Comments on: Public Suicides on the Web http://www.blisstree.com/articles/public-suicides-on-the-web-119/ Family, Health, Home and Lifestyles Fri, 25 Dec 2009 04:37:37 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Isis Elfman http://www.blisstree.com/articles/public-suicides-on-the-web-119/comment-page-1/#comment-79564 Isis Elfman Tue, 25 Nov 2008 19:19:21 +0000 http://www.wearyparent.com/public-suicides-on-the-web/#comment-79564 Anonymity is powerful. Anonymity allows the weak to speak truthfully to power. Anonymity is how we know China's government isn't always nice to its inhabitants. On the other hand, I'm reminded of this graphic... http://aidenvdh.rootnode.net/fun_gallery/imgs2/1191870712560.jpg Anonymous: Because none of us are as cruel as all of us. Lynchings weren't solitary events. No one ever dunked a witch inside the privacy of a courthouse. Once you reach a certain level of cruel (or stupid, or dangerous), you really need an audience. The chorus amplifies in a non-linier fashion. I doubt my child will ever have the opportunity to commit suicide on the internet but this incident does have real world application to me and, probably, other parents. Would that 19-year-old have lived if he did not have an audience throwing rocks? Kids tend to make better decisions when they don't have an audience of peers. A 16-year-old driving alone is statistically far less likely to have an accident than a teen driving with two or more friends. Crap. I forgot where I was going with that. Figure it out and get back to me, please. Thanks! —Isis Anonymity is powerful.

Anonymity allows the weak to speak truthfully to power. Anonymity is how we know China’s government isn’t always nice to its inhabitants.

On the other hand, I’m reminded of this graphic…

http://aidenvdh.rootnode.net/fun_gallery/imgs2/1191870712560.jpg

Anonymous: Because none of us are as cruel as all of us.

Lynchings weren’t solitary events. No one ever dunked a witch inside the privacy of a courthouse. Once you reach a certain level of cruel (or stupid, or dangerous), you really need an audience. The chorus amplifies in a non-linier fashion.

I doubt my child will ever have the opportunity to commit suicide on the internet but this incident does have real world application to me and, probably, other parents. Would that 19-year-old have lived if he did not have an audience throwing rocks?

Kids tend to make better decisions when they don’t have an audience of peers. A 16-year-old driving alone is statistically far less likely to have an accident than a teen driving with two or more friends.

Crap. I forgot where I was going with that. Figure it out and get back to me, please. Thanks!

—Isis

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