Is Heat Guard a Good Idea?

In today's Contemporary Moral Issues class, I had an opportunity to listen to the group Heat Guard present. Their presentation raised the moral issue of people dying in hot and cold cars. According to their presentation 9,000 people, a year are injured, and an average of about 40 children die each year from being left in cars with extreme temperature. This is largely due to the fact children’s ability to sweat is not fully developed, which causes children heat up 3 to 5 times faster than an adult. This has led to 19 states having unattended child laws to protect the children.

Heat Guard's solution to this problem is installing a facial recognition software into their cars to allow them to detect if anyone is left in the car at extreme temperatures. The car would then contact the police or turn on the car's cooling/heating system. The car would require a different type of battery to be installed in the car that should only cost about $150.

This presentation was very well researched. There was virtually no question you could ask them that they hadn’t researched to find the answer of. They even decided to research to see if there had been any patents covering this design but were only able to find designs based on weight and seat belt sensors, which they described as unreliable.

However, I do find an issue with spending this much money to protect the children. If we take the estimated amount of cost given during their presentation which was $150 and multiply it by the number of cars sold in 2016, which was 17.6 million we get 2,640,000,000 or 2.64 billion. This large number is the amount that will be spent every year on preventing an average of 40 deaths. If you wanted to look at things as objectively as possible this idea would only save 1 child for every 66 million dollars spent. While it may seem heartless to view this as purely an idea of money that is what most things come down to. I see this as for every dollar spent on funding this idea is a dollar that isn’t spent fighting this same problem in a more effective way. Not to mention all cars would not be equipped with this until 15 years later when the average of the lifespan of a car ends. This means that all children’s deaths from overheating will not be stopped until we spend 39.6 billion dollars, plus 2.64 billion a year to maintain this number. While you could argue that this cost will go down over time I do not see this being possible unless they integrate it into the software of a car without adding any hardware. But even then, I still don’t know if I’d be convinced.  This is because some people would buy this product with the full intention of leaving their child in the car or at least be more likely to since the car turns on the heating/ cooling system when needed. This neglect could become the new social norm, which would be very dangerous.

I know that being left in a car is a serious issue to allot, but this seems to cost too much for the consumer when you look at the actual effect. To me, this issue seems neglectful when you look at the other problems we could be dealing with. While this may seem harsh, but I would argue that 150 people die each year from falling coconuts, and we’re not getting rid of coconuts.

Overall, I did enjoy their presentation. It was very informative and well put together. You could tell the group worked very hard, and each one of them sounded like they know what they were talking about. Hopefully, they are able to find a solution that only changes the car's software, and promotes people not leaving children in the car.

Catfish, Salmon, Infomercials,and an Emotional Message.

Are you actively looking to be manipulated into believing you're dating someone way out of your league? Then do we have the thing for you! Welcome to the 21st Century! A time where deception is  still crazy easy just like adding your voice to Emails!

Yes! We said it, Deception easily accessible right from the comforts of your house!

Hey you, my name is Brooklyn, founder and CEO of DeceptorsMeet.org and Fishers.com (where seeking attention is made easy!). I was so tired of talking to people who were not giving me the betrayal I wanted, and, god, even needed! So I made the website Salmon.com. Give us your information and what kinda experience you're looking for, then wait! In two-three business days you'll be given a list of deceivers or deceived waiting for a match!

Let me show you a testimony from a man named Nev. Our average Joe, Nev, is a photographer located in New York, New York.  Nev was looking for a girl to actively pretend to be someone she is not.

Nev The Photographer

Nev didn't have the right techniques and failed at finding a Salmon to call his.

Failed miserably. 

Then he saw our commercial! We made finding his fish in the sea much easier!

Soon, he had an online encounter with a woman named Megan through her mother Angela. Angela has a daughter named Abby who paints. Abby recreates photos of Nev's into paintings. Angel and Megan's voices were way similar and Nev was weirdly never able to talk to his fan, Abby. Suspicious a.k.a PERFECT! 

With so many dating sites, social media platforms, constant access to the internet, it's so hard to confirm one has an exciting deception on their hands! With our help we can make that easy peasy salmon squeezie! God, our websites easy to use features will

make trying to blend your cabbage look like nuclear physics! 

But that's not all! Remember our handsome Nev? You've been Salmoned! That is not Nev, haha, oh no, That's our pal Keith. My company is based off family traditions and mottos passed down from generation to generation.  My family bonds over deception, so there is nothing I love more than tricking my clients! I want you to feel like we care about you like family! 

 "Salmon.com, Life is Hard

Don't make getting deceived just as hard!"

But anyway..

 You might be thinking, wow, this has nothing to do with Catfish. Oh, yes it does my friend.  It's so easy to be cat-fished nowadays that you might as well be purposefully searching for it when you online date! With Tinder, Grindr, Facebook, OkCupid!, Instagram,and.  Snapchat, it's hard to keep up with the real and the fake. With technology taking over more and more of our lives we must maintain the ability to separate reality from fantasy, to maintain the ability to realize something is, no pun-intended, fishy, and to be able to stay strong when betrayed/ghosted. But, honestly, what seems like the most beneficial way to meet someone and connect is to meet in real life. What if we all just put away our phones while waiting in line at Starbucks, took our ear phones out while on the bus, or went to the store to buy those rolls of toilet paper instead of using Amazon Prime and interacted with the strangers around you? Social media makes us feel more connected but sadly we are the most isolated. And when this isolation engulfs our entire life, we tend to forget who we really are. What did we like doing before technology became a necessity? Where is the excitement from slowing learning qualities about someone by talking, not creeping on Facebook? What is it like to hug your friend and feel the warmth of someone instead of liking a picture on Instagram off your tiny, cold phone? Maybe  it's best to do the majority of our meeting offline. 

You youngsters will still do it, so unlike the 17 states that teach abstinence, I'll teach you about safety. 

Final Project - AccessHealth

AccessHealth is a personalizable healthcare app that will allow users to maintain past/existing health care needs with their provider network, prevent future medical emergencies, and provide a safe place for storing medical records. Using AccessHealth, understanding one’s own health care becomes easier, cheaper, and more timely. 

Group: Brigid Lockard, Shane Talley, and Kelsey Morrisson

Presentation: Powerpoint here

App: App download instructions and preview here

Catfish

The Documentary Catfish is supposed to be about a man named Nev and his friendship with a little girl named Abby. Nev had a photograph featured in the New York Sun and later receives a painting of his photograph from Abby. Nev begins sending her pictures to paint and she sends back paintings of his pictures. This is the beginning of his interaction with her, but then they begin to speak to each other over Facebook. Then Nev begins to message the rest of Abby's family, like her mother, Angela, and her sister, Megan. Nev and Megan really hit it off and begin texting. He seems really invested in their relationship. The conversations that they have are very believable, it had me hooked from the beginning.

Nev, after staying in contact with the family for eight months, becomes unsure of the family. While messaging Megan on Facebook, she says that she will sing any song that he requests and she does, but when Nev goes to look up the song she sang, he finds a video of someone singing it that sounds just like her. He then listens to more of her songs and finds that the songs are not hers and that she didn't even sing them. Then he begins to wonder if Megan even exists and jokes that he could have been speaking to an man the whole time. 

When Nev sees fault in Megan's story, he begins to question Abby and the rest of her family. He then googles Abby and her gallery and finds that she doesn't have a gallery and couldn't even find information on Abby and her art work. He then gets a call from Angela, Abby's mom, and she tells him that Abby had a gallery opening and that it went well, which is a lie. 

At this point, Nev is determined to find the truth, so he makes a trip to Michigan. When he arrives, he discovers that all he knows about Megan is false, that Abby does paint, but not as often as he assumed, and that Angela is behind all of this. Angela was messaging Nev as Megan and was painting all of the art that was thought to be Abby's. 

When this is revealed, Nev looked so hurt. He had invested nine months of his life to this family and was lied to the whole time. I even found myself believing in her lies in the beginning and felt as if I had been betrayed by her. What Angela did to Nev I found very wrong and there was no point. 

catfish

Last week we watched catfish the movie which is a documentary about Nev Shulman and his relationship with someone who catfishes him. While I had seen the show, and was familiar with what happened in the movie it made me realize how far people are willing to go to seek out friendship when they have the opportunity. The women who cat fished him had multiple account to trick Nev into believing that the girl he was talking to was real. She had created a city of people friends and family who knew this girl and her family that she had loosely used to represent her family. Angela (the lady catfishing Nev) had originally sent Nev a painting of one of his photos claiming her young daughter Abby painted it sparking Nev’s interest in this family. Nev eventually comes into contact with “Angela’s daughter” and talk for several months as Nev becomes interested in her and thinks about meeting her to see if the spark is there in person. However, as they become more interested in the family Nev and his brother notice some inconsistencies that Angela’s daughter Abby does not really own an art studio and it seems that the other daughter doesn’t own a ranch. Nev decides he wants the truth so him, his brother and a film buddy all travel out to where they live to find out what happened. As I watched the truth unravel Angela reminded me of the first how we watched about the lady who talks to the computer because she lost her husband. Angela obviously was not happy with her life so she made an online world she could escape to and to talk to people (Nev) who weren’t a part of her real life. This made me realize how much people rely on technology now that they think to hide behind a computer screen to make friends and talk to people online with someone else’s face. This movie sparked Nev to make a show of his own helping people to find the people online they are talking to and find out if they are being cat fished. It shows how common that situation is where you talk online with someone hundreds of miles away trying to connect with people on a deeper level than you do in real life which is ironic because you have never met the person face to face.

HydroCoil Final Group Project

Hydrocoil's mission is to facilitate the global transition to renewable energy. By introducing a new hydroelectric technology, we hope to promote a world filled with alternative energy solutions. As we address environmental energy challenges through new and progressing technology solutions, join us in our vision of a world free from fossil fuels.

The goal of Hydrocoil, and our company, in general,is to develop an environmentally-friendly and financially affordable alternative energy device. By harnessing the power from an ocean's waves, which are accessible to over half the globe, we can provide energy to areas that were previously lacking in infrastructure regarding energy production. A significant portion of the world's impoverished nations are located near the sea, and the Hydrocoil allows these countries the ability to establish a reliable long-lasting energy base.

Group members:
Connor Meeks
Jackson Brumfield
Avyon Bess
Kenya Withers
Rosa Castillo

Link to the website:
https://castillo21998.wixsite.com/hydrocoil

Link to the powerpoint:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1x4vqX-BT_613j8NDEGUH3PRmi4__wzQo

Heat Guard Final Presentation

Heat Guard Final Presentation 

By: Robert Feldmayer, Timothy Lawson, Ashley Hammond, Henry Liu and Joshua Posey

     Our project's objective was to design a car seat with built in sensors and Bluetooth technology to alert parents or bystanders in order to prevent forgetfulness, neglect, or tragedy with children. Our future plans with the technology would involve a fully integrated sensor system built into the car, in the hopes of preventing pets and children who are not in car seats from suffering as a result of being unable to escape the extreme temperatures. In the end, safety is our priority and ultimately every life saved is a blessing.

Power Point:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1qqtPtxDxcJ_cEa5LbM9ENzFmY01PDKvziL7rER2wRYo/edit#slide=id.g35f391192_00

Website:

https://hliu21.wixsite.com/heatguard

White Bear

After watching the episode entitled, White Bear, in the Netflix series Black Mirror, I was left confused and also a little bit frightened. In the beginning, I thought that the main character, Victoria, was locked away in an asylum because she had tried to kill herself. The house was designed to look like it was an everyday setting with pictures of what I assumed was her daughter and husband. What confused me was how neat and tidy the house was. I thought that if she had been living there because of mental problems that the house would look a little messier and that she would have someone living with her and helping her stay on schedule.

As the episode went on, I started questioning the plot of the episode. I found it strange that people were allowed to video her and not say anything to her, it made me feel like she was in an experiment for the asylum; however, when the crazy people starting approaching her with guns and what looked like a meat cutter, I was instantly drawn in. I wanted to learn more about why these people were chasing her and what the importance of shutting off the transmitters were. It made me question the trust and loyalty that she put in to these people who she thought were "helping her."

When the episode is explained at the end, I was caught completely by surprise for two reasons. The first being why would they torture someone like this on a daily basis by making her not only relive this nightmare every day, but performing electroshock to make her forget all that she knows. The second reason I was shocked was because of the crime. It was never revealed if she and her fiancé couldn't have a child together or why they kidnapped her. It left me wondering did the parents of the little girl ask for the most brutal consequence be that she lives her life through  this experience. Overall, I really enjoyed the episode and thought it was very well thought out.

Turn The Page - Group 2 Final Project

Turn The Page Website
Turn The Page PowerPoint

Group Members
Emily Sneed
Yagweb Alkabsh
Eliza Sledge
Trejan Caradine
Skylar Harbin

Description 
 The main goal of Turn the Page is to provide affordable and accessible college course materials (including books, study materials, and tutoring) to all students. While our main goal is affordability and accessibility for everyone, we want to target vastly unrepresented students. The main three groups we came up with for this project are International and DACA students (DREAMers), and visually and audibly impaired students (those using or wishing to learn to use ASL and/or Braille.)
Turn the Page would act as a virtual “library” with which users can search our database for the e-books they need for college courses.  Along with course books, we will have an archive of useful course materials specific to each major. Another benefit from the membership would be online tutoring.  Blind or visually impaired students will be greeted by an online assistant that will be able to talk with them and remotely navigate the site for them for research. Students wishing to learn ASL and how to write in Braille will have access to introductory classes on our page.

Castfish

The documentary Catfish was very interesting. Even though I was very familiar with the show and what was going to happen it was very interesting to watch. In the beginning, you could tell how interested Nev was in Meg. He enjoyed the conversation and was intrigued to know more. However, his curiosity killed the cat. The more Nev and his friends began to dig more into Meg's life the more things no longer made sense. Their relationship was so interesting to him and his friends that they began recording the story. As their questions began to build up they had to go see for themselves. Of course, when they got there all of their assumptions were true. Of course, Meg wasn’t the young beautiful woman she portrayed herself to be. But an older woman who apparently had too much time on her hand. She had fabricated an entire life with some random person pictures and played her role perfectly. You can not say that Nev was too disappointed because he kind of knew what he was stepping into. But, there still a level of disappointment that showed on his face. Deep down he probably still hoped that the person he had been talking to was really that person. Unfortunately, that was not the case for him. Also, Meg, which turned out to be Angela, still could not tell the truth when she was confronted. She still continues to lie like the truth would not come out.

Situations like this are happening every day. Online people you can be whoever they want and the computer helps them hid who they really are. Online dating is a very risky way to date. If you think about it. People already pretend to be someone they are not in person so online is like fun and games to some people. Sure, not everyone is trying to hurt the people they come in contact but probably simply fill a void that they have. Some may be ashamed or embarrassed by themselves or their situation and need a relief. However, this is selfish to the other person who may be looking for something real. You must have your guard up online dating and for those who do not and end up in similar situations must end up hurt.

 Today, this is a situation that is very known and I am sure that people take many precautions to prevent this but for everyone else, this was just a lesson for all internet users.  

White Bear

Watching the show White Bear threw my minds through many loops trying to understand what was going on. At the beginning, I was sure that she was on some heavy drugs and they had her delusional. Then, seeing the people just stand around watching made me have flashbacks to when I was little watching scary movies with my big brothers and not understanding what was going on. Even though I knew that wasn’t the case I was still confused. Some of my questions were simply:

What is going on?

Why are they chasing her?

Why are they recording her and NOT helping her?

Why do these people have on a mask?

None of it made any sense and then as soon as I just became content with being confused a stage opened and revealed it was all a show. WHOA?

 So, everyone was in on this but the woman?

At this point, I realize that she is was not on any drugs and that these people have purposely put her through this trauma. Leaving class, I was so confused, and I just could not even explain to people what I had just watched in class. Thankfully, in the next class period, my mind was put to rest. Even though we did not finish class on Monday I was able to realize where Dr. J was going with her lesson and how it related to the film.

Even though she did assist in kidnapping the young girl and her murder and I do believe she deserves some type of punishment. However, the punishment was not acceptable. At this point, she has no idea who she is or who she was. How is she supposed to be able to accept the punishment if she is not mentally there?  It is technically not even the same person and they are just punishing he body. Also, they put her through his over and over again and have turned it into a show. Then, to make it worse people come visit it like it is a fun thing to do. I honestly do not see any this funny or amusing about this situation. All in all, that may be still physically her, but it is not mentally her and they punishment is not valid in my eyes. I was hurt watching this film and even more hurt and how you anyone could try to make sense of this.

This is not justice, and this is not fair. 

Catfish

This documentary is about Nev and a woman that he meet online and her name is Megan. This began when he received a painting from a photo. The artist is named Abby and she was around 10 years old. I don't remembered who contacted who, but Nev began talking to Abby's mom, Angela. Eventually he became Facebook friends with the whole family. He began talking to Megan and started a friendly flirtatious relationship. I'm pretty sure Nev was falling for her. Megan would sing and record songs, then send them to him. One day they investigate the songs and it turns out that she would get the recordings from YouTube. They also begin to realize all the lies that have been told by them. They surprise visit the family. Angela is hesitant to open the door. When they meet she tells them that she has uterine cancer and is going under chemotherapy. Angela doesn't know they are onto her, so she take them to meet Abby. Nev asks Abby if she paints and she's all like whaaaat? Turns our Abby isn't the one painting. They go out and take Abby to the stables, where Angela tells them that Megan is at Dawn Farms Rehab Center. After this, they go back Angela's house and she confesses that ALL the Facebook accounts were being controlled by her. They make their peace and finally Nev heads home. At the end of the documentary, it is revealed Angela doesn't have uterine Cancer and that Megan is not at Dawn Farms. Her real name is Aimee Gonzales and she has a life of her own. Angela was dissatisfied with her life. She married Vince and helps him with his two mentally disabled twins. She explains that she sacrificed her career to marry and help him. The Facebook accounts helped her come to base to what she could've been but isn't. This documentary exposes how people can trust strangers they met online. Also, how gullible they can be.

White Bear

In this episode, we watch a woman  waking up and not remembering who she is. As she wakes up, she goes downstairs being confused where she is. She begins to look at photos that are set up in the house. One photo is of her and a man and another of a little girl. She takes the photo of the little girl, thinking it's her daughter and keeps it through out her journey. She ventures out to the back and see's people from all ages recording her. She then spots a car pull up and a man come out ready to shoot her. She begins to run and ask for help, however no one acknowledges her. Until she goes to a gas station and is acknowledges by two people. They try to help her and one is shot by the man who is chasing her. The woman who helps her tells her that people are being mind controlled by a symbol that resembles a skull. She also tells her they can shut down the mind control if they reach the station that is called White Bear Park. Through out the journey they are chased by people with weapons along with the people who are recording her. The episode is more torturous than I'm making it sound. when they finally reach White Bear Park, they find all the control panels and as they are about to shut it down they are ambush by their attackers. The woman gets control of the gun and shoots at the attacker but what comes out is confetti. She is so confused and then a door opens and an audience appears. She is restrained in a chair and the host explains everything. It turns out the woman name is Victoria. Her and her fiancé kidnapped the little girl in the photo and kept her for a day, then her fiancé killed her and burned her body in the woods. Also, Victoria recorded the whole thing. Turns out everyday Victoria's memory is erased and the day begins each day. White Bear Park is an amusement park where people go and watch her get tortured. The people who helped her and the attackers are actors. That is her punishment for her crime. But does the punishment fit the crime? Some say yes and some say no. I personally am in conflict, what they did is horrible and she recorded and didn't step in. However Victoria said she was under his spell, meaning she was in a abusive relationship, because no sane human would allow that to happen, at least I hope. I also think the punishment is extra because her fiancé hanged himself in the cell, and they had to get someone to blame. Crimes like this touch people because it's an innocent child. But you also have to think about Victoria. She has a family who watches people torture her. By the looks of it, she doesn't eat and drinks one glass per day. It's recorded and shared through out the world. Isn't that cruel as well?

My Take on "Global Help"

In Mondays Contemporary Moral Issues lecture the first group decided to present their project on the importance of charities, the work they do, and the necessity for them to be verified.  The group had the idea to start a network for different charities to make it easy to decide which ones you want to donate to. In their words, they were trying to make a Linked-In for charities. This would allow people to quickly and easily choose charities even if they are extremely lazy. The overall idea was very interesting, but the group hadn’t yet come up with all the parts to make it work. For example, the group couldn’t elaborate how to verify all the charities. However, this doesn’t seem like a big issue to me. The Huffington Post published an article with five different tips to verify if a charity is trustworthy.  The most common used being contacting the Better Business Bureau. A website that would do this for you and show you all the different types of verification would prove very useful for people who donate to different charities often.

Another issue with the project came when they were listing the regions you could donate to. These regions included Mexico, India, Honduras, The United States, and Africa. I would advise against developing a network that lets you give to charities based on the region you wish to donate to.  The problem with donating to specific regions is that it alienates us from people who don’t resemble or have proximity to us. This further pushes the narrative that people from different places are “others” instead of the same as us in a geographically different place. Instead, I recommend donating based on a certain issue. For example, if you lost someone to cancer, and feel inclined to give to people with cancer, then donate to an organization that helps everyone with cancer. Or if you want to save the children, then the website would recommend Save the Children, which saves children in all different regions.

Another suggestion I would give to them is to make their users accounts linked to an amazon account. Kind of like when you’re signing into another website and it asks you if you would like to sign in with google. This would save the user the extra step of making an account, also amazon would most likely do this because it would further integrate their business into other platforms, as well as make them look good in the public eye.

I would’ve also like to see a tab with different volunteering opportunities for charities in your area. It is important not just to give but to volunteer because it reminds us that the money we give is used to solve real problems. If we mindlessly give money then we run the risk of losing interest in helping people because we won’t see the effect our money has on the world. 

White Bear Justice (I want to indirectly torture a woman) Park, a Fantastic Bonding Experience for the Family!

“White Bear,” an episode from the Netflix show Black Mirror,  follows the protagonists Victoria through her everyday nightmare. Victoria awakes in a chair, in pain, and without any memory of who she is or how she got there. She wanders through the neighborhood unaware of the cameras, and the people behind them, that follow. Victoria meets two characters who seem to know what’s happening and how to stop it. Victoria, in one day, experiences the fear of being hunted, abandonment by her species, paranoia, bewilderment, and betrayal. It is at the end, Victoria and the viewer learn of the truth behind White Bear Justice Park. With Victoria’s actions being known to the viewers, it is what follows that causes us to think: Is this just?

Victoria being manipulated into believing she tried to kill herself?

Victoria have no memories of who she is or what she’s done?

 Victoria being hunted like an animal?

Victoria being follow by her own species, who denies her help?

Victoria being filmed by visitors, to dehumanize her more?

Victoria finally allowed society’s truth about the crime but unable to know her truth?

Victoria tortured by the crowds of people throwing blood-like substances at her while being paraded down a valley of hate?

 

Victoria being forced to watch her recordings while being painfully shocked to lose her memories?

For this to have been at least her 18th day in a row?

Are these things just? I heard that most people believe she deserved what she got. But, this isn’t an eye for an eye. This is an eye for an eye but the eye is cyclically ripped out and surgically reattached.  The woman being punished for her crimes isn’t mentally the same as the one who actually committed the crimes, not physically, mentally, or emotionally. Victoria has been wiped of her feelings prior to White Bear Justice Park. Victoria is clearly in pain. From the physical pain of being shocked everyday, fight-or-flight triggered cortisol constantly pulsing through her veins, and  possible lack of nutrition are all reason enough to believe this should be considered torture. Add to this her emotional pain from repeatedly feeling betrayal, grief, shock, confusion, and anxiety.  To believe she deserved such pu nishment is truly, 100% inhumane.

Just:  deserved or appropriate in the circumstances.

Morality: principles concerning the distinction between right and wrong or good and bad behavior

Right: morally good, justified, or acceptable.

Wrong: an unjust, dishonest, or immoral action.

These words are how justify punishments/rewards. But, where in these definitions do our actions get described as being on one side or the other? Even with some actions belonging toward one category, how do we know to what extent a person deserves to be punished? There is not calculator. There is no definition. There are no rules to follow. These decisions are decided by society’s opinions at a point in time. Humanity is vulnerable when choosing to react rationally or emotionally, i think the biggest lesson here is: pick rationally.

Catfish

Before I begin to explain the film we watched in the class, I just want to say I can not remember their names exactly so I will try to make this as clear as I can.

There is a guy who has his own show and its called "Catfish". Catfish is basically a documentary that has the goal to bring online "couples" together so that they can meet the person that they have been having conversations with for however long they have been talking.  A lot of times the people on the show will find that they have been talking to someone who has been lying to them the whole entire time. Their photos online turn out to be stolen from another account and they used another name. There are also times where the other person is exactly who they say they are. Those times are actually very rare.

For example, someone will contact "them" and ask if they could help them find their significant other who they have never met in person. A lot of people have the thought that they are being lied to, or they feel like the person that they are talking to is really telling the truth. Of course, they tell "them" the background story of why "they" are contacting "them". "They" explain the conversations that they have, and how they feel about that person.

After figuring out what is really going in this "relationship", "he" plans to travel to wherever that person is to meet them. Fast forward - "They" get to the city of where the person supposedly lives, they make their way to the other person's residence. Sometime the outcome is pretty good, or it is terrible. For the most part the other person is not who they seem to be, and it causes a lot of anger in the other person involved in the "relationship".

In the version we watched in class, the main guy from the episode we watched in class was one possible being catfished. He was receiving paintings from a girl that were selling for a lot. Later, the older sister started to like "him". She "wrote" him songs that they soon found that matched the same exact voice and words as recordings on YouTube. They got the feelings that she was not real and they started to look closer into the relationship.

Catfish, doesn't give you a pass in my books

  I don't know if anyone else thought the same as me, but I personally thought that the documentary felt staged and or forced? I mean I see the point of it--you can't trust what's behind the screen if you can't see it, people can copy bios and save images, be wary etc etc etc, it's the talk we were all given, it's the talk we are continuously given, it's the talk that is always given, so what's new? Maybe if I had watched the documentary in the same year it came out, I would feel differently, but it feels forced. As the documentary progressed, I didn't find myself becoming invested, I just found myself with the same set of questions in mind. Why didn't he google Abby from the very moment he received the first box? I mean they said she was basically a prodigious art child that was selling paintings (some at thousands), and hosting galleries at a really young age and he didn't google her? She was like between 8-10 years old and living the successful artist dream supposedly, and that was not enough to pique his interest and lead to him searching her up? If she was real, there would be at least a handful of articles on her? Maybe this is just my way of thinking because I was raised actually knowing to be wary of what I see either in real life or online, but I personally would have looked into the person that suddenly started sending me free art, especially if she was so successful. Moreover, Abby's supposed family members all suddenly decide to add him on Facebook? As Edna says, coincidence? I think not. Isn't one of the rules to actual close online friendships that you at one point skype or facetime? I know that's kind of an idea for before you meet someone from online, but doesn't it also apply to serious online friendships? Like besides talking on the phone, face to face even via digital screen is an idea if you want to know if someone is real? But asides my questioning of the documentary realness, even though Niev was ‘catfished,’ I don’t think what he did-filming Angela, exposing her in film without asking her before he actually started filming, and the whole ‘speak to me as if you were Megan’ was right either. I get it, he was ‘hurt,’ he was caught in some complicated web of lies, he was technically manipulated, but that doesn’t give him the excuse to do what he did? Just because someone did something to you, doesn't necessarily mean you have a pass to return the favor? This is just my personal opinion, but I don't think what he did to Angela was right.