Hello I'm Rich Brown and this is my personal website and blog. I'm just your simple, average, down to earth, professional, out gay man and aspiring circuit boy, living in Phoenix, Arizona with a few things to say while trying to find my place among all the scary, conservative, religious nuts in this sick and twisted world.
Wednesday, February 23, 2005
A Sucker is Born Every Minute!
@WORK. Interesting post on Kurt's (whoever's) Blog ... I guess it's true that you can never really believe what you read.
Wednesday, February 23, 2005 -- To The Readers. This is the 2nd hardest thing I have to do. Let me say from the start I am very sorry that a lot of people got caught up in this. Michael from Satellite of Blog was right about me. This was some kind of game I played on him I got caught by Michael but did I do the right thing no I didn't I keep the game going! He is not the one to blame for he was being honest I wasn't.I have came clean to Michael that was the hardest thing I had to do. This ride needed to stop I wanted off the ride. I finally showed and proved to Michael who I was and with all that happen he told me I had no reason to do what I did for he thought I was cute! Thanks for saying that!I am still working on the why I did it myself I still haven't found the reason. Michael has been great with this I told him my real name he has seen me on cam he has allowed me to keep my name too myself and him. I thank him for that. I am sorry that I lead everybody on and regret any heartache I may have cause.This has been a very hard couple weeks for me but I see light at the end of the tunnel. This will be the last post from Star Over The Water! I wish everybody good health and hope you get out of life all the best! Again I am very sorry to the readers of this blog and to Michael!
I hate to say this, because I got sucked into reading his blog just as much as everyone else, but about 2 weeks ago, I had a gut feeling this was the truth. I happened to be searching for something on the internet and came across a modeling profile of the person whose photos he was using on his blog. These were the images that were 'posted' as profile images for Kurt and Chad in the StarsOverTheWater Blog in the very beginning. Out of curiosity I did a little searching and the details on the blog didn't really match what I found on the internet for these models. I continued to read and gave 'Kurt' the benefit of the doubt. I was anxiously awaiting the website and pictures that "Matt' was supposed to be doing for them. At this point I'm questioning if 'Matt' is also a made up person.
This whole thing seems like such an elaborate hoax to fool people. I can't imagine how someone would want to spend so much time and energy into such an unproductive activity. Oh well ... Live and learn right? At least it was entertaining reading. Cheers!
I'm completely stunned.....and confused by the whole thing. And if it was all a hoax and we were suckered in..... then I'm also very hurt. (not to mention feeling a tad gullible?)
Thanks for this post Rich. Good gawd, now what? Who does one trust online....
|______________________________________________________________________ posted by Jude @ Wednesday, February 23, 2005 6:54:00 PM
Hey Rich,
Thanks for stopping by my blog, and reading my take on the situation. Hopefully I got a new reader out of it. ;)
In any case, Jude, don't feel bad -- we ALL fell for it. I was the first to spoil the party, but a lot of people chose to ignore my warnings.
Luckily, the person is a good person deep inside of the web of lies, and came clean.
I talked to him for MONTHS on the PHONE, and even quit college partly because of a fight I had with my aunt about him.
So...think you feel foolish?
Anyway, he knows it was a mistake, and has apologized to me numerous times.
|______________________________________________________________________ posted by Michael @ Wednesday, February 23, 2005 11:54:00 PM
Hey, I fell for the whole "Kurt" thing too. I feel like a real dufus!
Thanks for the posting Rich and the clarification from Michael.
Tracey
ps~ Rich...Berg looks like my kodi! He's a two year old white that is about 130lbs!
|______________________________________________________________________ posted by Tracey @ Thursday, February 24, 2005 8:09:00 AM
Hey Rich I just linked ya :)
|______________________________________________________________________ posted by Jude @ Thursday, February 24, 2005 9:30:00 AM
I think when you read about other people's lives on the internet via "blogs" you need to take it with a grain of salt. Personally, I like to write about my philosophy in life, the way I view things and not so much the day-to-day details of my life.
What I got out of Kurt's blog was not so much the gossip about what he was doing but I looked for inspiration in the concepts surounding LIFE itself and not HIS life. I don't really get involved in the virtual lives of people and with the few fellow bloggers I correspond with via email, I discuss more philosophical items than day-to-day things.
This is the "reality" of the virtual world. If you're looking for an emotional connection of any kind, it's always best to do that in person or at least throught IM or the phone.
|______________________________________________________________________ posted by Eve @ Thursday, February 24, 2005 10:41:00 AM
PS: Even if I was unemployed I could think of better things to do with my time/life, but hey...
|______________________________________________________________________ posted by Eve @ Thursday, February 24, 2005 10:46:00 AM
I did talk to him on the phone, and instant message.
The stories did not change, so I fail to see how you can seperate those from blogging.
In short, I think it's safe to say that the INTERNET is not a place to look for an emotional connection. Not just blogging.
Not everyone has learned that lesson, so you can't expect everyone to follow it.
|______________________________________________________________________ posted by Michael @ Thursday, February 24, 2005 12:13:00 PM
No, it's not a good idea to pursue an emotional relationship without having met a person... or at least it's not a good idea to make life decisions based on virtual meetings.
Come on, it's hard enough to do it in real life, it can only be that much more difficult without having met a person... Either that or you better be very good and reading the signs...
|______________________________________________________________________ posted by Eve @ Thursday, February 24, 2005 1:17:00 PM
Eve, I agree with you on that one! I started writing years ago because it made me feel better and get my thoughts out. I only recently started reading others blogs and finding myself getting sucked in. I guess it's some strange voyerstic tendancy that we all seem to have towards other people.
Anyway, I thought Kurt's blog was an interesting read. I talked to my partner about this last night and he said that it didn't matter at all because no one ever said it had to be true. You can get online and write about whatever you want. I realized he's right and we just typically assume that what people write is true.
As for Michael, yeah he did talk to him and was still deceived. I guess it does become difficult to tell you who can trust and who you can't. I would say it's not entirely fair to catagorize everyone online in the 'not to trust' category. I've met people in person who also fall into that category and people online who do not. I just believe you have to judge the individual, the the group. :-)
|______________________________________________________________________ posted by Rich Brown @ Thursday, February 24, 2005 1:26:00 PM
add me to the list of people that read that one.....i'm a little confused about exactly what was going on like Jude, but at this point I dont really care too much. freakazoids.
|______________________________________________________________________ posted by Brechi @ Thursday, February 24, 2005 3:49:00 PM
You guys are right it isn't smart to get an emotional attatchment to bloggers but I find it difficult to read someones blog and not feel that attachment. To tell you the truth, I'm very upset with the whole Kurt thing. I assumed he was telling the truth because I trusted him. He betrayed that trust. I guess I've learnt my lesson the hard way.
|______________________________________________________________________ posted by Charlie @ Thursday, February 24, 2005 10:27:00 PM
