@Vilageidiotx
Facebook (and social media) encourages people to reveal their personal information to complete strangers. It is becoming the norm to hear about a youngster who died or was kidnapped because they shared something over social media that they should not have. Why can't people just be happy with chat rooms, email and Skype?

Why can't people just be happy with chat rooms, email and Skype?

Firstly, you can reveal just as much information over chatrooms, email and Skype. It's just not at EVERYONE'S fingertips. It's still just as dangerous.

Secondly... Okay, I think it's fair to say that social media is very easy to use, and you get to project a bit of yourself out at the world. Think about our forums for a moment. We have our avatars, we have account biographies and info pages, we have a history of every thread we've been in, when we were last online, what we had for breakfast (not really) and what we did last summer (okay, also not really). The point being: we share all this info all the time. Does it bother us? Isn't it nice to be able to thrust things that we feel demonstrate who we are into the forum, or at least are examples of what we find fun / funny?

Social media kind of plays on that concept and adds on a bunch of things that people love. It also makes you want to invite more and more people to join in with you so you can all "stay connected," so that everyone's easily organized into friends / not friends, so that you can with a few clicks take a look at the things your brother-in-law said about the War in Iraq, what your aunt said about gay marriage, what your friend twice removed's burrito at Taco Bell tasted like, etc.

Point being? It's easy to jump into it, and it's easy to want others to get sucked in with you.

I've managed to avoid social media strictly by having a no tolerance policy for it. I said before I only started an account once for use once. That's it. But it's so damned convenient that I've seriously considered jumping in anyway, even though businesses use it to decide who is unfit to be a part of their company and even though it'd require me to watch what I say with serious caution if I ever wanted to get into certain careers (like politics). I mostly know what I know from observing my friends, from listening to my friends, from seeing websites laud how awesome the new information age is (or how dangerous it is), etc. I'll bet I don't have a full understanding of the sheer enormity of the impact of social media, but it's huge.

Yeah. It's huge. It's not easy to be happy with a sweet slice of pie when your friends are eating whopping wedding cakes.

@Shorticus
CAN. Chatrooms I reveal no info in and in email/Skype I only interact with folks I know IRL. As for account biographies, I would probably give the biography of the OC I took my username from since this is a roleplaying site. Yes, social media can help you know a lot about what everyone is doing but I have seen it become all-consuming for many. I am content with the sweet slice of pie because the whopping wedding cake is poisonous.

@Mardox

No contentions there. But not everyone who jumps into the internet, especially those who are very young (12 and under) and don't have enough supervision, know the things we do. And people ARE leaping into the internet at what feels like younger and younger ages, and people ARE feeling that pull to get more connected every year because the world becomes more globalized and the information age establishes itself more firmly constantly.

You may be content with not having social media, but if you want to understand why it's so all-consuming, that's a good start.

I am content with the sweet slice of pie because the whopping wedding cake is poisonous.

1) Everything is poisonous in great enough quantities, even vitamin supplements; social media is just one such thing and there are many more on the internet alone.

2) That sweet slice of pie can still give you diabetes which can kill you.

3) Nothing is without consequences, the apple which Eve ate that gave her knowledge was humanity's first and greatest sin.

<Snipped quote by Sombrero>

The articles with SJWs screaming bigotry shows that we ruffled their special snowflake feathers.

The posts with plaidshirts screaming censorship shows that they were ruffling their feathers more than usual. SJWs are like internet trolls, they don't run on self-righteousness, they just have self-righteous egoes that run on attention. Nobody in politics takes them seriously, and you shouldn't either. This isn't some massive war of righteousness, this is two bunches of kids in a schoolyard trying to rile each other up.

At some point you need to recognize that there's an immense value in social media networking when you need to do adult things.

To give you one example, social media has linked me with all my military contacts and has given me opportunities for career enhancing schools (talking to a guy about an AASLT slot or something, for example.) Then if you need help or advice or assistance in the future you have your guys all close to you. I don't think it's poisonous. Just don't be a dumbass, as with most things in life.

<Snipped quote by Weird Tales>

The posts with plaidshirts screaming censorship shows that they were ruffling their feathers more than usual. SJWs are like internet trolls, they don't run on self-righteousness, they just have self-righteous egoes that run on attention. Nobody in politics takes them seriously, and you shouldn't either. This isn't some massive war of righteousness, this is two bunches of kids in a schoolyard trying to rile each other up.

#TheTriggering was still very fun and it was nice seeing so many express their opinions and fight against political correctness

[...] and fight against political correctness

If you don't mind me asking, what's wrong with political correctness? Is not being able to make jokes about minorities that bad?

<Snipped quote by Weird Tales>
If you don't mind me asking, what's wrong with political correctness? Is not being able to make jokes about minorities that bad?

The resistance to political correctness seems odd to me. It's just a form of manners really. Getting mad about political correctness would be like getting mad you can't whip your schlong out at taco bell, or that you can scream expletives in a church. If you are among friends who's personalities you understand, yeh, tell all the off-color jokes you want. But don't do that shit in mixed company. It isn't oppression of you freedom of speech; it's basic social skills.

At some point you need to recognize that there's an immense value in social media networking when you need to do adult things.

To give you one example, social media has linked me with all my military contacts and has given me opportunities for career enhancing schools (talking to a guy about an AASLT slot or something, for example.) Then if you need help or advice or assistance in the future you have your guys all close to you. I don't think it's poisonous. Just don't be a dumbass, as with most things in life.

When I was in third grade, virtually all of my friends at school were heavy into Pokemon since it had just reached the United States at that time. They all bugged me to get into it, and it annoyed the fuck out of me. When I turned twenty one, everyone expected me to go get blazing drunk, and that annoyed the fuck out of me too. I wasn't mad or anything - people were just wanting to have fun - but to me it just felt like there were these rules everyone had decided on without my consent, and that if I didn't follow these rules somehow I wasn't having fun the right way. I could deal with there being rules for school, and later for work, but the idea that I had to follow some sacred code of fun turned me off of those things and made them seem like massive chores. Social media falls in the same category. I don't hate it, and I totally get why everyone else is into it (well, sort of), but it feels like all at once everyone decided we all have to enjoy social media or else we are weird. And deep down, in the pit of my stomach, my immediate reaction is to resent that, which keeps me from social mediaing.

I think, all things considering, I have some deep down desire in the back of my head to become some modern hermit. I mean really, my first reaction to working is resentment, my first reaction to hardcore partying is resentment... I think my path to happiness would be living out in the woods, eating squirrels, reading, and playing vidja. I'm like an eighty year old man or something.

<Snipped quote by Weird Tales>
If you don't mind me asking, what's wrong with political correctness? Is not being able to make jokes about minorities that bad?

I'm allowed to make casually racist comments to my black roommate if he's allowed to tell me I'm a dirty Armenian and he should call up his Turkish friends for genocide round two. We're homies though. It's chill.

Overcoming PC through self depreciating humor.

When I was in third grade, virtually all of my friends at school were heavy into Pokemon since it had just reached the United States at that time. They all bugged me to get into it, and it annoyed the fuck out of me. When I turned twenty one, everyone expected me to go get blazing drunk, and that annoyed the fuck out of me too. I wasn't mad or anything - people were just wanting to have fun - but to me it just felt like there were these rules everyone had decided on without my consent, and that if I didn't follow these rules somehow I wasn't having fun the right way. I could deal with there being rules for school, and later for work, but the idea that I had to follow some sacred code of fun turned me off of those things and made them seem like massive chores. Social media falls in the same category. I don't hate it, and I totally get why everyone else is into it (well, sort of), but it feels like all at once everyone decided we all have to enjoy social media or else we are weird. And deep down, in the pit of my stomach, my immediate reaction is to resent that, which keeps me from social mediaing.

I think, all things considering, I have some deep down desire in the back of my head to become some modern hermit. I mean really, my first reaction to working is resentment, my first reaction to hardcore partying is resentment... I think my path to happiness would be living out in the woods, eating squirrels, reading, and playing vidja. I'm like an eighty year old man or something.

This just... Yeah. Word, brother. Preach it.

(Except for me in the third grade it was Grand Theft Auto and Yu-Gi-Oh.)

<Snipped quote by Weird Tales>
If you don't mind me asking, what's wrong with political correctness? Is not being able to make jokes about minorities that bad?

It's wrong when Al sharpton and the bitch Anita sarkessian make attacks against groups and get praise for it.

Political correctness does not protect the majority and it silences free speech

<Snipped quote by Sen>

It's wrong when Al sharpton and the bitch Anita sarkessian make attacks against groups and get praise for it.

Political correctness does not protect the majority and it silences free speech

They get praise from their own guys, sure, just like the #Triggerers get praise from their fellows. Anita Sarkessian and Al Sharpton preach to the convinced, and the convinced cheer them on. Both of them are just starting to say absurd shit to stay relevant to anyone who isn't on their side already, and that's poisoning their message to outside eyes even further. Feminism in the mainstream is a gross caricature of its former self, yes, but now MRAs and other equal rights associations are being dragged down with it.

<Snipped quote by Weird Tales>

They get praise from their own guys, sure, just like the #Triggerers get praise from their fellows. Anita Sarkessian and Al Sharpton preach to the convinced, and the convinced cheer them on. Both of them are just starting to say absurd shit to stay relevant to anyone who isn't on their side already, and that's poisoning their message to outside eyes even further. Feminism in the mainstream is a gross caricature of its former self, yes, but now MRAs and other equal rights associations are being dragged down with it.

It's a pity that American feminism has become widely known as the belief that being male is the same as being sexist. I truly believe in equality, I just think that feminism should be focusing on real issues such as pay inequality, women's rights in oppressive nations and the like, not attacking males who show the common definition of chivalry despite it being a form of manners or labeling anything and everything as sexist.

Yeah, the real sad thing here is that feminism is SUPPOSED to mean equality. That's how it all began, that's what the movement is supposed to be about. However, the perception of what the word means got warped somewhere along the way, and now there are people who are actual feminists who are lumped in with the... uh... less-about-equality-more-about-attacking-really-odd-things crowd.

And there ARE imbalances we need to address, real issues that feminists try to deal with. Wage imbalances, the female image in the media (see: how much darned makeup and editing goes into making women flawless), toys for girls still sending bad messages, etc. As an uncle, I get pretty distressed over this because I freakin' want any future daughters I may have to grow up in a world where they work for equal pay and respect. But... There IS that element of "feminism" out there which, much like my previous complaint on what have been called SJWs now, is missing the point / big issues.

As usual, internet drama, polarizing statements, people trying to be part of an out group, and otherwise lots of the generic internet stuff have all coalesced into a big mess and managed to turn a still valid movement into a mockery. Note: I'm talking about events that have gone on for I'd argue two decades or so. Feminism is supposed to be about equality, and sometimes I wonder how many people who proclaim themselves feminists actually understand that. It's not surprising people don't equate feminism with equality anymore.

<Snipped quote by Sombrero>

It's a pity that American feminism has become widely known as the belief that being male is the same as being sexist. I truly believe in equality, I just think that feminism should be focusing on real issues such as pay inequality, women's rights in oppressive nations and the like, not attacking males who show the common definition of chivalry despite it being a form of manners or labeling anything and everything as sexist.

They largely are. The hardcore SJW wing of feminism is pretty much confined to colleges, and for the most part the only effect they have is making catchy headlines for internet tabloids. It's like the Kardasians in that there is no substance to any of it and it only exists to move cheap media.

@Vilageidiotx
That's a relief. Now, if the media could just stop misinforming the people....

I'll take MRA over feminism anyday. They speak to me more as a man and understand my issues in a not so hateful light and don't tell men and boys that they are victims of their own masculinity

<Snipped quote by tsukune>

The KFC for Christmas thing is pretty bullshit. That being said, even eating something as absolutely awful as KFC "Chicken" doesn't hold a candle to how devastating anime is to our young American men and women. It's one of those decline and fall level things.

I've always heard from Americans that KFC is terrible but I really like it here. Apparently KFC Canada is PETA approved for using special chickens and special butchering methods and whatnot, maybe that has something to do with it.