I suspect more than half the people of my generation have said something about Mrs Thatcher's grave having a fitted dancefloor. If we added stuff like "I could kill the guy who wrote that stupid song" I think the number of people who have said that they would/could kill someone will rise to near 100%.
I think here we're in the field where normal social behaviour completely includes such statements, where it would not even be considered slightly shocking as part of a comedy act... but where the lack of social cues on twitter could lead it to be interpreted seriously.
If we have to have a police investigation into every death threat on twitter we're going to hire a lot more policemen. You'd have to be pretty daft to take these things seriously.
That said there would be a level of sustained threats/abuse where it would stray into a territory I would say should be illegal.
I've seen that comment (about Thatcher) made even in the last couple of years. A frail old woman with dementia, whose daughter has to explain to her repeatedly that her beloved husband is dead. I don't care what her politics were or what she did, or even that she doesn't know: it's horrible.
World has enough hate in it without hating on sad sick old ladies. :-(
I know this can seem reasonable but on closer inspection I find your moral philosophy extremely strange here.
Essentially, you don't seem to have objections to wishing ill on someone who is healthy and young. However, if that person becomes old and/or frail it is no longer acceptable. I'm afraid I find that really morally suspect. Why do we (or should we) stop hating someone because they happen to have become old or ill. Should we stop hating someone who is dead because they would now be old or ill had they lived. It makes no sense.
While I can see you can make an appealing case with sentiment like "World has enough hate in it without hating on sad sick old ladies." I don't think there's any actual consistency to this claim.
That's not what I read Bunn as saying: I thought she was saying that wishing ill on people is pretty unpleasant anyway, but hard to distinguish from joking. Then she's said that's it's worse to kick someone who's down, which implies that if you're kicking anyone it's marginally better to kick someone who can at least understand what you're doing and respond appropriately.
I agree with that. Which may be because I'm reading my views into what Bunn's said, but I don't think so.
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philmophlegm) wrote2012-08-01 11:59 am
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I think here we're in the field where normal social behaviour completely includes such statements, where it would not even be considered slightly shocking as part of a comedy act... but where the lack of social cues on twitter could lead it to be interpreted seriously.
If we have to have a police investigation into every death threat on twitter we're going to hire a lot more policemen. You'd have to be pretty daft to take these things seriously.
That said there would be a level of sustained threats/abuse where it would stray into a territory I would say should be illegal.
no subject
World has enough hate in it without hating on sad sick old ladies. :-(
no subject
Essentially, you don't seem to have objections to wishing ill on someone who is healthy and young. However, if that person becomes old and/or frail it is no longer acceptable. I'm afraid I find that really morally suspect. Why do we (or should we) stop hating someone because they happen to have become old or ill. Should we stop hating someone who is dead because they would now be old or ill had they lived. It makes no sense.
While I can see you can make an appealing case with sentiment like "World has enough hate in it without hating on sad sick old ladies." I don't think there's any actual consistency to this claim.
no subject
I agree with that. Which may be because I'm reading my views into what Bunn's said, but I don't think so.
no subject