Ot: Laughter Versus Logic (an Adult Topic)

[Steph]

I have something which I feel is of value to say about the things which happen on sites dedicated to lampooning others in a vulgar manner.

People can turn anything they want into a joke. Joking is easy. Ethics and responsiblity and logic and standing up for virtue, these may be boring to some, but they're not easy. To live principles well, and reap the benefits thereof, is a challenge and a worthy one.

At that 'wonderful' site which we've been discussing of late, Steve K. said,

CNN: 3/4ths of school kids are sexting and these freaks are worried about adults posting language on an adult site.

To which Lloyd's response was:

WTF are you doing in construction!

Oh, now I see.....

Hitting the Nail on the Head!

I'm not going to use any fancy words to say which type of fallacy that is. It's enough that it is one.

Lloyd is patting Steve on the back as if Steve were clever. Steve is not being clever tho'. He is making the case for the exact opposite point to the one he seems to intend.

If he is correct that 3/4 of school kids are "sexting" (sending sexually explicit messages on their i-phones and such), and if as he seems to imply this is a problem which needs to be addressed and not merely the set up for a joke, then think about it. It doesn't take above-average brain power to see how related the problem of sexting is to the problem of shock-value humor and language demeaning women for the sake of laughs.

To put it more bluntly, how the heck can teenagers be expected to avoid such temptations when the "adults" don't lead by example?

Yeah, "wholesome" principles can be boring, or old-fashioned, or however people might want to write them off, and it's easy to fall short. But they beat the alternative.

IN MY OPINION

[MrsMopar]

I like being boring and old-fashioned :-)

[Steph]

LOL! on you it looks good!

[MrsMopar]

Thank you...it does have its charm.

[semdot]

The truth is that anyone can be vulgar. So why doesn't everyone do it? Swearing empowers people, but only to other people who think swearing empowers them. This is especially true for young teens. Just an observation.

[Steph]

When the culture makes something seem cool, kids want to take part in their own way. When "adult" is defined by what sort of things you need to be of age to check out from a video store, instead of in more old-fashioned terms such as the ability to take responsibilty, kids think it's more cool to be that kind of adult than to be the quiet hero kind.

Maybe I'm not saying it exactly right, but the idea seems clear to me on a very common sense level.

But sometimes people are laughing too loud to get the sense.

If the most prominent adults in a kids life are spending as much as it sometimes seems competing to get the biggest laughs, and if the subject matter doesn't matter as long as it delivers the laughs, then what are they teachin' the kids?

[sissydear]

Sorry about this. i got my post in the wrong place. I've deleted it here and moved it where I meant it to be. Edna

[david Chamberlain]

We teach by example and especially on a Marble Board where access is available to anyone with a modicum of computer skills one would hope that the reigning rule (principle) would be Responsibility and Respect. After all at its core marbles are a kids sport. David Chamberlain

[Alan]

Values and morals are taught and learned in the home (or not). The Internet is merely a reflection of society and the world as a whole. Both have their seamy side. Parents either instill the necessary morals and values to deal effectively with both - or they don't. Parents either monitor a child's use of the Internet and where they go and who they associate in the world - or they don't. Given the extreme rarity of kids playing or collecting marbles these days - I would guess that the statistical potential of a young, impressionable mind spending much time at that other place is far less likely than the chance of being struck by lightning.

Stamping out speech on the Internet is like trying to do the same in the real world. Its like the "Whack-a-Mole" game at the fair....hit one and he pops up elsewhere.

If someone is stating something illegal or subject to civil action in the courts - then they are subject to prosecution or lawsuit, as appropriate.

There have always been and will always be those whose ideas are in stark contrast with ours. This will be true long after we have shuffled off this mortal coil.

I'll also note that there are people who thrive on stirring the pot and the attention that they receive when people react to what they say or do. Give them attention, become incensed with what they say or do and rail at their ideas at the top of your voice - and one simply feeds the fire and provides the incentive to continue this behavior. It is the attention and the reaction that they crave. Remove these and you remove the motivation and reward.

I do not suggest that their behavior is acceptable - just that one must rise above their level and attempt to understand their motivation and the reward that they seek.

I do not go to that place. If someone there posts that I am a fool, or that my feet smell, or that I look funny, or that my mother wears combat boots - I could care less. (My mother doesn't wear combat boots, by the way). I don't need to go there to know that it is a dump. I have much better things to do with my time in this life than engage riffraff to defend myself standing knee-deep in their manure at a place that doesn't matter.

"Dost thou love life? Then waste not time; for time is the stuff that life is made of." Benjamin Franklin