“Yourself” is the totality of everything you do. You don’t get to do stuff and then decide “No, that wasn’t me, it doesn’t count”. If you that you’re just deluding yourself
Too often though, such arguments are used by others in the attempt to define a person by one specific example in ignorance of everything else that person is.
You will always be defined by others as your relationship to them, and the actions they know you take. You will always be more complex than you’re observed to be.
I’m talking about personal interactions - online or in person - if that one specific example is the only interaction a person has with you then that’s the only information they have about you. If you don’t want to be classified as an asshole, don’t be an asshole.
There is no ghost inside you, simultaneously piloting the same meat suit you are, who suddenly takes control sometimes.
It’s you. You said those things. You may have been drunk, you may have been anonymous, but you still said them. If you’re willing to go on a racist tirade online, you’re willing to go on a racist tirade. If you’re going to make death threats anonymously, you’re going to make death threats.
Statements remain true without qualifying where, or how. Because you still did a thing, regardless.
Do you say the same about those who role-play in video games? Even if I set out with the intent of being someone else in a RPG, I find myself eventually reflecting my own behavior. It’s hard for me to relate to those who can do a ‘complete asshole’ playthrough. Are these people closet psychopaths?
An actor literally says the lines they say, but they are playing a character, those words are not their own. Acting, improv, playing pretend, roleplay, there are plenty of ways for healthy adults to take a role and be a person other than themselves.
Online interactions can do the same thing. Some people choose to be someone else on the internet and that is fine.
The screenshotted comment is from audreyii-fic, someone who chose to represent herself by what is (presumably) her own name. That perspective is very different from the sort of person who would choose to be someone else online.
An actor literally says the lines they say, but they are playing a character,
Yeah and everyone knows it’s a play. With actors and an audience. Kinda different.
Despite what Shakespeare said, online isn’t a play. Neither is RL. You can still put on a facade or a persona. But in either case it you treat people like shit, you’re an asshole.
If you’re in a role play forum and you role play as an asshole, you are correct. If you are on the internet, for example Twitter, and you act like an asshole, it’s because you’re an asshole. Hope that clears up the difference between context.
You had to know while you were typing that how full of shit that response is, right? On some level, cognitively, you know you’re grasping at straws here.
No. The person choosing to “act” like a dick on the Internet is making the choice to be a dick. They don’t just happen to be a dick in their roleplay or whatever - they’re making that choice.
And it’s not some pretend space where their words and actions don’t count. Being a dick in a multiplayer video game is being a dick to a real person. Being a dick on a forum about a game or show you don’t like is being a dick to real people who play and make those things. You don’t get to copout and say “it’s just a character” when it’s affecting real people. That is your impact on the world. Take some damn responsibility for it.
Also, Audrey II is from Little Shop of Horrors. Check it out if you haven’t. It’s a good flick.
There is a distinction between real life and online. Psudonimously posting under a screen name is very different from making real life statements as yourself.
If you chose to be yourself online that is your choice. You can be someone else on the internet. You can choose to be an asshole on ocasion, that’s kind of the entire premise of trolling.
“Yourself” is the totality of everything you do. You don’t get to do stuff and then decide “No, that wasn’t me, it doesn’t count”. If you that you’re just deluding yourself
Too often though, such arguments are used by others in the attempt to define a person by one specific example in ignorance of everything else that person is.
How do you define yourself? Do you throw out the anomalies, or weight them in, or something else …?
You will always be defined by others as your relationship to them, and the actions they know you take. You will always be more complex than you’re observed to be.
You have little say in how others define you.
I’m talking about personal interactions - online or in person - if that one specific example is the only interaction a person has with you then that’s the only information they have about you. If you don’t want to be classified as an asshole, don’t be an asshole.
There is no ghost inside you, simultaneously piloting the same meat suit you are, who suddenly takes control sometimes.
It’s you. You said those things. You may have been drunk, you may have been anonymous, but you still said them. If you’re willing to go on a racist tirade online, you’re willing to go on a racist tirade. If you’re going to make death threats anonymously, you’re going to make death threats.
Statements remain true without qualifying where, or how. Because you still did a thing, regardless.
Do you say the same about those who role-play in video games? Even if I set out with the intent of being someone else in a RPG, I find myself eventually reflecting my own behavior. It’s hard for me to relate to those who can do a ‘complete asshole’ playthrough. Are these people closet psychopaths?
An actor literally says the lines they say, but they are playing a character, those words are not their own. Acting, improv, playing pretend, roleplay, there are plenty of ways for healthy adults to take a role and be a person other than themselves.
Online interactions can do the same thing. Some people choose to be someone else on the internet and that is fine.
The screenshotted comment is from audreyii-fic, someone who chose to represent herself by what is (presumably) her own name. That perspective is very different from the sort of person who would choose to be someone else online.
Yeah and everyone knows it’s a play. With actors and an audience. Kinda different.
Despite what Shakespeare said, online isn’t a play. Neither is RL. You can still put on a facade or a persona. But in either case it you treat people like shit, you’re an asshole.
Be an actor, sure, but an actor isn’t ‘being someone else’ - they’re acting - they’re **pretending ** to be someone else. It is different.
It is different mainly because everyone knows it if they’re in the play or watching it.
If you’re in a role play forum and you role play as an asshole, you are correct. If you are on the internet, for example Twitter, and you act like an asshole, it’s because you’re an asshole. Hope that clears up the difference between context.
You had to know while you were typing that how full of shit that response is, right? On some level, cognitively, you know you’re grasping at straws here.
No. The person choosing to “act” like a dick on the Internet is making the choice to be a dick. They don’t just happen to be a dick in their roleplay or whatever - they’re making that choice.
And it’s not some pretend space where their words and actions don’t count. Being a dick in a multiplayer video game is being a dick to a real person. Being a dick on a forum about a game or show you don’t like is being a dick to real people who play and make those things. You don’t get to copout and say “it’s just a character” when it’s affecting real people. That is your impact on the world. Take some damn responsibility for it.
Also, Audrey II is from Little Shop of Horrors. Check it out if you haven’t. It’s a good flick.
Well said