I tend to feel a knee jerk reaction to steer clear of people who I've found out are lying. Not that it's happened here that I have become aware of. Unless they have outright admitted that they've created a false representation of themselves elsewhere.
It's too triggering for me though of someone I grew up with. (Whom I believe to be a narcissist.) They would tell tales where they were the victim and I was the perpetraitor. I know what it's like to be at the centre of a shitstorm like that so truthfully, I hold an absolute contempt for people who try to do that to others.
I remember as a child once, I started to emulate them once, expanding on stories of abuse. It wasn't really abuse. It was a reasonable amount of discipline in response to me pushing boundaries. I don't really even know why I did it. To try and fit in maybe. I was guilty of that around other 'friends'. At the time, it felt good to get the attention but, it felt so wrong too. I don't think I did it again.
But yeah, truthfully, I despise people who do it to get others into trouble. Perhaps unkind to say but, I don't really care what they're going through to make them do that. I find it hard to accept as an excuse to persecute someone else. Especially if that person has done nothing wrong.
If it's something like cat fishing. Again, I find it odd and pretty manipulative. I feel bad for them that I assume they are craving the kind of attention they don't think they'll get if they just be themselves. My mind tends to catastrophize though. It jumps to very extreme examples- like the bizarre case of UK Gemma Barker, who faked a male identity to catfish two of her friends. She even sexually assaulted them. It just seems a very callous manipulation of other people's emotions to fulfil their own needs- in the most extreme cases.
Maybe there are others when it isn't so bad. In the documentary: 'The Remarkable Life of Ibelin', a very disabled man lived out a kind of fantasy reality in 'World of Warcraft.' I can understand why some people want to hide who they truly are, what they look like, what they are disabled by because, people can be so judgemental. I think there's a difference though, between concealing certain things and portraying an image to have fun and, deliberately manipulating other people's feelings and perspectives for malicious means.
I tend to be of the feeling that, if a person shows so much callous disrespect for the emotions of others, why should we feel invested in their needs and feelings? I suppose in trying to understand what leads to those behaviours would be good. I'm just more concerned of how destructive it could end up though. So, while the condition as a whole is interesting, I don't feel so much trust for someone who openly admits they are duplicitous.
