How Catfishing (Sock-Puppetry) Might Affect Autistics

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littlebee, the whole thread was created by someone with the malicious intention of deceiving WP members for their own peculiar sense of amusement, and that same someone was also posting here as two sockpuppets feeding similar poison into WP. This is what trolls do.
All three accounts are now banned and the content has been removed.

I removed all of it because it was simply the work of a troll and I don't want to see more members being sucked into it and being tricked into feeling emotions or becoming upset over something that doesn't exist. That story was a lie from start to finish and there really is nothing to be gained by poring over it line by line and in fact, by doing that you're allowing the troll to continue exerting a malicious influence because it keeps what was done here alive.

Please don't resurrect the whole thing by linking to version of the same nonsense appearing on another site. Actually no, don't link or discuss it here. Off-site drama should be kept off-site.
You'll simply give more publicity to a malicious, deceitful story that deserves none at all.

Just let it go and move on.

So that son suicide thread was created by a member who also posted the same thing from another board or did they just steal that post and reposted it here?

I don't know and TBH, I don't really care.

Someone joined and posted it here, just to create an effect.
It worked, then it was exposed, and now it's over.

Thanks. I asked for your help because I needed it, and now, hopefully, with continued moderator assistance if needs be, will be better able to make this thread a constructive learning experience for all involved. I didn't think you would like a link to that material put out here, but wasn't sure, which is why I asked.

A general comment to anyone reading. Don't have much time today as I have to do a lot of laundry and cleaning and also go to work before an out of town guest arrives. I would like to say that I think it is important for everyone (in the world) to learn to process material more comprehensively,,and also, everything and everyone is in some way interconnected with everything and everyone else, and for human beings processing data, speech is very relevant, both external speech with others and also internal speech within oneself, to reinforce preexisting ideas and/or to make new connections. So, in this sense, insight really connects a person to the outside world.

I have company now and also have to go to work but would like to add that if I am functioning out of what I know, then this is how my brain works, and to me the way it is working makes sense, but this sense can be organized around the turning pin or axis of a possible false interpretation, and this spin can affect hormonal secretions that regulate brain chemistry and reinforce different areas of brain function and affect how they interact with each other in terms of processing data, and also it should be added that the brain is very flexible. One or at least I can experience a moment of condensed inner groundedness combined with love and knowledge, with the knowledge of love and the understanding that' I' am a part of it and basically that all's good in the world, and at another time I may experience something else which is quite chaotic, so the mind is not always stable.

The reason I used the word "catfish" to describe this online character playing, even though it may not seem to fit in here, is that on some level it is about sex, not meaning actual sexual relations, but becoming one with what is outside of oneself and how doing or trying to do this can affect oneself and others, especially if a person has to make something up and pretend in order to do this. I do not have time to write much about the US show "Catfish" now, but.here is a link that explains. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catfish:_The_TV_Show . I also think the term sock puppet is good, though I did not hear of until a few days ago, and we can look at that, too. The Wikopedia description of course does not do these episodes justice: some are kind of boring, but a few are quite brilliant. One episode from the first season, Jasmine And Mike, I have watched many times because it is so fascinating to me. Anyway, it should be noted that innocent people are scammed by these catfish but generally speaking, once what is happening is exposed and processed, it turns out to be a positive learning experience, at least in the episodes we have seen, but it should be noted here that taking part in the theatrical production of this MTV show is in itself integrative.. Much more on this to follow.

A quick comment, as I want to keep this thread going:

Re lying to others and playing an online character, imo, that is immoral, but it should be noted, at least re the MTV show, Catfish, that all of these people who were being catfished were also lying to themselves in that they were ignoring obvious red flags in order to experience some kind of physical/emotional state within themselves that was very gratifying, so to fulfill an inner need.

Also, it should be noted that in general humans beings are big liars to themselves about themselves and have all kinds of illusions and false views about all kinds of things, and much of their entire inner and even outer worlds hinges upon maintaining these false views, and they will use all kinds of contrivances and even perpetrate various unjust treatment upon others in order to do so..

To continue, if I have a naive theory of mind and am overly idealistic and gullible, it is not my own fault, but I do not understand the productive value of blaming being conned only on the person who is conning me. It is morally wrong, and yes the person who is conning me knows he is doing it for whatever reason and should not get off stock free, but it seems to me there is great value in looking at oneself and what one is experiencing. I was actually catfished just a few years ago, and maybe I will share this sometime, but this is not why I am making this thread.

It is to look closely at human lying from the angle of self-deception and perhaps begin to understand how self-deception plays a role in keeping a person in such a naive state, and, be assured, I am learning about myself as I write this. Another angle, but also connected, is to look at how one thing can represent something else to ones inner self, and to perhaps begin to discover how awareness of what is hidden from oneself by oneself can be brought into the light of day, so that a deeper and more genuine level of relationship is possible..

Maybe should have responded to this sooner, but my brain just could not sort it out.

Moderator, thank you for your feedback and your continued help in the future. Personally I do not know exactly why the person who did that did it---however, this is just a side point. The reason I am writing now is to say that for me it is not over, even though I will not discuss it here, as it made an imprint upon me, upon my mind. I am not sure things get over by just saying they are over, even if someone else is not saying it, but I am saying it to myself.

I do not any particular human experience can be completely over until it is fully and consciously processed.

I am hesitant to take much responsibility for another person's malfeasance.

My comment wasn't really intended to be about what you seem to be making it about, but rather about feeling whatever it is one is feeling and not shoving it down under. For instance, I have told myself I am done with a certain experience or person or whatever, and it turns out I really am not done. I still like your message. though. Agreed---the perpetrator (of whatever) is responsible, and this is a very valid point, but I have still learned from some horrible stuff that was done to me. The key point is feeling the pain of it. I could not as it was too painful, but eventually a person has to or else be forever stuck there and sometimes not even know it.. I could just say I was done with it, and have surely tried this, but it can get a lot more complex, as various interpretations and subjective protective stories and scripts start getting written, etc....

I think I am not too negatively affected by AS and then read a post like this and realise how incredibly naive I am. I have read so much good sense and sound advice from names (no longer people to me) I have come to know and thought I trusted. I am too nervous to start a thread but now I will be wary of even posting or trusting what I read. Thank you littlebee for bringing this issue up.

[TL DNR summary:
This is the idea of the unconscious mind, and must drive sock puppeteers and catfishers as much as everyone else]

As I understand it, this idea underlies almost all models of the psyche in psychology and psychiatry.

There is also a strong current based on this concept in literary theory. I can recall some discussion in a college english class about authorial intent: how much were we reading ideas into a text? How much were we projecting our own ideas into it? What had the author intended to say? What had the author's subconscious mind injected into the text despite the author's conscious narrative about their writing?

This last question lead to a discussion of the idea that we all have an immense inner life, sometimes more hidden to ourselves than to others--and that the energies of this unconscious mind emerge into our activities all the time. Our conscious minds construct a narrative about our will and purpose but this is always a work of fiction.

The early modern investigators of the psyche had different models and names for this stuff. For Freud, the conscious mind was an artifact of the ego and existed in the middle of a titanic battle between the hidden forces of the id and superego. For Jung the Anima was the ruler of the unconscious, but the mind was a sort of stage and meeting house where a host of archetypes contended, allied and took turns holding the stage--this city of the mind had gates and was connected to a broader landscape shared with the species across boundaries of time, space and person that he called the "collective unconscious."

Realizing that I am straying into the sacred ground of a special interest not necessarily germane to this thread, I have just deleted three paragraphs of tangential detail about psychiatry, psychology and microbiology...

While the details and mechanisms of unconscious mental activity are still a mystery, the existence of something of the kind these models describe as the "unconscious" cannot rationally be doubted. If we accept this idea, then your speculation about these situations, with sock puppeteers and catfishers driven by motives hidden even to themselves, must be correct.

Hi. Thanks to you and the other person who recently posted here. I think I could write an entire book around the basic ideas expressed in your short message (and will probably attempt to do so on WP:-). To begin, this thread is not intended to be about the people who are doing the stone puppetry, but about understanding ourselves, though it is okay to talk about these kind of people, too, as if in some ways we are fooling ourselves then in some way these catfishes symbolically represent us, not to imply that because we are tricking ourselves then it is okay for these people to be tricking us, though actually this kind of principle is probably the rationale that various con men play various tunes off of.

One of the worst aspects of this internet character playing is that it shakes the confidence of those who are victimized by it in what is real, so it makes the underlying ground less firm, (which is, I suppose, the basic rationale for completely deleting the thread of such a stone puppet rather than locking it). This is actually the basic operating principle of various kinds of shamanism, both negative and positive, but on the internet it is particularly insidious. I will go into this in great detail, but am not prepared to do so quite yet, as it is kind of complex; however, if someone gives a person good advice or helps a person to see something new, would this advice necessarily be invalidated by the fact that this other person is playing a character?

Do not be nervous about starting a thread, as actually you will have more power to shape the quality of the environment around you, though imo there are too many threads on WP already, and to the degree that it is breaking down the formation of a vital intelligent community..Also, if a any of us do not have confidence in what is real because we now know we are naive, then one good thing to do is to build up our own capacity to discriminate, so more active listening. more active observation of ourselves (and others) and our own responses, more active thinking about what we read as opposed to just taking in material by rote, and more active thinking before we speak about what our aim is and how our communication may affect others, so, in short, more conscious and mindful participation.

My thought about this is: If the words were good sense and sound advice, who cares where they came from? I tend to be more interested in the idea than the person. If the identity is just a sort of costume the person is wearing, I will note that the person is deceptive and then get back to the idea.

I assume that in any community such as this there are a number of people who feel compelled to be deceptive in various ways and some of them are evil.

I tend to follow a "trust but verify" idea in physical interactions. I trust people as a hypothetical exercise, but do some checking to make sure, if possible.

I don't understand why people want to lie like that, and if they turn out to be trying to play power games of some kind, I usually disabuse them of the idea that their deceptions yield any kind of advantage. Such behavior also puts people into a "untrustworthy" category and this has an impact on future relationships.

I can't think of times when such people have hurt me, other than elementary, middle and high school. While there were times in school when people entertained themselves at my expense by testing my gullibility, in adult life it seems not to be an issue.

This forum is not overrun with sock puppets. Most people here have rather distinctive "voices" (how they right) that, while not impossible for someone to fake, would take a lot of work to pull off.

Trolls do come here, but I wouldn't start suspecting people of being sock puppets.

In previous threads I have seen people who agree with each other accused of being "in cahoots" (that was the word used the last time I saw such an accusation) or even of being sock puppets. I think this kind of accusation poisons the well and makes discussion difficult by planting suspicions of cliques or conspiracy or impersonation. The vast majority of the time I have spent online, I have rarely identified or worried about sock puppets, and I have not found that this tainted my experience.