Elderly Woman Taunted and Bullied by the Teens she was Supervising

[thaiturkey]

Ongoing education. Gotta work and go to school, so it takes some time. Darn those liberals giving me financial aid and student loans.... without those I would be a productive worker at McDonalds and wouldn't get any of my crazy political views or think too much.

RHRanch, have you noticed that some words are used almost as subliminal triggers aimed at those who don't want to think things through for themselves? Some examples:

Socialism
Liberalism
Atheism
Freedom (as if it was an absolute)
Laws
Bad Guys

I'm sure you could add to the list from your own observations.

 

[chickened]

Whatever

 

[thaiturkey]

Interesting, I've been on many political message boards and have seen the same things from right leaning individuals. Could it be that both sides have extremists who take things too far, and are very vocal despite being a minority? Maybe what we're seeing are trolls who get a kick out of starting an argument, by taking a radical political viewpoint and playing as if it's a major political belief.
I've actually run across more political trolls than I have people who earnestly believe radical views. The anonymity of the internet does strange things to people, strange things indeed.

I've being thinking much the same for some time. In some cases, I think that they try to get threads locked because they can't bear to read opinions that are at odds with their own or to consider that someone else's point of view may have merit. Perhaps some just get amusement from riling people and don't necessarily believe what they write.

 

[ParadiseQuail]

"Kids these days."

 

[chickened]

"Kids these days."

Good observation... good observation.

 

[Ferrret]

Perhaps some just get amusement from riling people and don't necessarily believe what they write.

Trolls, in the realm of the internet, are people who purposefully make inflammatory remarks to incite an argument because it amuses them. I was addressing the radical views found on political boards, but they can be found on just about any site on the internet, and they exist in real life as well.
The sad thing is, these teens who tormented the bus monitor likely behave like trolls online and simply carried the behavior over into real life. Many teens do not know life without the internet and some have trouble disconnecting from it, dragging internet behaviors into real life. There are sites where being a crude jerk is practically encouraged, and it's hard to argue that encouragement like that won't carry over into real life actions.
These kids found it amusing to viciously taunt a woman, film it, and put it online, likely hoping other people would find it amusing or at least shocking. It's sad, and I fear that it may become more common as life online become inseparable from real life.

 

[ParadiseQuail]

Trolls, in the realm of the internet, are people who purposefully make inflammatory remarks to incite an argument because it amuses them. I was addressing the radical views found on political boards, but they can be found on just about any site on the internet, and they exist in real life as well.
The sad thing is, these teens who tormented the bus monitor likely behave like trolls online and simply carried the behavior over into real life. Many teens do not know life without the internet and some have trouble disconnecting from it, dragging internet behaviors into real life. There are sites where being a crude jerk is practically encouraged, and it's hard to argue that encouragement like that won't carry over into real life actions.
These kids found it amusing to viciously taunt a woman, film it, and put it online, likely hoping other people would find it amusing or at least shocking. It's sad, and I fear that it may become more common as life online become inseparable from real life.

This is true. I think these people can't go to sleep without their daily dose of trolling.

 

[chickened]

Trolls, in the realm of the internet, are people who purposefully make inflammatory remarks to incite an argument because it amuses them. I was addressing the radical views found on political boards, but they can be found on just about any site on the internet, and they exist in real life as well.
The sad thing is, these teens who tormented the bus monitor likely behave like trolls online and simply carried the behavior over into real life. Many teens do not know life without the internet and some have trouble disconnecting from it, dragging internet behaviors into real life. There are sites where being a crude jerk is practically encouraged, and it's hard to argue that encouragement like that won't carry over into real life actions.
These kids found it amusing to viciously taunt a woman, film it, and put it online, likely hoping other people would find it amusing or at least shocking. It's sad, and I fear that it may become more common as life online become inseparable from real life.

That doesn't say much for the role their parents play does it? or do we blame the kids alone?

 

[thaiturkey]

Trolls, in the realm of the internet, are people who purposefully make inflammatory remarks to incite an argument because it amuses them. I was addressing the radical views found on political boards, but they can be found on just about any site on the internet, and they exist in real life as well.
The sad thing is, these teens who tormented the bus monitor likely behave like trolls online and simply carried the behavior over into real life. Many teens do not know life without the internet and some have trouble disconnecting from it, dragging internet behaviors into real life. There are sites where being a crude jerk is practically encouraged, and it's hard to argue that encouragement like that won't carry over into real life actions.
These kids found it amusing to viciously taunt a woman, film it, and put it online, likely hoping other people would find it amusing or at least shocking. It's sad, and I fear that it may become more common as life online become inseparable from real life.

I think you're correct. That incident on the bus was most definitely linked with the internet activities of at least one of the students.

 

[punk-a-doodle]

Wow, a lot of posts happened, and I can't do quotes right now. This was meant to pop up about a million pages back. x)

Certainly, but first I must point out that both Royd and yourself are using terms such as "sociology" to mean "an area of study devoted to solving the ills of society". This is incorrect. There are certainly branches that fall within diverse groups of study that state such intentions, but they should be identified as such. Ie. if I took a class on psychoanalytic anthropology, I could expect a much different and subjective approach than I'd be likely to find if I took a course in archeological anthropology. This is why I made a distinction in my initial post.

Especially when dealing with very objective areas in anthropology, societal ills aren't going to be addressed, as that is a subjective issue. Ie. In some branches, there may be a study of how people who would be diagnosed as having disorders in Western society function within their native culture. There may be no voice on how that one dude with schizophrenia needs to be treated with Western methods and medication, as the focus is not on whether or not he is a societal problem. Instead, the focus may purely be on he he is viewed within the culture, and what role he serves. He may be a pariah, he may be a prophet. Same thing with cannibalism...definitely considered a societal no-no in our culture, but is not in other cultures. Some branches of anthropology have no interest in saying, "well, this here is good, but this is bad".

If someone's definition of a problem is that not enough people are buying their product, some branches of anthopology can help solve that one, which is why there are areas of marketing and advertising that use anthropology and sociology and people within these fields. Similarly, if your problem is that peer-reviewed science says that your oil company spilled x amount of oil with the following effects, and that you fear the findings will be viewed negatively by the general public, you can hire people within that same broad area of study to do things like publish studies that say what you want them to say. For corporate culture, the same area of study that was viewed negatively just became a good thing. If your issue is that you are using a farm technique that is not compatible with the area you are in, anthropology can and has offered methods that worked historically, which some do choose to adopt and some find useful. Many areas of science and study are behind such actions as lessening social stigma and increasing understanding of things such as disease and disorders. Is that an ill, or did it remove an ill? Culturally, the answer is that it is an improvement. Individually or among subcultures, the answer may vary.