The case for not believing.
We all want to beleive in something. It is inherent in our nature. All of us would like to believe in ghosts and kings and heroes and monsters and good and evil. It makes the world seem safe and predictable and that life follows some kind of pattern and that extraordinary and magical things can happen to ordinary people. On the other hand, sometimes life is just ordinary.
Nick is not emailing you. Neither is Kevin or Brian. And if they were they certainly would not reveal their identity. Part of the lure of the internet is its anonymity. That is where they can relax and not worry about being who they are and just have fun like normal, ordinary people. You see, there is something about the boys I know that you don't. They are normal, ordinary people. They just never get a chance to show it. Unless they are around us or their families or .......on the internet.
Under these circumstances, don't you think it would be a little silly to think that they would waltz into a chat room and announce "I am Nick Carter!!"?? As a matter of fact I have never seen Nick or Brian ever chat on the net. Unless it was a promotional event. Although I know that Nick comes on to play multiplayer games. So you see it's not you that's hangin' out with Nick on the Net, It's your little brother. Probably playing Doom or something.
The Boys do not have personal webpages either. Let me tell you something, These are five of the busiest people on the planet. They don't have the time to sneeze, much less maintain a website. Or even know how to set one up. Do they post in a newsgroup? They don't even know what that is. Do they have their own mailing list?? Don't make me laugh. To my knowledge Brian doesn't even own a computer. While someone is emailing you telling you they are Howie, the real Howie is doing press conferences or shooting a video or accepting and award or sleeping on a plane. If you talk to someone more than twice in a month, thats a pretty sure bet that they are not genuine. The real Boys don't have the time. The only reason I have the time is because I'm a fat, bald computer geek and no-one else will play with me except my PC. While we are slumped over our keyboards the Boys are out actually living life.
Does this sound like I'm being harsh? Well I'm trying to be. I once talked a girl out of going to Nick's "uncle's" house because "Nick" was coming over for a "Visit". After I explained to her that the real Nick was in Spain and he doesn't have an uncle in Ohio anyway she got mad at me and said I was jealous. She wanted to believe it was him so bad that she would have risked her own safety had I not intervened. Just like you want to believe.
This is dangerous business folks. If I was a pedophile ( a very bad man to you younger kids) I would think this Backstreet Boys internet stuff was a gold mine. Lost of young, trusting girls that believe everything you say. That want to believe.
Worse than that, there are people out there that know just enough about the boys to impress on you that they have the "Inside scoop" and therefore they must be for real. Some people are gullible enough to trust them without verifying the information. And usually that information is false anyway. No wonder everybody believes that AJ is divorced and Brian is dead and Nick is pregnant. Because they want to believe it. Because they think they have a little scrap of information that no-one else knows and therefore they are special. No matter how outlandish it is or how it might hurt the boys' reputation. I know that there are true Backstreet Boys fans on the internet, I've talked to some of them. But there are also many people just looking for the next piece of dirt. I'm more of a fan than that and I have to mell their feet everyday. I see all of their faults and I'm still a huge fan of the Backstreet Boys. They are in it for the music and that is all. I respect that.
Ok, sermon's over. Just for the record I will no longer go after the imposters on the internet. It's is a losing battle. Nor will I answer any questions asking if this or that email address is for real. It's not. Nor will I answer any more rumour questions. Its all so tiresome. I could just answer every question I get with a "No, that's not true" and I would probably be right every time.
Instead I'm going to try to convince you to not be the victim to this kind of stuff. If I can impress on you the fact that you should question everything that comes over your computer screen, weigh the evidence, and make a solid decision about everything you hear. Then I have already won the battle.
If you can lose your wanting to believe so much, then the day that you actually do run across Nick online he will respect you. Because you treated him like an ordinary, everyday person.
Tommy
