Actually, would *you* like to see your parents go through your diary (assuming you keep one)? I definitely wouldn't. Yes, it is necessary for parents to keep in touch with their children's feelings. But that doesn't mean the parents may turn fascist on them.
Actually the social setting of high school is but part of the problem. I have been a social outcast in high school as well, what with me being a nerd and all. However, I *did* manage to keep myself socially involved with most of the people I saw at school. I wrote for the high school newspaper, acted in the high school plays and was an active member of the school choir. This provided me with ample reinforcement for the view that `everything is gonna be alright'. It even prepared me for being outcast in my freshmen year at college: I managed to find friends even though most of the other freshmen loathed me.
It seems to me these kids did not even try to actively go out to combat their negative feelings but simply reveled in them. And the fact that *that* has not been noticed by the teachers and parents is what scares me. It ought to be different.
Let me start this by refering to both this and itp's response to the `Media coming to grips with the changin' times' post I did.
You, itp, are absolutely right in that there *is* a connection between the glorification of mindless senseless violence and the increased occurence of such. Humans get numbed by anything they see long enough, and if it is truly pervasive they will start to perceive it as the norm.
However, in current society, even though violence is being glorified, there are very many examples that show it is *not* normal, and there are very many reinforcements of the non-violent norm. The two trenchcoat mobsters must have ignored those examples and reinforcements and chosen to be highly violent.
Note that they could choose for violence. They had access to weapons and bombs. They had positive reinforcements for the destructive thoughts brought on by their outcast nature. But they must have also lacked reinforcements against violence.
There is probably no single reason to be found for their actions. What can be said however is that their entire surroundings were conducive to their violence.
I think it is actually rather encouraging that the media point to FPS games as a reason for the Columbine killing. It shows that they are becoming mainstream and there is nothing anyone can do against it anymore. Just look at the past for more examples of this: the supposedly 'bad` influence of comics, the 'corrupting` influence of agressive action movies, even TV shows have been 'credited` as cause for rampant behaviour.
Ofcourse, no journalist would *dare* put the blame were it rightfully belongs: with the person responsible. Somehow it seems unacceptable to them that an 18-year-old can truly be a criminal.
On a last note: why do people think that ready availability of information on bomb-making (or drug-making for that matter) is all that's required for people to actually go out and make bombs (or drugs)? There *is* such a thing as availability of the physical means to do so, and it need not exist. Knowledge doesn't kill. Knowledge *cannot* even kill.
Just imagine: cold fusion, nano technology, holography and computers...
Cold fusion provides the power, the nano tech provides the cold fusion capabality and the solidity of the objects, the holography the looks of the objects and the computers the interactivity...
Man, I love this world.
Chase the dream, not the competition.
April 1... otherwise know as April Fool's...
on
Web Sites Shut Down
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· Score: 1
Okay, we all know Be Dope, Segfault and UserFriendly have been shut down. And they've been shut down in *exactly* the same way. Further, the client is unnamed... this is *highly* irregular, and therefore this is very probably indeed a joke.
Now, who'll join me in supporting Linus to buy a Compaq Dynamouse for his laptop to be recharged? The power in Russia is said to be flakey at best...
Let me start by stating an obvious fact: Jon Katz is as human as we all are.
He is trying to turn around his life to a more technically savvy state. This is something most of us have already done years ago as kids without so much as giving it a single thought. The nice thing is that Jon *does* give it a thought. And he filters the thought through some 50 years of experience living, and then tells people about it. This makes for very insightful texts on learning one's way around technology and the technologically savvy (ie us).
Note that all of us have gone through the same process. And personally, I *like* analyses of stuff I went through. They enhance my own insight in things, and that is Good Thing. It makes me more well-rounded as a human being and as a nerd.
Telling `other people' about how great being technologically savvy is is not an issue to me. I just don't care about that. You guys criticizing Jon seem to be very much against that. How 'open' or 'free' is that?
Slashdot Mirror
Actually, would *you* like to see your parents go through your diary (assuming you keep one)? I definitely wouldn't. Yes, it is necessary for parents to keep in touch with their children's feelings. But that doesn't mean the parents may turn fascist on them.
Actually the social setting of high school is but part of the problem. I have been a social outcast in high school as well, what with me being a nerd and all. However, I *did* manage to keep myself socially involved with most of the people I saw at school. I wrote for the high school newspaper, acted in the high school plays and was an active member of the school choir. This provided me with ample reinforcement for the view that `everything is gonna be alright'. It even prepared me for being outcast in my freshmen year at college: I managed to find friends even though most of the other freshmen loathed me.
It seems to me these kids did not even try to actively go out to combat their negative feelings but simply reveled in them. And the fact that *that* has not been noticed by the teachers and parents is what scares me. It ought to be different.
Let me start this by refering to both this and itp's response to the `Media coming to grips with the changin' times' post I did.
You, itp, are absolutely right in that there *is* a connection between the glorification of mindless senseless violence and the increased occurence of such. Humans get numbed by anything they see long enough, and if it is truly pervasive they will start to perceive it as the norm.
However, in current society, even though violence is being glorified, there are very many examples that show it is *not* normal, and there are very many reinforcements of the non-violent norm. The two trenchcoat mobsters must have ignored those examples and reinforcements and chosen to be highly violent.
Note that they could choose for violence. They had access to weapons and bombs. They had positive reinforcements for the destructive thoughts brought on by their outcast nature. But they must have also lacked reinforcements against violence.
There is probably no single reason to be found for their actions. What can be said however is that their entire surroundings were conducive to their violence.
I think it is actually rather encouraging that the media point to FPS games as a reason for the Columbine killing. It shows that they are becoming mainstream and there is nothing anyone can do against it anymore. Just look at the past for more examples of this: the supposedly 'bad` influence of comics, the 'corrupting` influence of agressive action movies, even TV shows have been 'credited` as cause for rampant behaviour.
Ofcourse, no journalist would *dare* put the blame were it rightfully belongs: with the person responsible. Somehow it seems unacceptable to them that an 18-year-old can truly be a criminal.
On a last note: why do people think that ready availability of information on bomb-making (or drug-making for that matter) is all that's required for people to actually go out and make bombs (or drugs)? There *is* such a thing as availability of the physical means to do so, and it need not exist. Knowledge doesn't kill. Knowledge *cannot* even kill.
Just imagine: cold fusion, nano technology, holography and computers...
Cold fusion provides the power, the nano tech provides the cold fusion capabality and the solidity of the objects, the holography the looks of the objects and the computers the interactivity...
Man, I love this world.
Chase the dream, not the competition.
Okay, we all know Be Dope, Segfault and UserFriendly have been shut down. And they've been shut down in *exactly* the same way. Further, the client is unnamed... this is *highly* irregular, and therefore this is very probably indeed a joke.
Now, who'll join me in supporting Linus to buy a Compaq Dynamouse for his laptop to be recharged? The power in Russia is said to be flakey at best...
Let me start by stating an obvious fact: Jon Katz is as human as we all are.
He is trying to turn around his life to a more technically savvy state. This is something most of us have already done years ago as kids without so much as giving it a single thought. The nice thing is that Jon *does* give it a thought. And he filters the thought through some 50 years of experience living, and then tells people about it. This makes for very insightful texts on learning one's way around technology and the technologically savvy (ie us).
Note that all of us have gone through the same process. And personally, I *like* analyses of stuff I went through. They enhance my own insight in things, and that is Good Thing. It makes me more well-rounded as a human being and as a nerd.
Telling `other people' about how great being technologically savvy is is not an issue to me. I just don't care about that. You guys criticizing Jon seem to be very much against that. How 'open' or 'free' is that?
This way in to the processing facility...
(Or am I just being morbid here?)
Somehow this screams for a computer networking episode of Sesame Street. Any CTW people lurking here? :)