One Thing We Forget About People On The Internet Is That We Know Almost Nothing About Them. Would I Know

one thing we forget about people on the internet is that we know almost nothing about them. Would i know if somebody's kid has congestive heart failure? Only if they tell me! Would I know if somebody is experiencing severe mental health problems? Only if they tell me! Would I know if someone has cancer? Only if they tell me!

This is a weird thing about being online. We can know a lot about someone--this person is a Christian, and a father of three children, and married to that person, and likes Cheerios--but we only know what they told us, which is--of course--almost nothing.

And yet, human pattern-makers that we are, we inevitably fill in the gaps in information with assumptions that are based on whether we kinda assume the best of someone or kinda assume the worst of them. Like, I do not imagine that Elon Musk came home from his hard work making everyone's life worse yesterday and held a sick friend's hand as that friend died--but of course that's possible! I don't know!

This happened to me a lot when I was on tumblr the first time. People often filled in gaps by assuming the worst in me, and that's fair enough, I guess. These days, people tend to (although not exclusively) fill in the gaps by assuming the best of me. But both are assumptions informed by extremely limited information, which is almost impossible to remember in the daily grind of Internet Life.

More Posts from Jdbeckmanwriting and Others

3 months ago
They Left MAGA - Leaving MAGA
Leaving MAGA -
They Left MAGA Steve Vilchez Chicago Read His Story Erica Roach New York Read Her Story Justin Yu California Read His Story Deanna Raper Nor

This is an interesting thing. Looks like testimonies of people who left the MAGA movement- how they got into it and why.

Leaving a cult is really hard, so I really respect the people who are speaking from this place.

10 months ago

i wish i was famous in the 70s so i coulda gone on the muppet show and flirted with the muppets

9 months ago

Been working in pest control for 3 months now and i can confidently say that nobody on earth seems to understand that sometimes You Will See A Bugs and that's Normal if you live literally anywhere with oxygen

7 months ago

Having media literacy is more important than being good at math prove me wrong

1 year ago

I hope Wilbur is having a good day and that he gets to spend time with all the animals

I Hope Wilbur Is Having A Good Day And That He Gets To Spend Time With All The Animals
11 months ago

Look.

Look.

I have made you a chart. A very simple chart.

People say "You have to draw the line somewhere, and Biden has crossed it-" and my response is "Trump has crossed way more lines than Biden".

These categories are based off of actual policy enacted by both of these men while they were in office.

If the ONLY LINE YOU CARE ABOUT is line 12, you have an incredible amount of privilege, AND YOU DO NOT CARE ABOUT PALESTINIANS. You obviously have nothing to fear from a Trump presidency, and you do not give a fuck if a ceasefire actually occurs. You are obviously fine if your queer, disabled, and marginalized loved ones are hurt. You clearly don't care about the status of American democracy, which Trump has openly stated he plans to destroy on day 1 he is in office.

11 months ago
Tell Me This Isn't Them To A Tee

tell me this isn't them to a tee

1 year ago

The dark brown sunspots sprinkled across my shoulders show that, once upon a time, I stood under in the suns relentless rays without adaquate sun protection. The excuse I gave my mother was, "I'll burn now and let it turn into a dark tan. Then I won't need sunscreen all summer." This was not correct, and time has instead shown that mothers are usually right. But we were an army of indestructible teenage angst working for the good of board children on a Tuesday afternoon enjoying their trouble-free summers before being sucked into the capitalist conveyer belt as we were now.

Oh well, at least I had a great tan. A kindly dermatologist can burn the cancer off another day.

#eulogytalks

Scars on your body show that you have lived; scars on your heart show that you have loved.

Nina Dul

2 months ago

Me Giving a Pressed Conference: our advocacy for the disabled must include the addict, the imperfect victim, those we despise; the right to autonomy and life cannot devolve into a popularity contest

Reporter I Hate (Not Sexual Tension): Does that include all the attendees of the Bored Ape NFT event who went blind

Me: *Blood streaming from my nostrils and eyes* david, it includes everyone

3 months ago

I think you can tell a lot about how rigorous and committed someone's belief in a human right is by how quickly they are able to name people who they think could or should have that right taken away.

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jdbeckmanwriting - JDBeckmanWrites
JDBeckmanWrites

Wholesome Optomist engaged with a Cynical Realist in a Cyclical Battle for Clarity of self... key weapons: Poetry & Stuff. Occasionally jdbeckmanwriting.com l Twitter/Insta/TikTok: @JDBeckmanWrites

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