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Have you ever had a job where you have to look at pictures of mutilated children all day long? I don't think many people are immune to PTSD, but I suppose soci

Have you ever had a job where you have to look at pictures of mutilated children all day long? I don't think many people are immune to PTSD, but I suppose sociopaths need jobs too. But I'm not sure you want to hire a department of sociopaths.

mirimir 6y ago
> But I'm not sure you want to hire a department of sociopaths. Why not, if they do the work well? And anyway, they'd be working from home, these days.
jquery 6y ago
Is this not the same type of thinking that’s convinced people who do all sorts of dirty but necessary jobs are “real sickos”? Jobs like homicide/sex crime investigation, fixing the sewers, exterminating pests, and so on. I would probably get PTSD if I had to investigate bleeding anuses digitally but my doctor seems to manage and I doubt she’s a sociopath. My point is, some people simply aren’t traumatized by photos/videos, either via talent or training, and because of this they can process it enough to categorize it and keep their emotional/social/intellectual distance. That doesn’t make them sociopaths and it certainly doesn’t make them bad people.
- enneff 6y ago
  > I would probably get PTSD if I had to investigate bleeding anuses digitally but my doctor seems to manage A bleeding anus is just a thing that happens to people. It's a bit gross but I don't know why anyone should be traumatized by it. The kind of content that these moderators have to deal with goes well beyond the mere abject.
- adjkant 6y ago
  You seem to be confusing any exposure with constant exposure, and also type of gross/messed up. Nothing you listed compares to content moderation in severity and volume. Fixing a sewer is gross. Extermination is gross, not traumatic, unless you have extreme empathy for small rodents and insects. Doctors deal with very few remotely bleeding anuses on the order of one a week/month maybe versus one a minute. None of these should be called real sickos, but none would be expected to develop PTSD either. A significantly bigger portion of the population would be traumatized and develop PTSD by the level of exposure of content moderation. While not nearly all are sociopaths, they 100% will be represented higher even without factoring in selection bias. Hiring a department of them would not be inconceivable, putting the validity of that aside. You also make the jump from sociopath to bad person, which many I'm sure would have some qualms with as a categorical.
stickfigure 6y ago
> I don't think many people are immune to PTSD PTSD is real but lots of people still go to war and not everyone comes back a basketcase. Most don't, in fact. No, I've never had a job watching pictures of mutilated children all day. But like a lot of naturally curious people, I've searched out and watched bloody videos of beheadings and car accidents and whatnot. It wasn't pleasant, but it wasn't really traumatic either. If I didn't already have a much more lucrative career, I don't think I'd suffer too much as a Facebook censor. Does that make me a sociopath? My wife and son don't think so, nor do my close friends. I'm not sure if I should feel a little offended here. On the other hand, I may still have PTSD from those days of cold calling as a junior software engineer 25 years ago. I hate phones. Maybe people are just wired differently.

mirimir 6y ago

> But I'm not sure you want to hire a department of sociopaths. Why not, if they do the work well? And anyway, they'd be working from home, these days.

jquery 6y ago

Is this not the same type of thinking that’s convinced people who do all sorts of dirty but necessary jobs are “real sickos”? Jobs like homicide/sex crime investigation, fixing the sewers, exterminating pests, and so on. I would probably get PTSD if I had to investigate bleeding anuses digitally but my doctor seems to manage and I doubt she’s a sociopath. My point is, some people simply aren’t traumatized by photos/videos, either via talent or training, and because of this they can process it enough to categorize it and keep their emotional/social/intellectual distance. That doesn’t make them sociopaths and it certainly doesn’t make them bad people.

enneff 6y ago
> I would probably get PTSD if I had to investigate bleeding anuses digitally but my doctor seems to manage A bleeding anus is just a thing that happens to people. It's a bit gross but I don't know why anyone should be traumatized by it. The kind of content that these moderators have to deal with goes well beyond the mere abject.
adjkant 6y ago
You seem to be confusing any exposure with constant exposure, and also type of gross/messed up. Nothing you listed compares to content moderation in severity and volume. Fixing a sewer is gross. Extermination is gross, not traumatic, unless you have extreme empathy for small rodents and insects. Doctors deal with very few remotely bleeding anuses on the order of one a week/month maybe versus one a minute. None of these should be called real sickos, but none would be expected to develop PTSD either. A significantly bigger portion of the population would be traumatized and develop PTSD by the level of exposure of content moderation. While not nearly all are sociopaths, they 100% will be represented higher even without factoring in selection bias. Hiring a department of them would not be inconceivable, putting the validity of that aside. You also make the jump from sociopath to bad person, which many I'm sure would have some qualms with as a categorical.

stickfigure 6y ago

> I don't think many people are immune to PTSD PTSD is real but lots of people still go to war and not everyone comes back a basketcase. Most don't, in fact. No, I've never had a job watching pictures of mutilated children all day. But like a lot of naturally curious people, I've searched out and watched bloody videos of beheadings and car accidents and whatnot. It wasn't pleasant, but it wasn't really traumatic either. If I didn't already have a much more lucrative career, I don't think I'd suffer too much as a Facebook censor. Does that make me a sociopath? My wife and son don't think so, nor do my close friends. I'm not sure if I should feel a little offended here. On the other hand, I may still have PTSD from those days of cold calling as a junior software engineer 25 years ago. I hate phones. Maybe people are just wired differently.