Sports, Smarts, and Internet Fakes

I couldn't think of an "s" word for fake for my title - kinda ruined it. Anyway, the New York Times recently published a story about a physics professor who foolishly fell for a girl online, traveled overseas, and was caught transporting drugs (he was blinded by love and had no idea). He went to jail and now is serving his sentence on house arrest.

And, the guy was a genius. John Nash-type. This was no online teacher at some podunk university. He's a particle physicist. Lots of publications, well-educated, taught at the Univ. of N. Carolina.

Anyway, where I'm going with this is that when we first heard the Mani Te'o Catfish story, it was surprising and wild but hey he's a young kid and and athlete, both of which are not notorious for their superb intellectual thought. As this article suggests, when we think of people being swindled by fake online lovers, we think of uneducated boneheads huddled over keyboards typing like maniacs with drool coming out of their mouths. However, sometimes the smartest people get fooled. The smartest people can sink into denial when they are desperate for love.

I hope these stories really convince people to wake up!! If you want to meet a romantic partner, go to speed dating events. Join Match.com or a legitimate website where you have to prove identity. Skype. Something.

Even more, commercials like this StateFarm one that portray women as the gullible ones when it comes to online dating appear grossly inaccurate when compared to real life scenarios. Whether the stories are on Dateline, NYT, the news, etc., the real suckers typically are men who have been swindled by beautiful women.