Guess the State: Man killed his parents and brother after he was kicked out of his home and accused of stealing $210,000 from his family to send to a woman he had met on a porn website

[SaysWho?]

I'm honestly just sharing this, even though it's sad, because it's a fucking mouthful.

[CitizenVectron]

This is a very sad story.

[Greatoneshere]

The profound impact that the isolation of young adult non-college graduate white males due to the internet and social media is frightening in what it then causes some of these people to do.

 

In what world did this guy think it was reasonable, even the original disagreement? Echo chambers are starting to get scary and are essentially indoctrination now. 

[Mr.Vic20]

A series of tubes is the final boss Earth! 

[Reputator]

56 minutes ago, Greatoneshere said:

The profound impact that the isolation of young adult non-college graduate white males due to the internet and social media is frightening in what it then causes some of these people to do.

 

In what world did this guy think it was reasonable, even the original disagreement? Echo chambers are starting to get scary and are essentially indoctrination now. 

 

That really is the only explanation for many of these incidents.

[Greatoneshere]

4 minutes ago, Reputator said:

 

That really is the only explanation for many of these incidents.

 

Word bru.

 

I mean . . . in no instance does it make sense to steal $210,000 of your parents' money to send to an online only "woman" that you met on fucking Pornhub. And then to kill them over it?

 

I mean, the person simply can't be living in reality. The parents were even reasonable, saying, if you want to do that, get the money yourself but you must move out. He felt so entitled to their money and their house and his stupid idea he killed his fucking parents over the internet. 

 

It's maddening. I'm online plenty but I don't have this cognitive dissonance. But I'm 32, I didn't grow up with the internet, I was already growing and it came about so I was already mostly formed as a person.

 

But people growing up now, wholly shaped by the internet, social media, online gaming culture like Fortnite, and brands and celebrities that aren't famous for anything other than being loud and posting thirst traps on Instagram . . . many are coming out fucked up, and do stuff like this. 

[Anathema-]

I know that loneliness felt like madness to me. Depression. Not that I think there’s a political solution though .. it’s tough. Kids need to grab them bootstraps. 

[skillzdadirecta]

Isn't Japan experiencing this phenomenon? Not the stealing money for porn thing but the isolation and loneliness thing? 

[Greatoneshere]

9 minutes ago, Anathema- said:

I know that loneliness felt like madness to me. Depression. Not that I think there’s a political solution though .. it’s tough. Kids need to grab them bootstraps. 

 

Loneliness and depression go hand in hand, and I don't mean to belittle that as a person who suffered depression in their teens myself due to bullying and feelings of loneliness, but this is beyond the pale. 

[Greatoneshere]

6 minutes ago, skillzdadirecta said:

Isn't Japan experiencing this phenomenon? Not the stealing money for porn thing but the isolation and loneliness thing? 

 

Yep, they are called NEET's over there and the problem has lessened but it's still pretty bad. And it applies to other countries as well:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NEET

 

Here's the psychological condition:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hikikomori

 

Social media and internet, etc. is all making those two things worse (clearly) heh. It should come as no surprise that incel culture and things like it extend from these two things as well. 

[b_m_b_m_b_m]

1 hour ago, Anathema- said:

I know that loneliness felt like madness to me. Depression. Not that I think there’s a political solution though .. it’s tough. Kids need to grab them bootstraps. 

Part (not sure how big of a part, tbh) of the problem is the general lack of democratic institutions. It used to be the church has elected elders and stuff like that, or social fraternities like lodges or bowling leagues, or even unions! There's a social isolation now that didn't really exist before, because people can be "content" staying in to watch TV and play video games. Hell, physical isolation due to suburbanization means you can't really walk around the block and run into different people, and that's a contributing factor.

 

I can't really articulate it that well, but it's a central premise of Bowling Alone. It's not a perfect political solution, but it's an interesting thought to have

[Greatoneshere]

6 minutes ago, b_m_b_m_b_m said:

Part (not sure how big of a part, tbh) of the problem is the general lack of democratic institutions. It used to be the church has elected elders and stuff like that, or social fraternities like lodges or bowling leagues, or even unions! There's a social isolation now that didn't really exist before, because people can be "content" staying in to watch TV and play video games. Hell, physical isolation due to suburbanization means you can't really walk around the block and run into different people, and that's a contributing factor.

 

I can't really articulate it that well, but it's a central premise of Bowling Alone. It's not a perfect political solution, but it's an interesting thought to have

 

In the early 1900's D.H. Lawrence famously wrote: "The essential American soul is hard, isolate, stoic, and a killer. It has never yet melted" after only a year or so of living in America after having moved from Europe. America is a country that has always been too big for its people, and America is a lifestyle of isolation by default - it's just gotten worse as time has gone on. America is a lonely place full of people who are alone yet surrounded by others. It's the culture here. Look at how communal some other countries can be by comparison.

 

It's inherent and it is unfortunate but we do need to do something about it. 

[TheLeon]

2 hours ago, Greatoneshere said:

The profound impact that the isolation of young adult non-college graduate white males due to the internet and social media is frightening in what it then causes some of these people to do.

Good thing I stick to D1P and the more benign corners of Reddit, huh? 

 

It’s actually a little scary to imagine how easily my life could have spiraled out of control if, when I was at my lowest, I fell in with the wrong group of internet assholes. 

[Ghost_MH]

The Internet and simultaneously the best and worst time to happen to humans. On the one hand, I have the breadth of human knowledge on a slab of glass sitting in my pocket.

 

On the other hand, it gave birth to this thing: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/01/23/an-instagram-troll-impersonated-parkland-shooter-harass-victims-families-friends-fbi-says/

[osxmatt]

How has no one commented that this man looks just like Stephen Miller?!

[Anathema-]

1 hour ago, b_m_b_m_b_m said:

Part (not sure how big of a part, tbh) of the problem is the general lack of democratic institutions. It used to be the church has elected elders and stuff like that, or social fraternities like lodges or bowling leagues, or even unions! There's a social isolation now that didn't really exist before, because people can be "content" staying in to watch TV and play video games. Hell, physical isolation due to suburbanization means you can't really walk around the block and run into different people, and that's a contributing factor.

 

I can't really articulate it that well, but it's a central premise of Bowling Alone. It's not a perfect political solution, but it's an interesting thought to have

 

Also changing work culture. Being forced to get a new job every few years is economically devastating, exacerbates inequality, and obliterates the old work-based camaraderie that would have also helped. 

[stepee]

4 hours ago, Ghost_MH said:

The Internet is simultaneously the best and worst thing to happen to humans. On the one hand, I have the breadth of human knowledge on a slab of glass sitting in my pocket.

 

On the other hand, it gave birth to this thing: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/01/23/an-instagram-troll-impersonated-parkland-shooter-harass-victims-families-friends-fbi-says/

 

ftfy

[marioandsonic]

5 hours ago, Ghost_MH said:

The Internet and simultaneously the best and worst time to happen to humans. On the one hand, I have the breadth of human knowledge on a slab of glass sitting in my pocket.

 

On the other hand, it gave birth to this thing: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/01/23/an-instagram-troll-impersonated-parkland-shooter-harass-victims-families-friends-fbi-says/

I've always viewed the internet as simply a neutral extension of how humans communicate with each together.  That's neither an inherently bad thing or an inherently good thing; what makes it good or bad is how we use it.

[skillzdadirecta]

47 minutes ago, marioandsonic said:

I've always viewed the internet as simply a neutral extension of how humans communicate with each together.  That's neither an inherently bad thing or an inherently good thing; what makes it good or bad is how we use it.

There's an impersonal element to interacting on the internet that distorts human relationships and how we relate to each other. People are reduced to words on a screen making it hard to humanize the person behind those words which makes it harder for people to interact in person. We're rapidly becoming those people from Wall-E and the internet is playing a large part in that.

[Boyle5150]

18 minutes ago, skillzdadirecta said:

There's an impersonal element to interacting on the internet that distorts human relationships and how we relate to each other. People are reduced to words on a screen making it hard to humanize the person behind those words which makes it harder for people to interact in person. We're rapidly becoming those people from Wall-E and the internet is playing a large part in that.

This can be seen in the day to day through road rage.  We have the feeling of invincibility, when we have something bigger to hide behind.  Get a few males together and see how the dynamics of self confidence changes.  

Its almost as if we can’t escape our own biological inheritance. 

[marioandsonic]

39 minutes ago, skillzdadirecta said:

There's an impersonal element to interacting on the internet that distorts human relationships and how we relate to each other. People are reduced to words on a screen making it hard to humanize the person behind those words which makes it harder for people to interact in person. We're rapidly becoming those people from Wall-E and the internet is playing a large part in that.

I've never bought into the whole "The internet is making us less human!" idea.

[Jwheel86]

I worry about this shit with my nephew, he's 8 and just had his first play date a week ago. Crazy smart kid but has a wicked temper. Every year he's the new kid in school because he has zero social interaction with kids over the summer. 

 

[skillzdadirecta]

2 hours ago, marioandsonic said:

I've never bought into the whole "The internet is making us less human!" idea.

 

It's making it harder to relate to other human beings when the bulk of your interactions are through a screen. There's a reason most software guys and dudes who make most other social media apps either don't allow their children to use social media or they severely restrict it. They know how harmful it can be to a young child's development.

[Keyser_Soze]

I was going to say, “Whatever state Lee lives in”

[Xbob42]

You guys talking about this like it's a social media issue when it's mostly just an isolation and mental health issue. Social media doesn't make you do this kind of shit. It might exacerbate it, but Fortnite memes and Pepe aren't gonna turn you into... this.

[Ghost_MH]

39 minutes ago, Xbob42 said:

You guys talking about this like it's a social media issue when it's mostly just an isolation and mental health issue. Social media doesn't make you do this kind of shit. It might exacerbate it, but Fortnite memes and Pepe aren't gonna turn you into... this.

 

There's a unique problem the Internet brings to people suffering from depression and isolation issues. It gives them a support group, but not of the healthy variety. Instead, it allows for like minded individuals to find each other and revel in their loneliness. The anonymity of the Internet allows an anorexic to find other anorexics to help egg them along their way to death. It gives depressed people a room full of other depressed individuals where they can all convince themselves it's the world at fault and there's no need to seek any sort of help. Then the anonymity allows people to treat others not like human beings and troll those unstable people along to self destruction...for the lulz.

 

It's a very new thing. While this, of course, isn't causing mental illness. It certainly isn't helping those suffering. If you were suicidal just twenty years ago, you didn't worry about having hundreds of people ready and willing to tell you to kill yourself on the platform you most used to interact with your friends and family. That's not the case anymore.

[skillzdadirecta]

11 hours ago, Xbob42 said:

You guys talking about this like it's a social media issue when it's mostly just an isolation and mental health issue. Social media doesn't make you do this kind of shit. It might exacerbate it, but Fortnite memes and Pepe aren't gonna turn you into... this.

 

THIS IS THE POINT. It's just like the gun issue... just because you own a gun or are into guns doesn't mean you're going to be a mass shooter. But if you own a gun or have unrestricted access to them, and have other underlying issues then the odds of you hurting yourself or others tick up. 

 

Quote

There's a unique problem the Internet brings to people suffering from depression and isolation issues. It gives them a support group, but not of the healthy variety. Instead, it allows for like minded individuals to find each other and revel in their loneliness. The anonymity of the Internet allows an anorexic to find other anorexics to help egg them along their way to death. It gives depressed people a room full of other depressed individuals where they can all convince themselves it's the world at fault and there's no need to seek any sort of help. Then the anonymity allows people to treat others not like human beings and troll those unstable people along to self destruction...for the lulz.

 

It's a very new thing. While this, of course, isn't causing mental illness. It certainly isn't helping those suffering. If you were suicidal just twenty years ago, you didn't worry about having hundreds of people ready and willing to tell you to kill yourself on the platform you most used to interact with your friends and family. That's not the case anymore.

 

Exactly... I was just explaining to a friend of mine last night about this whole "Incel" thing and how these guy rile each other up online and even celebrate it when one of them commits a murder. 

[Xbob42]

I was typing up a big response, but I kind of realized we're basically saying the same thing. Condensing what I was typing down to its simplest form: I say this isn't an "internet problem" not because it has nothing to do with the internet, but rather because if we present it like that, we'll have people trying to fix it on the internet-side as though that would be possible, when the issue is clearly isolation and mental well-being, which cannot be satisfactorily gauged or dealt with from the internet side of things.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

The "Guess the State" nonsense is totally fine for something that's relatively light-hearted and innocuous.

 

This definitely is NONE of those things so use it appropriately or lose it.

[Keyser_Soze]

Guess the State: Man kills internet user over "misuse" of the phrase "guess the state"