Campfyre Stories

Well, maybe I should call it people *I* don’t like, but that seems to make promises like naming names, and I’m not going to do that.

First impressions are an interesting phenomenon.  They are often accurate, even when you get over them, in my experience, someday down the line you tend to learn that the off-putting thing about them was something you should have listened to.

Now, maybe it’s just me.  Maybe I’m more in tune with my intuition than others.  Maybe it’s something that other people have noticed or have felt, maybe not.  My mother always used to tell me that I was good at “vibing people out”, but would also ask me to “give them another chance”.  It doesn’t really matter how many chances I give someone, if I get that feeling that I DO NOT LIKE THEM, it’s not often that the gut feeling changes, no matter how hard I try.

Now, I know, I sound really snobby after all of that, but the reality here is that there are very few people that I dislike, and there aren’t any that I outright hate - it’s not worth the energy to give that much of yourself to someone you don’t even like.  People have been surprised at my acceptance of other people.  There’s always that one person in the office that no one likes…  most of the time, I don’t mind that person.  I’d rather feel ambivalence toward someone than dislike, especially if I don’t really know them.

One thing I’ve noticed, and I can’t understand (and this ties in with my Imaginary Friends entry, is that I get this “I don’t like this person” feeling a lot more on the internet than I do in real life.  I first started noticing it when I first started online gaming, but I’ve also seen it in message forums and even in reading people’s blogs.  It disturbs me a little…

I’m honestly not sure if it’s a  dislike of the person or of the persona that I’m experiencing, but I’ve found that, like with most first impressions, it tends to prove itself over time.  I explore the communities and cliques and hear stories and see comments that further cement what I already thought. 

Don’t get me wrong, this has little to do with their writing style or how much they choose to disclose of themselves.  It has a lot more to do with behavior and interpersonal actions (and, in some cases attacks).

I suppose there’s a good possibility that the anonymity of the internet makes it easier to dislike someone on first impression, but there’s also the possibility that it really is an easier disclosure of oneself.  The lack of self-censoring, the entitlement to say all the snarky things in public that most people would keep behind closed doors.

Huh.  I think that the internet allows people to treat regular people like celebrities.  Every move can be analyzed, every article of clothing is discussed and derided.  Every statement, every poor choice of words is reason enough to start yet another feud.

The internet culture is mimicking Hollywood?  Or maybe it’s just a situation when you wind up with *any* inclusive group of people in that vein, this is the sort of thing that will happen.

I don’t know if I even buy it, but I’m gonna spellcheck this puppy, NOT reread it and let my poorly-chosen words wreak whatever havoc they may.  Just because I can.

~FG };^>