mostly to the fact that there is no emotional tie to Kevin.
Those of us that have exposed a great deal of ourselves online during
times of grief and mourning appreciate the risk involved as well as
the surprising benefits.
http://humanjourney.org/logdisplay.asp?POSTID=171 is just one example
of real betrayal where emotional involvement jeapordizes the
connectedness we are capable of in online communities.
Had Keven established himself in the videoblogging community and then
posted this, I think the responses would have been far more polarized.
--- In videoblogging@yahoogroups.com, "Heath" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> I feel a bit weird commenting on this since I did not get to see the
> video in question until after I had read it was not
> true.......Looking at it after the fact I have no emotional response
> to the video itself.......
>
> BUT I do to the overall idea of it......I thought it was done in
> poor taste and it is personal for me......with every stunt like
> this, and I do call it a stunt, it cheapens those who put very REAL
> emotion into there vlogs or posts.....I know for me the 'A soldiers
> Thank you" I did was VERY hard for me to do and I almost didn't post
> it. It may not seem like a big deal to some but for me it was. It
> was my real feelings and emotion. Most of my stuff is just goof, I
> know that but that was me at my core level. When you play with
> people's empathy you are slowing destroying the very thing that
> makes us human.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> --- In videoblogging@yahoogroups.com, "Stephanie Bryant"
> <mortaine@> wrote:
> >
> > Jen, thank you for chiming in NOW and not letting the "fascinating"
> > discussion go on.
> >
> > We've had this conversation on this list before, last year when a
> > vlogger faked having his kids taken away for something in his vlog.
> > Now, as then, and as with every other fake emotional manipulation
> in
> > the blogosphere, I am not amused by it.
> >
> > There is an assumed "contract" between the blogger and the audience
> > that what's there is in some way or another real. This is
> especially
> > true in video, which is easy to manipulate but seems so real.
> >
> > When a blog is fiction, it's best to identify it as such.
> Somewhere,
> > somehow, even if it's subtle.
> >
> > More importantly is when a blog blurs the line between fiction and
> > non-fiction. For instance, when Kevin uses his real name but vlogs
> his
> > fake death. That's.... not right, somehow.
> >
> > You are fascinated by the reactions because you were not
> manipulated.
> > Kevin is your student and you know he's okay.
> >
> > I have stopped counting the number of times someone I "know" online
> > (or someone they know and they forward the information) has:
> > 1) Died unexpectedly
> > 2) Contracted a terrible illness
> > 3) Needed financial assistance for an abused pet
> > 4) Been abused
> > 5) Had a pregnancy/baby
> >
> > All of which, it turned out, never happened.
> >
> > What seems to happen is this:
> > 1) The person posts some announcement of the terrible thing,
> either as
> > themselves or using an assumed identity. Various facts and "proof"
> are
> > offered.
> > 2) The audience or community responds with a show of emotional
> > support, grief, concern, and/or money or cards.
> > 3) One or two people in the community respond with "Um.... this
> doesn't add up."
> > 4) The rest of the community attacks the skeptic, often viciously.
> > [Fortunately this didn't happen here, which is a real testament to
> the
> > caliber of the vlogging community.]
> > 5) The truth is revealed, the person never existed, the death was a
> > hoax, there was no baby, etc. Jen, thank you for making this step
> > happen VERY quickly-- the longer the suspense goes on, the worse it
> > gets. Hopefully nobody had the opportunity to lose sleep over this.
> > 6) The rest of the community splits between "You should be ashamed
> for
> > manipulating us!" and "you should all be ashamed for attacking the
> > skeptic!" (even though they did nothing to defend the skeptic,
> > either).
> > 7) [Optional] The perpetrator tries to defend himself/herself
> with "It
> > was a joke," or "It was an experiment." My favorite is "it was an
> > experiment" because it's a completely unethical method of human
> > experimentation, and really obviously a cop-out from the backlash
> > against manipulating people.
> > 8) Next time, all those people will be more skeptical of "OMG, he's
> > DEAD!" posts. Eventually, we will all be too jaded and skeptical to
> > continue to see each other as real human beings. Then, we'll fake
> our
> > own deaths/illnesses/pregnancies, because it doesn't really matter
> if
> > we hurt a couple hundred people-- they weren't real anyway.
> >
> > Now, obviously these don't all relate to this particular case. But
> one
> > might ask: has Kevin never been in an online community before?
> Does he
> > not know about this kind of BS and how little it's appreciated or
> > tolerated on the net? And are we seriously still "exploring" this
> as
> > if it were somehow new? This isn't new-- people have been pulling
> this
> > crap since the first time two modems resolved their connection.
> >
> > --Stephanie
> > [I've decided nobody online actually dies, because every time it
> > happens, it's a stupid f'ing joke.]
> >
> > On 4/24/06, Jen Simmons <jen@> wrote:
> > > I'm wondering whether to chime in now, or wait and watch this
> > > discussion go for a while more. I find it fascinating.
> > >
> > > Kevin is fine and well. Probably tired and overwhelmed since
> it's the
> > > end of the semester, but he's otherwise perfectly fine. I just
> saw him
> > > this afternoon in class.
> >
> > --
> > Stephanie Bryant
> > mortaine@
> > Blogs, vlogs, and audioblogs at:
> > http://www.mortaine.com/blogs
> >
>
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