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Many of you probably heard of a college student that went on a webcam, announced he was committing suicide, took an overdose, died hours later. Most disturbing to me is some viewers encouraged him. :mad: (Story here (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7743835.stm))

Last night I listened to the Millennials (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennials) or Generation Y. They are comfortable with Bluetooth and texting - so far - so good. One observation is this tendacy for such people to have poor face-to-face interface, or to say things online most would not say in person. Those that know me are aware of my "Prime Directive of the Net": Do only what you would do face-to-face, which pretty much deals with spamming and trolling.

Back to this tragic WebCast, it's not the first time. What should have been done was the administrators should have been notified by their members at once - 911 dialed. Like the report of a bomb in an airport - a suicide is always taken seriously. In regards to members encouraging Abraham Biggs to take his own life, I would have the WebCast records investigated and anyone identified to have egged him on should be prosecuted. Sorry, I think it's just as bad as someone in person telling someone to just jump off the bridge - don't buy "it's only the internet" at all.

I've heard of this story and a similar one earlier, where a neighbor told the 13 yr old girl that no one likes her and no one ever will. As if the girl's depression wasnt bad enough already, this grown woman who brought down the little girl's self esteem even more should be punished.
As for the Abraham Biggs Story, It is a moral crime to "egg" someone on to to commit suicide. This also reminds me of a movie I had seen where the killer would have a live streaming video of someone being slowly murdered by either corrosive liquids dissolving someone's body or some sort of torture leading up to death. To think human nature is that morbid is quite disturbing. The world is changing and becoming more of predatory environment. Most people feel the need to belittle others to make themselves feel better.

This reminds me of a story I heard about a photographer to took photo's a bridge jumper who last minute had a change of heart and tried to climb back over the edge. All the photographer did was take shots while the would be jumper struggled and eventually fell to their death.

I'd say this is the result of an online society. We see so much realistic violence on screens that real violence doesn't phase us and with a screen between us and them we don't act like we would if we were in the same room.

Related story - cyberbully convicted (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27958907/) involved with the death of a 13yr Missouri girl

Chuck, that is the story I mentioned above ;)

Chuck, that is the story I mentioned above ;)Yes - an update

It's weird how people act when they feel anonymous or safe from reprimand. You don't have to be faceless to see this sort of behavior. Just get behind the wheel.

A few months ago some drive got upset, pulled in front of the other driver and slammed on the brakes. The driver behind them rolled their vehicle while trying to avoid a collision and they died.

It might be a little different, but I think behavior like this stems from the same part of a persons character and it's more to do with a sense of anonymity and safety then facelessness.

I feel as if in this world, there are people that do care and there are people that just dont think anyone but that individual is of any importance. How a person acts when they don't believe they are being monitored can give a lot of insight to that person's actual behavior. My morals keep me in check when no one else is around to do so.