a 'social issue'- local- requesting input from non-locals

JaniceM

JaniceM

Well-known Member
Location
still lost between two shores..
(It might show how long I've been in this lousy environment that I feel the need to ask people I don't know on a forum what they think before asserting what I think. I'm so mad about this I intend to post about it on my blog- the subject itself, not anyone's comments- because I'm fairly certain if locals read my blog the reaction will be along the line of 'ha, look at the little snowflake, no sense of humor.' But I believe most people would see this the same as I do:

The local news did a story about a local webpage. The purpose of the page: individuals who participate go around the city taking pictures of people without their knowledge or consent, posting the pictures, and inviting others to take pot-shots at the people in the pictures.
The news story featured a young woman- overweight, unattractive; among the hundreds of comments, examples included 'SUICIDE IS AN OPTION!' 'LOW-LIFE PIECE OF TRASH,' and 'WHITE TRASH!' And, a telling point, the page is said to have more than 37,000 members.
My POV; even if the girl wasn't pretty, she is a human being with feelings; more important, she has rights- or should. Meaning, she should have the right to object to 'objectionable behavior' that was specifically directed at her. But considering the widespread appeal of this type of thing (the webpage), and I'd be fairly certain if I mentioned it to any locals they'd go 'heh, yeah that's funny,' THIS is where I'm coming from:

1. I guess most people occasionally say things that hurt someone else's feelings unintentionally. But individuals are abusive when they clearly intend to injure someone with their words.
2. It is also the mark of an abuser when they compound it with 'You're just too sensitive' or 'You can't take a joke.' This takes the responsibility off the abuser and places it directly on their 'victim'- not only is the victim left with feeling bad, they're also left powerless, because objecting is said to be some kind of 'defect' on their part.
3. It is compounded further when a 'victim' is held up to public ridicule- I've heard it's a characteristic of psychopaths to enjoy humiliating individuals in front of others. Not only is the pain increased, but so is the powerlessness- 'Let's all laugh at this person.' They 'get their jollies' from seeing someone cringe in embarrassment, shame, etc., because they cannot defend themselves.

Opinions?
 

I think the word "psychopaths" fits the bill perfectly. Anyone who would do this is sick, and anyone who would find it funny is also sick, or at the very least, extremely immature.

Such a web page should not be allowed, of course. But then, what about all the porno sites? There's a lotta sickness out there.
 
Last edited:
JaniceM said:
(It might show how long I've been in this lousy environment that I feel the need to ask people I don't know on a forum what they think before asserting what I think. I'm so mad about this I intend to post about it on my blog- the subject itself, not anyone's comments- because I'm fairly certain if locals read my blog the reaction will be along the line of 'ha, look at the little snowflake, no sense of humor.' But I believe most people would see this the same as I do:

The local news did a story about a local webpage. The purpose of the page: individuals who participate go around the city taking pictures of people without their knowledge or consent, posting the pictures, and inviting others to take pot-shots at the people in the pictures.
The news story featured a young woman- overweight, unattractive; among the hundreds of comments, examples included 'SUICIDE IS AN OPTION!' 'LOW-LIFE PIECE OF TRASH,' and 'WHITE TRASH!' And, a telling point, the page is said to have more than 37,000 members.
My POV; even if the girl wasn't pretty, she is a human being with feelings; more important, she has rights- or should. Meaning, she should have the right to object to 'objectionable behavior' that was specifically directed at her. But considering the widespread appeal of this type of thing (the webpage), and I'd be fairly certain if I mentioned it to any locals they'd go 'heh, yeah that's funny,' THIS is where I'm coming from:

1. I guess most people occasionally say things that hurt someone else's feelings unintentionally. But individuals are abusive when they clearly intend to injure someone with their words.
2. It is also the mark of an abuser when they compound it with 'You're just too sensitive' or 'You can't take a joke.' This takes the responsibility off the abuser and places it directly on their 'victim'- not only is the victim left with feeling bad, they're also left powerless, because objecting is said to be some kind of 'defect' on their part.
3. It is compounded further when a 'victim' is held up to public ridicule- I've heard it's a characteristic of psychopaths to enjoy humiliating individuals in front of others. Not only is the pain increased, but so is the powerlessness- 'Let's all laugh at this person.' They 'get their jollies' from seeing someone cringe in embarrassment, shame, etc., because they cannot defend themselves.

Opinions?
Click to expand...

Ths is exactly the stuff which drives people to suicide. This level of shaming should be criminal. Brave Internet sadists indeed.
 

Children bully by pushing, shoving, invading personal space, cruel language.

Adults bully by teasing and sly, malicious gossiping and, unfortunately, both are socially acceptable in many communities.
 
Certainly pathetic. IMHO goes way beyond the definition of 'free speech'.

1.) Google 'u.s. anti-bullying organizations'. There are a number of anti-bullying organizations that work hard to prevent just this kind of thing. Send something similar to your OP to each one of these you can find. They may have resources to shut down the site.
2.) Send a similar message to EVERY church pastor in your community. There is usually a loose-knit pastoral alliance in most towns. Find who chairs that and make sure he/she receives the message.
3.) Many schools have resource officers who have training in bullying and the damage it can causes. Find out who those are and copy them. We know it's not targeting just kids. The training resource officers have should set off alarms with them that a site such as this could have homicidal and/or suicidal problems in your community.
4.) Your city website should have e-mail contact info for all your Commissioners. Send a notice to each Commissioner with information about the site, the harm the site can do, and the fact that you will be working hard to alert the community about any Commissioner who fails to take a public stand against this site. Letters to the Editor of your local newspaper demanding action from your elected officials is a good way to put political pressure on them to do something.
5.) Lastly, find who owns/operates the site. Is it a local business person? Where do they work? Be VERY careful that you do not put yourself in a position to be hit with a defamation suit. Yet, to know who is behind this and "leak" that information to some of the sources above should see them know where to apply pressure.
 
Grumpy Ol' Man said:
Certainly pathetic. IMHO goes way beyond the definition of 'free speech'.

1.) Google 'u.s. anti-bullying organizations'. There are a number of anti-bullying organizations that work hard to prevent just this kind of thing. Send something similar to your OP to each one of these you can find. They may have resources to shut down the site.
2.) Send a similar message to EVERY church pastor in your community. There is usually a loose-knit pastoral alliance in most towns. Find who chairs that and make sure he/she receives the message.
3.) Many schools have resource officers who have training in bullying and the damage it can causes. Find out who those are and copy them. We know it's not targeting just kids. The training resource officers have should set off alarms with them that a site such as this could have homicidal and/or suicidal problems in your community.
4.) Your city website should have e-mail contact info for all your Commissioners. Send a notice to each Commissioner with information about the site, the harm the site can do, and the fact that you will be working hard to alert the community about any Commissioner who fails to take a public stand against this site. Letters to the Editor of your local newspaper demanding action from your elected officials is a good way to put political pressure on them to do something.
5.) Lastly, find who owns/operates the site. Is it a local business person? Where do they work? Be VERY careful that you do not put yourself in a position to be hit with a defamation suit. Yet, to know who is behind this and "leak" that information to some of the sources above should see them know where to apply pressure.
Click to expand...

Thank you for the suggestions- I'll see what I can do.
 
IMO that is one of the biggest problems that the anonymity of the internet provides, very sad that people use that anonymity to say and do things that they would not do in real life. I don't think the website that you mention is anything to be shocked at, this type of behavior happens, in one form or another, on all of the internet forums that I've been a part of.
 
That is truly shocking, Janice. Grumpy has offered a few suggestions for taking some action against this kind of behaviour. Please be careful not to drawn fire to yourself. I think his suggestions to alert people who have some power to act is excellent.
 
JaniceM said:
(It might show how long I've been in this lousy environment that I feel the need to ask people I don't know on a forum what they think before asserting what I think. I'm so mad about this I intend to post about it on my blog- the subject itself, not anyone's comments- because I'm fairly certain if locals read my blog the reaction will be along the line of 'ha, look at the little snowflake, no sense of humor.' But I believe most people would see this the same as I do:

The local news did a story about a local webpage. The purpose of the page: individuals who participate go around the city taking pictures of people without their knowledge or consent, posting the pictures, and inviting others to take pot-shots at the people in the pictures.
The news story featured a young woman- overweight, unattractive; among the hundreds of comments, examples included 'SUICIDE IS AN OPTION!' 'LOW-LIFE PIECE OF TRASH,' and 'WHITE TRASH!' And, a telling point, the page is said to have more than 37,000 members.
My POV; even if the girl wasn't pretty, she is a human being with feelings; more important, she has rights- or should. Meaning, she should have the right to object to 'objectionable behavior' that was specifically directed at her. But considering the widespread appeal of this type of thing (the webpage), and I'd be fairly certain if I mentioned it to any locals they'd go 'heh, yeah that's funny,' THIS is where I'm coming from:

1. I guess most people occasionally say things that hurt someone else's feelings unintentionally. But individuals are abusive when they clearly intend to injure someone with their words.
2. It is also the mark of an abuser when they compound it with 'You're just too sensitive' or 'You can't take a joke.' This takes the responsibility off the abuser and places it directly on their 'victim'- not only is the victim left with feeling bad, they're also left powerless, because objecting is said to be some kind of 'defect' on their part.
3. It is compounded further when a 'victim' is held up to public ridicule- I've heard it's a characteristic of psychopaths to enjoy humiliating individuals in front of others. Not only is the pain increased, but so is the powerlessness- 'Let's all laugh at this person.' They 'get their jollies' from seeing someone cringe in embarrassment, shame, etc., because they cannot defend themselves.

Opinions?
Click to expand...

I think this type of behavior is despicable, to say the least. Have you found out who hosts the website?
 
Butterfly said:
I think this type of behavior is despicable, to say the least. Have you found out who hosts the website?
Click to expand...

I'm not very good with searching- can never find anything I'm looking for- but the news story said it's a Facebook page, and Facebook pages aren't always accessible if a person doesn't have an account there. (which I don't)
 
You say the story came out via "local news." Does that mean a newspaper or a TV station? Maybe you can contact them and learn the source of the story? And of course, who knows if the story is even true? Did they give the address of that horrible website? (I hope not, in case it is true!) If so, have you looked at it? Or maybe they gave enough details that it can be googled?

Grumpy's suggestions are all excellent, especially nos. 4 and 5. I think for anyone determined to follow up, the source of this sick hatred can be uncovered and dealt with. (How? That's another subject.)
 
JaniceM said:
I'm not very good with searching- can never find anything I'm looking for- but the news story said it's a Facebook page, and Facebook pages aren't always accessible if a person doesn't have an account there. (which I don't)
Click to expand...

If it is a Facebook page, here's a link to their standards and how to report offensive content. https://www.facebook.com/communitystandards You'll have to scroll to the bottom to get info about reporting stuff.
 
JaniceM said:
The local news did a story about a local webpage. The purpose of the page: individuals who participate go around the city taking pictures of people without their knowledge or consent, posting the pictures, and inviting others to take pot-shots at the people in the pictures.
The news story featured a young woman- overweight, unattractive; among the hundreds of comments, examples included 'SUICIDE IS AN OPTION!' 'LOW-LIFE PIECE OF TRASH,' and 'WHITE TRASH!'
Click to expand...

I think this is terrible and disgusting, people who do this need to get a life of their own instead of trying to ruin others. Nobody should be out taking photos and posting them anywhere without consent IMO first of all. Anyone who encourages things like this by viewing, even if not actively participating should be ashamed. I wonder how they would feel if someone did that to them? The local news giving that trash publicity by doing a write up on it isn't good either, what were they thinking?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top