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I too am noticing within the past few years (possibly before but I can say the last two-three years as a safe zone) that there does, in fact, seem to be a romanticism and "coolness" to being as ugly and totally non-human, almost evil in sentiment to a fellow man. Whether this be in the form of trolling omg.... Or, just:
- Anonymous comments on message boards
- Screennamed (still Anonymous! To everyone but the NSA) comments on message boards that don't care
- " " " " " " " " comments on message boards that do nothing to stop the problem, nor attempt to control it - much like the above
- " " " " " " " " comments on message boards that encourage such a culture, from the Mods and Admins on down (can name a few boards)
- " " " " " " " " that selectively enforce these type of comments against anyone with either a dissenting opinion, or anyone except their "been there forever," "Oh, you're my best friend IRL" regulars -
- Reddit, and similar places I never have been
- ok, what I am getting at is that on the Internet,it really does seem to be cool and almost admired and respected, whether amongst a Band Of Thieves that changes by the day and the situation, or just feeding off one another in a group mentality, to:
- Encourage suicide
- Be as nasty as possible
- Lie, ruin reputations and be relentless amongst those singled-out
- Make Fake News or events, similar to above
- Outright stalk and harass
- Make fake screennames of the targeted (look at Twitter and Donald Trump, or anyone else unpopular)
I would like to think that about 5 years ago, these things would be unthinkable, unpossible, and not really anything that people would actually "do."
Now, ever since we got the famous The Admin Is A Computer Bot from Yahoo and other places, where anything more than a set number of flag/reports on anything someone reading does not like makes the comment or post deleted and absolutely impossible to get back, Draconian is an understatement... There is a small yet extremely vocal (all talk and no walk, too) subculture that only thrives on making others feel [i]miserable.[/b] They do it on Amazon (fake reviews, the one-star DO NOT BUY THIS!!! etc, also the fake positive reviews, can be very hard to spot sometimes) as well as to YouTube personalities (they once tried to shame someone I follow on there by somehow seeing that he got Priority shipping on all his past orders when he talked about how Amazon handled one of his very poorly, he made a video response on that and a number of other points, he was strong in the handling of his trolls so his situation eventually died out, point is that they did it to him too, same as President Trump) so..
All of this negativity. I would like to explore.
Where does the sentiment come from?
What is it about being behind a computer, (yes, anywhere in the world, the UK and Australia have a HUGE number of trolls that like to pass themselves off as either being from/in America, or just bash America any chance they get, in the midst of trolling as well as their regular life posts, trolling is a hobby for them) that makes people act like this?
How many people have honestly hurt themselves or someone else as a result of the cyberbullying, I am sick of hearing that focused on teens as these adults act like teens, adults can suffer too?
Who encourages this? What is the mental reward?
What kind of psychosis is this?
And that is why I say.. Discuss. It's a particularly fascinating thing for me, and surely some know more about what happens in the brain when the select few get in front of a computer, and say, "I'm gonna get this guy." And these things can go on for years... We know it has been handled properly when the trolls go away and stop, have not yet met the troll that has never gotten tired, but I am not the only one witnessing what these people do...
I too am noticing within the past few years (possibly before but I can say the last two-three years as a safe zone) that there does, in fact, seem to be a romanticism and "coolness" to being as ugly and totally non-human, almost evil in sentiment to a fellow man. Whether this be in the form of trolling omg.... Or, just:
- Anonymous comments on message boards
- Screennamed (still Anonymous! To everyone but the NSA) comments on message boards that don't care
- " " " " " " " " comments on message boards that do nothing to stop the problem, nor attempt to control it - much like the above
- " " " " " " " " comments on message boards that encourage such a culture, from the Mods and Admins on down (can name a few boards)
- " " " " " " " " that selectively enforce these type of comments against anyone with either a dissenting opinion, or anyone except their "been there forever," "Oh, you're my best friend IRL" regulars -
- Reddit, and similar places I never have been
- ok, what I am getting at is that on the Internet,it really does seem to be cool and almost admired and respected, whether amongst a Band Of Thieves that changes by the day and the situation, or just feeding off one another in a group mentality, to:
- Encourage suicide
- Be as nasty as possible
- Lie, ruin reputations and be relentless amongst those singled-out
- Make Fake News or events, similar to above
- Outright stalk and harass
- Make fake screennames of the targeted (look at Twitter and Donald Trump, or anyone else unpopular)
I would like to think that about 5 years ago, these things would be unthinkable, unpossible, and not really anything that people would actually "do."
Now, ever since we got the famous The Admin Is A Computer Bot from Yahoo and other places, where anything more than a set number of flag/reports on anything someone reading does not like makes the comment or post deleted and absolutely impossible to get back, Draconian is an understatement... There is a small yet extremely vocal (all talk and no walk, too) subculture that only thrives on making others feel [i]miserable.[/b] They do it on Amazon (fake reviews, the one-star DO NOT BUY THIS!!! etc, also the fake positive reviews, can be very hard to spot sometimes) as well as to YouTube personalities (they once tried to shame someone I follow on there by somehow seeing that he got Priority shipping on all his past orders when he talked about how Amazon handled one of his very poorly, he made a video response on that and a number of other points, he was strong in the handling of his trolls so his situation eventually died out, point is that they did it to him too, same as President Trump) so..
All of this negativity. I would like to explore.
Where does the sentiment come from?
What is it about being behind a computer, (yes, anywhere in the world, the UK and Australia have a HUGE number of trolls that like to pass themselves off as either being from/in America, or just bash America any chance they get, in the midst of trolling as well as their regular life posts, trolling is a hobby for them) that makes people act like this?
How many people have honestly hurt themselves or someone else as a result of the cyberbullying, I am sick of hearing that focused on teens as these adults act like teens, adults can suffer too?
Who encourages this? What is the mental reward?
What kind of psychosis is this?
And that is why I say.. Discuss. It's a particularly fascinating thing for me, and surely some know more about what happens in the brain when the select few get in front of a computer, and say, "I'm gonna get this guy." And these things can go on for years... We know it has been handled properly when the trolls go away and stop, have not yet met the troll that has never gotten tired, but I am not the only one witnessing what these people do...
Discuss.
First of all, "except to the NSA", have you never heard of VPNs?
Second, I know, for a fact, that people get paid to write positive or negative reviews on Amazon, because I've had a company ask me to do it. I didn't, because I'm not that desperate for money, but it's very easy to figure out which are fake and which aren't.
Third, actually, a lot of places do NOT delete or censor. The "sub-culture" is not small, it's not even a "sub cutlure", it's every day people saying what they really feel, or it's to get a rise out of people which again reveals how they really feel.
Why are there so many "trolls"? What is it about being behind a computer? It has nothing to do with "being behind a computer". All these people acting like no one would say any of this to other's faces...yes, they would. The computer makes it easier to act this way towards as many as you want, and the reason it's done is because a lot of people are stupid and believe everything that they see on the internet.
You're bothered by people talking crap about the US? They do that with or without internet. Europeans have long trashed on the US. They call us fat, they call us stupid...one of my favorite things to do when I was an airboat captain was to exaggerate the "stupidity of Americans" when I saw that they were getting snotty about things. Example: To engage my guests on my boat, I would ask them where they were from. I asked because it gets people to start relaxing, and because I was genuinely curious. So you can imagine how fun it was to hear some snot tell me, "I'm from Belgium............it's in Europe." Gasp! It IS?!?! When I got people like that, I would troll the F out of them. I would play up the stereotype so hard that the entire boat would be laughing at this snot - until they finally figured out what I was doing. Then they would either laugh or get angry that I turned it back on them.
As for people pretending to be from places they aren't, so what? That's like getting upset because gamers will choose genders opposite of them to be their characters. Do you have any clue how many guys play female characters? A lot of girls play male characters. So what? Did you actually think the character was the person? It's not, it's a character, but people get all upset about that, too. "It's lying". No it's not lying. If I play a male character, how is that lying? It's FAKE! Who cares if an Australian pretends to be an American and uses stereotypes to make others feel better about their stereotypes about Americans. Who cares. Some random ahole in Australia has no effect on my life. None. Let him do what he needs to do - the stereotype is going to stay there regardless if he does his schtick or not.
The 'kys' crowd are the younger people. Those are the 9 year olds up to mid teens. Those are the ones who say "drink bleach" and other dumb things because to them, it's nothing more than an insult.
I've had someone "stalk" me, if you want to call it that, from right here on City Data. They apparently had too much time on their hands and found my Facebook account. It took effort because I don't use my name on here, and I didn't use my name on Facebook. I don't put my name out on the internet. Not only did they take the time to find my Facebook, they also took the time to write to a few friends of mine, actual friends since I didn't do long lists of random strangers, and told them about my account on here. "This person is the same person as this person on here" complete with user name and City Data's forum url.
What were they hoping to get out of that, I haven't a clue. See, if you're going to "stalk" someone and write to their friends to "out" them...I can only think it had to be about my political leanings because I don't write anything else controversial...you should probably have a clue about the person to know if your little scheme will work. What this dumbass did not count on was that my friends list had ACTUAL friends - people who know me - they KNOW my political leanings, and most of them held the exact same ones that I do. (I don't have FB anymore but it's not because of dummy, it's because it's stupid and boring.)
What dummy also forgot to do was cover his tracks. If you're going to "stalk" someone, you should probably not make it easy for that someone to find out exactly who you are. It literally took me an hour. My friends and I had a good laugh. In the end, what do I care if some chowder head decides to try to find my social media? So what?
"Cyberbullying" is horse spit. You can easily control it. Close down your social media accounts, turn off the computer, go somewhere else on the internet, stop putting out so much personal information to the entire world. It's like people cannot comprehend just how many fricken people can see what you put up on the internet. Parents should be watching what their kids are doing on the internet. If their kid is being "cyber bullied" (such bs this term), they need to take the smart phone and computer away if the kid can't stop going back in to the lion's den for another bite. If you stop giving people the attention, they'll go somewhere else.
People blow a lot of this out of proportion. And some of those "cyber bullying" stories are completely and totally made up. Lots of people say lots of things for views. They want to "go viral", be the next sensation, and they just make so much crap up that they shouldn't be surprised when it backfires in their face.
The internet is not promoting anything. All you're seeing is the true nature of people out there. In many places, there's no one to stop them from saying exactly what they think. I, too, find it fascinating, because I've long been one who has said: Just imagine if everyone actually said what they think. We could get it all out in the open and learn to deal with truth. It might be harsh, but I'd rather deal with harsh truth than this phony BS that so many in society put in front of you while stabbing you in the back.
The internet is the world actually saying what they think. A lot of people are having a hard time dealing with that.
Anytime you put yourself in front of people, you're going to be judged. They will judge how you speak, walk, look, what you're wearing, what you say, what you do...everything about you will be judged. It happens every single day of your life that you are outside of your home. You don't get to hear their thoughts, so you have no idea just what they're thinking about you.
On the internet, you are hearing what they think about you. It's not going to stop, so people better learn quickly how to handle the harsh truth.
Not everyone is going to like you or care one whit about you.
[quote=Escapee2;46620316]
All of this negativity. I would like to explore.
Where does the sentiment come from?
Self contempt! We are born with self love and are soon forced to give it up to be like all the unhappy or ashamed adults around us. Even so-called self loving folks can still hold a bit of self contempt which the baby picks up on at about 1 1/2 y.o.
What is it about being behind a computer, (yes, anywhere in the world, the UK and Australia have a HUGE number of trolls that like to pass themselves off as either being from/in America, or just bash America any chance they get, in the midst of trolling as well as their regular life posts, trolling is a hobby for them) that makes people act like this?
Toxic Shame or self contempt! Which usually comes to us from our parents.
How many people have honestly hurt themselves or someone else as a result of the cyberbullying, I am sick of hearing that focused on teens as these adults act like teens, adults can suffer too? I'd say about 99.99% of humanity is lost in self contempt.
Who encourages this? Most cultures. What is the mental reward? Temporary happiness.
What kind of psychosis is this?
Toxic Shame! google it.
And that is why I say.. Discuss. It's a particularly fascinating thing for me, and surely some know more about what happens in the brain when the select few get in front of a computer, and say, "I'm gonna get this guy." And these things can go on for years... We know it has been handled properly when the trolls go away and stop, have not yet met the troll that has never gotten tired, but I am not the only one witnessing what these people do...
Discuss.
Find a way to stop babies from being programmed to hate or dislike them selves (Toxic Shame) by older and sicker others or find an emotional solution later in life with spiritual or psychological means.
I did a lot of psychological work to undo the mental damages from my parents and now, I continue to look into spiritual/metaphysical means to finish the job of removing Toxic Shame and self contempt that other injected into me at an early age.
Of the two, the spiritual/metaphysical stuff seems to work the best.
I can now honestly say that I accept and respect myself 100% - most of the time!
I also believe that the evil that is going on is supposed to go and will continue to go on for as long as Divinity wants it to go on - for whatever reasons Divinity has for doing and being it. Divinity or Allness is all that there is, was or ever will be - so enjoy it - it's all YOU!
People who are nasty online are acting out of emotion. They see/read something they don't like, it angers them, and they're expressing it by being nasty. It's just a human reaction. Not everyone can maintain politeness when they witness something that really irks them.
Internet anonymity is perfect to do that without getting caught or getting in trouble. Try it in real life, and you will be embarrassed.
What's the mental reward? The satisfaction that you vented, that you felt superior over someone else, that you lowered them to a level beneath you, that you feel like they are wrong, and you punished them.
I think social media encourages various forms of TIFS (Total Internet F__kwad Syndrome) which states that given a normal person, (perceived) anonymity plus an audience, people tend to become complete posterior orifices. I don't think this is a new phenomenon.
It also encourages superficial relationships and dignifies acquaintances with labels like "friend" without justification.
Decrying it is like how people decried TV in the 1950s. It's something that isn't inherently bad, comes with benefits and disadvantages, and has to be handled responsibly. I do not think the ills of society are caused by technology, simply highlighted and sometimes revealed and maybe amplified by it. On the other hand, what is right with society is also revealed and amplified.
We are wired by natural selection to notice the bad a lot more than the good, but I suspect that if you really had access to a large base of internet posts and rated them objectively for content, you would find as much good as bad and a great deal of neutral stuff.
I think when the times allow it, or seem to condone it, extreme hostility to others comes out. In the last century we had the Holocaust, and before that, the genocide perpetrated on the Armenians. In the previous century, we had the American Indian genocide and slavery. The internet did not have to exist for people to actively hate large segments of people.
The ability to anonymously post the dreck that exists in the lowest level of one's mind, without repercussions, allows people to express whatever they feel. All of this hostility has always been there, but most of us have filters that work when we are around others.
Much is made of Donald Trump's posting and speechifying from his id. That is happening all the time, all over the internet.
Why do you think some people hate political correctness? The don't like filtering their hurtful comments. So they post stuff.
That's my opinion.
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