Paranoia

[Wedvich]

Read this
Read this too

The synopsis of the situation is that a boy has made a CS map based on his school. The parents of one of his friends who play with him sees it, and contacts the school authorities. The boy has his room and computer searched by the police, and is sent off to an alternative school for the rest of the term.

The first thing which comes to my mind is how puzzling it is that people never seem to learn the difference between being attentive and being completely paranoid. Don't get me wrong here - I can perfectly well understand people's anxiety after such episodes as Columbine and Vtech. The irrational, excessive kind of anxiety associated with the actions taken here, however, is pure paranoia. Paranoia is a mental illness; paranoid people aren't sane, and it is a damn shame that decent persons are stigmatized because of these demented people's delusions.

Check out some screenshots of the map. This, in all its simplicity, is the reason why an innocent kid has been run over by the Prejudice Express. And when people are further persecuted for even less (aftermath of the London bombings, anyone?), it doesn't solve any problems at all. All it does is create more fear, fear which is its own catalyst, fear which results in nothing by misery.

I don't know what more to say, really. Is there a way out of this madness, or are we permanently doomed?

EDIT: The topic title was kind of narrow.

[daap]

this is about the 3rd thread about this..

[Wedvich]

this is about the 3rd thread about this..

About the incident with the kid, or about the subject of paranoia in general? Because that episode was just an example to add some flesh to the subject. I really don't think it can be discussed enough before there is a definite answer available.

[Athlete{UK}]

Second to my count and this is a serious discussion on the topic and the thread is more broad in terms of discussion.

It encoumpasses the incident and the paranoia of the USA and the world.

The thread has merit and will stay open.

Keep it civil people.

[Dionysos]

Hm, yes it is crazy. Is there a way out of so many people thinking that way? Maybe. I guess if we/them/us would get some really hard times again. If people were forced to deal with reality and its effects on their own "skin", maybe it would put things back into perspective.

But yes, difficult issue. I think some of the cause of people acting this way, is the constant uneasiness and maybe fear we have, may it be hyped by the media or a clear view of the world... People are afraid, and if you live with fear the whole time you get itchy and "trigger happy"

Be Afraid!

[Wedvich]

I don't know about everyone else, but the fact that there are terrorists among us doesn't scare me. While it's not a comforting thought, it isn't something I spend too much time thinking about either. There are murderers, lunatics, pyromaniacs, rapists, molesters and other kinds of nasty, rabid, unpredictable and dangerous people out there as well. And I think most people would agree with me on this one: I simply cannot size up every person I pass on the street and think "is that person dangerous?", as that would make me, well.. paranoid, and that would not easily be combined with a normal life.

What does indeed scare me, however, is when the paranoia reaches armed authorities with a license to eliminate potential threats. If these people get over-anxious and the definition of a "potential threat" becomes blurry - that is when I would really be afraid.

If you can't risk standing out in a crowd because you could potentially be flagged as a threat, you would naturally do everything you can to avoid standing out. But then again you would be nervous and anxious when you try that hard to not stand out, so you would stand out after all. So you would end up not being able to leave your house in the fear of being noticed. But again that would not be safe either, as you could be building a bomb or scheming to kidnap a president or something, so you would still potentially be threatening. Congratulations, you are now paranoid.

I hope this shows my point: paranoia spreads fear and sows more paranoia, and it has absolutely nothing good to it. The most important weapon of terrorism is spreading fear. You reap what you sow, and by allowing yourself to think these paranoid thoughts, you are practically terrorizing yourself. A paranoid person is his own worst enemy. Or is my reasoning way off?

[HeadCrab]

I think the big reason for the paranoia is ignorance.
The people who complain about these games and this stype of stuff, don't usually understand just how they work. As such, they sometimes discredit people who do, because they actually play the games to understand them.

I'm waiting for the day someone finally stands up and informs people that games aren't very much like real life, at their most realistic. Counter-Strike will not teach you to whip a gun around, reload it efficiently, keep it clean, and stay cool in a murder situation in close quarters where blood will probably land on you and freak you out, regardless of how much you play.
When you frag someone in CS:S they call you a noob, when you kill someone in real life, they don't scream back at you, there's a difference between pixels and people.

[Penney]

“They arrested him,” Chen said of FBISD police, “and also went to the house to search.” The Lin family consented to the search, and a hammer was found in the boy’s room, which he used to fix his bed, because it wasn’t in good shape, Chen said. He indicated police seized the hammer as a potential weapon.

Something about that paragraph just makes me chuckle. But then again I never used Hammer to fix my bed.

[Ripper_hugme]

When I saw this thread on the main page I thought it was about that HL1 mod.

But instead its about some little punter with a Hammer .

[RSX WHEEEEEE]

this inspires me to make a map of my school, to see what they do.

[Sathor]

Don't take the risk ... at least remove all evidence pointing at this forum before you do it

[Athlete{UK}]

Serious discussion guys. This kind of stuf should goin the general forum.