And this...

[ñͤͣ̄ͦ̌̑͗͊͛͂͗ ̸̨̨̣̺̼̣̜͙͈͕̮̊̈́̈͂͛̽͊ͭ̓͆ͅ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.

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.  

Can you provide any sort of evidence to back up your opinion that violence is more prevalent?

And compared to when exactly? 10 years ago? 100 years ago? 1000 years ago?

Because I've read some literature that made a strong case that actually, violence is less prevalent now than it ever was in history.

[Whatever]

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. 

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?

Christ on a fucking crutch how can one be snarky and not be accused of getting all butthurt?

I've lurked here for years!

[hooplala]

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.  

Can you provide any sort of evidence to back up your opinion that violence is more prevalent?

And compared to when exactly? 10 years ago? 100 years ago? 1000 years ago?

Because I've read some literature that made a strong case that actually, violence is less prevalent now than it ever was in history.

Yeah, I read the same... seemed to indicate that violence is just easier to find out about now.  More news coverage from around the world, etc... not too long ago people didn't hear about things that happened farther than 50 miles or so from where they lived.

[Cramulus]

I think that insularity is a survival skill in the modern jungle

I confess to passing car accidents, ignoring beggars, and voting by die roll


my girlfriend Chloe is a really compassionate type. When she sees somebody suffering she really feels right alongside with them. I have met few people as charitable as her. And somehow it constantly bites her in the ass. Like for example there's this kid Frank she used to have classes with.

Frank was a little autistic and had trouble making friends. He had a bad past of being abused and manipulated. He talked frequently of killing himself. It broke Chloe's heart. She decided to be his only friend. She hung out with him every day and begun to teach him how to live. how to cook, how to make appointments, how to not sweat the little stuff...

But Frank's problems consumed Chloe's life. He was sending her over 200 text messages per day, needing her contact constantly. She spent hours checking him into suicide wards and picking him up when he got out, only to drive him back the following week. Frank's therapist couldn't handle that he seemed to require 5+ hours of therapy per day and "dumped" him. Frank told Chloe she was the only reason he wasn't killing himself. The desperate texts increased. He'd call her up at 3:30 in the morning to talk for an hour and a half about the stuff going through his mind. She couldn't take it any more.

In the end Chloe had to cut off the friendship. She didn't allow herself to feel bad about it. It steeled her in a way... it made her realize that she can't take responsibility for everybody's burden, she has to get her own shit squared away first. And in the long run it made her more hesitant to help out strangers.

I find the whole episode incredibly sad. But we live in a world full of sad, wounded animals. I'm not saying that it's acceptable to watch somebody get stabbed or have a stroke and not do anything. But if we open our hearts to everybody that needs them, we will have nothing left for ourselves. We cannot address every injustice, every malice, every bastard out there. There are too many. So we have to prioritize.

[hooplala]

I think that insularity is a survival skill in the modern jungle

I confess to passing car accidents, ignoring beggars, and voting by die roll


my girlfriend Chloe is a really compassionate type. When she sees somebody suffering she really feels right alongside with them. I have met few people as charitable as her. And somehow it constantly bites her in the ass. Like for example there's this kid Frank she used to have classes with.

Frank was a little autistic and had trouble making friends. He had a bad past of being abused and manipulated. He talked frequently of killing himself. It broke Chloe's heart. She decided to be his only friend. She hung out with him every day and begun to teach him how to live. how to cook, how to make appointments, how to not sweat the little stuff...

But Frank's problems consumed Chloe's life. He was sending her over 200 text messages per day, needing her contact constantly. She spent hours checking him into suicide wards and picking him up when he got out, only to drive him back the following week. Frank's therapist couldn't handle that he seemed to require 5+ hours of therapy per day and "dumped" him. Frank told Chloe she was the only reason he wasn't killing himself. The desperate texts increased. He'd call her up at 3:30 in the morning to talk for an hour and a half about the stuff going through his mind. She couldn't take it any more.

In the end Chloe had to cut off the friendship. She didn't allow herself to feel bad about it. It steeled her in a way... it made her realize that she can't take responsibility for everybody's burden, she has to get her own shit squared away first. And in the long run it made her more hesitant to help out strangers.

I find the whole episode incredibly sad. But we live in a world full of sad, wounded animals. I'm not saying that it's acceptable to watch somebody get stabbed or have a stroke and not do anything. But if we open our hearts to everybody that needs them, we will have nothing left for ourselves. We cannot address every injustice, every malice, every bastard out there. There are too many. So we have to prioritize.

Absolutely, you can't help everybody all the time, nor should you... it turns us into a culture of mommys and babies if we are constantly helping everyone all the time, but if someone collapses on stage, perhaps someone should help him.  Tiny Tim died that way, FFS.

Which brings up another question... where the hell were the people who organized this talk?  Surely there should have been someone backstage that could have run on to assist?



EDIT TO ADD:  Again, it's not exactly that nobody jumped up to help that bothers me, its that nobody jumped up to help because they were busy tweeting about it.  Somethings not right there.

[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.  

Can you provide any sort of evidence to back up your opinion that violence is more prevalent?

And compared to when exactly? 10 years ago? 100 years ago? 1000 years ago?

Because I've read some literature that made a strong case that actually, violence is less prevalent now than it ever was in history.

Yeah, I read the same... seemed to indicate that violence is just easier to find out about now.  More news coverage from around the world, etc... not too long ago people didn't hear about things that happened farther than 50 miles or so from where they lived.

Which may be why people don't seem to care anymore.  We've become immuneto that which we see evey day?   

[hooplala]

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.  

Can you provide any sort of evidence to back up your opinion that violence is more prevalent?

And compared to when exactly? 10 years ago? 100 years ago? 1000 years ago?

Because I've read some literature that made a strong case that actually, violence is less prevalent now than it ever was in history.

Yeah, I read the same... seemed to indicate that violence is just easier to find out about now.  More news coverage from around the world, etc... not too long ago people didn't hear about things that happened farther than 50 miles or so from where they lived.

Which may be why people don't seem to care anymore.  We've become immuneto that which we see evey day?   

I think a lot of people care. 

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I think that insularity is a survival skill in the modern jungle

I confess to passing car accidents, ignoring beggars, and voting by die roll


my girlfriend Chloe is a really compassionate type. When she sees somebody suffering she really feels right alongside with them. I have met few people as charitable as her. And somehow it constantly bites her in the ass. Like for example there's this kid Frank she used to have classes with.

Frank was a little autistic and had trouble making friends. He had a bad past of being abused and manipulated. He talked frequently of killing himself. It broke Chloe's heart. She decided to be his only friend. She hung out with him every day and begun to teach him how to live. how to cook, how to make appointments, how to not sweat the little stuff...

But Frank's problems consumed Chloe's life. He was sending her over 200 text messages per day, needing her contact constantly. She spent hours checking him into suicide wards and picking him up when he got out, only to drive him back the following week. Frank's therapist couldn't handle that he seemed to require 5+ hours of therapy per day and "dumped" him. Frank told Chloe she was the only reason he wasn't killing himself. The desperate texts increased. He'd call her up at 3:30 in the morning to talk for an hour and a half about the stuff going through his mind. She couldn't take it any more.

In the end Chloe had to cut off the friendship. She didn't allow herself to feel bad about it. It steeled her in a way... it made her realize that she can't take responsibility for everybody's burden, she has to get her own shit squared away first. And in the long run it made her more hesitant to help out strangers.

I find the whole episode incredibly sad. But we live in a world full of sad, wounded animals. I'm not saying that it's acceptable to watch somebody get stabbed or have a stroke and not do anything. But if we open our hearts to everybody that needs them, we will have nothing left for ourselves. We cannot address every injustice, every malice, every bastard out there. There are too many. So we have to prioritize.

This.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

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.  

Can you provide any sort of evidence to back up your opinion that violence is more prevalent?

And compared to when exactly? 10 years ago? 100 years ago? 1000 years ago?

Because I've read some literature that made a strong case that actually, violence is less prevalent now than it ever was in history.

Yeah, I read the same... seemed to indicate that violence is just easier to find out about now.  More news coverage from around the world, etc... not too long ago people didn't hear about things that happened farther than 50 miles or so from where they lived.

Which may be why people don't seem to care anymore.  We've become immuneto that which we see evey day?   

I think that's part of it. I like to point this out to people who think that we are living in the End Times. They talk about how all the calamity in the world is increasing in frequency and intensity. It's really just exposure. Compare number of deaths in WWII to the War on Terror. And yet the War on Terror is taken into evidence as God's wrath upon a sinful world.

I actually much prefer living in the relatively safe 21st Century than the 20th Century.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

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.

Good points! I've found that social networking such as Facebook helps my large and far-flung family and social group feel connected and part of each other's lives in a way that would be impossible to maintain via telephone or email. Even my long-lost brother has a chance to see a little window into not only my life and what I think about, but what my friends think about it, and how we interact. On a social-connection/personal bonding level, these things are effective.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I would like to posit that people actually do care, and in fact care more than they have in the past.

At least in the US, violent crime is down. WAY down. Bullying, which used to be "a part of growing up", is now considered a serious problem. Yes, we still have the bystander effect, but now people get upset about it.

We have some other pretty serious problems... like our nation's eagerness to go to war, treat undocumented immigrants like animals, and detain civilians... but in terms of compassion WITHIN our society, evidence is that things are getting better.

[the last yatto]

Never drop a quarter for someone sitting there
But  once gave a hundred bucks to a homeless girl playing the violin

[Nephew Twiddleton]

Never drop a quarter for someone sitting there
But  once gave a hundred bucks to a homeless girl playing the violin

That's either a lot for a song, a very little for the violin.

[Freeky]

Christ on a fucking crutch how can one be snarky and not be accused of getting all butthurt?

You don't come off as snarky, rather more as acidic and easily angered, without a sense of humor.

Just making an observation.

[ñͤͣ̄ͦ̌̑͗͊͛͂͗ ̸̨̨̣̺̼̣̜͙͈͕̮̊̈́̈͂͛̽͊ͭ̓͆ͅ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.

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. 

Can you provide any sort of evidence to back up your opinion that violence is more prevalent?

And compared to when exactly? 10 years ago? 100 years ago? 1000 years ago?

Because I've read some literature that made a strong case that actually, violence is less prevalent now than it ever was in history.

Yeah, I read the same... seemed to indicate that violence is just easier to find out about now.  More news coverage from around the world, etc... not too long ago people didn't hear about things that happened farther than 50 miles or so from where they lived.

Which may be why people don't seem to care anymore.  We've become immuneto that which we see evey day?