As I thought through on what I should write about for the first post of this e-port folio, the news that came to light only recently of a case that happened a year ago seems to be the one that I felt most disturbed about.
* Source: http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_426680.html
It talks about how a group of eight teenage boys made a suicide pact in the belief that they would be resurrected as slayers to save the world. This started off with one of the boys who was claimed to be a medium convincing his friends that the world was coming to an end and that they needed to offer themselves as a sacrifice in order to save the world. As I went on reading the article, I read about how these boys were engaged in weekly rituals where they looked up to the medium as an influential and their respected leader. Perhaps this was the reason why they agreed to the pact even at the expense of their lives. However, six of them came to their senses just in time upon the gruesome sight of the first pair of the group who jumped groaning in pain.
It made me ponder on this shocking case, on how scary it can actually be when one gets over-influenced by their surroundings, totally unaware of the consequences it can bring about.
I continued following on this case, wanting to understand more about what was concluded about the case and what actually led them into believing it.
Just this morning, I read another article in relation to this case and it brought me into another level of analysis. This particular article brings the attention to how these teenage boys could have been over-addicted to online games that caused them to be shadowed from the reality of life. I realised that this is pragmatic perspective, something that I had just learnt during my lecture this week.
*Source: The New Paper, Saturday 12th September 2009 (Page 14)
Pragmatic perspective is a communication that consists of a system of interlocking, interdependent behaviours that become patterned over time, which in this case, how online games became an addiction for these teenagers. Due to this prolonged gaming lifestyle, they have developed the inability to differentiate the virtual world from reality. In this virtual world, they forged strong friendships where they team up to slay demons and become really bonded.
Social constructionist perspective could also be brought into this context where the online games become a culture for these teenagers. In their groups, they start to create their collective representations of reality using what is provided by their culture.
Teenagers being interviewed in the article mentioned how communication plays the vital role in the online games and that most of them communicated daily to keep in touch, ask for advice and so on.
As a result of this, they seemed to be easily influenced by their virtual peers. One of them even mentioned how his online friends influenced his decision to apply to a polytechnic instead of junior college. This could be further evident by what a teenager who was interviewed said, "But if my group of friends who are like brothers to me all believe that and tell me that every day, I may eventually agree with them even though it sounds ridiculous." This could be the reason why the boys were convinced by their leader of the group.
Very often, our judgement comes from what we hear from others and it influences us. We exist within our society and perceive ourselves through the communication practices of our cultures. However, these preceptions can sometimes be deceptive. Therefore, i personally feel that we should be individuals who create communication and not allow communication to create us especially in scenarios like this.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I think perception does play an utmost important role in an individual's life. We tend to select and absorb the information based on our interests or influences and this results to how our character's are shaped.
ReplyDeleteIn the case of such a tragic situation ,concerning Witaya and his group of friends, playing games with such high leveled violence could have been the cause for their course of action. This coupled with Witaya's emotionally unstable mindset, proved to be detrimental for his life as well as devastating for those around him.
Personally, i feel that parents also play a key role in governing the composition of their children and should be more active in exercising caution when their children come into contact with games such as these.
I personally feel that the disaster that happened could very well have been avoided if there was proper upbringing of these teenagers. This would at least allow them to think more logically and differentiate what is right and wrong. If Witaya did not have a broken family and was brought up in a proper manner, he might not have done what he did.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I agree strongly to your stand where peer pressure played an important role in this case where Witaya managed to convince his friends about beliefs that few could even think that its logical. However, no matter how close the 7 teenagers were, i strongly believe that one has to be skeptical before believing claims put forward by others, in this case, Witaya's "saving the world" belief.
Lastly, I feel that computer games nowadays and other forms of entertainment are becoming more and more influential in the lives of teenagers. There are many cases whereby many teenagers mimic whatever they play or see, resulting in injuries, accidents or deaths. A good example would be the Indonesian student from NUS who committed suicide after attacking his professor in school, it was later revealed that he was playing computer games excessively too.
I like what you've discussed.
ReplyDeleteMany argue that communication is perhaps the most essential aspect of life, because reality is little but our perception of the world, founded by both our sensory experiences and the transmission and interpretation of communicated messages.
However, I feel it's unfair to pin the blame on video games when incidents of violence occur among teens when the number of such cases is microscopic when compared to the vast population of active, "hardcore" gamers. I myself enjoy stabbing friends with a butterfly-knife on a regular basis in video games but have not gone on to emulate such antics in the real world.
Perhaps you (and many others) should consider the uses & gratifications Theory and other similar ones which propose that individuals who subscribe to and consume violent, or otherwise deviant (and that's relative) media may already have anti-social tendencies, which confounds the cause-effect relationship between the media and behavior.
Good job in highlighting the types of perspectives developed through this article. It is such a tragedy that these naive adolescents drove themselves into such a situation. It was also good how you highlighted another article that led you to a new insight on this issue.
ReplyDeleteA nice and succinct conclusion at the end.
Is some kind of paranormal forces at work here? Either that or our little leader here had attained a really high level of rhetoric knowledge at his young age.
ReplyDeleteI don't think I can ever persuade a whole group of people to end their lives with me.
..Or can I? =)
My gosh, nice thinking there B2! But I am amazed how a group of school children can be controlled by a boy that is of the same calibre (maybe not) as them. Wonder what he did to them.
ReplyDeleteGreat analysis! =)
ReplyDeleteAt the easily influenced teenage years, boys looking for a sense of identity and belonging would find it in a group of friends led by one admired individual who gives guidance and shows confidence in his actions. They could easily slip into groupthink, failing to doubt and question for themselves as they lap up the medium's words. Teenage quest for identity would also reinforce the 'we against the world' feeling, and the part about 'being reborn as slayers', no matter how far fetched, could serve as a thrilling identity for them. The bandwagon effect also likely took place as should any of them be in doubt at any moment, the knowledge that they had six other good friends with them in this would reinforce the belief that what they were doing were normal as they weren't alone.
With regards to games addiction causing the boys to lose focus on reality, that could be a possibility, but it could also likely be the boys seeking solace in games due to their dissatisfaction with reality. Games would thus not be a cause for this incident. There's no research yet proving a link between games addiction and violence, (if i remember correctly that is).
Oh man, their lives are so fragile. Or rather, they made it so with the deception of reality.
ReplyDeleteSocial Constructionist Perceptive has indeed changed the views of these boys and distorted their perceptions on how the reality should be. I agree that we should be individuals who create communication instead of allowing communication to create us. Food for thought.
Anyway, I guess that it takes two hands to clap. As an individual, we should be socially responsible for our own actions before putting the blame on the media. On the other hand, the media has done its role to educate but also at the same, destroy part of the public's view about reality. These boys are good examples.
Good efforts, nicely thought thru! :)
The line between reality and fiction is so often blurred by believes or thoughts which governs a person. Such as the case which have been mention, where 18 students decided to end their life for the better good of others or in their case to save the world.
ReplyDeleteHumans are influenced through many ways, the mass media, friends, etc. they affect the way we think and the way we work. The key here is to what extend are you influenced by what you see or what you hear. The reaction may differ from person to person, however from my point of view how much of an influence causes depends on the creditability of the source of influences.
To what extend does the person believe what he/she have been told. How does he/she interpret what he/she sees and hears. It brings us back to that line between reality and fiction which in modern times involves a grey region where people gets lost in the moment. And that’s where things happen.
My two cents worth.
It is indeed disturbing to know about Witaya's case. I think parents should ensure that their children do not get too engrossed in violent games. They should constantly monitor the types of games that their children play and stop their children in time before they get too addicted to the virtual world as the children might get confused with what is actually real and not.
ReplyDeleteLike in Witaya's case, he and his group of friends believed that they need to sacrifice their lives to be resurrected as "slayers" to save the world. Isn't this a tad similar to virtual game quests where one has to sacrifice to get to a higher level? I think despite being influenced from young, by his grandmother who used to be a medium, gaming is also a significant reason as to why Witaya died so tragically.
The first example cited abt the 'medium' influencing the others into following him shows how the Magic Bullet Theory can still be applicable even in today's world...
ReplyDeleteInteresting how u got to link that example to communications...insightful :)
Thanks all for your comments/feedbacks, I appreciate! ((:
ReplyDeleteto RHIAN:
Yes, perceptions are what influenced us in our lives. As I mentioned, some of these are deceptive and it might in turn affect the kind of character we become.
I do agree with you that parents play the key role in governing their children. Perhaps, Witaya's parents did not know that he was doing all these because of the lack of communication between them.
to MIKE:
Yes, I agree with you on the proper upbringing of teenagers. (refer to my reply to rhian above) (:
Thanks for agreeing on my part of peer pressure. Online/computer games have indeed to become very influential in the lives of teenagers in these days. It is sad to know that some innocent lives are lost because of modern technology.
to NAZ:
Thanks for helping me widen the circle of my analysis. Perhaps you are also right that we should be quick into blaming the video games. I think it works in a combination of ways in order for us to prevent such incidents like the upbringing of the children, the teenagers' own perspective.
Anyway, we have not learn about gratification theory yet but thanks for your advice! ((:
to highcut (LAILA):
Thanks! ((:
Yes, it is really such a tragedy. Hopefully, this acts as a wake-up call for the teenagers out there.
to clouds & papercutrevival:
It is definitely not easy for a person to persuade a group of people to actually end their lives with him. This just shows us how much peer pressure can actually influence others! (:
to WENDY:
Thanks and I like all that you've commented! (:
Yes, these boys were probably looking for a sense of identity that led them into this tragedy. It is sad but I think teenagers will now realise what kind of consequences they can actually get themselves into if they seek too much for a sense of identity.
I have to agree with you that the boys could be seeking solace in the games due to their dissatisfaction in reality. Thanks for widening my circle of analysis! (:
to WAN JUN:
Thanks for sharing the same view as me! (:
I agree with you that we should be socially responsible as an individual and the media has to play a certain role in educating the people as well. In addition to that, based on the feedbacks my friends gave, the upbringing of the teenagers as well.
to JOEL:
Yes, humans are influenced in many ways.
In terms of the credibility of the sources, I feel that it depends more on how the people perceived it.
If the source is not as credible but people preceived them to be, they would definitely be influenced greatly as well.
Indeed, humans get lost and sometimes unable to differentiate fiction and reality.
Thanks for your 'two cents worth'! (:
to YU HAN:
Parents do have to play that role of making sure their children do not get overly engrossed in such online games. (refer to my reply to rhian above)
Yes, perhaps it was due to his grandmother being a medium that influenced him to be one as well.
to stinko (SEAN):
Yes, in today's world this still happens and isn't it scary to know how influential it gets? As teenagers, they need to know and differentiate the right from wrong.
Thanks for for finding it interesting and insightful! (:
An intriguing article indeed! (:
ReplyDeleteIt is very true that the perception of people can be easily altered under the influence of those who are close to you. For example, the boy who was interviewed agreed to the fact that if his "brothers" were to be persistent in telling him their outrageous ideas, its only a matter of time that he will believe them as well.
In the society we live in today, we should learn to be very cautions of being negatively influenced by others as it might change us for the worst or even cause our own death. All these due to our change in perception of things around us, its definitely not worth it at all.
Anyhow, good review done darling! (:
Keep it up!