The Deception of Catfishing: Are You Who You Say You Are?
With the advancement of Internet relationships, how can one truly trust the legitimacy of an individual? Is anyone who they truly say they are?
In the case study, “To Catfish or Not to Catfish?” authors Purcell and Stroud discuss the many reasons individuals may experience or have when catfishing another person. They also examine the ‘catfishee’s’ perspective and how this can affect them.
This fits in with The Heinz Dilemma because it demonstrates a matter of perspective. The Heinz Dilemma delivers a scenario with three possible outcomes:
- stealing a drug to cure his dying wife, which would result in jail time
- taking no action at all, or again
- stealing the drug but not face jail time because it is unfair
All of these outcomes are subjective to the individual and how they see the world around them. This is similar to Carol Gilligan, who argues that ethics and care-taking are personal to each relationship (Chave, 2019); this ties in with both the Heinz Dilemma and catfishing because it demonstrates how individuals are subjective towards their personal experiences.
Catfishing is wrong, and it is unfair to both parties involved. On one side, the individual doing the catfishing is hiding their identity, fabricating lies about their life, and creating false ideas/claims that can become pathological. The catfisher is knowingly deceiving the other because they experience feelings of dejection, low self-esteem, and confidence, but this is no excuse to mislead another human being who is pursuing the relationship faithfully and truthfully. In the context of the formation and cultivation of relationships, catfishing is wrong because the individual who is being catfished is entirely unaware, taken advantage of, and deceived. This is harmful to relationships because they lack honesty, trust, and are solely based on deception.
Works Cited
Chave S. (2019). Feminist Ethics of Care: A starting Point — Ideas from Carol Gilligan. Deep materialism and care-taking: A study of material relationships for the 21st Century. The University of Exeter. Retrieved from http://blogs.exeter.ac.uk/deepmaterialism/2019/03/28/feminist-ethics-of-care-a-starting-point-ideas-from-carol-gillingan/
Purcell A., & Stroud S.R. (2019). To Catfish or Not to Catfish? Media Ethics Initiative, Retrieved from https://mediaethicsinitiative.org/2018/11/15/to-catfish-or-not-to-catfish/
