There's a darkness in some folk

[Hacker Khan]

What I think when I hear thoughts expressed about the death sentence and forgiveness - I believe that we are all intrinsically capable of dark acts and that it is in us all. It is fortunate that for most of us it is somehow suppressed - but there are the unfortunate ones with whom it is triggered (perhaps by what they see) and it surfaces and manifests as evil acts. My view is that in most cases compassion rather than hatred is an appropriate reaction, with forgiveness rather than revenge if possible.

Increasingly traditional media plus now social media sensationalise individual and isolated incidents to make them seem like that are the norm, and make it seem those type of people/race/religion or whatever all behave that way. Then you add in the radicalisation by certain factions under the name of religion which takes this to the extreme.

Society unfortunately seems to be moving more to the extremes, with one dogmatic view seemingly always the polar opposite to another. And if you do not totally agree exactly with one thing then you are by default the opposite. I've lost count of the number of times I've been called a socialist/left winger on here as I have disagreed with some right wing opinions, despite the fact that I have actually only voted for Labour once in my life, and that was because of the person not their politics.

You see this in politics plus many other areas, with the central area for compromise increasingly being neglected in a rush for people to forward their ideology/point of view/repeat what they read in The Daily Mail/Guardian (delete as appropriate based on your political persuasion). You only need to read some posts on here to see that in effect

 

[Tashyboy]

I thank the Lord quite often that I am at heart a boring old fart. You was classed as a rebel at school if you smoked. Drugs had not quite taken off and there were rumours of the odd folk doin Glue.
when I see some of the stuff my lad tries to show me ( he's 27 ) it shocks to the core that,

A, someone thinks it's OK to film.

B, someone thinks it OK to watch.

kids are growing up to quick.

 

[The Green Fairy]

My view is that in most cases compassion rather than hatred is an appropriate reaction, with forgiveness rather than revenge if possible.

Do you not think that everyone has / should have a tipping point?

It depends on where that point is. For most it would be an imminent threat to life, either ones own or someone close being threatened.

Of course, for others, it is merely an insult to their deity that flicks the switch.

Depends how you are wired I guess.

 

[Beezerk]

A good mate of mine had a penchant for visiting Live Leak etc last year, luckily I think he's grown out of it. Some horrible stuff on there, quite why people want to watch it is beyond me.

 

[alexbrownmp]

I have to admit never hearing or knowing about any of the dodgy sites mentioned in this thread, should they even be mentioned as you know what curiosity does?

 

[Crow]

I think I'll stick with a nice Barbara Cartland book and a cup of Ovaltine.

 

[Robster59]

I'm familiar with these sites, looked once at a couple and don't any more. You are gawping/voyeuring at people who are dying/badly hurt etc. I see no pleasure in that, I just felt ashamed at the desire to look in the first place.

 

[JustOne]

I have seen just about everything there is to see, I would say I am completely desensitised however some of the stuff I have seen makes me hate people such as Isis possibly more than someone who hasn't a clue what they have been up to. I think you HAVE TO watch things if you are to make an INFORMED decision, if not you can have an opinion (it's a free world) but you are purely speculating.

With regards to kids and how they use the internet it's hard to say, they live in a different world than we did even 15yrs ago, one where they don't leave their friends at the school gate any more (they text/skype/network all night long) or need to wait until Boots have developed their instomatic photos. I can't say that anything is necessarily bad for kids nowadays... we just think it is because we can't relate to it.

I have caught my 14yr old son looking at adult sites, I told him that when he's older it will still be there but for now could he please stop... I also told him I had downloaded software that could log into our home router and see every site that had been viewed from our house either via a PC or phone.... and he stopped straight away.

 

[MarkE]

The genie's out of the bag i'm afraid, there's no going back now. I don't believe in censorship anyway, viewing certain material will not corrupt anyone. A much bigger threat is parents not bringing up their kids to know right from wrong.

 

[sandmagnet]

Trying not to sound stupid but what is the dark web? Don't want to ask my son in case he knows.

 

[Hobbit]

Trying not to sound stupid but what is the dark web? Don't want to ask my son in case he knows.

Glad you asked, I'm in the clueless mob....what's a web?