Posted by Dinah on March 29, 2008, at 22:24:00
In reply to Suspended Disbelief (long), posted by Toph on March 29, 2008, at 20:27:15
I guess I see it more as a leap of faith.
In order to get as much from babble as possible, we decide to believe that many people are honest about who they are, and that they mostly mean well and try to tell the truth as they know it, and that the administrator's behavior is for the most part based on integrity and genuine interest in the welfare of participants.
And if we're lucky, we also realize that we'll be hurt, people will lie, people might not always mean well, might even play games, and that the administrator is totally and completely human and will let us down.
I was explaining dialectical behavior therapy. Is that a dialectic?
I'm not sure that we mean anything all that different, although we're using different terms. Certainly there are enough people that are all the good things we hope, that it is not a fiction. But neither is it the whole of reality.
Hopefully our time here isn't *more* valuable than time spent at work or with families. Hopefully this is an add on, like any other way of spending time.
I've met people here that I've had enough contact with to believe I know them pretty well. But even if I found out tomorrow that this was all in my mind, it wouldn't have been without value. I have changed from my time spent here, in ways that I think are often for the better. That can't be without value.
It sounds as if you are saying you've gotten things from Babble that are yours to keep for yourself, no matter what?
And isn't any social interaction a leap of faith? People offline hide who they are, and hide their motives. One of the many reasons that my childhood goal was to be the weird dog lady, a suburban hermit.
poster:Dinah
thread:820584
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20080313/msgs/820614.html