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Post by knightofhyn on Mar 5, 2009 12:39:44 GMT -5
I had this thought when talking with a church member yesterday. She was asking me questions about securing her laptop. She does contract work for a medical insurance company, keying in data.
The thought occurred to me that when the Rapture occurs, if someone wanted to, they could easily change identities. How hard would it be to vanish if you wanted/needed to than to grab one of thousands of vanished people's SSN and name?
Has anyone explored this?
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Post by mongoose on Mar 6, 2009 21:53:31 GMT -5
From my limited repertoire I've yet to read or watch a story about identity theft post-rapture, but identity theft and people trying to disappear is a theme that I've seen many times. It's just as fun to watch/read now as it was the first time.
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Post by torainfor on Mar 7, 2009 15:44:12 GMT -5
Relating to identity, but having absolutely nothing to do with the Rapture or credit cards, something's struck me over the last few months. I'm meeting more and more teenagers who go by their on-line identity name. Granted, they're writers, and therefore already stranger than the average bear. It's just interesting, I think, that the concept of identity could be going through a major shift right now, as we type. I am known by my real name in FaceBook, where I communicate almost exclusively with people I actually know. But in every other blog and forum, I am self-designated as "torainfor" and very often spontaneously called Rain by other members. (Which I would love in real life, except "Rain" is a Korean soap opera star. Which is kinda weird.) I chose my user name one day when we lived in Colorado the last time, and it hadn't rained in about five months. Being from Oregon, it was driving me nuts. 24 is my favorite number and "rain24" was already taken as a Yahoo name.
Such a random confluence of occurrences to give me this identity. (My RL name is based on the middle names of several relatives.) Which is my most authentic identity? Will there come a time when torainfor trumps Elizabeth Jo? Will my friend ever regret her choice of mangycat? Will my sister one day be primarily known as cheesentoast? How much thought do people put into their forum/blog names? Will members of the cyber community get to the point where our usernames and avatars become more "us" than the letters on our birth certificates and the photo on our drivers' license?
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Post by mongoose on Mar 7, 2009 23:12:41 GMT -5
Whether or not that occurres, I often have to tell people to get a new, more professional sounding e-mail account to use for work search and to place on their resumes. Funky monikers, though often descriptive of a person's personality, usually do not convince employers to hire a person.
As for who I am, people seem to have a really hard time answering that question. "I'm a reporter" "I didn't ask what you do, I asked who you are." "I'm a conservative." "I didn't ask what your social/philosophical/political leanings were, I asked who you are." and on it goes. I remember a similar scene from the movie "Anger Management." The kid never does answer the question.
How do we answer the question? I think I would say I am _[my name]_ and not in name only, but that is also what and who I am, what I do, what motivates me, what I aim for, and what I will become. I am a gift from God and a disciple, king, and priest of His. Someone, thinking themselves to be cleaver, might press me for something deeper, but that's as far as I think it goes, and I'd probably stick to it, having given it some thought and putting a great deal of meaning into each of those terms. How about the rest of you?
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Post by metalikhan on Mar 8, 2009 13:11:23 GMT -5
I am a child of God, a follower of Christ. I am a saved sinner and a saint in training. I am a being of spirit having a human experience.
I've described elsewhere how I got the name I use here; but I didn't mention that it also carries a somewhat obscure pun. It fit in several ways. I liked it.
Other categorizations are people's ways of making you understandable, safe. It only works up to the point when they spot some dichotomy they don't understand, something outside of the box they've built around you, some little thing that disrupts the stereotype they've wrapped around you. I think most people don't really want to know the multi-facets that make each person unique; and so, they become uncomfortable when they catch a glint shining off some facet they've never before seen in you. That's when you get comments like You scare me or I thought I knew you or You are such a mystery. They want you to validate who they think they are by conforming to their perception of you.
I think the sadder thing is when you do that to yourself, when you climb into a category box and refuse to peek out of it. You miss so much of what God has for you: fellowship with Him, growth, blessing, adventure.
My job is not who I am. My education is not who I am. My talents are not who I am. My experiences are not who I am. My health is not who I am. They are visible facets of something else that God uses as He wills. I need only remember my primary identity is who I am in Him.
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Post by mongoose on Mar 9, 2009 1:42:16 GMT -5
I tend to categorize people, much as I do everything else. But if someone doesn't fit, I either push out the boundaries of the nearest category, or start a new category. You are who and what you are. My job is to get to know you.
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Post by myrthman on Mar 9, 2009 20:17:06 GMT -5
For some reason, I'm pondering the very real possibility of two techies getting married and someday having children. Would they name their kids after their favorite chat names or maybe after mega-coms like Google or Yahoo? Would there one day be books published with 10000 b@by name$ and their meanings and origins? I'm reminded of the Al Pacino movie S1m0ne but on a much grander, society-sweeping scale. Probably won't happen IRL but would make for a fun story.
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Post by knightofhyn on Mar 13, 2009 10:55:50 GMT -5
Some of us like that idea, that we can be different things depending on how we answer the question. I identify myself by my career. I am a tech and a writer. Let's not get into the lump of flesh behind the monitor. That thing is boring.
It's true about the email addresses for job hunts. I can't tell you how funny it was when we received a receptionist application at the college I work at where the girl's email was partygurlxoxo or something like that. She was a student and we were automatically less inclined to deal with that.
Going back to the original, I had to admit the idea that someone would be walking along, laptop bag in hand and BAM, they're gone. Laptop lying on the ground. Someone grabs it and hacks in and finds out that someone's been carrying around fifty thousand medical records, all with a full identity to steal. Thought it might make for an interesting suspense story. Say...a man and a woman are married. The man is a Christian and the woman not. The man is Raptured and the woman mourns him, thinking he died. Then she starts getting clues that someone is out there, charging things to his credit cards and starting new ones. Maybe detail her hunt and some memories of what he said, her questioning him, then finding out that it wasn't her husband and realizing that he really had been raptured. Seems to merit sub plot, at the least.
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Post by mongoose on Mar 14, 2009 3:36:26 GMT -5
"And every eye will see Him on that day . . ." Oh well. It's not worth it to me. I'm almost fatalistic on these things.
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