After reading this do you think all the online ranting and raving is scary?

real life is worse than that, believe me…

@flameboi No, it’s not. I’m 66 years old, and I can assure you that it does not have to be that way unless you let it. Life can be as good as you are willing to make it be.

@YARNLADY
I agree, it doesn’ have to be this way, but trust me, it’s getting worse everyday… not because of what we do as individuals but for what we do as a collective…

I always knew there was way more to this story than what the popular media made it out to be. Then again, the media loves a good fear-inspiring segment, and nothing is more easy to pick on than violent video games. Selling the whole “this guy is a serious sociopath” just doesn’t hit that same at-home feeling as video games.

Regarding online ranting, I’m not really sure what you mean by this, care to provide an example?

@dd
True…

@dynamicduo You can easily look up or just wait for them to show up. The “I hate my family” “My life is nothing but non-stop misery” “I hate my job” and on and on. So many people seem to thing that life is supposed to be one long rose garden, without the thorns, and they want an “easy” way out. “humanity is disgusting” type answers show up all over the questions here, and most of the other social sharing sites.

I guess we can only hope that this was just a couple of sociopaths and not endemic of a greater issue. I just hope that there’s nothing in particular which is making the USA a breeding ground for psychopaths. I don’t think that there is any factor or series of factors in society which can precipitate this type of behavior but like this case showed us, it can hasten the actions of certain individuals if they are given too much freedom and resources. The article states, the one thing holding Harris back from wreaking more havoc was money. Their parents should have kept these kids apart and monitored them closer. But it’s almost impossible when you have a true sociopath to control them because they are violently opposed to all control and are downright frightening. And that’s the sense I get when I read or watch footage of this case. It’s just such a strange chill that I get when I see people acting so inhumanely. I think as a society we can help by truly focusing on community and attempt to move away from this rampant self absorbed culture of narcissism.

You can’t prevent every random act of violence without stripping away civil liberties and even then it’s never going to be 100% effective. As individuals, we all have the capacity not to let hatred and rage rule our lives.

I think that people will often say things out of anger online because they don’t have to look someone in the eye while saying it.

I’m afraid I still don’t understand the question. Are you asking if we think there is a relationship between online ranting and psychopathic behavior in the real world? (The article you linked to suggests not.) I don’t think there is—personality disorders have always been around, and as far as I know there aren’t any studies that can link the increase in internet usage (or video games, or death metal) with an increase in clinical depression or personality disorders [at least not any that can link them definitively, taking into account fluctuating rates of diagnosis, and anything else that could throw such a study off.]

I don’t think I’ve seen the kind of answers you’re talking about. I’ve seen normal bitching, but nothing much that points to any kind of actual disorder. Could you provide a few examples of “humanity is disgusting” type answers that you’ve seen on Fluther?

@petethepothead I think she’s saying that people say some profoundly angry and hateful things online and there may be a correlation between the nasty online behavior of some people and the violent rage of these Columbine kids.

Correct me if I misunderstood YARNLADY.

That article actually gave me the impression that the Columbine rampage had little to nothing to do with the way these guys were treated at school or online. Harris was quite obviously a sociopath and Klebold seems to have been a mentally ill young man who fell under the spell of his friend.

Does the internet have the potential to make things such as this worse? Maybe. Maybe not. When I was in high school the equivalent to “cyber-bullying” was someone writing a girl’s number on the bathroom wall and calling her a slut, or someone writing on desks that a boy is a loadie or drunk or stupid. While these things didn’t go out over the worldwide web, teenage girls can spread rumors just about as quickly. This type of behavior has always been around and it isn’t going away.

I wonder if online ranting and raving might actually represent a pressure relief valve for folks who may otherwise explode from the head of steam that builds up inside them.

@The_Compassionate_Heretic Yes, you are correct in what I am asking.
@petethepothead I don’t know how to post a link to just one comment, but here is one question: http://www.fluther.com/disc/41793/can-you-describe-your-cultural-bias-using-examples/

To link to a specific response: Click the pilcrow next to the flag button, and the url for that response will show up in the address bar.

@petethepothead Oh, I get it. Thanks.

@dynamicduo I suspect the remaks re: the priates, yesterday or the day before it may construed as ranting, however if the thread was ‘right on’, I would hardly call it ranting, more in the line of venting.

@petethepothead
Pete you are just a plethora of useful info for me tonight. In addition to the links info you taught me the name for that backwards “P”-pilcrow. This is the most exciting news since discovering ”&” was “ampersand”!...ok maybe it’s not that exciting. :)
Thanks again

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@YARNLADY Are you somehow offended, or is this question in any way related with my thought that humanity is disgusting? I’ve only now read your response and combined with the link to the question where I said that, I feel as if you are talking to me. Please correct me if this assumption is wrong. But if it is correct, should I assume that you also think (via your support of @The_Compassionate_Heretic there is in any way a correlation between my saying that and me being in ANY way related to the Columbine incident? Do you somehow think that my comment means I am violent? I would really appreciate you clarifying what you are saying here.

@dynamicduo I did not mean to single you out specifically, but for a user to publish the view that humanity is disgusting, along with other users also joining in the “I hate everybody” chorus serves to encourage those who are prone to violence. I do not know you in any way, and I do not hold any assumptions about you. I can only comment on publically stated beliefs.

I have stated publically that for every person in the news that commits a hateful or violent act, I can provide the names of 100 in the news who did not, and I stand by that.