Catfishin'

In the documentary "Catfish", an excellent point that was made was that catfish are just like people in the world nipping at toes and keeping others fresh and on their feet. Which is exactly what Angela in the story did. By creating multiple profiles and acting first as a young girl to gain the trust of Nev, and then as a 19 year old and so on, she lied and tricked Nev into loving someone who never existed. It is evident at the end of the movie that Angela has a tough life that is not necessarily what she set out to have, and for that reason, many sympathize with her and tend to think that what she did was justified. I don't believe in this case her situation justifies her actions. I believe that sometimes it can be necessary to lie, but in this case I think there are better ways she could have handled her situation. Lying and cheating on her husband were temporary solutions that hurt Nev and eventually her husband as well. For that I think that what she did was immoral and not justified on the basis that her life isn't what she wanted.

According to Mill, morality is based on whatever causes the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest amount of people. I believe that besides Nev becoming famous, no one benefited from Angela's lies and some were actually hurt by it. A point brought up in class that Angela brought a child into her lies makes her actions even worse and harder to justify.