I refer to the above report(click on the post title). In my previous post, I wrote about how Social Media is a the new upcoming form of media that people will turn to and how it revolutionised our lives and will continue to do for years to come. It is a very useful tool and helps to make people lives easier.
However, there are some people out there who choose to abuse it by using it for vices. The report is about a teen gang who recruits members using a blog. They post details about their gang which they call a 'brotherhood' on the blog and even provide contact details. Now, that is scary for the people that they are targeting are between the ages of 13-15 year olds and teens in this age range are very impressionable and most of them use social networking sites in one way or another and some of them will come across the blog.
I feel that a blog is used for expressing one thoughts, like an online diary but there are people out there who choose to abuse it by using it for vice or illicit purposes such as gambling, selling illegal goods such as drugs, weapons and counterfeit goods. There are even blogs offering social escort services. It is a very convenient way of advertising their services or merchandises but the people whom they are targeting may not just be the group that are mature enough to understand what is going on. Can you imagine kids stumbling upon gambling websites or blogs or even the teen gang recruitment one? How would the kid react? And what would he or she grow up thinking? That it's ok to engage in such vices because they are easily available?
That is scary for the internet is not regulated as strictly as traditional media and it is very hard to filter what is good or bad and as a result, many people are exposed to such dangerous sites daily.
PS. This is not a unit's post, just another additional post.
05 February 2010
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
Hey YG,
ReplyDeleteI think the onus would fall primarily on the parents for the upbringing of their child. A parent should provide support and unconditional love towards the child as well as appropriate guidance so that the child knows how its role in society. I noticed that the boys’ identities were not revealed but I could probably guess that they were misguided delinquents who engaged in anti-social behaviors and bullied others.
What were the parents doing when the boys slipped out in the middle of the night roaming the streets to pick on lone kids? What were the parents doing when they were told by the principal that they were playing truant frequently? Were they too busy getting hooked up on drugs or is it a genuine case of neglect because they were too busy working to keep the family afloat? If the child does prove to be incorrigible, there are social services they can turn to.
Abuses of rights such as the freedom of speech are common. Hate groups such as white supremacists can spread hate and misinformation as much as they want because they are under the protection of the freedom of speech in the US. Freedom necessarily entails that we tolerate nonsense from people with whom we do not agree with. But it’s no longer a freedom when censorship eliminates expression from groups entirely even when they sow discord among us.
I agree that the blogs you cited providing those services are indeed not appropriate for immature audiences like teenagers and such but then again it is the parents’ duty to inform their child and it is the child’s duty when he becomes an adult to think for themselves to know what’s right and wrong.
Among the pedestal of rights, I personally uphold freedom as one of the most fundamental rights that shouldn’t be breeched.
I shall end my comment with a paraphrased quote from Benjamin Franklin-
“He who would trade liberty for some temporary security, deserves neither liberty nor security.”
Peace,
R
Examples of hate groups
http://www.kkk.bz/
http://www.godhatesfags.com/
Yes I agree that social media is a very powerful tool that influences minds like nothing else could do.
ReplyDeleteThe importance of a message is spread through the net and will be seen by all netizens. It is thus a crucial act to choose and select what information to put up online.
Since, nowadays people are prone to social networking sites, blogging and writing entries that may include sensitive issues.
I mean, there is some private space in writing a blog and you are risking it for other people to see it.
So why not just write in a journal instead? You get to pour your hearts contents into the entry and ensure full privacy that way.