Hmm...
First of all, read this: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/08/AR2008060800576.html?hpid=moreheadlines
So, if you took the time to read, the article was about a guy in Tokyo who ran people over and stabbed anyone he could see to death. A pretty grizzly story and not one I want to divulge into at the moment. The part that scares me is the info that isn't in this article. According to other sources (like those originating from Japan), Kato posted his intent to do this hours before he intended on acting on a message board on the web. The title of his message was actually "I will kill people in Akihabara". Twenty minutes before he acted, he posted his final message via cell phone: "It's time." Source is from here (and lots of other places): http://home.peoplepc.com/psp/newsstory.asp?cat=TopStories&referrer=welcome&id=20080608/484caac0_3ca6_1552620080609-950815123
Now, this says something about how people think of the seriousness of what they write on the internet. It's hard to pinpoint what's acceptable to believe and not believe when you see those types of messages. To some, it's a joke and sometimes it is because they're having a dumb reaction to a plot twist to some anime or something. But, to me, it crosses the line when someone lists a specific real-life location (whether it be related through film or not). Needless to say, this new knowledge rubbed me the wrong way.
I mean, it's one thing to type, "Die in a fire", "Rapin' time", and other 4chan-like things but it's scary when someone actually takes it upon themselves to do it. If the board he posted it on was 2chan, a lot of users probably even didn't take it that seriously because their jargon kinda accepted it as the norm. I mean, the Nevada-tan mascot (Sasebo Slashing) and the English equivalent "Watashi wa Kira Dess" (unsolved Belgian murder dubbed Manga Murder) meme says a lot about how seriously some posters take those tragedies. It's scary when their quirks actually become real (though that probably wasn't the board that guy posted to, I'm just saying). I'm not dissing 4chan or other such boards, but really the seriousness put behind such messages and memes in general. Incidents like this makes it abundantly clear how much they aren't thinking of the impact on families or witnesses when they find humor in such events. And that's just sad. Not just the posters, but the fact that some people actually do find somethings like that to be funny.
Wonder how people are around that district are doing? My heart really goes out to the victims.
So, if you took the time to read, the article was about a guy in Tokyo who ran people over and stabbed anyone he could see to death. A pretty grizzly story and not one I want to divulge into at the moment. The part that scares me is the info that isn't in this article. According to other sources (like those originating from Japan), Kato posted his intent to do this hours before he intended on acting on a message board on the web. The title of his message was actually "I will kill people in Akihabara". Twenty minutes before he acted, he posted his final message via cell phone: "It's time." Source is from here (and lots of other places): http://home.peoplepc.com/psp/newsstory.asp?cat=TopStories&referrer=welcome&id=20080608/484caac0_3ca6_1552620080609-950815123
Now, this says something about how people think of the seriousness of what they write on the internet. It's hard to pinpoint what's acceptable to believe and not believe when you see those types of messages. To some, it's a joke and sometimes it is because they're having a dumb reaction to a plot twist to some anime or something. But, to me, it crosses the line when someone lists a specific real-life location (whether it be related through film or not). Needless to say, this new knowledge rubbed me the wrong way.
I mean, it's one thing to type, "Die in a fire", "Rapin' time", and other 4chan-like things but it's scary when someone actually takes it upon themselves to do it. If the board he posted it on was 2chan, a lot of users probably even didn't take it that seriously because their jargon kinda accepted it as the norm. I mean, the Nevada-tan mascot (Sasebo Slashing) and the English equivalent "Watashi wa Kira Dess" (unsolved Belgian murder dubbed Manga Murder) meme says a lot about how seriously some posters take those tragedies. It's scary when their quirks actually become real (though that probably wasn't the board that guy posted to, I'm just saying). I'm not dissing 4chan or other such boards, but really the seriousness put behind such messages and memes in general. Incidents like this makes it abundantly clear how much they aren't thinking of the impact on families or witnesses when they find humor in such events. And that's just sad. Not just the posters, but the fact that some people actually do find somethings like that to be funny.
Wonder how people are around that district are doing? My heart really goes out to the victims.