All bark, no bite
The internet is a funny place when it comes to threats, isn't it? People threaten all kinds of things and some of them are really quite aggressive and sick but, how many would actually act on these things in real life if given the opportunity?I think that for the most part, people are living in a fantasy world.
I find internet trolls quite amusing when it comes to this also considering how many there seem to be. Where are they in the real world? Going on the frequency, where are the racists, the extremists, the cruel sadists willing to inflict pain at the slightest misstep or flaw?
What if in the real world people did actually act the same, argue the same, treat people the same as they do online, would it make the world better? If this is the way they actually feel about things, should we encourage people to show their true selves? Would you?
This is the problem I have been writing a bit about lately, online there is very little social cost for bad behaviour, behaviours that in the real world would cause the actor issues. Some people will argue that it is this anonymity that allows people to be themselves, allows them to speak freely but i don't think this is the case. People talk about being free but the problem is they do not want to take the responsibility of their actions. That is not free.
Freedom comes with costs of freedom, always. The freedom to move is always bound by the rules of cause and effect yet, people do not want to deal with the effects of what they have caused. There is an unnatural asymmetry, an imbalance, not true freedom.
Troll me in the real world, call me this and that, you are free to. I am also free to respond as I see fit. Inject the internet filter however and I am left with no avenue of appropriate response, no way to balance the scales. There is a problem here is there not?
And then, let the conspiracy in, let the authorities play their hands and what happens? They too can act without consequence and responsibility of action and they are much, much more qualified than ourselves. The governments, the social medias, the advertisers with teams upon teams of social scientists working out the best ways to grab our attention and push us to act toward the directions the indicate.
You think you are free? You think that you are not influenced by the actors in the darkness nudging your mind and your group's mind one way or another? If you think you are immune to manipulation, you are already manipulated.
Taraz
[ a Steemit original ]
hope the steemit gurus can introduce some measure to stop the flag wars, the hate wars, the trolls, the hate comments, the threats and so on. I did ask the steemcleaners team but they replied that they do not interfere in personal hate comment exchange. FB is one such place where enough hate is manufactured.
Have a good day
I think you nailed the current problem in society. Everyone wants freedom but no one understands the price of freedom. They think they know, or they think it's being paid by soldiers of their country so they can enjoy the freedom. But it doesn't stop there.
Freedom is a constant cost. Because when you're free, you are now personally responsible for all of your actions. You're not doing something because someone forced you to do it against your will (hopefully), you're not acting on someone else's behalf without first knowing what's in it for you (hopefully), you're doing what you want to do. And any consequence that goes along with you exercising your freedom falls on your decisions. That's quite a bit of responsibility.
But so many don't own that responsibility. They're passing it off onto others, or hiding behind some sort of electronic barrier. That's not freedom. That's cowardice.
Yup, the net allows for degrees of separation, where the consequences to actions is mitigated and diluted, or even nullified. This is especially true on Steem where actual actions that take rewards away through abusive flagging, can't be dealt with at all in a consequential manner. The rich power players get to do what they want without any possible physical reaping of the karmic consequences they sow... :/
I just wrote something along these lines based on your question yesterday and opened it for discussion. This is the problem with it though as in a truly 'free market', there would be the cause and effect of action so anonymity and decentralisation adds even more wrinkles.
Yup, physical reality is important! lol. Otherwise we are powerless to act to stop people. Anonymity and decentralization has its issue eh... I'll check out your post later ;)
It evidently strips man of some level of humanity
The more they reason this way the more they loose their sense of self
It encourages a lack of humanity perhaps.
Not sure if the lose their sense of self or gain a sense of power.
virtual power, might stand for a while but when it really counts, you will see how fickle it is.
besides many loose it quicker that they got it in just one simple act of folly
I agree. We aren't free and that's the price for living (and having the benefits) of living in a society I guess. I could go full"Into the wild" mode, leave everything and everyone I've ever known behind and I would probably find my "true" self in let's say 15 years? How long would it take for me to be alone, in a place without influences of any sort, to feel like I would think and completely independent? Can you even ever reach that point? Nevertheless, I will never find the answers to that, because I have come to terms that living in a society has it's costs. That's fine with me.
I would say yes but the conclusion may arrive that community living is more important.
It does have its costs but the problem is, so many individuals are finding ways to reduce their own at the expense of others.
I thought you were going a different direction with the initial part of the article. There aren't many repercussions to trolls online. It's not like on tv where you have a friend who can track their IP address and thy conveniently live close to your house, so you can drive over there.
RE: manipulation. Yes, I think we all constantly manipulate each other to a certain extent. Trying to figure out who is manipulating you at any given time is a lot of work. Sometimes it's easier to just go with things if they're not actively harming you. It's not the best approach to take, but I can't remember when I saw the ad for Corvette. Doesn't mean I'm not about to go massively into debt to buy one!
Just kidding.
In the long run, does this lead to more harm, perhaps of others too?
It is a difficult problem to be sure.
I would like a nice, comfortable, electric car with insane mode.
You're right, it can lead to more harm, and it could lead to harm of others. I just meant that at some point you have to trust something. I have to believe that some food isn't going to poison me. Although I think that GMOs and pesticide-laden foods are not as healthy as organic, are organic safe? It's hard to know. And am I just being manipulated by the organic lobby to pay more for their food? Is it even organic? (much research has shown that substantial amounts of "organic" have just been relabeled from conventional). Where does the line end? At the end of the day (and the middle and beginning) I need to put food in my mouth. What food will it be? The hunger clock is ticking. :)
Yes, a Tesla would be great! I'll drive the heck outta that thing. I'll even buy a wind farm so I can power it! Ha ha.
In the real world they dont have the impetus to make it happen in reality. Today's world is mostly built on fantasies ans illusions. No one is immune, the adverse effecf is felt.
Thanks for these words!
There is nobody in this country who got rich on their own. Nobody. You built a factory out there - good for you. But I want to be clear. You moved your goods to market on roads the rest of us paid for. You hired workers the rest of us paid to educate. You were safe in your factory because of police forces and fire forces that the rest of us paid for. You didn't have to worry that marauding bands would come and seize everything at your factory... Now look. You built a factory and it turned into something terrific or a great idea - God bless! Keep a hunk of it. But part of the underlying social contract is you take a hunk of that and pay forward for the next kid who comes along.
By:::: Elizabeth Warren
yes. people tend to have short memories about what they have taken for granted.
This whole argument does not make sense.
There is nobody in this country who got to keep the all the money they worked for and And could defend themselves against extortion. Nobody. You built a factory out there - good for you. But I want to be clear. You moved your goods to market on roads the rest of our slaves where extorted for by our extortion racket. You hired workers the rest of the people where extorted for, to pay for the indoctrination of the next slaves we are going to extort. You were safe in your factory because of police forces and fire forces that the rest of the people are extorted for.
And in the case of the police force be thankful we extorted you, because else there would be other extortionists that extorted you to pay for their extortion and to keep their extortion racket going. You didn't have to worry that marauding bands would come and seize everything at your factory... Because we don't like competition, We only seize a part of what you produce in your factory. Now look. You built a factory and it turned into something terrific or a great idea - God bless! Keep a hunk of it. But part of our underlying extortion racket is you take a hunk of that, and pay forward for the us, the politicians, who pay for the indoctrination for the next kid who comes along that we can extort and use as our slave by teaching him;
lol
Absolutely not! Many people wear masks in real life and can express them selves only online. In real life they are the nice shy people who cant harm anybody. And as you said the most of them are influenced by others. They want to be like them or act like them, but in the wrong way.
This is a very nice topic that you brought up and I appreciate your work!
manipulation is everywhere and pretty much in everything in one form or another . The more people have the greater there influence is or there power to manipulate . Some use it better then others .