In the documentary that started the show, Catfish, Yaniv goes to confront Angela and her family after discovering that she sent him false recordings of herself singing. During his visit, he learns that Megan is not real, Abby doesn't paint, and none of the people portrayed on the internet look like that in real life.
In the beginning, I was very confused and angry at Angela because of all the lies she had told. She used her 8 year old daughter as bait for Yaniv. Especially when she lied and said that she had cancer when she really didn't. That is not something anyone should ever lie about, so I did not feel bad for her in the beginning. However, as the episode progressed and she opened up about her life and how she "threw everything away" for her family, I began to feel a little sympathetic for her because I think that she felt lonely and needed a friend, which is why she reached out to Yaniv. Obviously, her approach to following and wanting to be friends with Yaniv was completely wrong, but I do believe that she wanted a genuine friendship with Yaniv and did not mean to hurt him like she did.
I believe that catfishing is not completely immoral in this sense because some people engage in these activities not intending to hurt someone, while others engage in catfishing to purposely hurt someone. I think this is the distinction between moral and immoral. Yes, some catfish stories are immoral due to the intentions and actions of the person, but I think Angela truly just wanted someone to appreciate her artwork and to be her friends and fill the hole that her past life couldn't fill anymore. I do not think that Angela was being malicious about her acts, and I think that is the main reason why Yaniv was so open to still keeping in touch with her and still being friends with her on Facebook.
I think he felt bad for her as well, especially when she started crying in the interview. Yaniv went through many different emotions during this episode. It was interesting how at the beginning, when Yaniv first found out that "Megan" was being suspicious and uploading pre-recorded songs on the internet, he was very angry and wanted to go confront her immediately. But then, when he actually got to Ishpeming, he became more timid, and when he eventually met Angela I think he began feeling bad for her when he saw what all she was going through. However, he was still quite uncomfortable by the whole situation and I believe he was sad that "Megan" was not real after he had had an semi-intimate relationship with her over the phone for nine months.
Overall, even if cathfishing is not completely immoral, I think it is still wrong to essentially lie to someone even if your intentions are not totally malicious. Even though Angela just wanted attention and wanted a friend, she went about it in the wrong way.
2 comments:
I agree that catfishing is ultimately morally wrong, but that in cases such as Angela's, it is reasonable to be sympathetic towards the catfisher for the problems in their life which led them to lie in the first place. However, Angela's actions id end up hurting Yaniv, and it is definitely sending the wrong message to her child for her to have involved her young daughter in the lie.
I agree that Nev went through a series of emotions when it came to this family. Although he was rather upset at first when he found out about the recording I believe that overall he felt sympathetic towards Angela at the end. Nev devoted a lot of time and effort into his relationship with Megan. For him to find out that the Megan he's been engaging with is only Angel is truly devastating. The thing is, he had to find out for himself. This means that if he had never drove to their house she probably would have kept up the lie for awhile.
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