Goons and Griefers: A cry for attention?

     While looking for a video on goons and griefing to analyze on Youtube, I had somewhat of an epiphany. While our class discussions talked about those who griefed for laughs or those who had some other agenda, I have found something that they both share in common: they both do it for attention.

     According to a statement given to Julian Dibbell for his article Mutilated Furries, Flying Phalluses: Put the Blame on Griefers, the Sociopaths of the Virtual World, the interviewee known as ^ban^ says "We do it for the lulz...for laughs...most of us are psychotic." But I don’t think that this is solely the case.

As I looked through the various videos on Youtube for griefers and goons, I found that all the videos were of either acts of griefing such as this video named THE GREATEST GRIEFING VIDEO EVER MADE, or people trying to show how to get rid of griefers. What caught my attention were the comments on the various videos that mostly sound like this one: “HAHA this video is so great. I've watched it so many times. =)”

It was at this point that I came to the realization that goons and griefers are no different than that annoying kid that sat behind you in high school throwing paper balls or poking you with a pencil until you jumped out of your seat screaming at them. They just want attention. And they’ll get it, either through your attempts to get them to stop or the chuckles and approvals they get from their friends. The question is how do you stop them? You cannot simply ignore them because they will not go away, they will just get worse to try and get the attention they want, and if you try to out-grief them, they will come back with friends and grief you worse. I ask again, what do you do?

Potter and Media Violence: What are we watching?

     In chapter nineteen of James Potter’s Media Literacy, he talks about violence in the media as well as the audience’s view on what violence is. On page 321, he says that the public conception of violence is tied into three factors. Of those three, there is one in which he says “the seriousness of the action itself and the way the act is portrayed are more influential in the decision of violence than the portrayal of harm to the victim.” Basically, if an act of violence is portrayed by a “good guy” onto a “bad guy” then the act of violence may not be seen as violent as if a “bad guy” used the same violent act on an innocent person.

     It is as if the audience is saying that a violent act is not really violence if it is good punishing evil. This is exactly what the people at ChallengingMedia are saying in their segment Beyond Good and Evil: Children, Media & Violent Times. Throughout the segment, they show media images of soldiers, secret agents, and superheroes using violent acts to punish the “bad guys.” They say that this kind of media is teaching children at a very young age that violent acts are okay as long as they are being used to punish bad people. They also say that the media is teaching children that a “bad guy” is anyone who is different from the stereotypical hero character who is generally a white male.

So the media is not only telling children that certain violent acts are okay, but also that racism is alright as well. I feel that this is a horrible system that we have come to accept and that something needs to be done. We as a people cannot teach our children that violence is acceptable on any level, especially if that level carries with it a high level of racial undertones.