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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: Manti Te'o
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moron
Shipmate
# 206
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Posted
I KNEW I should have double checked if the guys down at dispatch had a truck for me today... but here I am sitting watching Katie interview Manti.
And truth be told it is interesting! When she looks at him sideways the way her lips twist up is beautiful, and she is so knowing. ![[Votive]](graemlins/votive.gif)
More seriously, do you suppose he was singled out because he's Mormon? And how low do you think those who toyed with him are going to lie?
Posts: 4236 | From: Bentonville | Registered: May 2001
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tclune
Shipmate
# 7959
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by moron:
More seriously, do you suppose he was singled out because he's Mormon?
As printers used to say, I think you're within an 'm' of the truth...
--Tom Clune
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Posts: 8013 | From: Western MA | Registered: Jul 2004
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The Silent Acolyte
Shipmate
# 1158
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Posted
I can't turn up a google result for m of the truth.
That's a warning to us all that the Interwebs are completely blind to large countries of human knowledge and experience.
Posts: 7462 | From: The New World | Registered: Aug 2001
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the giant cheeseburger
Shipmate
# 10942
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Posted
Meh. Same as Pharmstrong last week - excuses, half-truths, blame shifting, sorry he got caught and so on - but slightly less believable.
Please America, just stop giving him attention. Let him disappear from the spotlight so he can find his redemption through getting a proper job and working hard, not from talk show crocodile tears.
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If I give a homeopathy advocate a really huge punch in the face, can the injury be cured by giving them another really small punch in the face?
Posts: 4834 | From: Adelaide, South Australia. | Registered: Jan 2006
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Og, King of Bashan
Ship's giant Amorite
# 9562
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by moron:
More seriously, do you suppose he was singled out because he's Mormon? And how low do you think those who toyed with him are going to lie?
Ronaiah Tuiasosopo, the accused (and admitted, I believe) mind behind the (alleged) hoax, knew Te'o in real life. I doubt he decided that his friend needed to be picked on because he was Mormon. If you are a pacific islander living in the United States, chances are you live and hang out with quite a few Mormons. That angle seems a stretch.
My own unscientific guess is that Tuiasosopo himself isn't entirely sure what his motivation was. Today, they are alleging that he was the one on the phone, playing the girlfriend. That seems to lend credence to the theory that Tuiasosopo is in fact gay and was using the hoax as an outlet for what he thought were sinful feelings. Sure he was telling another man that he loved him. But it's not gay if it's part of a joke, right?
And there's always the possibility that Te'o got caught in a lie that ran out of control and Tuiasosopo is the fall guy.
I wonder if we will ever hear the whole story...
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"I like to eat crawfish and drink beer. That's despair?" ― Walker Percy
Posts: 3259 | From: Denver, Colorado, USA | Registered: May 2005
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no prophet's flag is set so...
Proceed to see sea
# 15560
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Posted
Someone should post at least a link, or perhaps those who need/want to know who/what this about already do. A search suggests someone is interviewing someone else about being hoaxed about some fake person. Context is everything I suppose. This is supposed to matter why?
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Out of this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower, safety.
\_(ツ)_/
Posts: 11498 | From: Treaty 6 territory in the nonexistant Province of Buffalo, Canada ↄ⃝' | Registered: Mar 2010
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Porridge
Shipmate
# 15405
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by The Silent Acolyte:
I can't turn up a google result for m of the truth.
That's a warning to us all that the Interwebs are completely blind to large countries of human knowledge and experience.
I suspect you'll get closer to an "m of the truth" if you compare the word "Mormon" with the screen name of the OPer.
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Spiggott: Everything I've ever told you is a lie, including that.
Moon: Including what?
Spiggott: That everything I've ever told you is a lie.
Moon: That's not true!
Posts: 3925 | From: Upper right corner | Registered: Jan 2010
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Og, King of Bashan
Ship's giant Amorite
# 9562
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Posted
(In reply to No Prophet)
Here's the original story that broke it all a week ago. Te'o was the star for the University of Notre Dame's football team this year. (Think the Manchester United / New York Yankees / whoever the most loved and most hated team in your preferred sport is of College Football- that will help you put it into perspective.) His girlfriend and grandmother died within 24 hours of each other, a few days before a huge game. He played a great game that day, inspired the team to its best season in 15 years, finished second in the vote for best player of the year, and became a hero.
Problem? No one ever bothered to see if the girlfriend was real. Turns out she was fake. He claims it was a prank, and we may never know the truth.
[ 24. January 2013, 20:50: Message edited by: Og, King of Bashan ]
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"I like to eat crawfish and drink beer. That's despair?" ― Walker Percy
Posts: 3259 | From: Denver, Colorado, USA | Registered: May 2005
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churchgeek
Have candles, will pray
# 5557
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Porridge:
quote:
Originally posted by The Silent Acolyte:
I can't turn up a google result for m of the truth.
That's a warning to us all that the Interwebs are completely blind to large countries of human knowledge and experience.
I suspect you'll get closer to an "m of the truth" if you compare the word "Mormon" with the screen name of the OPer.
Clever wordplay, actually! I trust, TSA, you're familiar with the printers' measures "en" and "em"?
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I reserve the right to change my mind.
My article on the Virgin of Vladimir
Posts: 7773 | From: Detroit | Registered: Feb 2004
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The Great Gumby
Ship's Brain Surgeon
# 10989
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Posted
It's not getting much coverage on this side of the pond, but as I understand the facts, there are a number of possible hypotheses that would more or less fit the available facts, including (but not limited to) cover for being gay, a cynical marketing strategy, a hoax online relationship that was perceived to be genuine and was overblown by Te'o out of embarrassment that he hadn't met his "girlfriend", and more.
I think this is going to run for a while yet, because everyone loves a mystery, and whichever it is, someone's either lying or so stupid/deluded they shouldn't be allowed out on their own.
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The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool. - Richard Feynman
A letter to my son about death
Posts: 5382 | From: Home for shot clergy spouses | Registered: Feb 2006
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Og, King of Bashan
Ship's giant Amorite
# 9562
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by The Great Gumby:
so stupid/deluded they shouldn't be allowed out on their own.
The truly troubling part of the whole story is that the list of stupid and / or deluded parties includes the mainstream media in the United States. They put the guy on the cover of Sports Illustrated, they ran story after story about him on ESPN and NBC (who have a TV deal to show Notre Dame football games). Yet somehow, even though Te'o was telling them where and when the funeral was supposed to take place (in a town in California that, in fact, also does not exist), no one called around and no alarm bells went off?
[ 24. January 2013, 21:29: Message edited by: Og, King of Bashan ]
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"I like to eat crawfish and drink beer. That's despair?" ― Walker Percy
Posts: 3259 | From: Denver, Colorado, USA | Registered: May 2005
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The Silent Acolyte
Shipmate
# 1158
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by churchgeek:
quote:
Originally posted by Porridge:
quote:
Originally posted by The Silent Acolyte:
I can't turn up a google result for m of the truth.
That's a warning to us all that the Interwebs are completely blind to large countries of human knowledge and experience.
I suspect you'll get closer to an "m of the truth" if you compare the word "Mormon" with the screen name of the OPer.
Clever wordplay, actually! I trust, TSA, you're familiar with the printers' measures "en" and "em"?
Yup. Those searches turn up nada, too.
I stick to my statement that we become increasingly blind to knowledge we can't rustle up with a search engine.
Posts: 7462 | From: The New World | Registered: Aug 2001
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Amanda B. Reckondwythe
Dressed for Church
# 5521
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Posted
The whole thing smacks of such crass stupidity as to be beyond belief. How could someone whom he had never met be his girlfriend?
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"I take prayer too seriously to use it as an excuse for avoiding work and responsibility." -- The Revd Martin Luther King Jr.
Posts: 10542 | From: The Great Southwest | Registered: Feb 2004
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AmyBo
Shipmate
# 15040
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by The Silent Acolyte:
quote:
Originally posted by churchgeek:
quote:
Originally posted by Porridge:
quote:
Originally posted by The Silent Acolyte:
I can't turn up a google result for m of the truth.
That's a warning to us all that the Interwebs are completely blind to large countries of human knowledge and experience.
I suspect you'll get closer to an "m of the truth" if you compare the word "Mormon" with the screen name of the OPer.
Clever wordplay, actually! I trust, TSA, you're familiar with the printers' measures "en" and "em"?
Yup. Those searches turn up nada, too.
I stick to my statement that we become increasingly blind to knowledge we can't rustle up with a search engine.
Type nerd here. Halfway down the page. www.proximasoftware.com/fontexpert/terms
Posts: 122 | From: Minnesota | Registered: Aug 2009
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The Silent Acolyte
Shipmate
# 1158
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Posted
quote:
tclune quoth:
As printers used to say, I think you're within an 'm' of the truth
I got all the clever wordplay and the printer's units of measure.
I was googling for a cite for the phrase tclune was using. Unless, of course, printers never used to say that.
Posts: 7462 | From: The New World | Registered: Aug 2001
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Golden Key
Shipmate
# 1468
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Posted
I saw a little about this on the news.
Evidently, they met online. He's very devout, and I think "she" (whoever it was) was supposed to be, too. So there wasn't a rush to get physical. Lots of folks romance online. We have shipmates who met online, and eventually met and married.
I wonder how his coach is doing about this? At the initial press conference, he was really broken up. Said that Manti is the most trusting person he's ever known, and was really upset that Manti will never be able to trust like that again, ever.
If someone did pull a prank on Manti, that was an awful thing to do.
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Blessed Gator, pray for us!
--"Oh bat bladders, do you have to bring common sense into this?" (Dragon, "Jane & the Dragon")
--"Oh, Peace Train, save this country!" (Yusuf/Cat Stevens, "Peace Train")
Posts: 18601 | From: Chilling out in an undisclosed, sincere pumpkin patch. | Registered: Oct 2001
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the giant cheeseburger
Shipmate
# 10942
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Posted
On the bright side, at least he didn't win seven Superbowls, bully teammates into going along with a story they knew was false and spend 15 years constantly denying it. Well, so far at least - the denial clock is only on four months.
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If I give a homeopathy advocate a really huge punch in the face, can the injury be cured by giving them another really small punch in the face?
Posts: 4834 | From: Adelaide, South Australia. | Registered: Jan 2006
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tclune
Shipmate
# 7959
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by The Silent Acolyte:
Unless, of course, printers never used to say that.
Printers never used to say that.
--Tom Clune
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Posts: 8013 | From: Western MA | Registered: Jul 2004
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Siegfried
Ship's ferret
# 29
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Posted
The thing I'm trying to understand is:
Why was a Mormon going to Notre Dame in the first place? It'd be like a Catholic going to BYU!
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Siegfried
Life is just a bowl of cherries!
Posts: 5592 | From: Tallahassee, FL USA | Registered: May 2001
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The Riv
Shipmate
# 3553
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Posted
I'm a pretty big fan of American Football, but this thing is just more and more nutty every day. Unless you've been subject to the onslaught of reporting/revisionist research/opining about it, it's hard to appreciate the ridiculousness of its size and scope. One thing that's painfully obvious is the American Public's obsessive need to participate in someone else's tragedy. I almost find that more nutty than the T'eo hoax itself. Our mainstream sports media, and to a certain extent, all of our mainstream infotainment media, was utterly duped via this, and the mindnumbing group therapy in the aftermath is truly pitiful, if not comical. And it's nowhere near over. There will be books. There will be movies. As hard as it is to fathom, even an episode as truly bizarre as this will be made into a charicature of itself. It's what America does. ![[Projectile]](graemlins/puke2.gif) ![[Confused]](confused.gif) ![[Disappointed]](graemlins/disappointed.gif)
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"I don't know whether I like it, but it's what I meant." Ralph Vaughan Williams
"Riv, you've done a much better job communicating your passion than your point. I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about." Tom Clune
Posts: 2749 | From: Too far South, USA. I really want to move. | Registered: Nov 2002
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cliffdweller
Shipmate
# 13338
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Siegfried:
The thing I'm trying to understand is:
Why was a Mormon going to Notre Dame in the first place? It'd be like a Catholic going to BYU!
My SIL goes to BYU, and apparently there are a fair number of non-Mormons there-- just as I'm quite sure there's more than a few non-Catholics at Notre Dame, and non-Christians at the evangelical college where I teach.
The shorter answer: football scholarship to a major univ.
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"Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don't be afraid." -Frederick Buechner
Posts: 11242 | From: a small canyon overlooking the city | Registered: Jan 2008
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The Riv
Shipmate
# 3553
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Posted
T'eo has spoken about this. He cited the 'mystique and spiritual dynamic' of ND (I'm paraphrasing), but yeah, that is most accurately translated into football $$.
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"I don't know whether I like it, but it's what I meant." Ralph Vaughan Williams
"Riv, you've done a much better job communicating your passion than your point. I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about." Tom Clune
Posts: 2749 | From: Too far South, USA. I really want to move. | Registered: Nov 2002
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Og, King of Bashan
Ship's giant Amorite
# 9562
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Amanda B. Reckondwythe:
The whole thing smacks of such crass stupidity as to be beyond belief. How could someone whom he had never met be his girlfriend?
Take a step back and consider where you are saying this. Do you think of any shipmates you have never met as friends? Consider also that Te'o grew up not knowing a world without the internet. Talking to people and making friends with people you never meet has been part of his life from the moment he started making friends. The nature of friendship and relationships is changing.
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"I like to eat crawfish and drink beer. That's despair?" ― Walker Percy
Posts: 3259 | From: Denver, Colorado, USA | Registered: May 2005
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Twilight
Puddleglum's sister
# 2832
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Posted
Yes, I agree with Og. In the world of the 19th century novel (where I spend most of my time) entire courtships are conducted my mail. It's the perfect scenario for romance if you happen to be a young, sheltered male, away from home for the first time, who can't visualize anything in between wild drunken college football parties and a girlfriend in the form of a sweet looking photo and simple chat room messages.
I watched the interview and while he did tell lies (which he calls "not being forthright,") he explains them as himself embarrassed to admit that he hadn't actually met the "love of his life."
I tend to believe he was sincerely duped for quite a while, based on the "take out an m in Mormon," explanation. The real scandal here is how easy it is to get through a great university if you're a good enough football player.
Posts: 6817 | Registered: May 2002
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Amanda B. Reckondwythe
Dressed for Church
# 5521
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Og, King of Bashan:
quote:
Originally posted by Amanda B. Reckondwythe:
The whole thing smacks of such crass stupidity as to be beyond belief. How could someone whom he had never met be his girlfriend?
Take a step back and consider where you are saying this. Do you think of any shipmates you have never met as friends? <<snip>> The nature of friendship and relationships is changing.
Of course I have met friends through the Ship, but I would never call any of them a "girlfriend" unless I had also met her in person and knew that there was chemistry between us.
The propriety (and wisdom) of being introduced to someone by a mutual friend, who knows and can vouch for both parties, will never be supplanted by mere on-line "introductions".
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"I take prayer too seriously to use it as an excuse for avoiding work and responsibility." -- The Revd Martin Luther King Jr.
Posts: 10542 | From: The Great Southwest | Registered: Feb 2004
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Twilight
Puddleglum's sister
# 2832
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Amanda B. Reckondwythe:
quote:
Originally posted by Og, King of Bashan:
quote:
Originally posted by Amanda B. Reckondwythe:
The whole thing smacks of such crass stupidity as to be beyond belief. How could someone whom he had never met be his girlfriend?
Take a step back and consider where you are saying this. Do you think of any shipmates you have never met as friends? <<snip>> The nature of friendship and relationships is changing.
Of course I have met friends through the Ship, but I would never call any of them a "girlfriend" unless I had also met her in person and knew that there was chemistry between us.
The propriety (and wisdom) of being introduced to someone by a mutual friend, who knows and can vouch for both parties, will never be supplanted by mere on-line "introductions".
Right. My post looks like I'm contradicting myself, saying I can understand online romance and then calling him a moron. The last bit refers to his ignoring all the red flags that popped up in the form of unlikely excuses when he tried to make arrangements to meet IRL.
I heard the phone voice of the hoaxter and he can make himself sound exactly like a young girl (so there's that.) That guy knew the football player in high school and I think he may have had a huge crush on him and was enjoying having a relationship with him in the only way he could.
Posts: 6817 | Registered: May 2002
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Og, King of Bashan
Ship's giant Amorite
# 9562
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Posted
When I was a freshman in college, a woman who lived upstairs had a crush on me. Never mind that she had a boyfriend back home, any time they had a row, she would come to talk to me. She also enjoyed telling me that he was jealous of me. I did nothing to encourage her interest, and in fact quite a bit to discourage it, as I wasn't interested in her. (That sounds cruel, but stay tuned).
That Christmas break, she told me she would be in Colorado visiting friends, and asked me if she could come see me. I said sure. She called a day before New Year's eve, and arranged for me to meet her and a friend for lunch the next day. 24 hours later, she called, saying she was in the hospital, and that she wouldn't be able to meet.
Flash forward three and a half years, when we happened to be at the same graduation party, and my father met this woman. He told her, in front of her father, that he was sorry she hadn't been able to come up to see us when she was in Colorado a few years back. They both gave him a blank look, and said she had never been in Colorado that December. Apparently she had made the whole thing up and forgotten the lie.
I have been thinking about this story a lot for the past week. Hopefully we grow out of these habits, but I think that some people in their late teens just make things up in an effort to create some alternate reality. And when you are on the receiving end of this kind of exhausting behavior, you often times don't realize it.
That said, I saw some of the clips from the interview, and he was really stretching credulity there a few times. He never went to see her in Hawaii when she was there? He never went to the hospital to see her? That was a bit weird.
I am already on record saying that this was Tuiasosopo's outlet for his crush on Te'o, so Twilight, it sounds like we are barking up the same tree.
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"I like to eat crawfish and drink beer. That's despair?" ― Walker Percy
Posts: 3259 | From: Denver, Colorado, USA | Registered: May 2005
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Ricardus
Shipmate
# 8757
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Amanda B. Reckondwythe:
The whole thing smacks of such crass stupidity as to be beyond belief. How could someone whom he had never met be his girlfriend?
I know someone who had an online relationship with a girl in China for most of a year. They talked on Skype, which a.) costs nothing and b.) has a video-call facility. Therefore, whatever one thinks of the reality of the relationship, he did at least know what she looked like.
It seems incredible to me that Te'o didn't even do that.
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Then the dog ran before, and coming as if he had brought the news, shewed his joy by his fawning and wagging his tail. -- Tobit 11:9 (Douai-Rheims)
Posts: 7247 | From: Liverpool, UK | Registered: Nov 2004
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Anselmina
Ship's barmaid
# 3032
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Og, King of Bashan:
When I was a freshman in college, a woman who lived upstairs had a crush on me. Never mind that she had a boyfriend back home, any time they had a row, she would come to talk to me. She also enjoyed telling me that he was jealous of me. I did nothing to encourage her interest, and in fact quite a bit to discourage it, as I wasn't interested in her. (That sounds cruel, but stay tuned).
Sounds extremely sensible to me.
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Irish dogs needing homes! http://www.dogactionwelfaregroup.ie/ Greyhounds and Lurchers are shipped over to England for rehoming too!
Posts: 10002 | From: Scotland the Brave | Registered: Jul 2002
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Freddy
Shipmate
# 365
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Ricardus:
quote:
Originally posted by Amanda B. Reckondwythe:
The whole thing smacks of such crass stupidity as to be beyond belief. How could someone whom he had never met be his girlfriend?
I know someone who had an online relationship with a girl in China for most of a year.
I have no trouble believing this at all. I wish they would just leave him alone.
Most young men at any given time don't have girlfriends at all, and people like Te'o often barely have lives outside of football. The image that people have of world-class athletes is one of popularity, parties and easy access to the opposite sex. But this isn't necessarily accurate. It is easy to see a young naive guy falling for a bogus internet relationship, even if he is one of the most famous college athletes in the country.
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"Consequently nothing is of greater importance to a person than knowing what the truth is." Swedenborg
Posts: 12845 | From: Bryn Athyn | Registered: Jun 2001
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teddybear
Shipmate
# 7842
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Posted
What made me the most suspicious about the whole thing is that every time he opens his mouth, a different story comes out. At first he was saying he had met her several times, then he had never met her and on and on. If the truth ever comes out, he has probably been hiding something big.
On a related note, I have known several people who have used stories like this. The ones I've known have to done it to hide their "sexuality" from parents and family or friends or team mates, etc. Not saying this is the case with Te'o, but then you never know?
Posts: 480 | From: Topeka, Kansas USA | Registered: Jul 2004
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Josephine
Orthodox Belle
# 3899
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Freddy:
quote:
Originally posted by Ricardus:
quote:
Originally posted by Amanda B. Reckondwythe:
The whole thing smacks of such crass stupidity as to be beyond belief. How could someone whom he had never met be his girlfriend?
I know someone who had an online relationship with a girl in China for most of a year.
I have no trouble believing this at all. I wish they would just leave him alone.
This, according to today's column by Leonard Pitts, Jr., is probably the most interesting thing about this incident. What does it matter whether some college athlete had a girlfriend?
But this -- that it's possible, and even plausible, to have a girlfriend that you've never met in person -- is something that matters, because it says something important about the way our use of technology is changing the way we see our relationships with other people.
I understand completely how it's possible to fall in love with an online friend. And I don't think it's an entirely new thing -- there are many old stories of people who fell in love with a pen-pal.
But I think that Mr. Pitts makes a point that's far more interesting than whether this football player was lying or being lied to.
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I've written a book! Catherine's Pascha: A celebration of Easter in the Orthodox Church. It's a lovely book for children. Take a look!
Posts: 10273 | From: Pacific Northwest, USA | Registered: Jan 2003
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cliffdweller
Shipmate
# 13338
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Josephine:
quote:
Originally posted by Freddy:
quote:
Originally posted by Ricardus:
quote:
Originally posted by Amanda B. Reckondwythe:
The whole thing smacks of such crass stupidity as to be beyond belief. How could someone whom he had never met be his girlfriend?
I know someone who had an online relationship with a girl in China for most of a year.
I have no trouble believing this at all. I wish they would just leave him alone.
This, according to today's column by Leonard Pitts, Jr., is probably the most interesting thing about this incident. What does it matter whether some college athlete had a girlfriend?
But this -- that it's possible, and even plausible, to have a girlfriend that you've never met in person -- is something that matters, because it says something important about the way our use of technology is changing the way we see our relationships with other people.
I understand completely how it's possible to fall in love with an online friend. And I don't think it's an entirely new thing -- there are many old stories of people who fell in love with a pen-pal.
But I think that Mr. Pitts makes a point that's far more interesting than whether this football player was lying or being lied to.
Actually, I think that's precisely the point that Mr. Pitts gets wrong-- by claiming that this "non-physical" relationship is some new thing, when, as you note, they have always existed--with pen pals, with other chaste lovers who exchange longing looks over their prayer books, whatever. I do think it rather says something about our culture, but something different than Pitts does-- that we find it so extraordinary that someone could have a girlfriend they've never touched.
That I think, is where, if at all, the Mormonism (with both "m"" firmly intact) comes into play. Te'o reminds me a lot of my SIL and his LDS groomsmen-- a bit young, naive, over-eager, puppy-dog like in their relationships with women. And yeah, gullible. I have a lot of problems with LDS theology and practice, but this sure isn't one of them.
I don't follow sports at all, so haven't caught every step of this story til it made the headlines, so perhaps the discrepancies are greater than I realize. But so far the variations I've heard on Te'o's tale just sound more like a product of his deep embarrassment and working through the shock than anything else. Either way, I too wish the press would just go away and let the poor guy lick his wounds, virtual or otherwise.
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"Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don't be afraid." -Frederick Buechner
Posts: 11242 | From: a small canyon overlooking the city | Registered: Jan 2008
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Freddy
Shipmate
# 365
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by cliffdweller:
But so far the variations I've heard on Te'o's tale just sound more like a product of his deep embarrassment and working through the shock than anything else. Either way, I too wish the press would just go away and let the poor guy lick his wounds, virtual or otherwise.
Me too. I spend a lot of time around young people and I think that older people tend to really overestimate how connected young people feel. They also underestimate how many young men are completely clueless about girls and have zero experience with them.
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"Consequently nothing is of greater importance to a person than knowing what the truth is." Swedenborg
Posts: 12845 | From: Bryn Athyn | Registered: Jun 2001
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the giant cheeseburger
Shipmate
# 10942
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Ricardus:
quote:
Originally posted by Amanda B. Reckondwythe:
The whole thing smacks of such crass stupidity as to be beyond belief. How could someone whom he had never met be his girlfriend?
I know someone who had an online relationship with a girl in China for most of a year. They talked on Skype, which a.) costs nothing and b.) has a video-call facility. Therefore, whatever one thinks of the reality of the relationship, he did at least know what she looked like.
It seems incredible to me that Te'o didn't even do that.
He did talk to "her" using FaceTime, which is also free and has video calling. They were never able to solve the "technical problem" that meant only a black screen was coming through to him. FaceTime is even easier to use than Skype, it's not hard.
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If I give a homeopathy advocate a really huge punch in the face, can the injury be cured by giving them another really small punch in the face?
Posts: 4834 | From: Adelaide, South Australia. | Registered: Jan 2006
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Boogie
Boogie on down!
# 13538
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Posted
I had never heard of Manti Te'o but having read this thread I feel very sorry for him. The story reminds me of royalty here - they can't look at a girl without the media being all over it. I pity them too, no amount of money could make up for such intrusion imo.
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Garden. Room. Walk
Posts: 13030 | From: Boogie Wonderland | Registered: Mar 2008
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Doublethink.
Ship's Foolwise Unperson
# 1984
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Posted
Romance fraud is on the rise generally.
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All political thinking for years past has been vitiated in the same way. People can foresee the future only when it coincides with their own wishes, and the most grossly obvious facts can be ignored when they are unwelcome. George Orwell
Posts: 19219 | From: Erehwon | Registered: Aug 2005
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