First of all, let me apologize for not having ANY sort of update in a while. Secondly, the main topic of this entry today: the idea of ‘Internet People’. According to most people, this is a sinister group who stalk innocent sons and daughters on the internet, aiming to rape the poor children, murder anyone within range, or rob them blind. I’m here to point out how the idea simply makes no sense.
First of all, let me say this: Before the internet, did anyone really worry about people from other states coming in on buses or airplanes to tour the area? No, not really. Because back then the world was a more trusting place, less prone to accusing complete strangers of being terrifying bringers of misfortune. And yet, with the invention of messaging boards a new prospect arose: Paedophiles and predators could easily use the complete safety of the internet to chase underaged kids who didn’t know what they were doing. Parents of this new age, brainwashed by PSAs about internet safety, believe that the whole of the internet is crawling with these type of people.
And yet.
Most people in the developed world have internet access, but parents are completely okay with their child making friends with legitimate-looking people from school who they know absolutely nothing about. If the majority of the people in the world are not the predators or stalkers, and the majority of the developed world has internet access, why do most people believe that the same people, once on the internet, become dangerous?
I’ll tell you why. It’s because people have been told to be cautious, to be wary, of those that try to contact them over the internet. And many people, no matter how much logical argument you present to them, will simply say, “But you don’t know this person!”
In reality, who do we really know?
Sure, we know our families to an extent. Yet children can hide almost anything from the rest of their families. Homosexuality, being transgender, transvestitism, etc. So how do you know your family is who they say they are? And for that matter, your friends? You only see what other people want you to see of their life. So it really doesn’t matter whether or not you meet someone on the internet. There is no difference between the people you meet in your everyday life and the people you meet on the internet. And, really, if you want to confine a kid to the people in their immediate vincinity, they might suffer for it. Branching out and having deeper relationships online can be beneficial for a person, not just terrible.
*This in no way says that you shouldn’t be careful when browsing the web. There are still very bad people out there, but not EVERYONE on the internet is a maniac. This has been Lance. Out.
The Asexual Otaku 
I agree with you and I have noticed the same fear. I told a friend I was going to a group from meetup.com, and she freaked out, telling me not to get kidnapped, etc etc. But this group is no more dangerous than going to, say, a club that is advertised in a local newspaper. And I’ve also been told not to go anywhere alone with big bad internet people, but that advice holds anyway — I mean, I can’t imagine it’s a good idea to go places alone with people you’ve just met, whether they are internet people or real life people. I have never understood why “internet people” get classed into some horrible dangerous group while meatspace people don’t.