Understanding death and why BehindTheMask is an upstanding member.

[~ P O L A R I S ~]

First off I'd like to address to recent shooting in Aurora, its extensive coverage in the media, and the resultant international outrage. Over 150000 people die on this planet each day on average. This is, of course, terribly sad and each individual death should be respected and mourned. I'd recommend a moment of silence each day for all who die. And of course the deaths of family members and close friends have heightened implications as they have very direct psychological impacts and it's very difficult to accept the loss of people who've had the greatest influence on us and brought the most joy to our lives.

 

But the coverage and the general reactions to Aurora are a PROBLEM. They are WRONG. We had nothing to do with any of the casualties of the shooting, and it's only after their deaths that we mourn their loss, that we have worldwide moments of silence for the 12 people who died, and that we give James Holmes the attention of an ultra-celebrity. This not only encourages copycats, people to whom this type of global attention is worth more than anything else, people that we know are out there, but it also casts a shadow on all the others who die. Like somehow everything they lived for isn't nearly as important as the 12 casualties in question because they didn't happen to get shot up at a movie theater.

 

Yes, death is something we should take seriously. Yes, let's mourn the dead and respect their lives, but let's not try to demonstrate our compassion by mourning these particular 12 individuals because the media tells us to when over a million people die each week on average. Let's not demonize people who separate Aurora from death itself.

 

Throughout the years I've seen BehindTheMask or Benraino and how he posts. I'd always considered him to have exemplary levels of insight and wit and nothing's changed. He made a thread recently which can be found here. It was satirical, and like all satire had a point to make. The main points in question here was to have the faith to overcome paranoia and that Aurora's coverage had been exaggerated.

 

Anyway, BehindTheMask being the upstanding member that he is, I found some of the hostility directed towards him in Majestic Star Bahamut's response lamentable enough to demand that I set the record straight and expose the injustice in it for what it is.

 

Seriously? What are you, five, or just a complete dickhead? I'm going for the latter,

 

This is particularly hilarious given that phrases like "complete dickhead" are characteristic of the former.

 

obviously if this was a discussion face to face and not over the Internet I would be giving you significantly more than a middle finger and a few words, as would most of the others who've read this I should imagine.

 

This I found particularly uncalled for, especially given that he'd have others follow his example of physically injuring someone for expressing a reasonable opinion through satire.

 

But hey, it's easy to hide behind a computer screen and make such moronic "jokes" and laugh at the reaction you wanted all along and I'm giving you anyway, and I'm sure you're just one of many doing so.

 

It's also easy to hide behind a computer screen and issue violent threats in an attempt to silence people with opinions that differ from one's own.

 

Still gonna tell you you're a colossal dog**** though, and although obviously there's nothing more I can do than that I can still hope (forlornly albeit) there is someone closer to where you are reading this who does not share your sense of "not taking things seriously" and "fun in life", and gives you the f***ing head kicking you deserve for it.

 

The gist of what he's saying here is that "violence isn't funny and if you think it is then you deserve to have your head kicked in" with a few pearls of ornament here and there to greater emphasize his lack of forethought.

 

Yeah mods, I'm endorsing violence. And I know I'm feeding a troll. I don't really care. I'm posting what's on my mind, and if you're going to reprimand me and not the OP making such a post then well that's what you wanna do. Carry on the great work.

 

He's using "I'm posting what's on my mind" to justify berating someone for posting what's on his mind. Posts are but an expression of what's on our minds, and members who can't temper this expression of the mind in such a way as to restrain themselves from issuing serious violent threats to other members here deserve to be held accountable.

 

While I'm at it, I found the following quote objectionable too:

 

Let's make Holocaust jokes, and if you don't think they're funny, then don't post! /sarcasm

 

The problem here is that 12 deaths is unequal to over 12000000 deaths and to compare this particular shooting to the holocaust shows an utter disregard for the value of human lives.

 

I'm done.

[Guest .Rai]

A death is a death in my philosophy. Does the number of deaths define whether we can mock them or not? So, if one person is murdered in some sort of moral injustice, we're allowed to mock it because 12,000,000 people didn't die?

 

We can blame the media for everything anyway. It's how they make money: generating interest, whether it be by outrage or satisfying people's curiosities.

 

Oh, also, there seems to be some clashing statements in your post. "Yes, let's mourn the dead and respect their lives, but let's not try to demonstrate our compassion by mourning these particular 12 individuals because the media tells us to when over a million people die each week on average."

 

Surely, the shooting of these 12 people 'shows an utter disregard for the value of human lives' and people want to mourn them for their family and friends, let them. Luckily, humans have empathy. If not mourning, at least respecting those deaths, and not mocking them to the ground with inappropriate satire.

 

To be honest, at the end of the day, we can mourn how we want. If the media brings us to the attention of a certain event, I'd respect those deaths at the least. And obviously of my own accord, and not because the media is telling me to mourn. The reason why I'm even acknowledging these deaths is because of my human nature.

[Legend Zero]

Calling out other members is against the rules.