Discretion, Deception, To-May-To, To-Mah-To

Another annoying reality of internet connection.

I'm online last night downloading stock quotes, chatting with a friend in NYC and doing research for my HIV class when I hear the familiar sound of an IM window opening.

Bling. In the following recollection of this conversation I will be Me and the other person in the IM we will just call, The Idiot.

The Idiot: "Hey, whats up?"

Me: "Hey, not much chatting with a friend"

The Idiot: "Nice pic".

Me: "Thanks, can I see yours?"

I have a picture posted online. IMHO, this is simply common courtesy but opinions vary. I think talking online to someone without knowing what they look like is much like walking into a bar blinfdfolded.

So a picture comes over email. No head, just one arm and a torso.

Me: "I sorry to see you were decapitated, did it hurt?"

The Idiot: "I have to be discrete"

Me: "OK, why? You make it sound like talking on the intenet is something to be ashamed of"

The Idiot: "Well you know how it is most people online are looking for sex"

OK, at this point I must inteject. Yes, this does happen, people do look for casual sex on the internet, so what? Its 2005 and this is Dallas, its not 1950 in Tyler. Plus of the hundreds of people I talk to online, my data points indicate that the casual sex seekers are a minority, a very vocal minority. The idiot's intention has just been revealed.

Me: "Are you?"

The Idiot: "Well I'm available :-)"

Me: "So in other words you are not being discrete you are being deceptive"

The Idiot: "Fuck you asshole"

I also interject at this point that The Idiot is female. I find this happens equally with females as it does with males, somewhat dismissing the myth that men are the sexually predatory majority, at least this is the case in my mind. I don't think that myth has held water for decades, if ever. You should hear my friend Joyce (now 84) talk about how things were in the 1930's, makes the throw down days of the 1970s sound like a church picnic.

So this episode along with the 1000's of others like it begs the question - "When does discretion cross the line to become deception?"

Hmmmm.