And this...

[Whatever]

I wasn't trying to blame twitter in any way. 

I put the blame on the disappearance of basic human compassion for their fellow man.

[hoopla]

I've never had a Twitter account. Didn't see any point in having one. Don't really see the point of Twitter at all, actually.

When you talk to God, its called prayer.  When God talks to you, its called schizophrenia.  When you talk to yourself, its called Twitter.

[Cramulus]

I don't microblog, and I didn't really see the point of it, but our old pal Shii (one of the original coders of 4chan and custodian of the Discoridanism wikipedia entry) has some (possible) insight

he writes:


http://shii.org/knows/Microblogging

Dear reader, I am embarrassed. For over year I dismissed microblogging as an utter waste of time. Finally, sometime last month, I stumbled upon an article that explained to me the social purpose of microblogging.
 

Who on earth cares? What kind of communication is this? Can it be that we are using the internet to issue trivial facts about ourselves? Facts? The "fact" that I am entertaining the cat is so staggeringly unimportant it fails to interest even the cat.

But there is another, anthropological, point of view. Exhaust data is, I think, a clear case of "phatic communication." This is communication with little hard, informational content, but lots of emotional and social content. Phatic communications doesn't get much said, but it has social effects so powerful, it gets lots done.

Of course! You don't microblog because of some deep-seated insecurity and desire for people to respond to you (unless if you're Scoble). You microblog to remind people that you're alive-- it's the Internet equivalent of saying "hi" to a friend on the street and making 10 seconds of small talk. If you were actually trying to get a point across, the 140 character limit would be a gross insult to your speaking abilities. But if you just want to light up a corner of someone's screen for a second, 140 characters is a good maximum. You say "oh hey, it's my buddy!", respond if it's pertinent to something you know, but otherwise move on.

I'm not sure why I don't naturally recognize phatic communication. It took me a while in high school to even talk to people normally. But now I hope I have conveyed to any confused readers why microblogging is not a waste of time. Granted, it may not be newsworthy very often. But conversations rarely are.

[Jasper]

I wasn't trying to blame twitter in any way.  

I put the blame on the disappearance of basic human compassion for their fellow man.

Human compassion is a funny thing.

If you're the only person who is immediately available for help, you'd probably spring into hero mode.  The more people who might do it instead, the less likely you will.  

Old subject, just mentioning because you seem to think human compassion has changed somehow.

[ńͤͣ̄ͦ̌̑͗͊͛͂͗ ̸̨̨̣̺̼̣̜͙͈͕̮̊̈́̈͂͛̽͊ͭ̓͆ͅé ̰̓̓́ͯ́́͞]

I put the blame on the disappearance of basic human compassion for their fellow man.

Right, because not too long ago we actually danced naked in tropical forests in perfect harmony with nature, only taking breaks to snack on berries and give each other back massages.

It was only due to the advance of technology that transformed us into cold brutes, who would consider feasting on Bill Nye's eyeballs if he didn't come to fast enough.

[Jasper]

Yup.  My ipod makes me act like a terrible idiot monster.  True fact.

[the last yatto]

I wasn't trying to blame twitter in any way. 

I put the blame on the disappearance of basic human compassion for their fellow man.

Have you seen the tv show 'what would you do?'

[the last yatto]

And something I noticed when I attempted to help a two teenages at the bus stop. People don't like to be the first person to act, but they want to be the first person to post

[Jasper]

Maybe if we praised heroism more in this culture.  Fat chance of that.

[ńͤͣ̄ͦ̌̑͗͊͛͂͗ ̸̨̨̣̺̼̣̜͙͈͕̮̊̈́̈͂͛̽͊ͭ̓͆ͅé ̰̓̓́ͯ́́͞]

Maybe if we praised heroism more in this culture.  Fat chance of that.

I doubt it.

How many people have wanted to be Batman, Superman, the X-men and so on? Millions? Billions?

Maybe if we had more babies in classrooms though.

[Jasper]

That's crazy and striking and completely out of left field!

Did someone tip you off how to sell ideas to me?

ETA: goanna research this more and add this to my bag of interesting things to bring up at random.

[Whatever]

I put the blame on the disappearance of basic human compassion for their fellow man.

Right, because not too long ago we actually danced naked in tropical forests in perfect harmony with nature, only taking breaks to snack on berries and give each other back massages.

It was only due to the advance of technology that transformed us into cold brutes, who would consider feasting on Bill Nye's eyeballs if he didn't come to fast enough.

Bullshit.  I never insinuated anything so disgusting.

People do not give a flying fuck about anyone else anymore.  They actually used to.  I've seen it in action.  As violence has become more prevalent, people have become numb.  I never mentioned technology, it was part of the article.  My disgust was not with Twitter who cannot control what the stupid fuckers post, but with humanity making the fucking posts.  I have no fucking issues with technology.  My issue is with the emotional lack in the humanity that surrounds us.

I wouldn't have stood there.  In a group or alone, I would have tried to help in both situations.  

I wasn't trying to blame twitter in any way.  

I put the blame on the disappearance of basic human compassion for their fellow man.

Have you seen the tv show 'what would you do?'

Yes I have and some of their scenarios are downright vomit inducing.  



I understand life isn't all peaches and cream.  I'm not stupid.  However, there is no crime for having the basic compassion to try to help a man lying and dying on the street, or to see if the person on the stage who just fell out is still breathing.  People haven't always been this way.  I wasn't raised to be that way.  

They had a bunch of kids record this bully beating up a "special needs" kid on the schoolbus here.  People were outraged that the kids taping it were in trouble.  I told my kids at the time they would have no clue what trouble was if I ever found out they had stood by and let something like that happen.  AND DO NOTHING?  Fuck that.

 

[Jasper]

Bullshit.  I never insinuated anything so disgusting.

That's pretty much standard levels of sarcasm for here.  You might do well to

i dunno

not take it so seriously. 

[hoopla]

Bullshit.  I never insinuated anything so disgusting..

 

You're a crusty one, aren't you?  Did you lurk at all here before deciding to start posting?

[Whatever]

Maybe if we praised heroism more in this culture.  Fat chance of that.

Maybe if we had real heores to praise?  Used to be our military, at one time in America's history it was our country's leaders.

So here comes the times have changed yada yada....

Yes times have changed, the world has evolved.  So here is a question, has compassion gone the way of our tails?  Or was it taught to begin with and now is no longer seen as a necessary emotion?