One Primary Cause Of Violence

Communication is the essential link among people.
It is universal.
Verbal communication is the most frequent instrument.
There are people that act out a sense of entitlement to verbally insult, demean and denigrate
others with impunity and in complete disregard of possible consequences.
In real life, those verbal provocations very often result in physical altercation, tragedy and death.
With the advent of the internet and less face to face interaction, verbal provocations have almost become an accepted way of communication for most millennials, and chiefly among people with low self esteem, that use them as a cowardly vehicle to boost their own self worth as they are demeaning others.
In a sense, it is a free get out of jail card, as there are no real consequences.
Sure, they might get banned from a particular forum where they are venting but then again they will just join another forum and do the same thing.
What some people don 't realize is that repetitive verbal abuse eventually carries over into real life, unless it's all ready there to begin with, but it hasn't fully caught up yet.
The overall violence in USA in particular is the direct manifestation of verbal abuse, which most likely was learned behavior among children, that were either themselves abused or where privy to their parents venting on others.
For a culture to be less violent, it is imperative that children are encouraged to respect others and that verbally abusing or demeaning others is a bad thing, that could lead to very bad consequences.
I was fortunate to have good parents that instilled in me the necessity to treat others the way I want to be treated.
My dad did kind of make an amendment to that. He said " Always try to give people the benefit of doubt and respect until they openly disrespect you. When that happens, you need to make a stand. If you don't, you will always be a victim. "
Some 25 years later, I still remember my dad's words and try my best to adhere to that code.
There is no doubt in my mind that if everyone did, this world would be a nicer place.

A similar phenomenon is that, because of that lack of consequences you describe, people on the Internet often lie about themselves, usually out of insecurity.

We had a member awhile back who lied incessantly, for example. And sure enough, they also did precisely what you're describing: they threatened violence on numerous occasions. It was all hot air, of course: nothing ever happened. They presumably made the threats out of a feeling of impotence, and felt comfortable doing it for the reasons you just explained: no face-to-face interaction, no consequences.

He actually had similar complaints as you: he liked to talk about people hiding behind screens. The deep irony, of course, was that hiding behind a screen was what enabled him to tell those lies and threaten that violence. So it's a real problem, and it's particularly insidious because the people who take the most advantage of it like to project that fact out onto others, usually without realizing how much they rely on it themselves.

The more I think about it, the more I realize you're describing this guy to a tee. You've got a lot of insight into this type of person. I wish you'd been around when he was!

Maybe it's good I was not. Would not want to get banned for an internet war.
I probably would have just put him on my ignore list, as I have done to some that I felt were personally provocative.
I do not know how seriously one could take some one that is a strictly an internet connection.
It's most likely that I would disassociate myself once an individual starts threatening and ridiculing.
Also some people just aren't on the same wave length, so what's the point of discussing any thing with them.
And then there are people that can't help personalizing a controversial topic.
Controversial topics are part of our social fabric and we should not ignore them.
Especially when we disagree, we should remain logical and civil and when we can't do that and start resorting to name calling and banal insults and generalizations, it's time to end dialogue.
Different people have different reasons for being on forums.
I just want to contribute and learn without hassle.
I am aware that there are people that have opposing views, but they certainly should not hate me for having mine.
I am open minded enough not to hate them.
We are all the sum of our experience, whatever that may be, and based on that, we form our opinions.
Opinions are not fact. They are just opinions.
If life was math, we wouldn't be having conversations.
As some one once said, wouldn't be cool if we all could just get along!
But I know that would be utopia and I have yet to find it.

Man i love this thread so much

I know, right? But he took it really seriously. Imagine feeling so angry and frustrated that you would threaten someone physically because you didn't like what they were saying. Or sending unsolicited emails and creating new alt accounts years later. That's how seriously he took it.

You'd have to have some serious issues to spend so much time and effort trying to impress strangers, but apparently such people exist. And they never know when to quit.

Very true. Most just want to talk to people, but others are trying to fill some deep pit of insecurity. You can usually spot them by their propensity to shoehorn in self-aggrandizing personal details, or draw attention to themselves.

Oh yeah. Like when they act like they're talking about some general cultural topic, but it's actually just a clumsy, obvious way to take a swipe at someone.

I don't know all the details but it would appear to me that you still have some personal issues with some one from your past.
You do realize, that you are interjecting that in to my posts.
What exactly is it that I say or do that brings back those negative memories?
I certainly bear you no ill will.

I wonder if the world is any more violent than it's always been, but it just seems that way to our age of mass communication because we are able to get reports of violence much faster and from many more places (plus the fact that it's a topic the media focuses on more than others)?

I'm sure the dawn of civilization brought about a major lessening in overall violence. Prior to that, I imagine when one group came upon another, the reaction was probably just to attack (out of fear they'd attack you, take your territory and your food sources) and beat on the opposing group until one side won.

So, I guess my point is to question the premise of the OP. Not disagreeing, just questioning - I'm no stranger to distrusting and criticizing technology, but is it (and the apparent disaffection it seems to be causing) really making the world more violent, or does its capacity to increase communication on a global level compensate for or balance out any violence that results from people becoming isolated, estranged, and disconnected from dealing with others on a personal level?

Unfortunately, the clear answer to your question is that technology ( internet ) is contributing to a personal disconnect.
There is a different code of behavior on the net as opposed to face to face.
Not only is there more lying and pretending but there is a culture of verbally aggressive behavior that was not that prevalent in real life interaction.
These individuals get so used to it on the net, that they fail to make the distinction in real life, which leads to more violence.
I remember from my dad's life that in his time respect and a man's word meant something.
People were more aware of " fighting words " so they did not use them as often.
Technology has also contributed to the invention of automatic weapons that are now used to take out huge numbers of individuals, in " peace " time.

Nah. He sure has issues with me, though, given that he can't let it go and keeps contacting me. In one form or another.

Oh, they're not negative. They're amusing.

Only reason they're brought to mind is because they describe him so perfectly: everything he said and did he was only able to do because of the anonymity and lack of consequences you described. So when someone describes the false machismo of a keyboard warrior, and the impotent rage it's covering for, my mind just goes right there.

Yikes. I feel like I inadvertently stepped into the middle of some sort of private feud with a lot of indirect metaphorical speech being applied.

Anyway, overall violence also has to be considered by scale. We now have over 7 billion people on the planet, more than the planet's ever had before at one time (overcrowding always contributes to violence in the animal kingdom - so that's an additional factor). But I wonder, if we take scale into consideration, if things are really more violent now than they've ever been?

I cant imagine how confused some people will be reading this

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Maybe some statistician could give you the answer to your question.
My point was that verbal abuse is one of the primary factors that contribute to violence.
Words have caused wars and continue to do so.
In peace time now, because of the advent of media and communication on a large scale, words are even a bigger contributor to violence.
All you have to do is look at one example: Isis recruitment on the internet. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

Is it the Brando guy from China?

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This thread...

Is this thread what I think it is?

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Cobpyth's Movie Log ~ 2019

The world had never been safer. Only in some countries like Brazil and Venezuela that violence has increased in recent decades and of course some unlucky counties like Syria that are suffering from a civil war.

We know from bone remains of cavemen that a large fraction of the cause of death was violence, a fraction like 20% of all deaths were violent deaths. Today that is less than 1% of the cause of death globally. The murder rate in those societies was around 500 per 100000, or about 20 times the murder rate in the most dangerous countries in the world today and over 100 times the current US murder rate.

It is making the world less violent by connecting more people. Our world today is so peaceful that people worry more about feeling insulted than being under real physical threat.

Has anyone told you they hate you for having an opposing POV? If not,why would you even think that?

this lots for reasons I won't type.

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"My Dionne Warwick understanding of your dream indicates that you are ambivalent on how you want life to eventually screw you." - Joel

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