while i'm sure that cyber-bullying is much more horrible than the old-fashioned version of actual bullying where you got your nose broken in front of your first school-crush, it is also not the only thing that happens on the internet. if we're going to focus on the extreme effects of the web, it should be mentioned that there are kids who are becoming famous by just making a youtube video. in that way, i don't see any of this as bullying as much as a very quick way to hear what the world thinks of you. the star wars kid found out that he kind of sucked. but justin bieber was made famous by the internet.which, arguably, is a bad thing.
but that's not the point.
and the star wars kid is now a lawyer-- so he gained a bit from his bad luck, in the long run.
look, with something as powerful as the internet-- a world where you can look at porn, while doing your bills, and laughing at kittens all at once-- empathy would have to decrease in order for it to all work. it gives every individual so much more potential that we're going to grow a little more numb than usual.
but that's not all bad.
everyone has noticed the sudden increase of suicides, but no one has noticed the sudden decrease of serial killers. a serial killer-- someone who has killed three or more people over a span of more than a month-- is someone i would like to see less. and the key to their insanity is that they aren't mindless about their murders; they aren't mass-murderers or on a technical killing spree; serial killers are psychologically aroused by causing death.
which means, on the internet where everything is simple, a huge amount of their gratification has been eliminated. if you watch the blues brothers you'll see carrie fisher building a flame-thrower you know she's serious. she's doing research because she's so serious. nowadays, you can probably just youtube a DIY video-- or buy it on ebay.
but where's the fun in that? if you were a serial killer and loved the intricacy of successfully murdering someone, slipping away, and arising a few weeks later for your next planned attack, i dare say the internet would've ruined half your fun. and it's not just the weaponry made easy-- but even stalking is virtually accepted as normal these days; facebook has probably drastically decreased binocular sales.
and, previous to the world wide web, the only evidence serial killers really left was at the scene of the crime. now, their entire planning process is documented as well. there's just a better chance of them being caught.
i ran through a list of serial killers and there is a sudden drop after the 80's. there is no more john wayne gacy, no zodiac, and richard ramirez is one of the last famous ones before the days of dot com. i mean serial killers are still around, but not nearly as frequently or successfully as ever before.
in fact, the only places that present an increase of serial killings are places with severely censored access to the internet like china, and the middle east.
so maybe suicides are higher (are they?), but string-murders are lower.
in my mind, there is no proof that can connect the internet to the increase or decrease of deaths-- it's like saying the golden gate bridge causes suicides because people jump often-- but if we're going to argue that the internet is causing suicides, it's fair game to mention what's going on in the world of serial killers, too.
in any situation, it's important to look at the grand scheme of things and that is that no one wants more death. none of us want teenagers to commit suicide, but none of us want any form of death. so if we're trying to link the internet to death, it needs to be done more than haphazardly-- all angles of death should be considered and factored in before we decide if the increase of suicides is so bad.
frankly, i'm a lot less worried about people trying to kill themselves than people killing other people.
but maybe that's just my decreased level of empathy.
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