IRL

I lead a bit of a double life (well, I actually live a quintuple life, but two of them are classified and the fifth is a backup of one of the two from my double life). I am a real person and I am a Portland Trail Blazers fan.

As a real person, I tend to get along with everyone. I rarely argue politics or religion or sports or grammar or math... I believe that logic and discussion can sway people temporarily, but in almost every situation people need to figure things out for themselves in order to really believe. As a result, I am rarely willing to put in effort to try to convince anyone of anything in real life.

In real life, I am a Portland Trail Blazers fan. I watch all of the games (either live or recorded). I know some of the history of the team and I know about the present team.

This real life persona, though, is entirely different than my persona as a Blazers fan. Because the majority of my fandom occurs online. And my online Blazers fan persona is entirely different than me in real life.

I argue. I complain. I correct spelling and minor factual errors. I use rhetoric and logic as best I can to convince other Blazers fans that I am correct and that they are not. Do I think that I am actually going to convince (m)any others about anything? No. But it's all exercise and venting and sort of fun, even if it's infuriating at times.

Another difference between these two parts of my life is my need to have the last word. In real life? I can live with other people saying something and then I can (usually) just let it go. Online, it's so much more difficult to do it, and I tend to be proud of myself if I can let someone with whom I disagree take one last shot or make the same old point I disagree with one more time.

A weird combination of my real life laissez-faire attitude and fiery Blazers fandom is on Facebook. It has many of the attributes of my Blazers argumentathons (online nature, non-verbal communication, some people I don't know communicating with me, etc.) but some important ones of real life, too (people I actually know and who might want to beat me up, more than one or two females in the community). My Facebook behavior tends to be much more like my real life.

Recently, though, I had a message exchange with a person I've known for a while. I said my piece, she said hers... and I wanted to respond. But I won't. It's real life. I can let stuff go.

Right?