Give me some space

To this day I don't really know what it means for something to be "reddit" or for a person to be spiritually a redditor but I keep noticing that the way people use the term usually comes off as one of:

1- Anti-intellectual.

2- Really, really hostile to atheists.

3- Kind of using the word as a more socially acceptable way to insult someone for speech/writing patterns typical for autistic people.

Despite making this post in August, this post spikes in brief periods throughout the year, depending on when folks like to start.

Reading all the cool costume projects people are working on

Now take this logic and apply it to things like ADHD, autism, clinical depression, and other less visible/divergent disabilities. You cannot think your way out of feeling.

1) lack of proof. this guy insisted he had a ton of incriminating things... none of which he showed to me. if someone is actually genuinely trying to blackmail you with actual genuine materials, they'll probably show you; actual proof of blackmail is a great way to freak people out and get them thinking illogically, which is exactly what scammers want. if he had a way to do that, he would've.

2) lack of logic. first, this guy insisted he'd managed to attain full access to my laptop and that he had the ability to view my keystrokes. but if he really had, then he'd also have access to my bank account--so why bother blackmailing me if he could just login to my bank account and do the transfer himself? if he's had access to my financial data for months, why are there no fradulent charges on my credit card? for that matter, if he really has full control of my computer, why even bother sending me an email when he could just pop some text up directly on my screen, which would simultaneously communicate his message AND prove that his claims are true?

second, i got about 8 variations of the same email, each of them acting like this was the first contact--because, see, an actual person didn't take the time to actually send this. this was sent by a bot that scraped emails off the web to send.

third, the emails rested on the idea that this guy had used my laptop webcam to record me getting off to porn... which in my particular case, i know is a lie, because i only watch porn on my phone lmao.

obviously not all of these specific things will be true for everyone, but my point is: slow down. take a few breaths. go through all the details in the email (or ao3 comment, or whatever) and ask yourself if everything in this email actually applies to you and if it actually makes sense.

3) lack of specificity. the emails i got used a lot of language designed to trigger an emotional reaction in me and get me feeling panicked--"we both know you have... particular preferences", "the things you've been looking at are pretty disgusting", "how would your parents react if they saw what you've been looking at?", "i know what you were looking at and i know that if anyone finds out it could ruin your life", etc etc. a few of them even started with "hey sinner!" (which i actually thought was pretty funny).

so, lots of scary threatening language, but if you slow down and look, everything there has one thing in common:

none of it specifies anything.

let's apply the logic test again: why wouldn't he specify the specific weird shit he claims to know i'm into? it would actually benefit him if he did--if the email itself contained info on exactly what i'm into, that would make it less likely i'd want to show the email to anyone who could help me, right? so why not include it, if he already knows?

the answer is that, well, he doesn't know. he's making the email as vague as possible because he knows that if he makes a guess about the kind of porn i'm into and he's wrong, i'll immediately know he's full of shit. so instead, he tried to be as threatening as he could without ever actually specifying any of the dirt he allegedly has on me. the email also never addressed me by name and never made mentions to where i live or where i work (info someone with total access to my computer could very easily get). and if he had that, wouldn't he include it?