[KC]: November 20th Work

Hi, kids!

For those who were absent on the Friday before break, here is the assignment we began. Open this document and begin working. You now need to complete this on your own time. I'm expecting it to be shared with me.

We're working hard; stay on top of things! :]

The Internet is a Zoo!

     The internet is a vast place, which at this point, is full of everything. Unfortunately, this includes the sick, disgusting, and negative attitude of many people. Who knows when and where online trolling specifically started, a good place to assume may be forums and message boards. Through time and the growing number of internet users, many people have become nothing more than mindless idiots whose only purpose is to digitally spit unkind or even controversial words at their targets.

     A classmate has made a clear point though. There is a fine line between joking around and serious harassment. Trolls cannot be categorized like criminals based on what offenses they commit. Trolling is trolling, regardless of where and how. Some people just like to say silly things in comments just for the laughs from everyone around them, all in good fun and humor. Others dedicate themselves to a more serious level, which may include death threats or even tracking an individuals IP address, which can lead to even more destruction.

     Many can say "Don't feed the trolls". It just makes me think about the internet being this large zoo with signs posted everywhere saying not to feed the animals. The question is, why though? There shouldn't be trolls to begin with. It just seems too easy to sit behind a screen, safe and secure from real social interaction and persecution from what you'll say. I won't give any examples, but you can imagine the kind of treatment one may receive if that individual said what they would've said online. It's just easy to get away with. I can only assume some people do it for a small thrill.

     I can't say I've had any serious problems with trolls or have been attacked. At some point in time I would sit and read through comment sections on any site and there would be a big chance I would leave the site frustrated. I don't engage or interact, I keep my thoughts to myself, but to sit and read stupid arguments that go no where really bothered me. I can admit I spend anywhere between 15-40 hours on my computer weekly. To cope with the stupidity of people online, I avoid it. I read articles, watch videos, and browse sites happily until I come across any sign of a troll. Sometimes I can tolerate it, otherwise I just continue scrolling or move on. It's really easy to just not read any of it. If there is anything to take from my blabbering, it's this, move along and pretend it's not there. Unless you're directly attacked, don't engage in the activity.

Introducing this week with a new unit about trolling has made me more self aware of what I post online. I know I wouldn't post anything that would arise in conflict like something racist or inappropriate, but I noticed that whatever you post online will reflect back at you, and there will always be a troll out there that will just give you a hard time. I personally do not have an experience with being trolled but do know the gist of how annoying it can get, based off a few of my friends who engage themselves in social media that put themselves in messy situations and initiate arguments (knowing that they're fully aware trolls feed on these types of responses). Then again I feel like you shouldn't get so emotional online (depending on the situation), I mean c'mon, you're behind a screen and it's not physically real. Which leads me to my next point, and that is how brainwashed our generation is. We're so oblivious and isolated that I feel like sometimes trolls are people that have way too much time to kill. They're the time to cause all types of problems out of nothing. I honestly think there'd be less trolling if we weren't so engaged to the Internet. I'm curious to get more in depth about what this unit is all about.

Don't be Nasty....

"Just because you have a right to say it, doesn't mean it's right to say." This phrase is written on my government teacher's board and is the first thing I see everyday as I walk into class. As an opinionated, argumentative person, when I first heard that statement I immediately disagreed with it. Everything I say has a reason for it and just because someone doesn't like what I say doesn't mean they get to pull the "doesnt mean it's right to say" card. As usual, I was thinking only about myself. But after I read these articles about trolling I changed my perspective dramatically. Just because you CAN say "your dad killed himself because of you" does NOT mean you SHOULD say it. I'm not on social media much or these other vicious communities where trolling abounds so I didn't realize how bad the trolling world really is until I read these articles. I honestly don't see how anyone could be so malicious for NO reason. But like these articles say, its the people you least expect that when they get on the internet, their true personality comes out in all sorts of colors. I used to be able to support free speech to the last tooth and nail. Now I'm not so sure. Innocent victims should not be subject to this kind of harassment. I'm not saying we should censor all types of mean speech but SOME censoring might be necessary to protect innocent people from being tormented.

Trolls No More

I often thought of trolls as being those creepy ugly things that used to live under the bridge but growing up trolls came from living under a bridge to spreading hate and being a nuisance to society through our very own computer screens. Trolls hide behind anonymous profiles they feed off our reactions. In "Web Trolls Winning as Incivility Increases" author Farhad Manjoo stated that "the internet may be losing the war against trolls" (1). With the increase of both technology and the expansion of social media it has made it has given trolls a "foothold to stand on" (3).  We see trolls on a daily basis on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook etc. Their intent is to make the person feel bad about themselves or to cause arguments. You are often given an option on whether you want to block the comment but with every comment erased more emerge. You can only block out so much, people often listen to trolls in order to please them. In "What Happened When I Confronted My Cruellest Troll" author Lindy West often thought about changing careers in order to end the harassment. It is hard to fathom why anyone would want to hurt people and spread hatred. There  should be more ways handle trolls but for now we will have to stick to the block button and ignore their words. I hope there is change to come.

Easier Said Than Done

The number one solution that everyone says is really the only current way to combat trolling is to ignore it. However, it’s definitely not that easy. Ignoring trolling is something that is much easier said than done. In the case of Lindy West she receives tons of trolling for the work she does, but this is what she does to live she puts her time and effort into this. It obvious she genuinely cares for what she does. If you have feelings like that how is it possible to completely ignore the things being said to her. She knows that the comments may not be true, but even though they’re not she must feel something because her work is what is getting the responses. It’s not her fault in any way but she can’t do anything about her work to get any less responses or else she’d be changing what she really wants to say. All of this is what finally pushed her to reply to the troll who was impersonating her father, something she would not have done otherwise. It all did end up on a nice note with the troll apologizing and explaining that the only reason behind what he did was his own personal problems. That showed the true nature of a lot of trolls, some just want a target to let out their problems and frustrations on. This is slightly getting off what I’m trying to say but yeah. Why is it that the only solution there is for trolling is difficult for the victim. Can it really be called a solution?

It's Up to Us

          So far in this unit, we have read two articles: “Web Trolls Winning as Incivility Increases” and “What Happened When I Confronted My Cruelest Troll.” Both differ from the other in several ways but they both discussed the issue of internet trolling. Manjoo’s article was more informative as he cited research and gave specific examples, however, West’s was more personal and took my emotions on a roller coaster ride. I have honestly never had any experiences with a troll nor do I ever wish to. Before this unit, I had a vague understanding of what they really are and often associated the word with those weird creatures that have crazy hair. I do remember talking about trolls in one of my classes last year though. We discussed the bad side to online anonymity as it often gets abused and provides an easy way to target others from the comfort of their own home. Cyber-bullying, trolling, full-blown harassment, these are all real problems society is suffering from today, and it’s beyond sad just how many people are affected by this. I mean, it’s upsetting to see what the world has come to, but then again, there have always been bullies all throughout history so I guess history does repeat itself?

Anyway, reading West’s article got me really upset in the beginning. I hated reading about the things she gets told on a daily basis and the constant torture she’s always enduring. I understand that she chose that job and that she should just accept all the consequences that come with it, but at the same time, we wouldn’t be having this problem if people learned to be decent human beings. I think that it is up to us, it’s up to our generation to try and fix this problem. We should go out and educate people on the effects of trolling and cyber-bullying, we should start telling kids from the get go to not hurt other people’s feelings. I think that a big problem we have is that we’re all lowkey self-centered and don’t value others quite as much as we really should. Like Manjoo pointed out, this isn’t simply just a war on trolling; we’re facing against racism, misogyny, and ableism – things that have been around forever. Now it’s up to us to fix this, it should be up to us to teach our kids right from wrong as well as train them to have thick skin.  

Once I read about her harasser and why he did what he did, I couldn’t help but feel bad for him. NO, I do not condone his actions nor do I see any way to justify them, but it allow us to hear about the other side. He said that he bullied her because he was unhappy with himself. What kind of excuse even is that? Since when is it okay to belittle and hurt others because you're unhappy with yourself? So many bullies are that way, they hurt others because they loathe themselves.  I honestly blame his parents for the way he is because perhaps they didn’t love him enough – or at least they probably didn’t show it, also they didn’t train him to be a stronger person. I believe that it’s the parents’ job make sure their kids grow up to be understanding, accepting, and compassionate. It’s the parents’ job to teach them respect and discipline. People need proper guidance and it's all the parents' job to provide that. Teach kids to be better and decrease the amounts of bullies by spreading love and positivity. That’s the only way I see things working out for us and the future generations. I know it’s not going to be in a long while, but we really should all vow to teach out kids better. So yeah, who’s with me?

The Heart of a Troll

When it comes to the word troll, the first thing that comes to my mind is the people who lost the sense of objective in life. In my opinion, internet trolls are people who bring troubles to others for their amusement. The troll that I’m familiar with is video game trolls. In this blog, I will be expressing my thoughts and feelings based off my experiences from a video game. The last thing I would want when I’m in my ranking promotion game is a troll. The troll would purposely give an advantage to an enemy in order to anger their teammates. As a result, many people would call them names and report them. I myself used to be a part of that angry group of player.

I honestly don’t know how I got over the actions and comments of the trolls. I do know that my perspective changes once I really thought about the reasoning be hide their action. Let’s go back to the beginning. I stated that trolls are people who lost the sense of objective in life. The reason being is that the trolls that I’ve encounter within the past had a very depressing life (majority of them). People who love to troll simply do so because they live a miserable life. They cannot share that pain with anyone in the real world, so trolling other people is just one way that they can enjoy life. I think this is the reason why some of the trolls inflict their pain to other people.

I don’t think anyone wake up in the morning and tell themselves that they’re going to troll someone today. Maybe they are just going through some though time, and they want to share that experience with other people (sharing is caring, right?). I’m not very funny. Anyway, I’ve seen people who started out their game with enthusiasm and positive comments. When they or their teammates started doing bad, their attitude begins to change. The most common phase that I heard people says before they started trolling was “I’m done”. When I think about the phase “I’m done”, I realized that they’ve reached the point which they’ve lost sense of their objective. All they have in their mind is anger.

Every time I encounter that situation, I would accept the fact that we have a higher chance of losing, but instead of getting mad at them, I would feel sorry for them. As a result, they would get confusion because they expect people to ignore them or feed them by arguing back. This is a different way of approaching gaming trolls, and I find it very effective. One time, I said to the troll in my team that I feel sorry for him. After that, we had a little conversation, and he started telling me about his life. He changed from a person who is trying to hurt others to the person who is being hurt. One thing people seem to forget is the fact that internet trolls are human being. They have feeling just like all of us. The reason they troll or harass other people might be more complicated than what we think.

THE END.

Fun Fact: This experience is based off the experience that I had when I play the game called League of Legends. When I was in the lower rank, I often encounter a troll teammate. As I moved up along the rank, I encounter less and less troll. So my conclusion is troll equal trash. If you want to be less of a trash then become less of a troll (result not guaranteed). 

Advice For Parents

The other day we were all given a question and you were to do research on it for homework that night. I got the question regarding the Wayback Machine. When we talked about the questions given one of them kind of stood out to me. I'm not quite sure what the question was exactly but it was something about what parents should do when it comes to allowing their children to have social media accounts. Technology is still kind of new to us and we're all still trying to know more about it but a lot of the younger generation has pretty much grown up with it. They know a lot more about how to use these new devices better than we can, especially when it comes to social media. You can go up to any group of kids and ask to see their phones and I bet you not ONE of those kids doesn't have an Instagram, Snapchat or Twitter. A lot of parents now worry about what their little ones are posting or saying online and I think that parents should have the right to access to their kid's accounts to make sure that they aren't doing anything bad or getting into trouble. I also feel like parents should be able to have an open relationship with their child and talk to them about certain things. By doing this, it will hopefully have parents build trust for their kids that will allow them to post whatever they want once they feel that they are mature enough. 

A Changed View

When the online and anonymous unit was introduced and the topic of trolls came up, I thought I knew everything about it. For me, trolling was not anything new. I have been constantly exposed to trolls for almost 8 years now, as I have been playing many online video games. I agreed with the definition of a troll used in the articles and immediately expected to see familiar situations and examples. However, the article introduced a whole new level of trolling to me.

For me, a troll would appear in an online game I am playing, wreak havoc, annoy a few people, and repeat until the troll gets tired. I admit I have trolled in online video games a few times. I have been on both sides of the argument so I understand the motives of some trolls I encounter. The only reason I would troll however, is if I am jealous, and that is the reason why a lot of trolls I come across troll also. When I was trolled or whenever I trolled, it was never a big deal. A few people were annoyed but it was not anything new. Trolls are constant and I learned to adapt to them.

This is the kind of troll I was used to.  An anonymous person disrupting the peace and order for at most an hour and leaving. However, until reading the article on Lindy West  I never realized how personal a troll can get and how much it can affect one person. All trolls I experienced never aimed at me personally but more at an entire group. Lindy West's article changed my views entirely on trolls and my opinion. At first I thought trolls were just small nuisances on the internet, there to make maybe themselves and a few friends laugh. However, in Lindy West's article, it is shown that trolls not only try to make themselves feel better, but they try to make others feel worse. Trolls look to attack and do damage.

This unit has changed my thoughts on trolls entirely and has made me aware and cautious. I've also learned what to expect and how to handle the situation. At first I never thought trolling would be a real subject of concern, but after reading these stories of such extreme situations, I realized that trolls are much more than people who are there to simply ruin a game, they are people who look to verbal damage, and people should be a lot more cautious and aware of trolls.

Crossing an Undefined Line

Before I began reading these articles, we had a general class discussion about trolling and I first had empathy for the people that used online anonymity to their own advantage. That doesn’t mean that I think their way of trolling is okay, but I would try and think further into why they would troll in the first place. I didn’t quite know what trolling was. I would think maybe that person has problems and trolling or going after others was their way of divulging and coping. I would also think that people that are shy in real life would use the anonymity of trolling to have a voice that they fear to reveal in person.  None of these observations make whatever those trolls say right, but I tried to empathize while not being fully aware of what a troll is, says, or does.

While reading the articles, I was disgusted of how far people would actually go to just to have an effect on a human being, someone that has feelings and emotions just like the person behind the screen. How far is too far? Yes, some types of trolls are different and not all trolls harass or cross the line (if they’re even able to recognize the line), but the types of trolls we have been talking about DO overstep boundaries and it’s up to the reader to decide how that line has been crossed and are able to feel whatever they do once they read those comments. Trolls “troll” for many different reasons- for attention, for their own amusement and the amusement of others, for a behind-a-computer-screen ego, to get a kick out of the person they’re directing their remarks to, and for so many other reasons I don’t know of because I don’t really understand the fulfillment people get out of trolling in the first place.

To some trolls, what they say to others may be innocuous to them, but that troll’s definition of a line may be unsusceptible, while the line being crossed, belonging to the reader, is of someone of vulnerability. But that person doing the trolling would never have known that right? Plus, everyone gets hate, right? They just have to deal with it because we live in a cruel world with cold-hearted people and we have to accept that and be strong, right? False.  This internet trolling, online harassment, cyber-bullying, whatever you want to call it cannot be seen on a broad spectrum, especially if it doesn’t affect just a group of people. It affects a person as an individual and that is how it should be looked at and dealt with. Just like you can’t look at rape and attach a statistic to it because it happens so often (unfortunately), it shouldn’t be taken lightly because it’s happening to that one individual with a mind, a heart, feelings, and emotions. You can’t tell that victim how to feel or how to react because it has happened and it can’t be changed. That troll has harassed, crossed the line, or said something hurtful to get a kick out of the reader, and that reader has read it, thought about it, and felt whatever discomfort that troll has caused upon them- they cannot unread it. I do give major props to Lindy West for being such a role model in how she handles the ruthless, problematic trolls she’s forced to deal with daily. She’s a strong woman with a strong mind and although she could handle threats and heartless remarks, not everyone can.

A Pitiful Troll

          The wind was blowing, brushing against the dangling leaves as it produced a melancholic melody. The starry sky was lit up with little dancing stars like holy lights penetrating through the impenetrable darkness. The lights were out, and the city went dark succumbing to the irresistible slumber, except for one tiny apartment. Light shone out of the small circular window as if someone is working hectically. In the apartment, sat one tireless creature, a young teenage boy about the age of sixteen. He was laying his back against the back of his chair as he was about to command his daily mission. In front of him was a screen, which allows him to do many things, one of which is to connect to the world through the Internet. He was searching, hunting for his preys from one sites to another, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, and blogs; he scrolled through all of them slowly. A grin appeared on his face. Bingo. Target acquired, a sensitive one, too. The post seemed to be about the LGBT community. He stretched his arms, and backs as if he was getting ready for a marathon, or perhaps a war that he would certainly enjoy. Carefully, he started to craft out his insidious comment that would ensure him a blood lust battle. After making sure that everything was right, the grammar, and spellings, he clicked sent. And the game began. He waited patiently the same way that a jungle cat would wait for its clueless prey to fall into its trap. Bing! His grin grew even wider. After all, it was the sound of a message notifying the predator that a prey had fallen into the trap. The battle went better than he expected it to be. People started to reply to his comment one after another feeding his insatiable hunger. He then replied back with insults such as "gay", "fag", and "go to hell, you freak of nature". Soon his comment began to attract more trolls, and they joined in the battle while feasting upon those fragile souls. However, after a while, feelings started to flood up his chest, the feelings that he had been trying to suppress, pity, guilt, and empathy. He bit back his lips and once again tried to shove away these feelings. Frustrated, exhausted, and confused, he decided to shut his laptop off, and threw himself onto his bed. His back towards the ceiling and his face against the pillow, he closed his eyes and tried to sleep; however, his pensive mood kept him up. One thought after another popped up in his mind until he got to the one topic that he wished to avoid for the rest of his life. Just the thought of the topic angered and confused him; he then screamed into his pillow in aguish. " Why me? Of all the people, why me?" he would always ask himself. He was afraid to admit what he had become or perhaps what he was always meant to be. The thought of society rejecting him made him cower in fear, and the thought of his family disowning him almost killed him. "Why do you people exist? and why me? I've never asked for this. Damn, you freaks of nature" he whispered to himself. He then bit his pillow and screamed his pain out as if someone was grabbing and squeezing his tiny fragile heart. Little shiny droplets fell down his face as if someone broke a dam. He could feel the wind brushing against him as if it was trying to soothe him and telling him that it'll get easier, and better tomorrow. But of course, he knew this was bogus. He knew that every day was just as torturous as the next, or else he wouldn't be soaking up his pillow every night.
          Every day, he had to live in constant fear; fear of someone finding out what he really was, fear of his friends rejecting him, fear of his best friend leaving him. Every single day, he had to pretend to be someone he was not; he tried to live under the illusion that he could pretend to be something that he was not until he became one. Of course deep down he knew it was a lie. He had to hide himself behind iron curtains, wrap his heart in steel, and wear the expression of a dead man. He could never do anything he likes or enjoys because he was afraid it might emasculate. He had to be cautious of every of his action because someone might catch him the moment he slips up. That was the reason why he hated them, he hated how free they were, and how brave they all were to come out to the world, even though the world hated them. He knew that he would never be free like they were for he shall be forever shackled to his fear.

Trollolol-Lalalala (trolls)

I actually like this unit about trolls because it's so interesting. Of course this unit is not just about trolls but about being online and anonymous.Throughout  my life on the Internet I have encountered  many trolls.  I usually see them on YouTube comments and on Xbox Live. When we first started this unit, right away the trolls were horrible people that had bad intentions. At first I was confused because the Trolls I encountered  weren't people with bad intentions.

As the week continued I kept thinking about my thought. I finally found my answer why Trolls are looked upon as bad, once we read the Lindy West article. I was surprised how cruel people actually were trying to be. I couldn't belive that it was still considered Trolling. In my perspective it seemed more like cyber bulling or harassment. This is a difficult topic because we all have different perspectives about the border between Trolling and Harassment. In my opinion coming from a gamer's perspective, Trolls aren't the people in Lindy West article.  In the gaming community  we see trolls as people that prank other people over the Internet just to get them mad and see their reaction live. There is no harassment or harm done while trolling. Like I said everybody has a different perspective about "Trolling".

The Trolling Unit

As we started this new unit on trolling, I didn't realize I would be so into it. To be honest, I thought it was a unit on blogging and what bad stuff not to do. As we read different articles, I understood that this is a real issue. We read an article by a women named Lindy West and it really touched me. She dealt with all of this hate mail over and over. I give her props because she deals with this on a daily basis for her job. I believe that this trolling situation can not be stopped. It is going to happen on every social media all of the time. It depends on the way we take and  deal with it. West dealt with the trolling by addressing it and honestly that's the way I would as well. There are others who will let the trolling happen and stay quiet. Some people believe that if we speak up it will be like adding fuel to the fire. In West's case it turned out in a positive way. Trolling needs to be controlled. Either by the social media network or by the person dealing with it. I am very surprised that West received such a positive result. I hope more people can see that and confront the trolls.

Is trolling really that bad??

Am I the only one that doesn't think that trolls are that bad? To me trolling is just another way of having some fun. I mean, there are different levels of trolling and at a certain point it can just become harassment. Trolling is sometimes just a way for some people to relieve some stress. it is largely used within gaming for the enjoyment of the troll himself and many other people that might be there in the moment or those who might be watching after the event has occurred. Most of us can say we have seen at least one video of someone trolling one or more people in a game. A great amount of people see internet trolls as horrid people who harass others for their own enjoyment. In my opinion some people go too far but in other cases we categorize or profile people based on a couple harmless posts. It's all fun and games but we should just be careful not to pass lines which we can make to where we can all agree on. Also some people really need to just suck it up and not be so sensitive. The internet is still new to us all and we never really know what to expect. We should know by now that the internet is sometimes a cruel place and it should be our daily agenda to prepare ourselves for what is coming everyday. We are all human and are always bound to imperfect so suck it up!

    For the last couple of days we have read  two different articles on the topic trolling. I found this subject very interesting and intriguing. I especially found the Lindy West article,"What Happened When I Confronted My Cruelest Troll" very compelling. I loved how Ms. West was so honest and upfront with everything, not afraid to express how she feels or what's on her mind. Lindy West is very strong and very much opinionated. An example of this is when she says,"Why should I have to rearrange my life- and change careers essentially- because you wet your pants every time a woman talks. This statement was very bold and it showed me the foundation of West's attitude towards the annoying trollers. I love this article to pieces.

"Trolling"

Going into this unit about trolling, i didn't think much of it. To be quite honest, i never thought we would read such articles that made me think a lot more about what i put out on social media. The Lindy West article is what really pushed my buttons on the subject. One incident she faced wasn't trolling, that was pure harassment. I don't feel sorry for her because she's a strong minded and strong willed woman who spoke out about it. However, it makes me sad at the fact that she's used to getting antagonizing and hurtful comments on her social media daily just because she expresses or tries to inform others on serious matters. In all seriousness though, where does that borderline of trolling to harmful threats lie? Does it stop becoming a joke when someone does what they're told and actually kills themself? Does it stop when someone decides to go further and physically harm the person they're antagonizing? Or does it go further of a court trial deciding whether or not someone is guilty. Where does this line lie? Please tell me where it does in your eyes. In my opinion, trolling someone or even joking with them for that matter shouldn't go to the point of telling someone to kill themselves because you never know the situations people are in and the emotions they go through. There's a big difference between harassment and trolling, trolls like to annoy and irritate people for fun without trying to cause actual harmful affects on the person they're doing it to. What Lindy West and others go through is harassment, and is something that shouldn't be taken lightly at all.

Lindy West

For my blog post of the week, I was having trouble deciding what to talk about until the day following our discussion about Lindy West.  I noticed that some of the comments made during the discussion really stuck with me, and it wasn't even that they offended me, it was just that I so strongly disagreed with what was said.  What stuck with me the most with the fact that many people believed that it was the author's fault for the hate she received and that people didn't feel sorry for these kinds of cases for reasons including that there will always be hate in the world and "things should be done instead of feeling bad for the individual cases".

For starters, it bothered me that people believed that she deserved or was asking for the hateful things that were said to her following posting her opinions.  Not only did it bother me, but it confused me as well.  I wasn't familiar with the fact that people deserved to be threatened, insulted, and harassed with fake accounts of dead family members for having an opinion.  To believe that is normal is to believe that the solution to disagreeing with someone is insulting them as opposed to the healthy way of merely stating why you don't agree with them because you disagree with their idea, not the individual.  This isn't a matter of censorship or the first amendment, it is about a society who already sides with hateful people over people with opinions and members of this society perpetuating this ingrained societal belief further and further into our minds by claiming it's someone's fault for having and preaching their opinions to a "free speech" society.

I, too, didn't necessarily feel sorry for Lindy because she was strong and knew how to stand up for  herself, but that isn't to say I don't feel bad for what was said about her. However even in this case where she grew accustomed to these hateful responses and knew how to handle herself, a considerable amount of emotional pain was still inflicted upon her. Sadly not many people are equipped with this capability to ignore such horrible remarks because it is not their job or just not in their nature to deflect such words, so this leads to many people whose sense of selves are completely obliterated.  To say it is useless for people to feel empathy for these people because there is hate in the world is almost synonymous to not feeling bad for victims of war and violence because history proves and our future will most likely prove that their has and always will be war and violence.  Furthermore I don't agree with the claim that feeling bad for individual claims isn't important because instead of feeling bad we should be looking for a solution to these problems because emotions, such as empathy, are evident in our actions.  These emotions that we feel for the individual cases that embody a larger problem are more likely to cause us to work towards solutions to issues.

P.S. I truly hope this isn't viewed as an attack on any individuals because I don't remember who said what, I have no problem with any of you. :)

Sebastian Rogers

The Media



A couple days ago, in class, we had to read about the article by Lindy West. We needed to stop and write down the reactions we had on specific paragraphs. The overall feeling of this article was that she had to troll for a living, technically. In the beginning she didn't care for all the hatred she'd get in her inbox because she was used to it. In the beginning this made me somewhat confused because it was like she was asking for it, so I didn't feel pity. But then they involved her father, and that to me was not okay. But she was now on the other side of the field, being this time a victim. She knew this wasn't a joke and that's when I felt bad because I know if that was happening to me I would go off in an instant.
Like we had discussed in class there is a fine line between harassment and actually trolling. To me trolling is almost like creating a debate because people disagree and people are going to agree on the certain subject given, obviously. Harassing is something that shouldn't even happen to begin with on the media, and especially with someone you don't even know. I remember someone had tried to get into my head always trying to get my attention to troll me, but from the beginning I ignored it. I blocked and did everything possible to not get anything from him and that was consecutively everyday, until finally it stopped. I learned that not even on the media you can be safe sometimes, which is why it's always good to be cautious of who you let follow you or friend you because there are some CREEPS that are just plain weird that don't have a life apparently. But yea, that's when to me it also connected to a discussion we had about parents being aware of when your kids can be on the media. Something that was brought up was to have access to their accounts, and allow them be able to have social media only till they reach a certain age. The media will always have trolls and that's something we won't be able to change.

Serving As A Good Example

In class we had to answer one of four questions and the question I had dealt with parents monitoring their children's activity on social media. The responses that were given in class from research surprised me because I disagree with what the internet had to say about the idea. The responses included following their children on social media, checking their phone, checking history, etc. However, I think parents should serve as an example of how to behave politely on social media instead of monitoring their activity. Growing up, most children unintentionally develop the philosophy of "monkey see monkey do". If children observe their parents saying bad things or posting rude comments, then their children will think it is o.k. to do that because that is what they see at home. But if parents behave modestly and politely on social media, the children will most likely pick up that attribute because that is what they see. I think children and teens should develop their own understanding of what is good or what is bad to say on social media and, if need be, let them learn if they make a mistake.  

Online Politics: Trigger Warning

As a politically aware teenager who is constantly looking for ways to procrastinate, I spend most of my time on Youtube reading the comments section on controversial topics. The majority of the videos I watch are from The Young Turks, an online independent news commentary show that undoubtedly has a liberal bias. They are very outspoken about their views and do not hold back. As a result, they get massive amount of hate that consists mostly of trolling rather than constructive criticism. I read the comments section because although there are lots of trolls, it's still interesting to see the perspectives of people from all over the political spectrum. 

A recent hot topic has been that of ISIS regarding the Paris attacks that happened earlier this week. Borders are being closed and refugees are being treated more suspiciously and have been getting cold responses from many governors of the United States. However, France has taken a different stance on the refugee crisis. Despite the fact that one of the suicide bombers held a fake Syrian passport, France has agreed to take on an additional 30,000 Syrian refugees within the next three years. This action has gone against U.S. senators and congressman that are conservative. It's important to note that other European countries such as Germany are also opening their borders to refugees that have been displaced by ISIS (about seven million). The issue is obvious: how do we make sure that there are no undercover terrorists posing as refugees? This is where most of the fear stems from. 

I scrolled down to the comment section of "France INCREASES Syrian Refugee Intake After Paris Attacks" (link below) and immediately noticed the trolls. One troll writes, "Liberalism is a self destructive mental disorder. Smh". This comment received 49 thumbs up and many responses agreeing with them. However, there was someone who challenged them, saying, "You do realize that these refugees are literally running for their lives from the caliphate, right? And you really want to tell them, "Sucks to be you, bro," to their desperate faces? Send them back to be assimilated into ISIS, or outright slaughtered? You are a sad, vile, despicable human being who obviously doesn't know all that refugee processing entails." Another comment reads, "Letting all those men in is going to bite them in the ass. Wherever men go chaos and destruction follows." These are clear examples of trolls. However, when it comes to political issues, the lines between trolling and actual beliefs get blurred. Pretty scary, if you think about it. Some people's beliefs are so radical that you don't know if they are messing around or are being serious. 

TL;DR: Politics is just one of the many areas where defining trolling and addressing it is hard. Sometimes it's explicit but sometimes it's subtle as well. We don't want to infringe on anyone's free speech, so we have decided to refrain from imposing limitations online. Personally, I think that's where we should stand. Of course, if there are serious threats, defamation, or harassment taking place, then it should be addressed. But that isn't trolling. Advice? If you're going to get offended by something, please make it quick. Cry, yell, punch a wall. Then sit back down and think with a clear mind if what you just did was rational or worth your time. I hope that it only takes one incident to learn to ignore the trolls and not take it to heart. After all, they don't know you, and they most certainly don't define you. 

Link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ee3mOe2NLM

My Inbox is filled with spammers!

I just check my email and I see I have 999+ mail in my inbox and spam categories. I go and check and I have mail from like mail suggesting I cheat on my wife (didn't know I had one or she existed as I figured I would be a loner for the rest of my life), take these pills to help my "life", I won sweepstakes I don't even enter, and etc., etc. These gets annoying and after deleting 200 of them one night, I go back and I have about another thousand more the next day. It would get annoying.

This type of trolling, spamming, just irritates the heck out of most people. It just doesn't go on in emails, it also goes on in social media (Kik, Twitter, Facebook, etc.) and life. Life spam is pretty much saying the same joke over and over again. (*cough*Saunders*cough*Geddy*cough*) Spammers are people who are just bored and want to give people a hard time by giving them masses of anything like videos, texts, pictures and likes sometimes.  For example:




Yep, memes one of those you see too often. I cannot tell you how many memes I have seen this week and I don't have access to technology as I used to so there is a problem here.

Whats the best alternative?

Internet trolling has become a problem that has been deteriorating over the years with no clear solution on how to fix it. These trolls seem to delight in the chaos that they cause and a growing number of victims keep being affected. During this unit, I have been wondering what would be the best way I could respond to an attack by a troll. Ignoring them does not seem to prevent or reduce trolling from happening to you; instead, this may encourage them to keep doing it. They will gradully become more offensive in their comments until they get a reaction out of you because they are safely behind their screens. The comments could eventually go past the line of harrassment as Lindy West mentioned. Then again, if you fight back with your comments, how does that help anything? Your hurt would not go away but drag on. If I was in that position, I would be offended and want to fight back just like most people would. However, I believe that the best thing you can do is to stand strong and respond to those trolls in a positive way. To show them that their comments are insignificant to your life. For example, if you keep showing kindness to bullies at school, they eventually would find no incentive to keep messing with you or may become bored. I am not saying that this is true for all cases but that this could be the most beneficial option for handling trolls. On the other hand, a person must be prepared to face the consequences of what they publish online especially if it is about controversial topics. They need to be reasonable and show understanding of many perspectives while they give their own. I agree with the First Amendment of the Constitution stating that everyone deserves the right to reveal expression through speech; no one should be able to stifle anyone of these rights. However, if the speech is detrimental enough to cause psycological harm, it should be banned. Children are probably the most engaged in the Internet world and trolling could be the one of the factors why there are many who committ suicide. The world is not the most peaceful place; evil lurks out there, but all we can really do is move on and try to be the bigger person.

trolls

   Stephanie Cuevas
   ERW per.3 \
                                                                      Trolls
      This week in my ERW class we talked about anonymous trolls and how people get online and pretend to be something there not. These trolls hurt people by doing things online that may affect the person reading the comment. In the article we read in class by Lindy Wesy I dont feel sorry for what happened to her because she stood up for herself. I dont think I would ever have the guts to stand up to the troll. The troll actually apologize but I dont ever think that i would ever accept the apology because of the things that the troll said. Trolls to me should not ever pretend to be something online that they are not. I dont like the fact that the trolls hide over a computer and write disturbing or rude comments to another person. To me I think that Lindy west shouldnt change her lifestyle because some one told her if she doesnt like what she read then she shouldnt get on the internet but why should someone change there life living because someone wants to keep trolling for the fun of it.

Bad Service?

So as I was about to finish my blog post I got a text from my boss telling me to go on Yelp and check out a review I got from a customer. The review was a bad one. So that's when I decided to scratch out my other blog and start writing this one because it seems relevant to what we are learning in class.

See, it's not trolling, but it's still a comment that I definitely got offended by. I even started crying because I thought I was going to lose my job. The customer was saying that she waited 10 minutes to get my attention and once she did I just nodded at her and walked away for about 20 minutes. She then called me over again and I finally took her order after 32 minutes of sitting there. She said it was the worst service she's ever had in her life. I honestly don't even remember this happening and it sounded over exaggerated anyways because she said that it wasn't busy and "it was just a Monday evening" when it was a super busy night yesterday due to the cold weather (I work at a pho restaurant). It was so busy that even my boss had to come out and help me and the only other person working out in the front. All 30 tables were filled and there was only 1 other person to help me. I had to bring out drinks, take orders, wash cups, refill water, print checks, and clean tables because people were waiting to be seated. She had no idea how hard I was working and how tired I was jogging from table to table. And I had to do this all while keeping a big smile on my face.

This is where I tie this situation into our unit. I took offense to what this customer said about me even though I didn't know her. And yeah, once you read a bad comment you get hurt by it. The thing about this comment is it is over exaggerated and one sided. And that is how trolling is. Trolls make up lies and try to bring out the worst in people. With Zelda Williams she was told that she was the cause of her fathers death. But she wasn't. The troll made that up just to hurt her. A victim of trolling shouldn't let horrible words of others define who he or she is. Trolls don't realize how much their words affect others. But at the same time the victims of trolling shouldn't get so sensitive about it because trolls don't know you. They don't know how you are, what you do, and what you've been through. They couldn't care less about how anyone feels so one shouldn't give them the time of day.

I shouldn't have gotten so sensitive but I did and that's just what happens when one reads something mean. Reading comments from trolls are always going to hurt, but it's the way you handle it after the grievances that matter. After you let out a cry or two, realize that what they think doesn't matter as long as you're true to yourself and know what they say is one sided and untrue. Trolling and hate will always be around but if you ignore and brush it off, it won't affect you as much. 

I don't care what she said now. I worked my butt off lol.

Broken Bones From Stones May Hurt But Words Are Forever

Throughout this unit I have learned a lot about trolls.  At first, I had no clue what a troll was.  Of course I have seen trolling but I never knew the technical term for it.  When we wrote down what we think an online troll was I couldn’t have been any more wrong.  When I hear the word troll I think of a creature living under a bridge.  So when it was used in the context of an online troll, I didn’t even know where to start my guessing for it’s meaning.  Eventually, I began to think it was a person who lurked and remained silent.  I even believed that at times I might have been one when I would be creeping on people’s profiles.  I thought they were people who went through their feed and didn’t like or favorite anything.  Basically I thought they were almost like an Internet ghost.  As one can see, I was totally wrong.  Now that I know what trolling is, I find it intriguing yet disgusting.  I do not understand what pleasure people get by causing havoc and putting others down.  I believe it needs to be controlled some way.  How to control it, I am not sure yet, but I do know something needs to be done.  Many times the cyber bulling crosses the line into harassment, which is not okay.  Words do hurt and sometimes they hurt more than stones.  If one physically hurts someone they will most likely heal or the bruise will go away, but if it is mentally that could stay with them forever.  That it why trolling needs to be stopped, words could hurt more and last longer than broken bones.

What's Next Vocabulary

Here's the vocab list from our current unit. You should be completing vocab squares for 16 words. (Due next Tuesday) 

• Use them. Know them. Prepare for the quiz.