I have never been so disgusted with the actions of fellow CCer’s on this board. I have dealt with a lot of crap on these boards and I think it’s time for me to call it quits.
I guess the new TOS should be:
1.) You must be anti-Bush
2.) You must be anti-war
3.) You must be a liberal
4.) You must suppress the viewpoints of others who disagree with 1, 2, and 3.
I think the recent hot topic of Not feeling Rejected that a soldier wrote is the straw that broke the camel’s back. I have never witnessed such hatred in a lot of these posts and these high school kids are the ones who are going to lead my generation? No matter how many times people and the OP said to stay on topic, more and more threads that bash the OP and others erupted. I am ashamed of the CCer’s on this forum because instead of providing open arms to a servicemember and a new member of CC, they demean his job and insult his character. I have defended this man, to only recieve hate PM’s and flames. And frankly, I’m sick and tired of being bullied. There was no JUSTIFICATION whatsoever for anyone to attack this man and distort his original point to a prowar/antiwar discussion.
I am at the breaking point of leaving CC and I will not recommend this board to anyone I know. This used to be a good site, but now, it’s full of hatred, partisan bickering, and fear.
it’s collegeconfidential, not politicsconfidential.
Here we go again, attacking me and making assumptions that I’m a Republican. (I never stated a political viewpoint, I can be libertarian for all you know).
Ah yes, the classic farewell opus. For what it’s worth, I completely agree with you, tho I’ve been on enough message boards full of people like this that I’m used to it
I don’t mind arguing with people about politics. But after witnessing the posts that were made in that particular thread, I don’t want to be associated with those types of people by mentioning to other people that I am a member of this site.
Mind you, I said “I think”. I want you guys to convince me not to since I have found this site useful 2 years ago. I guess I’m a bit depressed and ashamed of the actions of others towards a servicemember.
smurf- I understand why you feel this way…
guess all you can do is “consider the source” and move on… maybe
PM nevergiveup and apologize to him for the callousness displayed, and encourage him to continue on the board, as his viewpoint is needed
and I guess the actions of those that hijacked the thread for political purposes proves my point even more, that nevergiveup’s perspective is needed and welcomed by 99 % of the posters on his thread
in short: don’t let the bs get you down! if you leave the board, they win!
you are an idealist in a world of opportunists, perhaps?
The good part about CC is you can usually tell which threads are full of hatred and bickering (and avoid them): they’re the ones that are 11 pages long
Okay, it’s an Internet forum. Since people can hide behind their screen names for all they care about, they’re more inclined to ■■■■■/flame/bait people. As for the thread you’re talking about, it’s really just a very small number of people there who actually tried to bash the OP (and a number of them also tried to defend him as well). Since this forum has a very high turnover rate, moreover, any bannings only do a temporary effect. Some intolerant idiots will learn, some will not. When the year ends, a new crop of 10th graders will come in and debate about the very same things that we debated over in the past, with little desire to look at old CC posts. Some sociologist needs to come in and analyze CC, for what it’s worth.
As offensive as it may be, it’s conceivable that the people attacking the OP in that thread were merely trying to advance Devil’s Advocate arguments. Unfortunately, we can’t do anything about such people. Some may be banned, but more will return (people new to College Confidential, for instance). As fizix said above, I’m sure that it’s just best sticking to the good and thoughtful threads (of which there are many).
Most people on CC, though, are honest people who just want advice and support for their college application years. Of course, we’re both in college now, so we still come to CC for the interesting discussions that it brings about (I often post in CC what I would have otherwise posted in my personal blog, and the numerous writing prompts that CC provides has stimulated my own writing). I’ve spent years on online forums, and I suppose that the time has made me a lot more mellow towards trolls/intolerance on such forums (though some of them still anger me from time to time - mostly those who think that willpower solves any problem). In any area, there are going to be a lot of ideas/hypotheses/explanations for something. Most of those ideas/hypotheses/explanations are worthless. But the intelligent observer is able to distinguish between the useless ideas/hypotheses/explanations and the ideas/hypotheses/explanations that are worth reading. And once you come to the ideas/hypotheses/explanations that are worth reading, then CC becomes a very worthwhile read (especially considering that CC has some VERY intelligent people).
We’ve had a century filled with genocide and ethnic cleansing and lynchings, and violence against people who fought against racial segregation, and kids who are afraid to go to school because someone will harass them with words and physical bullying for their sexual orientation or ethnic origin or religion. If what you’ve read is really the worst hatred you’ve ever witnessed, it’s my hope that you continue to have such a peace-filled life.
This is really sad that I have to quote myself but:
With all due respect momfromme, if you’re going to attack me please include my entire quote instead of a sentence fragment. I never said I suffered from it, I said I was witnessing it and I never said it was the worst.
Again, thanks to all who are trying to get me to stay on CC. I really like being on this forum, but sometimes, after I log out, I lose faith in humanity little by little.
Umm, she never attacked you. I think her post was very reasonable. Though your concern of quoting the entire passage was also reasonable (considering that quoting things out of context has been abused by the media).
Well, since you’re into cognitive science, there are interesting experiments that demonstrate how malleable humanity is. Ever heard of the Stanford Prison Experiment? (and various other Zimbardo experiments). People tend to go into their own little social groups and then start spouting out intolerant assumptions (all over the place) as long as they still have support from their little social groups. Humanity has never been very nice to those outside of their social groups. But things have improved. Sure, we see such intolerance on the forums, but it’s far less worse than the racism and sexism of the past. And does anything bad come out of this? No. Remember that many liberals here are already out-of-touch enough with the rest of the nation to prove unelectable. They aren’t going to lead the nation.
Incidentally, I have heard of the Stanford Prison experiment and I was able to contact Dr. Zimbardo since I am publishing a paper in a undergrad journal about his work and how we submit to authority. I have done a lot of research on his infamous experiment, and his work and his expertise is in the area of social psychology, not cognitive. Thank you though for trying to keep things in perspective for me. I really appreciate it.
Wow…I think this is extremely weird. You mentioned the Stanford Prison Experiment and my professor out of nowhere was talking about it. (He got off topic).
I appreciate both social and cognitive psychology. It’s interesting how they’re both related. One book that I checked out has the title “social psychology and the unconscious” though I haven’t gotten around to reading it.
Btw, how responsive was Dr. Zimbardo? I’m curious as to how responsive professors are to contacts. I was able to call Irene Pepperberg and to have a 30 min. convo with her once.
I already PMed you about all of this and I’m actually working on changing the format from MLA to APA citations. (It’s a pain). So it’s not totally ready yet.
Please note though, that this was a research report on the effects of authority and by no means was this my original research. I have not worked with a professor in a lab, but I hope to.
When I wrote, “If what you’ve read is really the worst hatred you’ve ever witnessed, it’s my hope that you continue to have such a peace-filled life.”
YOU RESPONDED
“With all due respect momfromme, if you’re going to attack me please include my entire quote instead of a sentence fragment. I never said I suffered from it, I said I was witnessing it and I never said it was the worst.”
BUT as you can see, I DID refer to the witnessing of hatred, not suffering from hatred…as you had in your earlier post…so I don’t know why you claimed I didn’t refer to witnessing. I guess you just didn’t notice???
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Since we agree – that are concerned with witnessing hatred – do you really think that the posts on this site are the worst hatred you have witnessed? I guess it could be if you have never seen active racism or homophobia or anti-Semitism, or if you have never witnessed people recounting such events, which would also be a way of you witnessing the events. If that is so, let me encourage you to find a local event for the upcoming Holocaust Remembrance Day (also known as Yom HaShoah) as most events will enable you to hear from survivors of the Holocaust. By the way, given your interests in cognitive and social psychology, you might enjoy reading some excellent work on altruism that focuses on people who chose to be rescuers during the Holocaust. I recommend these books in particular: Oliner, “Altruistic Personality,” and Monroe, “The Heart of Altruism.” And good luck with your term paper/literature review!
Does witnessing the anti-war protestors throwing red paint at a representative’s office, yelling “F- the troops”, and holding up signs that say “the military provides dead end jobs” count?
Does seeing my parents get spit at, cursed at, and called ethnic slurs by customers at their work count?
Before you tell me I haven’t witnessed hatred, ask next time, please before making assumptions.
I honestly cannot believe that you are trying to pick a fight with me. That’s not why I posted my OP in the first place.
Thank you for the recommendations for book to read. I will read them over the summer, when I actually have time. And thanks for the wishes on my paper.
