| I do not consider conversing on the threads to be radically different from conversing face to face. In either case, I interact with someone I believe to be a human being, and mostly truthful. I sympathize, I get mad, my curiosity is aroused, I laugh appreciatively, all on that basis. My relationship with Monica caused me to contact people who might not otherwise have heard of her passing in a timely manner, using addresses in one of those forwarded joke e-mails, to let them know what had happened; it caused me to get in touch with the Blue Heron Theater, on whose board she had served, to discuss "naming" possibilities, and to solicit charitable funds from a number of people; it caused me to build a trip to New York around a reception at the theater, to honor donors and announce the gifts. Etc. My relationship with JLA has led to occasional phone calls, Christmas cards, and other things. I have gone out of my way to look up things for people traveling to Washington, or to offer advice. I have sent and received photos by e- mail. I honestly do not know how to relate to a fictional character. I can assume it is a crock, and go on assuming that the persona represents the individual typing, but if I take it seriously, I loss interest, frankly. Considering things like the crap I took for not treating Chris as a complete scoundrel, it is not worth it to me if he is just a literary device. Similarly, I don't need to fight with people who are literary devices, because I am not detached, and it is not a game to me, it bothers me. And so on........ |
