The Virtual Friend

Not too long ago many of my personal friends moved to so-called "greener pastures", leaving me to converse with them in a virtual sense. While this is certainly a change, I've found that although speaking through the net, actual conversations still happen, the passage of ideas still occurs. Perhaps the conversation is enhanced, because of the cornucopia of information that is instantly accessible over the internet. It's not a diluted, sad version of conversation, just... different. Is the fact that one speaks over a device or interfaces with a computer instead of speaking face to face important to the point where we should struggle against the tide to force physical nearness? No, you see. The entire reason for conversation is the transfer of ideas, not physical contact. Will I go so far as to say that verbal communication is antiquated? Of course not. I simply say that it's not the only real way to converse.

Now, this raises some interesting ideas about net users that one may meet while online. Take, for instance, me, Grimm. You probably don't know me, in the sense that people who have met me face-to-face do. But you know me better in some aspects than they do, for you know my mind. On the net there are no censors, no public pressure obscuring and moderating ideas. Out here, we are anonymous, and in that anonymity there is power, allowing anyone to say what they want (much to the chagrin of so many forum moderators). So when you meet someone online, whether in a forum, chat room, video game, and so on and so forth, are you actually meeting them? Do you need to see someone to know them? The answer, as always, is no. You can still share ideas, hold conversation, make jokes, tell stories, love, laugh, cry, etc., etc., ad nausea. It's still conversation, and you can still make friends. And yet, the world has a stigma against this kind of relationship, a world that seems stuck in the ages of newspapers that one bought from shouting street urchins. While the idea that people who think that the ability to "tweet" makes them technologically adept should be expected to understand virtual relationships is somewhat ridiculous, it seems that the (for lack of better word) geeks among them would correct their misconceptions. Why don't they? They're afraid of public opinion. It's hard being a geek, to be ostracized simply for knowing too much. Most people try to avoid being too against the herd. Where do they go to be themselves, readers? That's right! The internet! It's a conundrum, my friends. And it isn't going to change quickly, it's going to be something like the phasing out of racism. It gets better with each generation.

With love,
Grimm