On an Internet forum such as this one, how much do you owe your fellow community members?
Once upon a time, no one on the net really cared about each other or got involved in each others lives, but with the advent of lots of people having computer Internet access and social networking sites becoming the norm... how much of a moral responsibility do you have to your fellow net-izens?
Is it okay to lie and make people believe you are someone that you are not, just to get them to care for you? For instance, if you tell a guy who is single and looking for a relationship that you are 5'6" and 125, but you are really 5'4" and more like 165, can you hope that he will just accept the person that you actually are or is this form of lying immoral and indecent? Is the general anonymity of the Internet something that gives people license to lie straight to your face? Where is the line, or is it all just gray smatter?
How about if you just need a little attention in your life, so you create a persona and fake an illness just so that people seem interested in how you are doing? Is that moral? What if you start making up all sorts of stories about who you are, making you so very interesting that people really start getting involved in your life and you realize that you are caught in so many lies that you have to do something drastic? Is it okay to fake your own death/suicide and then reinvent yourself as someone else to keep yourself involved with the community? You are obviously hurting other people who did care about you with your lies, but can you justify that by saying to yourself "Well, I'll be there to support them, since I came back after I faked my own suicide" and still sleep at night?
Is it okay to cheat on a spouse you are miserable with? What about cybersex... is that cheating? There are real people on both ends, and unless you are paying for it, someone else is vested in it as well. Unless of course, they are also lying and cheating... right?
Where do we draw the line on what we owe to one another, as these are real emotions you are treading on? Do we owe anyone our morality and respect, or has it become too easy for people to "fake it" and get all that they want out of us emotionally?
Do you think that the Internet has made us less moral, and more dishonest on a global scale? Think about how often you lie to your fellow community members. Think about how much your persona on these forums differs from the person you are in the real world. Would people you know in real life be surprised at some of the posts/opinions/threads you've started here?
Has the Internet allowed us to create a world of complete make believe where morality is all gray and you can justify even the most heinous behaviors depending on what community you get involved in? Is the global community binding us together, or making it easier for us to develop sociopaths who have little to no conscience and no real sense of how what he/she does affects the real people on the other side of the monitor?
Let's tackle the death/suicide angle first. Do you think it's okay for people to do this to a community? Why or why not?
Once upon a time, no one on the net really cared about each other or got involved in each others lives, but with the advent of lots of people having computer Internet access and social networking sites becoming the norm... how much of a moral responsibility do you have to your fellow net-izens?
Is it okay to lie and make people believe you are someone that you are not, just to get them to care for you? For instance, if you tell a guy who is single and looking for a relationship that you are 5'6" and 125, but you are really 5'4" and more like 165, can you hope that he will just accept the person that you actually are or is this form of lying immoral and indecent? Is the general anonymity of the Internet something that gives people license to lie straight to your face? Where is the line, or is it all just gray smatter?
How about if you just need a little attention in your life, so you create a persona and fake an illness just so that people seem interested in how you are doing? Is that moral? What if you start making up all sorts of stories about who you are, making you so very interesting that people really start getting involved in your life and you realize that you are caught in so many lies that you have to do something drastic? Is it okay to fake your own death/suicide and then reinvent yourself as someone else to keep yourself involved with the community? You are obviously hurting other people who did care about you with your lies, but can you justify that by saying to yourself "Well, I'll be there to support them, since I came back after I faked my own suicide" and still sleep at night?
Is it okay to cheat on a spouse you are miserable with? What about cybersex... is that cheating? There are real people on both ends, and unless you are paying for it, someone else is vested in it as well. Unless of course, they are also lying and cheating... right?
Where do we draw the line on what we owe to one another, as these are real emotions you are treading on? Do we owe anyone our morality and respect, or has it become too easy for people to "fake it" and get all that they want out of us emotionally?
Do you think that the Internet has made us less moral, and more dishonest on a global scale? Think about how often you lie to your fellow community members. Think about how much your persona on these forums differs from the person you are in the real world. Would people you know in real life be surprised at some of the posts/opinions/threads you've started here?
Has the Internet allowed us to create a world of complete make believe where morality is all gray and you can justify even the most heinous behaviors depending on what community you get involved in? Is the global community binding us together, or making it easier for us to develop sociopaths who have little to no conscience and no real sense of how what he/she does affects the real people on the other side of the monitor?
Let's tackle the death/suicide angle first. Do you think it's okay for people to do this to a community? Why or why not?