Real or Not

My network is up !! I am Pleased.... It's nice to embrace my inner geek.

I remember a time when admitting that you're a "geek" was like committing social seppuku. Then again that was in highshool and you know how dumb kids are....

I was setting up my network last night (actually this morning) and while waiting for my Dad's Duron 650 to finish installing Windows XP Pro (Pirated Edition ! Now with LEGAL CD-Keys !! Get your copy now. This announcement was brought to you by the Regional Pirates Association, South East Asia Chapter) I was accosted by a stranger on YM. I'm kind of leery about strange people mailing/messaging me. There's lots of weirdos out there.

But luckily enough, this time it wasn't a repressed gay person asking me whether I wanted to "cyber" (this actually happened two weeks ago *sigh...*). It was a woman. A nice one too. In the end, we had the most gratifying chat about all kinds of things.

I have been asked whether making friends online is the same as offline. My answer is ? That depends.

Some people use the Net to hide who they are so they can do nefarious things like spread rumours, diss people, ask straight, decent people whether they want to "cyber" and generally make a nuisance of themselves. In this case, no you can't make friends with people who pretend.

On the other hand, if you're talking online with a genuine person then yes it's as real as in real life. Maybe even more real, since we don't have to worry too much about tangibles like appearances, physique, race, creed and the like. Less jugdment involved because there's less things to judge aside from grammar, spelling and manners. The chat window equalizes everyone. So does email. So do online journals and blogs. That's a good thing.

How about those people who insist that people who spend a lot of time online are social losers who can't make friends offline ? Well, I can always say these people aren't online because they're archaic and computer illiterate. But I won't because that's not true.

So it's also not true that people who chat and spend time online are losers. I spend a lot of time online. But I also have an outside life. I have friends off-line. I party. I get drunk. Not very geeky huh.

The moral of the story ? Stereotypes are dumb.

But that's human nature for ya. You know how broad sweeping statements are almost always untrue right ? So why are they still common ? Who propagates these things anyway ?

I remember a quote from Men In Black.

"A person is intelligent. People are stupid"

How true is that eh ?