We value privacy-except when...

[Tintypographer]

The world crusades for privacy and limiting the sharing of sensitive information especially for those who are defenseless... At least until someone decides it's time to be a bully and use "the good of the many" as a club to beat those who want to stay sheltered.

Bullies are part of the animal side of a psyche. Within hierarchies, especially in animals, certain "different"animals get aggressively ostracized, tormented and tortured sometimes to death. This happens whether the species is chickens, dogs or human beings. Nearly everyone in society has seen adolescent children verbally or physically abusing those who are different and the abuse and bullying leads one to become depressed and give up.

We can see this today among those who are different in the world. The bullies attack those they consider weak, different, or simply disliked with tactics designed to demean and dehumanize.

Groups of the truly disenfranchised often react to this onslaught by coming together and living under anonymous circumstances to allow for communication without the fear of bullying. What remains for the crusading bullies is to attack that ability to be anonymous; attack the LGBT community, chronically depressed, those who are not religious and those who believe they have a right to choose how their life ends.

Since this community is anonymous whether because of a desire to simply be un named or because one wants freedom for their choice, a key barrier to facilitating this continued bullying and assault is to break down that anonymity.

Here are those things you have a right to:

1) your own thoughts and the right to express them where legal. If you think you are depressed or anxious or feel suicidal or want to take your own life, those thoughts belong to you and one should not ever be bullied into losing the right to your thoughts and rationalizations.

2) being anonymous about those thoughts. You have a right to your anonymity if you are not expressing opinions that are illegal such as "hate speech", "planning to overthrow a democratically elected government by violence", "plotting to harm others with intent" and other specific speech articles depending on country and laws. Anonymously wanting to discuss how you feel, your desire to understand suicide and suicidal ideation personally is completely an issue that should be protected for anonymity.

What we find is that those individuals who are afraid of your differences and emotional state want to strip that anonymity because it is a barrier to their control.

I can state that anonymity is a double edge sword. What it protects it will also allow behaviors that could hide and anonymize subjects that can be anything from harmful to illegal. We must assume, however that the vast majority by significant percentage are here because of trauma, emotional distress, treatment resistant depression or anxiety and resultant suicidal ideation.

I'm writing this because I believe that the anonymity of this site far outweighs the potential danger of deliberately harmful individuals. The anonymous nature protects us from bullies, assaults, doxing and other @fixthe26 assaults on character, and degradation of humanity. We should continue to allow anonymity as the members here need that refuge from the obvious bullies.

 

[watchingthewheels]

What I can't get over is the resurgence in pro-bullying in the past few years, with its proponents claiming that it's a form of "male bonding", that it "builds character", and the like. Or, the weak-sauce rationale that it "teaches weaker kids to fight back". Well, I could almost, almost, see that one, except it's bullshit on the surface of it. Why?

One example is on the tv show THE GOLDBERGS where the older brother (and even the grandfather, at one point) justifies bullying the younger brother because "that's how older brothers show they care". There was even an episode justifying a school hazing incident, chastisting the younger brother when he fought back, because "you're my little bro, and I wanted to help you, because all the cool kids got hazed when I was your age, but no one hazed me." And ended with the idea that "we'll miss the bullying when it's gone, because even though they're crazy, they're still family, and we wouldn't have it any other way."

Really? REALLY? So gaslighting has gone prime-time? That's not "love", or even "tough love"; that's just an outright justification for sadism and abuse.

I'm not one for participation-trophies and coddling kids through every hardship (which, conversely, is what the "(s)mother" does on that show); they do need to learn to stand up for themselves and face challenges and difficulties. You teach them and give them the tools to survive, yes. But one doesn't need to engage in sadistic rituals and such to teach that. It's nothing but a pitiful excuse to be abusive while compensating for one's fears and shortcomings, while blaming the victim.

 

[Pain In The Ass]

The world crusades for privacy and limiting the sharing of sensitive information

The world uses Facebook and Twitter and stores their wife's titty-pics on 'the cloud' - this shows the world doesn't give much of a fuck about these things!

 

[Tintypographer]

I actually understand shared hardship for team building. Numerous sports, team, group and other aspects of bonding that occurs with hardship. I still recall an outward bound trip backpacking with a group in cold rain that sucked and we all still know each other years later. I'm betting that the marine boot camp universal screaming sucks for everyone involved. But you signed up for the torture and it is applied fairly uniformly.

I hate bullies whether they do it in a calculated way to get what they want as in the case of @fixthe26 Kellie or in the sadistic "get pleasure out of hurting the weak one"

 

[Area Man]

What I can't get over is the resurgence in pro-bullying in the past few years, with its proponents claiming that it's a form of "male bonding", that it "builds character", and the like. Or, the weak-sauce rationale that it "teaches weaker kids to fight back". Well, I could almost, almost, see that one, except it's bullshit on the surface of it. Why?

It never went away did it? The world has always been pro-bullying with said bullying and ostracism being a major evolutionary strategy for some individuals to get status and resources. It's going to be a hard one to fight but you start with the prejudices and having a consistent judicial system that really is blind.