Other distance learning sites

I don't think that site earns enough of our time to discuss it, they are sick (the vocal ones that curse, say horrific things, and don't seem to be able to get a sentence out without distain). I say we don't giv ethem the satisfaction, it may spur the bad stuff on!

 

Right. That's why I was asking only about our Dennis.

 

"To sin by silence when they should protest, makes cowards of men."
–Abraham Lincoln

 

Very interesting point. I do agree with you, though there is nothing that can be done, so I think it is wasted effort in discussion.

I did not mean to say it was not important, as I think it should change, but sine they all lurk here, it iwll only be a few minutes before it shows up over there, for more horrible comments.

Gus - This was / is a good point!!!!

 

Fair enough.

 

No, you don't. You write very insulting things about Bear and me all the time. It shows your true nature when the constraints found here are removed.

 

You know when I first came here I thought some of the people on this forum were some of the most rude people I had encountered. I do not know if some have grown on me, or if I have just learned to live with some. Some have even helped to open my eyes to things that I was not willing to see in the past.

There are good and bad people on each forum, but for anyone to say the things said about someone in that condition is the lowest form of humanity. I do not care what kind of disagreements, bad advice, or even names someone has called someone these are just discussion forums. It would be so much better if everyone would just stick to topics rather than making things personal, but somehow I doubt that will ever change.

 

Well, I certainly do:

I just finished reading this thread there, and I confess that it left me speechless... stunned... literally. And, of course, I'm sure that's exactly what the posters there intended. If so, mission accomplished.

I'm no kid... as is true about many here, I'm sure. In my nearly 50 years on this planet -- some 30 of which have been involved in one way or another in the computer industry -- and in all the BBS's and forums and newsgroups in which I've participated, I have never, ever, in my experience (which I believe is considerable) seen such abject disregard for the simple notion of decency as I see in those forums.

Some joke about "card-carrying" members of the ACLU, but I actually am one... literally... for at least three decades. So you can imagine that no matter how bad it gets over there, I would never call for the closure of the forum and the censorship that that would represent. But it is trash like those over there who challenge and shake my belief systems to their very core. How any person with even an ounce of human decency could write such as that written there is beyond my ability to comprehend. As experienced as I am, as much tragedy and brutality and man's inhumanity to man as I've seen, I am nevertheless unprepared for the kind of thoughtless, wonton brutality as can be witnessed in that group. It leaves me, literally, furrowing my brow and shaking my head in disbelief. The forum to which I linked, above, even made the tiny beginnings of a tear manifest. The tragedy of their words is eclipsed only by their inability to see its harm, and their unmitigated lack of remorse. Rather, they are proud. It numbs the senses. It really does.

Sociopaths... one and all of them, is the only explanation I can muster. There is no possible other. Even if their purpose is to push it simply so they can get a reaction about it such as mine, here, the fact that they can't grasp when they've just gone too far is most distrubing... frightening, actually. Of course, that's part of the very definition of "sociopath," now that I think about it, isn't it?

I'm at a loss to understand and am deeply saddened. Deeply.

I guess there really is such a thing as pure evil, isn't there?

No wonder cops -- who must deal in real life with trash like that every single day -- sometimes, tragically, just give up and eat their guns. It's too much, I imagine, to comprehend that any human being can be so shamelessly cruel to another... and to have to see it over and over and over and over and over again, every single day. Ugh. As a civil libertarian, cops make me angry a lot. But I have unbelievable respect for them... especially the ones who complete their 20 and manage to stay both alive and sane.

The only upside I can see to any of it is that they, over there in that group, are making the case for us. No person of conscience could possibly read a thread like the one to which I link above and not see them for what they are. We needn't even make the case. They're doing it for us so adequately. Thank goodness.

 

While it may be true that they "can't grasp when they've gone too far," the true hallmark of a sociopath is that they don't care. There is an absolute lack of compassion for others and a complete lack of remorse for any and all injuries inflicted on others. To them, people are objects, to be used and discarded. I would bet that if these people could actually be identified then we would find that they are really quite sad, pathetic people who use the internet to create some small shadow of a life for themselves.
Jack

 

A word of advice, do not e-mail their moderator.

I know, duh!

 

There's many things wrong with that picture.

1. That anyone would even think that they could get away with posting such inhumane words.

2. To then actually post that stuff and there be other people that seem to relish in sadistic pleasure at the sad situation that the family finds itself in.

3. That the moderator allows that stuff to remain on the board.

I'm stunned.

 

Han wrote:
A word of advice, do not e-mail their moderator.

I know, duh!

How about the web page sponsors? Did you try to contact them?

On the main page I see Chubb, UOP, ITT and AIU. I know some of the staff at one of these schools and no matter what you think of their programs they would be as horrified as we are. I am contacting them tomorrow – perhaps this is the best way to deal with this. Perhaps the moderator will respond to the calls from those that pay the bills?

 

The need to belong is strong in some people. Even if it means belonging to something wrong-headed.

An infamous experiment, known as the Milgram Experiment:

http://www.new-life.net/milgram.htm
http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Milgram%20experiment

I sometimes think the Internet is like one huge Milgram examining room, and when people jump into the fray and start attacking, they are slowly turning up the voltage in obedience to their need to belong.

A human being has had a terrible thing happen to him. In order to "belong" -- certain people feel the need to keep pressing the button and spewing their electric hatred. If they stop spewing their hatred, they will no longer belong to whatever it is they feel they belong to. They stopped thinking there were human beings at the other end of the "experiment" long ago. At some point, the object of their hatred was somehow dehumanized.

The Internet can be a sick place. Some people lose their shame when they log in. I can imagine people who are quite normal in their "real" life, who turn into hateful beasts the moment they sit down and log on. I've been communicating electronically since about 1991 -- and I've seen the pattern again and again.

When someone comes along and shouts, "FOUL!" -- it doesn't stop. The shouter becomes a whiner. Shout FOUL too loud, and one risks becoming a target.

The people who are enjoying the whole situation over there could be our neighbors, sitting at their computers, spewing their inner hatred. The same ones we nod a friendly hello to in the morning, or say, "Nice day we're having" as we descend in the elevator to go to work.

I've never been a big fan of anonymous posting on the Internet. Posting under my real name resulted in my becoming the target of attacks. But that's the price I paid for holding myself accountable for my own behavior and words.

Accountability is important. If the people who have sunken to the depths we see over there were posting under their real names -- would they say the things they say?

I wish everyone good health and prosperity.

I wish those who post the hateful rubbish over "there" a good dose of accountability.

 

Once in relation to a specific question.

 

Wish I could figure out what your point is? Just as I am not ashamed of my association with you here, I am not ashamed to be associated with others elsewhere.

 

They have a moderator?

 

I think that's the point. You should ashamed of what goes on over there and your role in it.




Tom Nixon

 

Clearly you should be... or did I somehow miss the memo notifying henceforth of the inapplicability of the old maxim about one being judged by the company one keeps? Maybe you should pick a better class of "associates." Just a suggestion.

Indeed.

 

Good thinking, accountant Denver Mullican. I'm sure no one over there would think to return the favor.