This is a subject that all people online should be aware of, but unfortunately, most people don't quite understand.
What I mean by an 'online fake' is someone that makes a profile on a social networking site using someone else's pictures, and a lot of times, a whole new identity to go along with them. Recently on Twitter, fakes have become more and more prevalent. When Myspace was in all of it's glory, there were thousands of 'fakes' on there also. (There probably still are, but most people don't use Myspace anymore)
Fakes are actually easier to spot than one might think. Using the two most recent examples from Twitter, both being users with over 3,000 followers and over 10,000 followers, these were online identities that played to the emotions of thousands of teenagers.
Let's explore the first example. This user was a classic case of "I'm sick, feel sorry for me." Unfortunately, when people get attached to people they've never met, seen, or talked to in real life, they will believe anything the identity says. During his stint on Twitter, this user had several dead siblings, multiple tragedies, quite a few surgeries, about 5 different diseases, and probably 3 resurrections. After reading all of those 'disasters', you might be wondering: Who in their right mind would fall for that?
The answer: teenagers that get attached.
In fact, the people that were attached to 'him' (it actually ended up being a girl), actually attacked me for speaking my mind about 'him', which, mind you, ended up being completely correct.
The second example was actually one of my close friends. She told me after it was revealed that she was a fake, "I wanted to create a perfect world away from my real life."
Which leads me to the question from the title of this post:
Is it their fault or ours?
Knowing that most people create fakes because they're insecure, let me ask you this.
Is it their fault that their looks aren't good enough for today's society?
Is it their fault that we judge people by their looks and not by their character?
The same old story happens after these popular fakes are revealed. All of their online 'friends' and 'fans' say "I'll still be friends with you, I don't care what you look like." I know for a fact that that is complete bologna; and that statement actually makes me mad.
Realize this:
If they hadn't created a fake identity online, you never would've gotten attached to them in the first place!
You know why? Because we judge books by their covers. Because we get attached to people that are popular. Because we like feeling sorry for people. And this is what a lot of teenagers fail to understand these days.
I wish all fakes would find the courage to use their own identity online. I wish they would find people that like them for who they are and not for what they look like and not because they are supposedly dying.
If you're still reading this, I know you've heard this 1000 times, but I guess it doesn't hurt to remind you.
