#MicroblogMondays 54: Who Are These People?
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Can we pause for a moment and discuss the website FakeaBaby.com? It was in an article about the Michigan girl who faked her triplet pregnancy for 9 months.
There isn’t much to say about the girl, but the website? Who created this website? I am aware that you can find just about anything on the Web, but all of these sites are created by human beings. Who are these human beings?
Do you ever wonder that? I think about it all the time when I’m walking through the grocery store. These strangers I’m seeing around me, one of them could be a troll online or a creator of a hurtful site or a seller of items that allow people to commit fraud. All these people who create these sites or leave hurtful comments online… they all live somewhere. They all have families or friends. They could be standing right next to you at some point today.
Do you think about those people?
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Are you also doing #MicroblogMondays? Add your link below. The list will be open until Tuesday morning. Link to the post itself, not your blog URL. (Don’t know what that means? Please read the three rules on this post to understand the difference between a permalink to a post and a blog’s main URL.) Only personal blogs can be added to the list. I will remove any posts that are connected to businesses or are sponsored posts.
| 1. | Shailaja | 14. | Traci York, Writer | 27. | Turia |
| 2. | A Separate Life | 15. | Loribeth (The Road Less Travelled) | 28. | Stephanie (Travelcraft Journal) |
| 3. | No Kidding | 16. | Isabelle | 29. | apluseffort |
| 4. | Mina | 17. | Solo Mama | 30. | Justine |
| 5. | Just Heather | 18. | Geets | 31. | deathstar |
| 6. | Naba | 19. | Laurel Regan @ Alphabet Salad | 32. | Mrs. Gamgee |
| 7. | Jessica | 20. | The love for cycling.. | 33. | articulation |
| 8. | Rajlakshmi | 21. | Mary Francis | 34. | Anks |
| 9. | the bespectacled mother | 22. | Infertile Girl | 35. | Suzy at Someday Somewhere |
| 10. | No Baby Ruth | 23. | One and Done? | 36. | Vinitha |
| 11. | Middle Girl | 24. | My Path To Mommyhood (Jess) | 37. | Suzy |
| 12. | Lori Lavender Luz | 25. | Good Families Do | ||
| 13. | Cristy | 26. | Geochick |
31 comments
I know exactly what you mean. How do people reconcile their online and offline personae this way? Plus I think I live under a rock. I hadn’t even heard of that website!
No, to be honest. I mean, yes I am disgusted, but I don’t think about these people at the grocery store. I don’t want to waste my energy or emotions on these people. If I was going to think about random people at the grocery store, I’d rather think that the person next to might be an amazing blogger, or an inspiring teacher, or a volunteer for a pregnancy loss group or to resettle new refugees.
I think these are very sick people, who have a pathological need for attention. Or people who have lost their moral compass. This kind of people and the trolls found writing hurtful things on sites commemorating dead persons represent a very, very damaged part of humanity.
Oh yes, I sure do…I wonder what they get by doing it…And it’s not only about people on social media or the internet, some people are hurtful and obnoxious in real life as well and have no qualms about it too!
I know all about trolls in real life, they come at me as hard as they do online.
I tend to believe that most trolls online are having a hard time in their “real” lives and create an online personality to escape or perhaps to dish out what they are already receiving. That’s hardly an excuse, but it’s what I’ve gleaned from watching Catfish on MTV (so clearly very scientific research). Yes, there are some sociopaths in the world, but I think most “mean” people are hurting. Or so I like to think.
I do. I do think about those people who troll people on social media, who pull out swords (physical and virtual) against anybody with whom they do not agree. Can these people sleep at night? They might be, with help from alcohol, pills, drugs and what not.
Yes, in the same way that (now) I wonder if the person in front of me in the check out line buying cheeze-its and lemon-lime gatorade is the next random bomber or the next person who will splay shots in a movie theater or some such public place.
When the Ashley Madison thing came out, and I was made aware of that website and what it actually was for, I thought that exact same thing…Who are these people who created it, and who are these people that use it, from the cheating spouses to those that offer themselves up as the “bait” so to speak.
I have never heard about fake a baby before…and just wow. While I know you can find out anything online…sites like these I just wish I didn’t know about. It’s just depressing.
No. Like Mali and No Baby Ruth said, I don’t think about these people and if I do, I tend to view them as struggling to exist in reality. It’s very sad, really.
Okay, this is funny timing – on my blog today, I posted a link to my very first blog entry that I wrote as a fictional person for a local newspaper. It was a completely different situation (the editor knew my real name, and the reasons I wrote quasi-fictional posts), but what a co-inky-dink! *grin*
And I do think about trolls – more often than I should, probably. I struggle to find the fine line between awareness and angst.
I do wonder what these people are thinking, what got into their heads, etc. But I try not to think about them too much. They don’t deserve the attention they get, IMHO, and I don’t want them taking up space in my head.
I do wonder who these people are, but not necessarily when I am walking around on the street or going to a grocery stores. Now you said it, they could be anywhere.
Yes, I wonder this sort of thing ALL the time! I look at people walking past me on the sidewalks or in the grocery store, and I wonder who they are, what their story is, what they’ve done good (and bad) in this life.
As for that fake a pregnancy website? Ugh. It makes my stomach churn that there is a market for this, let alone someone who took the time to create it!
I’ve never really thought about it, but I think I probably will now! I think we all forget sometimes that the people behind the scenes are real.
I cannot bear to think about the in humanities that are peddled on the Internet. I was ‘trolled’ just once on Twitter, and I remember I did respond using compassion and irony in equal measure – then blocked the person so I didn’t have to engage.
As for the ‘fake baby’ website, I’m afraid wherever there is a market, no matter how cynical,or sick, someone will try to make money.
Richard Rohr, Franciscan priest who has had a huge impact on my life, teaches, “Critique the bad, by doing the better!” And that is what you’re doing, Mel, this life-affirming blog epitomises all that is GOOD on the web. THANK YOU!
I’m so disgusted that someone would come up with a website like that. Every so often on some of the military yard sale sites (though I am sure you can find them elsewhere) you can find people selling pregnancy tests which is just the most vile thing I can think of. I just don’t understand what goes on in some people’s heads I guess!
Ugh, ugh, ugh. The thing about the internet is that it creates a home for all sorts of hurtful people, and there is always a place for you to receive reassurance that you are doing the right, not the despicable, thing. My ex-husband became a part of a forum website called Surviving Infidelity, which was basically a place for serial cheaters to whine about how they weren’t being forgiven and they loved their spouses SO MUCH, never mind that the only reason they were on that forum was because they got caught. These people are everywhere, the ones who do awful things and have whole websites to cater to them. You just never know who they are, but chances are you do know someone (just hopefully not very well). Ugh. And I agree with Mary Francis, this website is like the antidote to all that ugly.
I have heard of this site, only because I saw the same FB article as you. How sad is what I really thought. And I have thought about these sorts of people from time to time.
Now that you mention it, I really don’t think about these people as being real people, in line near me at the grocery store. They are abstracts, sad people you see on the news, but not real people. You’re telling me these are actual people, not caricatures created by, oh, who knows?
I clicked to Daily Dot but will not to FAB.com.
Related article: http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2015/09/02/a_teen_girl_in_michigan_is_caught_faking_a_pregnancy_with_fakeababy_com.html
Wow. I had never heard of that website before. But it doesn’t surprise me. There are so many good things on the Internet, and so much darkness as well.
I really don’t think about online trolls or people who create websites like that very much. If they were trolling me, however, it would be a different story. Then I’m sure I’d be wondering if the people around me were part of it. I am so glad I grew up before cyberbullying was a thing.
Hadn’t heard about that website. So gross.
Anyway, I do wonder about people who say hurtful things online, but also the ones who do more innocuous things. Who makes all those GIFs from tv shows or writes the captions on calmingmanatee.com or those silly responses to Reddit threads that I see screenshots of later on Pinterest?
Living under a rock here, too. I wonder about people in the grocery store all the time, but oddly enough, I never connect them in my head to an online persona. I usually wonder what their lives are like more generally. Now that you’ve brought it up, maybe I’ll consider that dimension next time, too.
I wonder about them too. Are they proud of what they have contributed to our society? Do they recognize the damage they have perpetrated? I wonder if their parents, grandparents, mentors, know what they do to make money.
Not about these people on the Internet, but the people who are around me… who fade into the scenery for me but are watching me all the time… the security guards of the neighbouring building, the hawker who has a permanent stall on the pavement right outside, the cleaners who hand around our complex, the auto drivers waiting for the morning fares! These people know so much about us it is not funny… I even blogged about it once…
I’ve never really thought about that. You’ve given me something to ponder over.
I’ve been thinking about Facebook and what it is that makes us interact with people the way we do there. Yesterday, someone who has never once interacted with me on Facebook wrote a rude comment in response to an article I posted. And I saw a friend-of-a-friend respond to an article with “oh please” – would they talk to us this way in real life? I don’t think so.
I think about this sometimes too. I don’t think I will ever understand how someone can do these type of things.
When I’m traveling I wonder sometimes about the people around me when I stop somewhere and I wonder what their life story is. I wonder if anyone wonders about mine?
I’ve seen some of those people on Dr. Phil. You know, the scams where some poor woman or man finds out the love of his life is some overweight woman in her late 30s who was just lonely and killing time on the internet. Usually they’re quite eloquent, but deluded human beings who feel they aren’t doing anything particularly wrong.
No, I haven’t thought about it yet. But it isn’t difficult for me to accept that these people live among us. I see extremely sarcastic people who don’t even bother to stop to know if they are hurting others by their words. Such people with the weird sense of humor are everywhere, every where!