No Sympathy

After watching the film Catfish we were asked the question “Do you feel sympathy for Angela?” I quickly answered no. I felt sympathy for Nev, as I’m sure everyone did. His emotions were toyed with, he had been lied to, and had been tricked into believing in another woman’s alternate reality. Angela clearly knew she was lying. There was no sense of some mental disorder that lead her to believe the world she created was actually real. That is why I feel no sympathy for you. Technology allowed her to live a life she wished she had. But instead of just playing out her life as she would have it, she decided to incorporate a real life person into her lies. I think it can be argued that any type of social media is somewhat of a facad. People appear the way they want to be seen. The user has control over which pictures they post, their thoughts they share, the events they go to publicly, etc. They choose to be seen by the public like that. They have complete control over how people perceive them. Is that a lie? I think even if social media tends to only depict the happier, cooler aspects of people, those parts aren’t necessarily not true. I think social media is good for those things especially if it promoting a personal brand. But was Angela doing that for her art? Were all of her lies just to promote her paintings? Many authors and writers went by pen names. I don’t think there is anything wrong with that kind of anonymity, but when there is an entire alternate reality created to have people believe something that is a complete lie, I believe that is wrong. I have no sympathy for Angela because she knows what she did was wrong. She admits her embarrassment. She admits how much she’s hurt Nev. Yet she continues to lie even when confronted with the truth. Now, looking from Nev’s perspective the social media world of technology has created an alternate reality as much as it did for Angela. Though he did not create the lie, he was able to participate in it. This kind of media is great to connect people if Angela’s story was true. That would be a cool story. An 8 year old paints photos a guy in New York takes, he connects with her family in Michigan, ends up dating her sister, and they all remain life long friends. I think then that would change the perspective on the morality of social media. That would be good. But Angela lied, so social media became bad. I think that the morality of social media does not depend on the outlet itself, but on the person who is using that outlet and their intentions. Just like anything, it can be used for good or for bad. Angela knowingly used it to lie her way into a life she wanted. Social media became bad for her and the people she lied to. I have no sympathy for her.