Rhetorical Response Blake Stone.

The biography of Blake Stone is a good example of how the internet can be dangerous. Even though nothing harmful came out of this situation you never know who could be on the other side of a chat room conversation. People use the internet to escape the monotony of their average and boring lives, they create alter egos, and invent individual personality characteristics unique to the person they have dreamed up. Jeramey seems to be like every middle school kid, in that he is a socially awkward and a confused little guy. When his grandmother keeps him while his parents are out doing lord knows what, he uses her internet to establish himself in an on line chat room called “Masquerade Ball”. He meets numerous people who we later find out are not who they say they are. Just like “Blake Stone” they are characters dreamed up by unconfident internet junkies who obviously have no life.
It is interesting how relationships can be developed on the internet. These people have absolutely no idea who the individuals they are talking to truly are, and the funny things is they seem to put trust and show actual jealously towards the relations amongst their fellow chatters. I think this story is ridiculous. Why on earth is this middle school kid online chatting with 30 year old nurses from Georgia? Where the hell is his parents shouldn’t they be getting home sooner than the grandma goes to sleep? What could they possibly be doing so late in the ever so exciting night life of Odessa, Texas? I guess that doesn’t really matter. Anyways, I don’t really understand what kind of chat room this is anyway how are they getting drunk and dancing in a chat room? If any one finds a chat room like that let me know! I thought the author did an excellent job of grabbing my attention though. He used little internet language and subconscious cues that we all know now days to show the emotions of the chatters which made the story interesting. I thought it was funny how he refused to give his phone number to the CalenderGal. It showed his innocence, and for a moment it made him a pubescent boy rather than Blake Stone. But one thing about the internet is having plenty of time to think of the perfect response. So he was able to stay in character long enough to not blow his cover. I still can’t get over the fact that this kid is sitting at the foot of his grandmother’s bed having sexually charged conversations with strangers. If you ask me that’s a little bit strange… I was watching “To Catch a Predator” last night and judging from what I have seen on television, these situations never end well. Before you know it some perverted middle aged man will track down little Jeramey and Chris Hansen will pop out of a closet and scold him. Good god I am off topic. I think parents need to do a better job of monitoring what their children are doing on the internet. Although this story is interesting I still say that people need to realize that things like chat rooms are not real life and serve absolutely no purpose. Blogs, networking sites, and chat rooms, though entertaining, can grab a hold of people’s lives and pull then down into a cycle of addiction that is as hard to break as some drugs habits. The narrator seems to be skipping out on his study habits also. He says himself that he sits and class and invents different scenarios and conversational possibilities for his chat room adventures. The way he describes this make believe ballroom with its interesting people and passer-byes is comical. This hierarchy of elitist chat room members shunning out the noobies looking for cyber sex makes me laugh at how seriously people take themselves. Like the conversations they are having are somehow above any of the other crap on the internet…