Revenge Porn and other Atrocities

As if porn is not bad enough judged on it's own (lack of ) merit, now I read a news story which gives a name to what happened to a woman I know. It seems there is a site in Texas (Probably more than one, and probably more locations) where ex-"lovers" can go to post the private photos and videos of their former gf's. And the site is being sued by some of the young ladies, because they have their very private pics posted, without the "model"'s consent. I think the site will get more popular and the ladies will lose in court, because once they transmitted their photos on the net/phone/whatever, they lost their expectation of privacy. One more reason NOT to do this stuff. Pay attention here -- no one needs this type of photo for any legitimate reason. This is called "Revenge Porn."

In addition, more "catfish" stories emerge -- relatively innocent pictures are being harvested from facebook and other venues, and put on pages with less attractive photo shots for online dating sites, false information is added, and voila - a fake person is created for any creepy plan the creator cares to participate in. Probably isn't the fifteen minutes of fame we've been told about. Probably makes you as nauseated as it does me.

Fantasy Land may be more interesting than reality, but fantasy can be twisted into something that doesn't even vaguely resemble the truth. This is scary, ugly stuff.

I think there are 3 types of people in the world, when it comes to this stuff.

There is a very small group who are very private and quiet individuals, and all they want is to be left alone. They have decided that the price they have to pay for having sex, or for having a relationship is too high, and they just refuse to participate in the madness.

There is a larger group of folks, who are willing to take a limited amount of risk in order to have a relationship, but they would rather do without sex rather than have sex without a committed relationship. They will only participate in the madness in a very limited, private way. There will be no damaging photos of this group. They think before they act.

But the largest group of folks are willing to participate in any madness of the moment, without thought to the future consequence. They value having sex and the "appearance" of a relationship over living without either. They believe whatever they are led to believe, in order to get what they think they want. They will follow any new trend, and do anything to be "popular" and "live the dream." They are content with accepting the values of fantasy land, until the fantasy falls apart. They live like a sleepwalker, walking through a dream, until the moment reality wakes them up and they find they have wandered into traffic in their pj's.

The question is, which group do you want to join? There is a price to pay no matter which one you choose. You may be very lonely in the first group, but you will be no one's fool. The second group will require work, discipline and boundaries, and you will probably have to pay the price for your mistakes along the way. Limited damages, you can probably afford a few mistakes. The third group has free admission, but the price you pay to maintain your membership may be much higher than you ever imagined. Is the risk of total ruin worth it? Your Choice!