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Politics : Sharks in the Septic Tank -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: J. C. Dithers who wrote (47946)	5/18/2002 2:44:31 PM
From: The Philosopher	Respond to of 82486

I'm just raising questions and not giving answers. And excellent questions they are. At the heart of what goes on here. To some people this is a play area. To others, apparently, the friendships they make here are closer and more important to them than the friendships they make in real life. There are many potential reasons for this, but he phenomenon has been noted in such other venues as cruises ships, where people come together with no knowledge of each others' backgrounds other than what the other person says about themselves, where there are no histories, and where there appears to be safety because at the end all go back to their "real" lives. On airplane trips I often have people spilling the most intimate details of their lives to me because it appears such a safe, anonymous environment. The intenet has some of these same characteristics, in some ways even more so because it lacks the physical, look-them-in-the-eye aspects. It is, perhaps, more like the confessional. There is still much we need to learn about this environment and how different people react to it.

To: J. C. Dithers who wrote (47946)	5/18/2002 9:17:13 PM
From: The Philosopher	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 82486

I was thinking about this as I was mowing the lawn this afternoon. I realized that I needed to re-read "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty," which I have barely thought about since my school days. Found it at all-story.com And realized as I read that all of us here on SI -- well, offhand I can think of two exceptions, so let's say almost all -- are Walter Mittys of the keyboard. Consider. If E were at a dinner party with her friends, do you think there is any chance that she would say, loudly enough to be heard by all present, "I have a great idea for what you should do with it! First roll it up tightly, and then get back to me for further instructions!" Impossible. In real life, she is at least somewhat of a lady. Not in a thousand years would she say such a thing in the actual company of friends. But here in the private anonymity of SI she is free to let her Mittyish side cut loose. And cut loose it does. And take jla. Here on SI his persona is a caricature of the sarcastic, biting, insulting, totally obnoxious a**hole. If he said in court, or in a pleading, anything even remotely as hostile or vicious as his milder posts here, he would be fortunate to escape with a mere reprimand from the court. In fact, since he is, I understand, a transactional lawyer rather than a litigator, in real life he's likely a mild fellow, probably slight of build and wearing horn rimmed glasses, polished cordovan loafers, and a camels hair topcoat . But here on SI he is The Commander! All the things he wishes he had the guts to say in real life but doesn't come spilling out. He is free to be as sarcastic, as biting here as he dare not or cannot be in his real life. X has openly admitted that for a time she created a completely false persona, her own Mitty creation, as far from who she really is as it was possible for her to make it (And she did it quite successfully -- there are still people who wonder which persona is the real and which is the pretend!) And in my own case -- would X and I have dared exchange the thoughts we exchanged -- in public yet -- on Beltane as Arteeste and canvas if we and our spouses had been going to meet and say hi at the PTA meeting the next week? Not a prayer. But freed of the contstraints of real life accountability for what we wrote, we entered a fantasy world which was eminently enjoyable and far beyond any bounds either of would have considered approaching, let alone crossing, in our real lives. Walter Mittys all.