leave it to me to find a story that encapsulates everything I hate about people and culture.
ADRANT has a really interesting story about
TROLLING-internet abusing.
The
NYT Magazine ran a story about a young boy who killed himself. His highschool friends tried to honor his untimely death through online tributes such as myspace and
mydeathspace.com (which is a trend lately that freaks me out, in general), but somehow this kid's death leaked its way into the little beta blog sites of the internet world, where someone found it funny. After a uphill tumble of jokes and malice the kid's named resurfaced in the form of a mock youtube video and prank calls to his parents.
The level of cold apathy that is out there surfing the internet with such a cruel higher than thou self righteousness and apathy. But what is worse, are the people out there who start this stuff. According to the NYT they are known as TROLLs, a term created in the 80's to "denote someone who intentionally disrupts online communities." It's a means of "provoking strangers, online."
Here is another interesting titbit....LuLz (the evil LOL)
“Lulz is watching someone lose their mind at their computer 2,000 miles away while you chat with friends and laugh,” says and actual troll.
Another troll explained the lulz as a quasi-thermodynamic exchange between the sensitive and the cruel: “
You look for someone who is full of it, a real blowhard. Then you exploit their insecurities to get an insane amount of drama, laughs and lulz. Rules would be simple: 1. Do whatever it takes to get lulz. 2. Make sure the lulz is widely distributed. This will allow for more lulz to be made. 3. The game is never over until all the lulz have been had.”
I dont know. This whole article was just really interesting. It give you some insight into the society we are living in now. And how the media (mediums) are so powerful and yet romantic enough to intertwine with our emotions and actions. The computer today is like the tv to the 30's (im guessing here) and the radio before that...in that people believe it and take it as a truth. There should be some psychological testing for this. What makes the Internet so powerful? And the weirdest part, is that I can spend an entire day online and not notice a single banner ad. But when it comes to writing on a blog the strings of caring are right around the corner.
There is something in blogging that adpeople arent taping in on.
Its just interesting...the juxtaposition of it all. No? Or maybe its just the brain vomit of a young creative bored at work. My thoughts are kinda all over the place. Sorry.
