"Stunt is evidence of the dehumanizing effects that technology is having on young people"
http://www.salon.com/life/broadsheet/2010/10/01/clementi_suicide_roomma… Clementi’s suicide: Many are to blame
Here are some people I would like to see in jail for Clementi’s suicide: George Rekers, who is still pushing “conversion therapy” for gay teens, essentially normalizing self-hate. His methods are still used by Louisiana mental health workers who treat adolescents. James Dobson, head of Focus on the Family, whose bloated multi-million dollar budget is both spent and made on the spreading of gay-hate. Candi Cushman, whose entire career is focused on destroying gains made by anti-bullying campaigns in public schools. The list of the guilty could go on forever: Every elected public official who has ever voted for anti-gay ordinances, marriage bans, adoption bans, prohibitions on health care for same-sex spouses. Every two-bit lobbyist who bargains with these public officials to seal the deal. Every religious nut with a pulpit who weekly tells the congregation, full of kids and teens, that they will burn in hell for being gay.
The headline quote is off the mark.
1) The behavior here was only too “human” and
2) The tech. just made the human sinfulness more efficient
But the extended quote shows the writer is out of touch with reality in far deeper ways.
1) The behavior here was only too “human” and
2) The tech. just made the human sinfulness more efficient
But the extended quote shows the writer is out of touch with reality in far deeper ways.
Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.
[FoxNews.com ] Rep. Linda Sanchez, D-Calif., is looking to reintroduce a bill that in its latest form made cyberbullying a crime punishable by a fine and up to two years in prison. She said in a statement to http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/10/01/rutgers-student-suicide-rene…] FoxNews.com Friday that she “will not stop” until schools and prosecutors have the legislative tools to combat the problem.I don’t understand why ‘cyberbullying’ isn’t already illegal. I mean, there are laws on the books with penalties for using the phone or snail mail to harass and threaten. The young people in this case are probably going to be brought up on charges of invasion of privacy. I think the whole “hate crime” thing is stupid though- it doesn’t matter whether you like, hate, or don’t even know someone- violating their person or property should have stiff penalties, motive schmotive. IOW, If someone beats someone to death with a chair, do we need to pass laws regulating the use of chairs? No- because it’s the act of causing harm to another person that is illegal, and the ‘weapon’ is, in a sense, a non-factor.
In any case, I agree with Aaron that Dr. Ablow is a few fries short of a Happy Meal. Technology doesn’t do anything to anyone. People do what is in their heart to do, and the internet might be making it easier, but the technology doesn’t coax people into wrongdoing any more than owning a phone causes gossip or buying a bag of Cheetos causes obesity. You have to abuse something before it becomes harmful.
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