Don't blame human immaturity and lack of judgement on Facebook and social media.
Let's be clear here: the sole entity responsible for this entire mess are people, the people that post the nominations, the people that don't resist peer pressure and the people that don't do anything when they see something as wrongful as this happening.
One dad even had the courage to say, "I was cross with him [my son] but more cross with the social media involved and the way this game has just spread. The whole thing is madness and it needs some kind of sharp and swift action on the part of these social networks to stop it."
What's happening is sad. But let's be objective here. Facebook is not forcing anyone to drink large sums of alcohol from disgusting sources, just like guns aren't forcing people to shoot others. As a society, we need to stop faulting inanimate objects for problems we create ourselves.
http://iantangblog.blogspot.com/2012/12/people-hurt-people-not-inanimate-objects.html
Facebook, Google and other Internet companies act as merely a vehicle to expression and speech. They cannot, and should not, be responsible for the millions of pieces of content posted every second, just like no one is responsible of what comes out of your mouth every day. Just like in real-life, it lies in the hands of people to report content that violates rules or laws and to stand up to what is not morally right. It lies in the hands of people to use their own judgement and be mature when they choose to act a certain way.
To fault Facebook is a slippery slope towards letting corporations and governments decide what we can or cannot say and think. Let's make our own judgement calls. Let's own up to our faults.
Let's fight what's really to blame for all our human problems and stop hiding behind a scapegoat by shifting the blame on something other than human immaturity.
Neknominate is a stupid game that I've heard about several times. One of my friends received a "nomination." +CNN's article (http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/18/world/europe/neknominate-drinking-game/index.html?hpt=hp_t1) does a good job explaining the game, but also spends half the time citing ridiculous people claiming the majority of the responsibility of the problems and deaths lies with Facebook and other web companies.
Let's be clear here: the sole entity responsible for this entire mess are people, the people that post the nominations, the people that don't resist peer pressure and the people that don't do anything when they see something as wrongful as this happening.
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| courtesy of CNN and Yahoo! News |
What's happening is sad. But let's be objective here. Facebook is not forcing anyone to drink large sums of alcohol from disgusting sources, just like guns aren't forcing people to shoot others. As a society, we need to stop faulting inanimate objects for problems we create ourselves.
http://iantangblog.blogspot.com/2012/12/people-hurt-people-not-inanimate-objects.html
Facebook, Google and other Internet companies act as merely a vehicle to expression and speech. They cannot, and should not, be responsible for the millions of pieces of content posted every second, just like no one is responsible of what comes out of your mouth every day. Just like in real-life, it lies in the hands of people to report content that violates rules or laws and to stand up to what is not morally right. It lies in the hands of people to use their own judgement and be mature when they choose to act a certain way.
To fault Facebook is a slippery slope towards letting corporations and governments decide what we can or cannot say and think. Let's make our own judgement calls. Let's own up to our faults.
Let's fight what's really to blame for all our human problems and stop hiding behind a scapegoat by shifting the blame on something other than human immaturity.
