read this. and because the Peak is slow at updating online...todays response is thus...
let's examine the complete stupidity with which these arguments are presented. first, Hardwick blatantly states "blogs cause people to commit homicide." I'm sorry I thought psychosocial behaviour, religious fundamentalism, and postal work made people commit homicide. Blogs cause homicide hey? Direct correlation you say? Ok, everyone out therewith a blog who is now going to go kill someone raise your hand.
i see a lack a hands.
Ms. Hardwick, you have to realize that no, the media is not saying that online journaling is a dangerous activity. the focus on Kimveer Gill's blog was brought about by the simple fact that it was on VampireFreaks.com. I can make this assertation, both as a communication student and intelligent person, because the media knows that deviant behaviour groups are good targets. VampireFreaks.com would instantly make most people think of goth culture, and black trenchcoats and scary pale people. Thus it is easy to associate social deviance with blogs in most people's minds because of the title of the site where Gill wrote.
Also, you might want to get your facts checked Jen, he was 25, not 18. He was not an angst filled teen. He was a social deviant living in the basement of his parents house having little contact with the outside world.
Yes, he did make his feeling known online. A lot of people do. A lot of people write their deep dark feelings about things. Emo kids do it a lot. are you suggesting we stop the emo kids from being able to express their sad little lives? You want to see mass killings and suicide, you take away an emo kid's favourite method of self expression.
To suggest that blog hostings sites monitor each and every blog is preposterous. The sheer number of blogs on Blogger alone ranges in the hundreds of thousands, and this is only one site that hosts them. To ask that every blog be looked at as potentially dangerous is not only an invasion of personal freedoms, it is an utter destruction of civic trust, expressive ability and personal choice. If you knew that your own blog was being examined and scrutinized to determine whether or not you might show an inkling of troubled thought, would you feel at all comfortable with using the internet to express yourself? My guess is no. Monitoring blogs in such a way, in my view, paralells the US administrations attempts to spy on its population for anyone who deviates from what the White House tells the to believe. Anyone who says anything that could be misconstrued as dangerous, or an indication that it could become a deviant thought would be red flagged and have to deal with outright and unwarranted suspicion.
"if it werent for blogs, people wouldnt have these feelings." What kind of horseshit is this? statement? did Mark Lepine have a blog? no. did Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris have a blog? no. does the gunman who is currently holding people hostage at a school have a blog? my guess is no. did Jeffrey Weise have a blog? no. did the 14 year old in Taber, Alberta in the 1999 school shooting have a blog? no. i could go on.
all of these people were responsible for the deaths of many people. none of them had blogs. they still had these feelings. to say that if blogs did not exist, it would undo a century of psychological study into why people become psychopathic is a baseless claim. removing a form of personal expression will not make people stop going crazy and shooting up schools. school shootings were around before the internet. what was the fault behind those if there were no blogs? personal diaries?
That we should pass a law requiring blogs to be monitored is a hopeless delusion. What kind of criteria would you include in such a law? what would constitute dangerous material? i've openly posted pictures of hunting trips, target practicing, ripping up and lighting on fire textbooks that drive me nuts over the semester. do these open and frank examples of responsible gun ownership and ironically comedic release of frustration towards a kinesiology class make me a social deviant? am i going to be red flagged as a psychopath? what about the sad little emo kids who write about darkness and death and faeires? is their poetry that talks about razor blades good enough to make them a threat?
I'm sure you'll notice that on Blogger, and most other blog hosting sites, you can report objectionable content. how much objectionable content do you need to click that button? Razorblades and butterflies? a hunting trip? a goth kid saying he thinks the new Cradle of Filth album is so good it makes him want to die?
that we should remain hyper vigilant about causes of violence would result in any society tumbling rapidly in a downward spiral to mistrust and total authoritarian rule where one word said against someone would be comparable to a witch hunt.
Moving on to Mr. Carey now.
I'm fairly certain people read through Kimveer Gill's readings. I'm also fairly certain that since it was hosted on VampireFreaks.com that a lot of material like that is posted. Yes, goths hate the world, oh they love the blackness, I hate people yadda yadda. perhaps Mr. Carey would be so bold as to suggest how you would sort through a bevy of similar information and weed out the one person who is going to pick up that gun and actually use it on other people.
Here's a challenge, go in to a philosophy lecture about existensialism, make sure they're discussing death, now try to pick out the one person in the class who's a murderer out of everyone in there who is saying exactly the same thing.
And now there are legions of killers on blog sites, are there? Let's see, of the most prominant hosting sites, i can think of Blogger, wordpress, livejournal, and Xanga. Let's just stick with Blogger for the time being. you see the 'Next Blog' button? click it. click it a few times. click it for an hour. and before you ask, yes, I have done this several times. how many blogs did you go through? fifty? a hundred? how many murderers did you find? how many legions of cold blooded Hannibal Lecter's are there in the blogosphere? if you do this on Blogger long enough you'll notice two things. there are a huge number of christian and God blogs, and a huge number of emo 16 year olds. there is a very definite lack of murderers, rapists, serial killers, terrorists, kidnappers, blackmailers, etc. even if they are there, then they arent advertising themselves. to find the one or two people who post about how they hate life, and actually seriously do something about it, is not only like finding a needle in a haystack, the haystack would be comprised of the entire crop from the Mid West United States.
"we need to immediately place each of these disturbed children under arrest and subject them to psychiatric evaluations."
Andrew, this is the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. you'll notice that there is no place in it that says an organization has the right to arrest a citizen, a YOUTH or CHILD in your suggestion, on the premise that they wrote something that could be, might be, maybe seen as possibly being an indication that they have psychological problems. buddy, much as you'd like to argue, we've all got problems, some people have bigger ones than others. FORCING children to be subjected to psychiatric evaluations? what fucking country do you come from? better yet what fucking decade and fucked up political regime do you think you live in? how dare you even bring this up! this is tantamount to saying that we should force grade school children to undergo therapy because they hit another child at recess. what in the hell went through your mind when you thought that snatching people from their homes and putting them in front of a bunch of psychologists because they acted on their BASIC CANADIAN RIGHT to self expression would be a good idea?
Closely monitor blog sites... i believe i've dealth with this. but perhaps Mr. Carey, you'd care to offer up a way to do so? "somebody will come up with a way" You obviously care so much about this new and shocking development that you are going to run right out and let someone else deal with it.
keeping a close eye on the heartfelt emotions of people will stop crime for good. yes. and i'm the queen of england. simply put, NO. would you care to explain to everyone how monitoring blogs will stop gang and organized violent crime? what about violent crime from drug trafficking? prostitution? burglary? Little Jimmy stealing the other kids lunch money?
Both Carey and Hardwick also place blame on rock, video games, movies and tv. to my knowledge, and in the last 5 years ive been a communication major, there has been no definitive scholarly research that offers without a doubt any sort of proof that any of these things is a direct corrolate to violent crimes. Did you know that if you play Tool backwards it has hidden messages? Oh right, im sorry, that was in 1960. When Clockwork Orange came out in theatres in the 70s, people in Britain tried to blame it for every crime that was committed thereafter. if you do the research, as i did for a paper on it, you will find that this is most certainly not the case. the same can be said for the Beatles song 'Helter Skelter'. I would agree that pop culture is indeed contributing to a more relaxed attitude towards sensationalism, but i would most vehemenently argue that there exists no direct causal relationship between any of these bastions of popular culture that both Hardwick and Carey bring up and someone committing a mass murder. were that the case, murder rates over Pokémon card games would be through the roof.
Hardwick's opinion is sad and unsettling as she herself has a blog, and is therefore in some way a member of the blgo community. to disparage it and accuse it of contributing to the downfall of civil society is a tragic example of a person who would still rather seek out an easy scapegoat to blame society's problems on rather than search for the root cause.
Carey's opinion is that of a misinformed peon who would most likely see us live in a world where checks and balances and basic freedoms are sacrificed to protect his own personal comfort.
oh by the way, im going hunting for thanksgiving, and i'll be putting up more pictures of guns and me holding them so now you all have fair warning in case my blog suddenly hijacks my brain and i go psycho.
but if you prefer to stick to reality, you can all just call me a redneck and then when i get back we'll go for a beer and i wont kill you.
"Jen Harwick's piece on blogs is one of the most insightful looks into this internet phenomenon that i've ever read. It's clear to me now that Kimveer Gill's awful crime could have been prevented if only someone had taken the time to read through his blog and discover his disturbing behaviour. Upon reading Harwick's article, I took a look at some major blogging websites, and my God was I shocked! There are legions of killers waiting out there for the perfect moment to strike. We need to immediately place each of these disturbed children under arrest and subject the to psychiatric evaluations. Blog sites must be closely monitored so that any potential mass-muderers can be identified. I'm sure that somebody will come up with a way to do that, It is absolutely imperative that somebody does so, because as you so rightly state, "people are dying, and blogs are directly related." Too true, Ms. Hardwick. Just like rock and roll, horror movies, comic books, and video games, blogs are turning the youth of today into bloodthirsty maniacs. If we censor these terrible threats and keep a close eye on the deepest most heartfelt things that young people post on the internet, we will eliminate violent crime in this country for good. Thank you fpr opening my eyes. -Andrew Carey.Ok. First here is Jen Hardwick's blog. after having read both of these articles, by simple logic, Jen Hardwick is going to turn into a bloodthirsty killer and go shoot up a high school.
let's examine the complete stupidity with which these arguments are presented. first, Hardwick blatantly states "blogs cause people to commit homicide." I'm sorry I thought psychosocial behaviour, religious fundamentalism, and postal work made people commit homicide. Blogs cause homicide hey? Direct correlation you say? Ok, everyone out therewith a blog who is now going to go kill someone raise your hand.
i see a lack a hands.
Ms. Hardwick, you have to realize that no, the media is not saying that online journaling is a dangerous activity. the focus on Kimveer Gill's blog was brought about by the simple fact that it was on VampireFreaks.com. I can make this assertation, both as a communication student and intelligent person, because the media knows that deviant behaviour groups are good targets. VampireFreaks.com would instantly make most people think of goth culture, and black trenchcoats and scary pale people. Thus it is easy to associate social deviance with blogs in most people's minds because of the title of the site where Gill wrote.
Also, you might want to get your facts checked Jen, he was 25, not 18. He was not an angst filled teen. He was a social deviant living in the basement of his parents house having little contact with the outside world.
Yes, he did make his feeling known online. A lot of people do. A lot of people write their deep dark feelings about things. Emo kids do it a lot. are you suggesting we stop the emo kids from being able to express their sad little lives? You want to see mass killings and suicide, you take away an emo kid's favourite method of self expression.
To suggest that blog hostings sites monitor each and every blog is preposterous. The sheer number of blogs on Blogger alone ranges in the hundreds of thousands, and this is only one site that hosts them. To ask that every blog be looked at as potentially dangerous is not only an invasion of personal freedoms, it is an utter destruction of civic trust, expressive ability and personal choice. If you knew that your own blog was being examined and scrutinized to determine whether or not you might show an inkling of troubled thought, would you feel at all comfortable with using the internet to express yourself? My guess is no. Monitoring blogs in such a way, in my view, paralells the US administrations attempts to spy on its population for anyone who deviates from what the White House tells the to believe. Anyone who says anything that could be misconstrued as dangerous, or an indication that it could become a deviant thought would be red flagged and have to deal with outright and unwarranted suspicion.
"if it werent for blogs, people wouldnt have these feelings." What kind of horseshit is this? statement? did Mark Lepine have a blog? no. did Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris have a blog? no. does the gunman who is currently holding people hostage at a school have a blog? my guess is no. did Jeffrey Weise have a blog? no. did the 14 year old in Taber, Alberta in the 1999 school shooting have a blog? no. i could go on.
all of these people were responsible for the deaths of many people. none of them had blogs. they still had these feelings. to say that if blogs did not exist, it would undo a century of psychological study into why people become psychopathic is a baseless claim. removing a form of personal expression will not make people stop going crazy and shooting up schools. school shootings were around before the internet. what was the fault behind those if there were no blogs? personal diaries?
That we should pass a law requiring blogs to be monitored is a hopeless delusion. What kind of criteria would you include in such a law? what would constitute dangerous material? i've openly posted pictures of hunting trips, target practicing, ripping up and lighting on fire textbooks that drive me nuts over the semester. do these open and frank examples of responsible gun ownership and ironically comedic release of frustration towards a kinesiology class make me a social deviant? am i going to be red flagged as a psychopath? what about the sad little emo kids who write about darkness and death and faeires? is their poetry that talks about razor blades good enough to make them a threat?
I'm sure you'll notice that on Blogger, and most other blog hosting sites, you can report objectionable content. how much objectionable content do you need to click that button? Razorblades and butterflies? a hunting trip? a goth kid saying he thinks the new Cradle of Filth album is so good it makes him want to die?
that we should remain hyper vigilant about causes of violence would result in any society tumbling rapidly in a downward spiral to mistrust and total authoritarian rule where one word said against someone would be comparable to a witch hunt.
Moving on to Mr. Carey now.
I'm fairly certain people read through Kimveer Gill's readings. I'm also fairly certain that since it was hosted on VampireFreaks.com that a lot of material like that is posted. Yes, goths hate the world, oh they love the blackness, I hate people yadda yadda. perhaps Mr. Carey would be so bold as to suggest how you would sort through a bevy of similar information and weed out the one person who is going to pick up that gun and actually use it on other people.
Here's a challenge, go in to a philosophy lecture about existensialism, make sure they're discussing death, now try to pick out the one person in the class who's a murderer out of everyone in there who is saying exactly the same thing.
And now there are legions of killers on blog sites, are there? Let's see, of the most prominant hosting sites, i can think of Blogger, wordpress, livejournal, and Xanga. Let's just stick with Blogger for the time being. you see the 'Next Blog' button? click it. click it a few times. click it for an hour. and before you ask, yes, I have done this several times. how many blogs did you go through? fifty? a hundred? how many murderers did you find? how many legions of cold blooded Hannibal Lecter's are there in the blogosphere? if you do this on Blogger long enough you'll notice two things. there are a huge number of christian and God blogs, and a huge number of emo 16 year olds. there is a very definite lack of murderers, rapists, serial killers, terrorists, kidnappers, blackmailers, etc. even if they are there, then they arent advertising themselves. to find the one or two people who post about how they hate life, and actually seriously do something about it, is not only like finding a needle in a haystack, the haystack would be comprised of the entire crop from the Mid West United States.
"we need to immediately place each of these disturbed children under arrest and subject them to psychiatric evaluations."
Andrew, this is the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. you'll notice that there is no place in it that says an organization has the right to arrest a citizen, a YOUTH or CHILD in your suggestion, on the premise that they wrote something that could be, might be, maybe seen as possibly being an indication that they have psychological problems. buddy, much as you'd like to argue, we've all got problems, some people have bigger ones than others. FORCING children to be subjected to psychiatric evaluations? what fucking country do you come from? better yet what fucking decade and fucked up political regime do you think you live in? how dare you even bring this up! this is tantamount to saying that we should force grade school children to undergo therapy because they hit another child at recess. what in the hell went through your mind when you thought that snatching people from their homes and putting them in front of a bunch of psychologists because they acted on their BASIC CANADIAN RIGHT to self expression would be a good idea?
Closely monitor blog sites... i believe i've dealth with this. but perhaps Mr. Carey, you'd care to offer up a way to do so? "somebody will come up with a way" You obviously care so much about this new and shocking development that you are going to run right out and let someone else deal with it.
keeping a close eye on the heartfelt emotions of people will stop crime for good. yes. and i'm the queen of england. simply put, NO. would you care to explain to everyone how monitoring blogs will stop gang and organized violent crime? what about violent crime from drug trafficking? prostitution? burglary? Little Jimmy stealing the other kids lunch money?
Both Carey and Hardwick also place blame on rock, video games, movies and tv. to my knowledge, and in the last 5 years ive been a communication major, there has been no definitive scholarly research that offers without a doubt any sort of proof that any of these things is a direct corrolate to violent crimes. Did you know that if you play Tool backwards it has hidden messages? Oh right, im sorry, that was in 1960. When Clockwork Orange came out in theatres in the 70s, people in Britain tried to blame it for every crime that was committed thereafter. if you do the research, as i did for a paper on it, you will find that this is most certainly not the case. the same can be said for the Beatles song 'Helter Skelter'. I would agree that pop culture is indeed contributing to a more relaxed attitude towards sensationalism, but i would most vehemenently argue that there exists no direct causal relationship between any of these bastions of popular culture that both Hardwick and Carey bring up and someone committing a mass murder. were that the case, murder rates over Pokémon card games would be through the roof.
Hardwick's opinion is sad and unsettling as she herself has a blog, and is therefore in some way a member of the blgo community. to disparage it and accuse it of contributing to the downfall of civil society is a tragic example of a person who would still rather seek out an easy scapegoat to blame society's problems on rather than search for the root cause.
Carey's opinion is that of a misinformed peon who would most likely see us live in a world where checks and balances and basic freedoms are sacrificed to protect his own personal comfort.
oh by the way, im going hunting for thanksgiving, and i'll be putting up more pictures of guns and me holding them so now you all have fair warning in case my blog suddenly hijacks my brain and i go psycho.
but if you prefer to stick to reality, you can all just call me a redneck and then when i get back we'll go for a beer and i wont kill you.
you have to be drug free
i took over the world at 1:15 PM
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