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

To: Solon who wrote (57544)	9/11/2002 8:49:02 AM
From: epicure	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 82486

Maybe you will just have to realize you do not know me at all. You have an image of me that is your own fantasy. That is my opinion of what you think. I know I have these images of people here, you think your images are real, I don't think mine or yours are real. That doesn't mean there aren't real people somewhere- a point you seem not to be able to understand. It simply means I don't treat a bunch of words on a page with the equality of a person. Don't expect me to be what you think I am. I am pretty sure I am not. Of course if you demonize me I won't be that either. Face it, you don't have all the facts. You can leap to conclusions, or crawl there at a snail's pace, but the end result won't be any more accurate. (IMO) And if I may add "Ch is the only real person" is just nutty. He isn't any more real than anyone else. I don't know where you get these ideas. I really don't. The Whacky Idea store?

To: Solon who wrote (57544)	9/11/2002 10:54:15 AM
From: J. C. Dithers	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 82486

Your screeching that one of the least dangerous people in the world was instead one of the most dangerous... The point was that the most dangerous people on chat lines are those who cross the "on-line line" -- the line being where chat line play ends and the real world begins. Mixing up chat line personas with real 3d people can be truly dangerous, as in chat line flirtations that end up in 3d motels, which is even worse where under-age persons are involved. Some of these instances have culminated in 3d murder. No true harm can come from words spoken by one chat line persona to another. The potential for harm, of any kind or degree, begins when any chat line persona threatens to take the chatting into the real world. Additional thoughts on chat line anonymity versus real life: Anonymity is one of the elements that attracts people to on-line chat sessions on the Internet. Yes, people come to talk to other people, to socialize -- this is the electronic water hole, the corner pub. But at the same time, the Internet chat environment allows them to reveal as little or as much about themselves as they choose. They can "be themselves" -- with or without their actual name. Or they can build a separate and completely fictitious persona for themselves, which they elaborate over time. Or they can select new and different "handles" when they come back again -- either to start afresh or to have the fun of trying on different identities, like trying on new clothes or new hair colors or new cosmetics. It's human nature to use anonymity, role play, and make-believe to create a liberating and fun party atmosphere. This can be your masquerade party, your electronic Mardi Gras. Reasonable assurance that you can, if you choose, remain anonymous is intoxicating, removing social inhibitions. It's also a way of revealing yourself to yourself -- what are you willing to say and do when no one you know will ever know about it? And like a social drinking environment, once you enter the party, there's social pressure to join in the fun -- to let go and depart from your normal behavior and normal expectations of yourself -- to the same degree as others there. samizdat.com Like it or not, deny it or not, chat lines belong in the venue of games, not real life. Some people play dirty when they play games. When someone plays dirty, you quit the game if you don't like it. You have not been placed in any danger so long as your anonymity has been preserved. No one has any way to breach your anonymity unless you provide the means yourself. If you do that, you have crossed the on-line line and you bear responsibility for the consequences. Those persons who cross the line are the dangerous ones on chat lines.