It bothers me that he claims to define empathy "as the ability to put oneself in another’s shoes, to understand their feelings and feel them yourself", but equates that with the ability to read body language and nonverbal signals and seems to think that the lump of flesh typing on a keyboard is somehow more real than the self that's reflected in the words that it types. It's hard to be empathetic when I'm being bombarded by sensory input, but I have no problem empathizing with people (even fictional ones!) when I read about their experiences. I also think that reading what other people have to say makes it more likely that you will understand their feelings rather than guessing from the outside and projecting your own.
Like you, I find it much easier to be myself online. My personality comes across far more clearly in text (and pictures!) than in person — to the point that I'm not sure my real self even exists in physical space.
I also disagree with the implication that real (by which I assume he means legal) names are necessarily more valid than the names we choose for ourselves.
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dancing_serpent
(no subject)
Date: 2012-03-20 02:44 am (UTC)Like you, I find it much easier to be myself online. My personality comes across far more clearly in text (and pictures!) than in person — to the point that I'm not sure my real self even exists in physical space.
I also disagree with the implication that real (by which I assume he means legal) names are necessarily more valid than the names we choose for ourselves.