• Hudell@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      20 hours ago

      I once somehow convinced my girlfriend that we didn’t have a dog and she had just imagined it. I stopped making jokes like that afterwards.

    • [email protected]
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      2 days ago

      NO

      It’s replicable and I know one of you will consider trying it despite the flashing warning signs. I’d rather not instigate others into betraying the trust of those closest to them. When I said that I regret it weekly, I was entirely sincere.

      • Dharma Curious (he/him)@slrpnk.net
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        2 days ago

        Honestly, that’s fair. I’m not the type that would do it, but I’ve known enough that would that I think it’s the responsible thing of you to probably keep that information to yourself.

        But I do have questions, and if you’re not comfortable answering public, I swear to God, I will not share the information online or in any capacity in which in might be used for harm if you were to DM me an answer. Lol. I don’t think the answers could be used like that, anyway.

        Does the person you did this to now know the full truth of the situation?

        Was the hoax religious in nature?

        Was it political (for instance, a terror attack, election result, or other “big ticket” news worthy type of thing?

        If it caused a lasting impact on the victim, was that impact purely a loss of trust with you/others in involved, or did it cause like lasting issues in their perception of reality? (As in, do they still believe this, or partially believe it, even if they have been informed of the truth?)

        Are you still with/close to/associated with the victim?

        Was there physical harm caused?

        And finally, what was your motivation to do it in the first place?

        Totally get it if you don’t want to answer any or all of these… But you did open the door, so I assume you’re comfortable talking about aspects of it, so long as the information given doesn’t make it replicatible, and I feel my curiosity is very understandable. Lol

        • [email protected]
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          1 day ago

          I won’t go into specifics about the hoax, but everything else is fine. At the time, I was one of their few friends, which inadvertently made me the one to comfort them and abuse them.

          I thought it would be entertaining to put my burgeoning skills on display, but disconnecting a person from reality and then re-anchoring them to it causes far more psychological harm than 20s me could have understood. Your anchor cannot unmoor itself without forcing you to travel a ways and I didn’t even consider the proverbial currents.

          I told them immediately after, but that compelled a unique sort of emotional dependence and power dynamic that I hated then and that haunts my days and nights now. I became both abuser and soother. It was like flipping the switch to “battered housewife.”

          We’re still together, and significantly better for one another after counseling. Neither of us were harmed physically. Just years of potential development wasted.