The Bree Is Real Theory

[flwright]

Hi All,

How does a person prove they’re real on the Internet? Is there anything Bree can do or say that would convince most of us that she is real? Short of a one-on-one, Renetto meets Filthyw**re (we’re trying to keep this forum clean, right?) or V88 meets LG15, how do we test for reality?

After work today, I’ll try to put together some measures of real along the lines of the Turing Test and the Reverse Turing Test.

What are your suggestions?

Regards,

FLWright
(Doubting Thomas)

[clarrisa]

that's actually an interesting question.

I kept thinking of ways that she could prove her identity and the realism of her life...but I've become so jaded that I could think of ways to FAKE all of them...

[newone]

Yeah, I'd say that short of someone that we totally trust coming out and saying that they know her and that it's real, I don't think we'd believe it. It would have to be someone like Virginia, or Katie Couric or, I don't know, someone that wouldn't be in on it. But then...what if they got paid off.... I think if it got to that point, I'd probably believe it.

[wixy15]

AS she as eluded to in her videos, proving yourself is not easy.

[crackityjonesjr]

Well, there ARE some things they could do.

Showing us the rest of their homes or the small-town in which they live would go a long way towards proving that at least part of what they say is true. If Daniel is such a video whiz, you better believe that he's constantly shooting footage all over the place. So, let's see it, producers! :-)

[johngreen]

If she named the high school she went to, we could all prove her existence within about half an hour by calling the school and former classmates.

Of course, I'd understand why Bree wouldn't want her former classmates getting calls from lg15 fans.

But she's still not real.

[kayleigh724]

Yes, they could certainly be less vague. But just because they're vague doesn't automatically mean they're not real. They could just say they don't want to show any distinguishing characteristics of the area because they don't want any of her creepier fans figuring out where she is.

That's the thing - there's really nothing we can demand that they couldn't come up with a valid reason not to comply.

[firenze11]

I was just thinking, if this is real (big if there), why would these two kids want to give all of us and the world information that would make us believe them? I mean back when I was 16 I would be out of my mind scared if people had a forum about me trying to figure out where/who I was. And if her family is that strict, the implications of them finding out would be huge. A major damage to their trust relationship.

The idea of people dissecting everything Bree and Daniel do or say my push them into being more and more vague.

But at the same time, don't you think this group of people so devoted to understanding what's really going on with the videos would have scared them by now? Wouldn't Bree's videos have addressed the issue?

Unless, of course, Bree (and Daniel) love the attention. 15 minutes of fame could be a powerful drug.

Or Bree really is just an innocent girl who's being creative and enjoying making friends while she's stuck in that room. Ignoring this hoopla perhaps?

I don't know. I do know that the more I think about this the more I get confused. It is just really hard for me to believe this "16" year old is completely transparent and genuine. But that could just be me becoming cynical and paranoid as I grow up. Gaahh mind hurts.

[crackityjonesjr]

firenze11 said:

And if her family is that strict, the implications of them finding out would be huge. A major damage to their trust relationship.

True. LG15 is shown to care very much what her non-wedding-ring-wearing father and absent mother think. To risk losing their trust by continuing to upload world-famous videos would be something that she would never do.

This is just one of many inconsistencies that exist in the LG15 world.

[morninglory]

wow, totally didn't notice he wasn't wearing a wedding ring haha.

[sosumi]

crackityjonesjr said:

firenze11 said:

And if her family is that strict, the implications of them finding out would be huge. A major damage to their trust relationship.

True. LG15 is shown to care very much what her non-wedding-ring-wearing father and absent mother think. To risk losing their trust by continuing to upload world-famous videos would be something that she would never do.

This is just one of many inconsistencies that exist in the LG15 world.

Hi,

First time poster here. just popped in to give my two cents.

You know, the thing is, "real" people are never perfectly consistent. It's only in fiction that characters have clear beliefs and motivations and articulate reasons that fit together. Many of us probably remember how inconsistent we were as teenagers (or adults, for that matter). Someone could believe very much in rules and beliefs of the parents while also doing something outrageously inconsistent with those rules. It's just part of growing up, or "real" life.

Not saying that this is evidence that LG is "real," but I don't think inconsistencies like this is good evidence that she is "fake."

I really like flwright's idea about a Turing Test of reality though. But I have some thoughts on why the idea troubles me, and maybe I'll write about it later.

[privycoyote]

<< would be something that she would never do >> You don't know her.

<< You know, the thing is, "real" people are never perfectly consistent. It's only in fiction that characters have clear beliefs and motivations and articulate reasons that fit together. >>

Sosumi, you moved me, haha. If you read my intro I speak of how people are motivated by the full tapestry of their character and their lives, and no matter how much a person tells you of themselves and what they're going through, you can NEVER know the whole story. You are so right that the whole point of most movies is for you to walk out of the theater with every loose end tied and no questions left to be asked....if only life were like that. Life is complicated, full of interdependent plots and subplots, many of which MUST be left out when a person gives you the rundown of their life. Bree only gives us 3 minutes a week.

Granted, this is the risk of putting your life on display..people can't help but allow THEIR experiences and view of the world & human nature guide their instincts towards filling in the "plot holes." However, many vloggers and bloggers get on stage not for the sake of being judged by people who don't understand but for the sake of being comforted by the people who do. Sometimes people do typical things for all the typical reasons; sometimes they do atypical things for very typical reasons; and sometimes they do typical things for reasons unheard of...

That being said, thank you Tempest for staring this thread, as I too began this topic on the old forum. I believe that there is nothing "Bree" or Bree could do to prove that she is real..many of us are simply too paranoid and would always find reason to doubt. Inconsistencies and Bree betraying our understanding of her character...? As people grow, they change and new situations bring out different facets of their being..at which point they may not yet recognize those changes and [temporarily] continue spouting the same dogmatic explanation of themselves. No one can EVER explain their life and motivations in full, including "Bree"...not only will the answers to questions arising from known unknowns (i.e., all of the burning questions that have been brought up) uncover further SUBquestions, the remaining UNknown unknowns may very well leave our instincts unsatisfied. Couples stay married for decades learning new things about their lovers: "I know you better than anybody, but I never would've thought you'd do something like that."

Final thought: before any of us can be convinced of her being "real," each of us would have to think well enough about EXACTLY where the line is between "real" and "fake." Where is your line?...not just for lonelygirl15's sake, but for the sake of your enjoyment of any future, talented, YouTube auteurs. (I kinda discuss where my line is in my Introduction.)

[flwright]

Hello Fellow Breelanders,

If Virginia Heffernan’s latest revelations are true, we may all be emigrating back to Realityworld soon.

But as long as we linger here, a short synopsis of the Turing test. The Turing test was developed by Alan Turing in the 1950s and described in one of his first papers on Artificial Intelligence. It is basically a test of humanity. If a machine can convince a human that it is human, it is said to have passed the test.

There many variations of the test, some are called Reverse Turing Tests. And they actually have important real world applications. Everyone signing up for this board was tested by the software for humanity when they typed in a scrambled pattern of numbers and letters. There is a funny blog “How I failed the Turning Test” in the Wiki article on Reverse Turings.

There is also a party game called the Invitation Game, where two very different people enter separate rooms and fellow party goers attempt to distinguish who is in which room through a series of questions.

My apologies to anyone who has already coined the term for the Turing test for YouTube Reality. There is nothing new in science, only turtles standing on turtles. But if we’ve invented a new term, we should have a good name for it.

Suggestions encouraged. Here’s a start:

Toms Test (to heck with modesty)
The Carlisle Test (named after the intelligent, witty panelist of To Tell the Truth, a 50s TV show)
The Diogenes Test (named after an ancient Kitty Carlisle)
The Purple Monkey Test

I have promised myself to adhere to a strict 1 hour a day diet of YouTube related play. I don’t know how the rest of you do it. And Bree with 1200 emails! It would take 10 hours to read them all at 30 seconds a pop! She must have help.

Off to Work,

FLWright

[flwright]

Hello Everyone,

When “The Creators” spilled the beans at lonelygirl15.com, I asked the question “What better way to flush a real Bree out than post a confession on her fansite?”.

My question goes right to the heart of truth and lies, reality and fiction. A real Bree would be pretty upset over being called a liar. I know I would, and I also get upset when people lie to me. I do not like it when people take advantage of me, nor do I tolerate people taking advantage of others.

However, I don't feel put on when I read a good work of fiction. I'll willfully suspend belief in a movie theater. I know they are lies, so it's okay. That said, I prefer non-fiction and documentaries because the truth is so much more interesting than fiction. I really enjoy the unambiguously real vloggers, Kaisero11 , xSJPx, thewinekone , Chihaz, ,cocoanino, and geriatric1927 to name a few. The unambiguously fake ones are fine too (not enough space to mention them all).

It’s interesting to look at which lonelygirl15 videos get the most attention. They are the ones which touch on the problems of growing up, of learning to be adult, of yearning to be an adult. My Lazy Eye is the most popular. And Boy Problems,I’m Really Exited,I Shouldn’t Post This and My Parents Suck are far more popular than the Proving Science Wrong series, which are my favorites.

I would conclude that there are a lot of young adults who watch because they are struggling with the same difficulties. I don’t think it’s fair to lie to them. It’s good to learn to be skeptical, but cynicism is a waste of youth.

Lies that turn teenagers into cynics are minor compared to lies that kill (insert your favorite real world example here, my favorite is lying to go to war). Lies aren’t necessarily all bad and can actually reveal more about reality than dry statements of fact. Jon Stewart’s Daily Show fake news is a shining example of this.

It would have been so easy to start that first video Dorkiness Prevails with those magical words “Once Upon A Time...”. Then all the cleverness, quirkiness, mystery and fun of a really good story would remain. If lonelygirl starts to lose viewers, twas Truth that killed the Breest.

It’s a glorious day here in New England, I’m going outside to play.

Ave Atque Vale*,

FLWright (nee Tom)

PS There's still small hope. Apologies are good for the soul, and the truth is worth defending.

PPS Privycoyote, I like Tempestarii too, but I could’ve sworn I started this thread.

*Latin expression, “Hello and Goodbye”, similar to Aloha, Ciao, and “I’ll be Back”.