If you are anything like me you quickly tire of an over played, over dramatic news story that really has no meaning except to feed our selfish need of celebrity drama and weirdos (i.e. Honey Boo Boo). Well the Manti Te'o fake girlfriend story is no exception. We could easily debate over how someone could or shouldn't be duped by someone over an Internet romance that he did or shouldn't have called a relationship or that Ronaiah Tuiasosopo's real cousin did or didn't participate in helping with being the voice of the prank but I just don't care anymore. At this point the kid has suffered enough public humiliation that will last throughout his lifetime. However, I feel that the perpetrator behind the whole hoax should get a closer look. Why would one Ronaiah Tuisosopo make up this whole elaborate scheme?
Most of the media reports state that this was just a mean prank that went too far and that Ronaiah Tuiasosopo just was a troubled individual who had perpetrated such pranks before. But, I think there is probably more to this "troubled individual" than what has been reported by the media. Even if it was just a prank, why was it kept going so long? Wouldn't it be more conceivable that someone who is divulging such personal details of their life (by both parties) that maybe Tuiasosopo felt romantic feelings for Te'o? If it was a prank, there is no way he wouldn't have grown tired of being another person for so long unless what he was saying about his feelings and some details of his life were true and there was some sort of emotional connection that was believed to be between them. And if that was the case and Tuiasosopo had romantic feelings for Te'o, there have been no reports of him being openly gay that I have seen so he wouldn't have wanted his true identity to be known, especially in an Internet love affair with a heterosexual man. Because in his eyes, if Te'o had found out he was really not who he said he was in Lennay Kekua, there is no way he would want to talk to him or be with him not only because he was male but for having perpetrated this whole elaborate hoax. And furthermore, not only are feelings being involved, an obvious obsession with Manti Te'o developed through their "relationship". Obsession is defined as "compulsive preoccupation with a fixed idea or an unwanted feeling or emotion". Tuiasosopo's obsession with Te'o and their "relationship"
would have been what led him to keep the hoax going for so long. Then, in a tragic twist, at some point Tuiasosopo must have felt there was no way out of the predicament he was in and decided to "end" Lennay Kekua's life. Had the truth been too much to bear at that point and he became overwhelmed with guilt or had he found another obsession and decided it was time to move on? Either way, the details of this story still don't make any sense to me to be just a prank that went too far.
I actually had started writing this blog post January 24th like a frequently do, sometimes I won't finish and delete the posts, sometimes I will save and go back at a later date due to too much going on or when I find that words aren't coming to me as easy as they normally do in my blog posts but I see now where it has been leaked from Tuiasosopo's interview with Dr. Phil that he admits he fell in love with Te'o.
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