The Influence of Social Media on Murder

This research contains information on how much or if at all social media influences murder. Social media has such a big impact on the lives of many around the world, it is almost impossible to avoid. There is research on how social media effects brain processes and may even cause addiction. And there is research on why people commit murder, but there is little to no research on the role social media can play in some murders. Social media is almost like an alternate universe where people can pretend to be the people they want to be in real life, they filter and add what they want others to see. Not to mention they are able to say and do whatever they want to do because they are not held responsible for their words and actions. The problem comes when people take what happens on social media and bring it into the real world. They take the actions and the words and give them power. In some results in suicide, crime, and in these cases murder. Murder is done from one human beings’ action to another; therefore, it is important to mention that social media cannot be responsible in someone’s death due to actions of others. However, it can play a role in why they decided to take their actions on step further. In the cases found below there is reason to believe that if social media did not exist these murders would not have taken place. These murders were committed out of the heat of the moment, anger, and jealousy, all brought on my actions on social media from one person to the next. If social media did not exist these actions would not have taken place and both parties could be alive today. Social media allows people to not take responsibility for the words and actions. This research shows how much these words and actions can affect people around the world

Filtration Failure: On Selection for Societal Sanity

This paper focuses on the question of filtration through the perspective of “too much information”. It concerns Western society within the context of new media and digital culture. The main aim of this paper is to apply a philosophical reading on the video game concept of Selection for Societal Sanity within the problematics of cultural filtration, control of behaviors and desire, and a problematization of trans-individuation that the selected narrative conveys. The idea of Selection for Societal Sanity, which derives from the first postmodern video game Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (2001), is applied into a philosophical framework based on select concepts from Bernard Stiegler’s writing and incorporating them with current events such as post-truth or fake news in order to explore the role of techne and filtration within social organizations and individual psyches. Alternate forms of behavior, which contest cultural paradigms, are re-problematized as tension between calculability and incalculability, or market value versus social bonding

Facebook's ‘white genocide' problem: a sociotechnical exploration of problematic information, shareability, and social correction in a South African context

A relatively small, but highly visible group of South Africans believe that farm attacks/murders (and other crimes against whites) constitute a targeted ‘white genocide'. Their beliefs have found support and corroboration in various online spaces, but especially within ‘alternative news' Facebook pages. This case study is used as an opportunity to apply a sociotechnical model of media effects to a very real disinformation problem that continues to inflame race relations in South Africa. Three pivotal questions are addressed, relating to (1) how Facebook users on farm attack/murder-focused pages engage with problematic information (fake news) and why; (2) the qualitative and affordance/format-related themes of posts with the highest share counts on these pages; and (3) the common themes of discourse used in defensive responses to social corrections of false information. Findings suggest that South Africa's ‘white genocide' problem is more deep-set than other more ephemeral ‘fake news' stories, especially due to stark racial and political dichotomies, reflected by the post comment sections herein. Group identities and cognitive biases work to sustain the disproportional media ‘spectacle' of gratuitous farm attacks/murders against white South Africans, and leverage Facebook's platform affordances to do so

QAnon and other conspiracy ideologies' impact on Sub-Saharan Africa in the age of Global Capitalism

With the attack on the Capitol by the 'Proud Boys', Donald Trump's 'deep state' allegations reached the peak of US conspiracy ideologies. Conspiracy was at the core of Trump's policies, including his repeated claims that President Barack Obama was born in Africa. It reflects Trump's deep dislike of African states. After all, a third of the Republican electorate agreed with the far-right QAnon paranoia and other bizarre conspiracy theories. From the outside, the United States was taking on the shape of a banana republic. When US media identified a South African journalist as the mastermind behind QAnon's global rollout in 2019, many Republicans equated Africa with Pandora's box. However, it is no coincidence that the black continent is associated with occult powers. In the social sciences, the modernity of witchcraft beliefs in Africa has been debated hotly for decades. Modern techniques and utensils have become central to the occult's continued importance to Africans. The crisis of the modern nation-state is closely intertwined with the global spread of neoliberal capitalism and the 'invisible hand' that shapes its political and material conditions and forms of society. Beliefs in witchcraft and zombies reflect the alienation of labour, capitalist exploitation, and class formation in African societies. The poor of Africa and the people of the Global South in general, do not lack modernity but have been denied the promise of modernization. Today, even cybercriminals working in the Ivory Coast, impersonating Europeans on social media profiles and seducing partners into falling in love with them, feel compelled to seek the advice of witch doctors to outwit their prey. Given the worldwide importance of social media, this suggests that the virtual space of the global economy as a hotbed of magic and witchcraft is under researched. As in the US election campaign and its entanglement with fake news, examination of the cosmology of the occult in Africa and elsewhere reveals the threat of destructive forces inherent in social relations. African religions could provide a framework for valuable self-determined solutions to current problems in contemporary life, including the issue of witchcraft violence. In addition, this could open up an inspiring new dimension of philosophical thinking and emancipative action to the outside world, for example, regarding conflict resolution and reconciliation.Mit dem Angriff der 'Proud Boys' auf das Kapitol erreichten die 'Deep State'-Anschuldigungen von Donald Trump den Höhepunkt der US-Verschwörungsideologien. Verschwörung war der Kern von Trumps Politik, einschließlich seiner wiederholten Behauptung, Präsident Barack Obama sei in Afrika geboren. Sie spiegelt Trumps tiefe Abneigung gegenüber afrikanischen Staaten wider. Immerhin ein Drittel der Wählerschaft der Republikaner stimmte der rechtsextremen QAnon-Paranoia und anderen bizarren Verschwörungstheorien zu. Von außen betrachtet nahmen die Vereinigten Staaten immer mehr die Form einer Bananenrepublik an. Als US-Medien 2019 einen südafrikanischen Journalisten als Vordenker hinter der weltweiten Verbreitung von QAnon identifizierten, wurde Afrika von vielen Republikanern mit der Büchse der Pandora gleichgesetzt. Es ist jedoch kein Zufall, dass der schwarze Kontinent mit okkulten Kräften in Verbindung gebracht wird. In der Sozialwissenschaft wird die Modernität des Hexenglaubens in Afrika seit Jahrzehnten heiß diskutiert. Moderne Techniken und Gebrauchsgegenstände, gewöhnlich westlichen Ursprungs, sind zentral für die anhaltende Bedeutung des Okkulten für Afrikaner geworden. Die Krise des modernen Nationalstaates ist eng verwoben mit der weltweiten Verbreitung des neoliberalen Kapitalismus und der 'invisible hand', die seine politischen und materiellen Voraussetzungen sowie seine Gesellschaftsformen prägt. Der Glaube an Hexerei und Zombies spiegelte die Entfremdung von Arbeit, kapitalistische Ausbeutung und Klassenbildung in afrikanischen Gesellschaften wider. So mangelt es den Armen Afrikas und den Menschen im globalen Süden im Allgemeinen nicht an Modernität, sondern ihnen wurde das Modernisierungsversprechen vorenthalten. Heute fühlen sich selbst in der Elfenbeinküste arbeitende Internetbetrüger, die sich in Social-Media-Profilen als Europäer ausgeben und Partner dazu verführen, sich in sie zu verlieben, genötigt, nach dem Rat von Hexendoktoren zu suchen, um ihre Beute zu überlisten. Angesichts der weltweiten Bedeutung sozialer Medien legt dies nahe, auch den virtuellen Raum der globalen Wirtschaft als Hort der Magie und Hexerei in den Blick zu nehmen. Wie in den US-Wahlkämpfen und ihrer Verstrickung mit Fake News enthüllt die Untersuchung der Kosmologie des Okkulten in Afrika und anderswo die Bedrohung durch destruktive Kräfte, die den sozialen Beziehungen innewohnen. Afrikanische Religionen könnten einen Rahmen für wertvolle selbstbestimmte Lösungen für aktuelle Probleme des zeitgenössischen Lebens bieten, einschließlich der Frage der Gewalt durch Hexerei. Außerdem könnte dies unter Umständen der Außenwelt eine inspirierende neue Dimension des philosophischen Denkens und emanzipativen Handelns eröffnen, beispielsweise im Bereich der Konfliktlösung und Versöhnung

Dark Tourism in the Midwest

Dark tourism, or the study of the act of travel to sites associated with death, suffering, and the seemingly macabre, is becoming increasingly popular. The administrative staff who run these sites carry the responsibility of bridging the gap between tourist and community. Administrative perspectives on a business level as well as a personal level reflect a deeper understanding of dark tourism in the Midwest. Six case studies were conducted via interview: Saloon No. 10; the Villisca Axe Murder House; Oakland Cemetery; the Glensheen Mansion; Ohio State Reformatory; and Molly Stark Park. The administrative structures of these sites and their correlation with the paranormal influence the success of these sites as they fit into dark tourism

A Sustainable Assessment of the Codes and Plans for South Shore Central of Austin’s Lady Bird Lake

This project report provides valuable information surrounding the socioeconomic climate of Austin. Demographic and economic descriptions are coupled with plans for environmentally conscious future city development.The City of Austin has recognized that Lady Bird Lake (formerly named Town Lake) is a precious recreational resource in the heart of the urban core, which could be quickly overwhelmed if development along its shores is not carefully planned and regulated to provide a balance between accommodating growth in the urban core and preserving the character of the lakefront. The adoption of the 1985 Town Lake Corridor Study established foundational policies which were codified with the 1986 Waterfront Overlay Combining District (WOCD) ordinance. The ordinance established fifteen sub-districts (now sixteen sub-districts) within the overlay in order to calibrate the code to various locations along the 5.4 mile -long town lake corridor. The overall purpose of the ordinance was established “. . . to provide a more harmonious interaction and transition between urban development and the parkland and shoreline . . .” In 2007 the City Council appointed a Waterfront Overlay Taskforce to review the adequacy of the current waterfront ordinance in light of changes that had been made to the original ordinance over the years and to increasing development pressure along the shoreline. The Waterfront Task Force Report, 2008, made several recommendations, including the re-establishment of a Waterfront Planning Advisory Board (WPAB) with responsibilities that include recommending potential changes to the Waterfront Overlay Combining District ordinance, with particular instructions to develop bonus provisions that create clear, predictable methods for increasing development entitlements in exchange for clear, predictable community benefits, and to develop improved design standards. The WPAB has conducted this work since its appointment two years ago, but has had to carry out this task with limited support resources and without the benefit of consultant assistance The SDAT will provide an outside, professional review and assessment of the WPAB’s work to date and assist with recommendations for moving forward. Additionally, the SDAT process will help convene local resources and engage stakeholders to inform and assist with the work. In order to sharply focus the review and assessment process, the SDAT study will concentrate on one of the sub-districts of the Waterfront Overlay – South Shore Central – which is arguably the area along the waterfront most likely to face potential redevelopment prospects, and the adjacent sub-districts to the west and east which, respectively, introduce a major park land (Auditorium Shores) and an area with commercial transitioning to residential uses (Travis Heights). The South Shore Central sub-district is also adjacent to established neighborhoods. This area concentrates the issues of how to promote urban excellence while maintaining, enhancing, and connecting to parkland and neighborhoods.Waller Creek Working Grou

The Crescent Student Newspaper, March 3, 2006

Student newspaper of George Fox University.https://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/the_crescent/2299/thumbnail.jp

Exploratory analyses of crime-scene characteristics in cyber-related homicides

Despite the alarming nature of homicides in which the offender meets the victim online, or cyber-initiated homicides, little empirical attention has been devoted to this phenomenon. The present study was designed to explore the behavioral patterns found prior to and during a cyber-initiated homicide event. Data on 61 homicide cases from various countries were collected through news media and legal sources. Smallest space analysis revealed that cyber homicides were characterized by four distinct themes: Excessive violence; fatal escalation; crime-related incidents; and predatory behavior. Implications of the findings and avenues for future research are discussed