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| tall and handsome... |
| 10.03.03 (7:38 pm) [edit] |
Do we make assumptions about the people we meet and interact with online? Do users have a default value? When I describe myself online why do I type ‘tall and handsome ; )’ instead of typing ‘tall, handsome and European. Do we (by we I mean me; white, middle class, (semi) educated) presume that users are white unless they implicitly state that they are not? And if so is this because we presume that everyone in this environment that we share is the same? Aside from people who describe themselves as rats, what effect does our portrayal of our identity have on the way we are treated? If I change my gender, race or image will people treat me differently?
“One BBSer from Taiwan even picked ‘Caucasian’, and found out lots more people wanted to chat with him then when he was ‘Chinese’, a recognition that the electronic environment does not screen out racist sentiments.” Daniel Tsang. Pg 434 of reader
I seem to have a lot more questions than answers. But I do think that the removal of visual signifiers means that I forget about race to a degree in online environments. While as Caro said, people like Paul (I’m on P) Homes would enjoy this ‘we’re all the same’ kinda thing, it seems to me that by stripping people of their race or cultural identity I am denying a person the ability to be themselves. Some people probably use online environment for this very reason, and the ability to change what they can’t in the real world. But it seems that by my not stating that I am European, I am forcing people who are different from me (the majority of the world) to actively change from the ‘default’, presenting the idea in some ways (maybe) that they don’t belong or fit in this community.
Am I just making something out of nothing in some overly PC way? I duno, for all I know it may not even be an issue…
Either way I kinda like this idea:
“We exist in a world of pure communication, where looks don’t matter and only the best writers get laid.” (legba, a player on LambdaMOO) Pg 416 reader.
[dave]
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