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This is true: most family members were quite normal and my school/church environment was mostly devoid of psychopaths. But I'd say the vast majority of psychopa

This is true: most family members were quite normal and my school/church environment was mostly devoid of psychopaths. But I'd say the vast majority of psychopaths have been encountered on the airwaves and the Internet. I wasn't permitted to have a modem for awhile, because my parents didn't really want me to have two-way chats with strangers. Yet I was exposed to all kinds of harmful TV and radio. There is truly psychopathic behavior out there which we invite into our homes; we see it distantly, as through a mirror, but it feels innocuous because we can "control" it and switch the channel at will. Or can we? By college I was surrounded by virtual psychopaths and mentally ill behavior. It was unavoidable. There was fantasy role-playing, AD&D, furries, sitcoms, crazy websites and forums, Slashdot, Usenet, just infested with psychopaths and bizarre malicious ideas.

pesus 2y ago
> By college I was surrounded by virtual psychopaths and mentally ill behavior. It was unavoidable. There was fantasy role-playing, AD&D, furries, sitcoms, crazy websites and forums, Slashdot, Usenet, just infested with psychopaths and bizarre malicious ideas. By your own admittance you've heard voices in your head throughout your life, but you think people playing D&D or watching Friends are somehow mentally ill psychopaths with "bizarre malicious ideas"?
- yonaguska 2y ago
  I read it as- there are psychopaths operating within and bizarre malicious ideas being propagated through those hobbies and mediums. I'm inclined to agree, but I wouldn't single it out to any specific hobby, activity, forum, news-source- though some are definitely more prone to infestation.
- AStonesThrow 2y ago
  Some are; not "watching Friends" but many TV programs model and demonstrate mentally unstable behaviors, and role-players play characters, usually not themselves, and the epithet "murder hobo" is not inaccurate. Yes, many bizarre and malicious ideas have been introduced to me and my classmates through Nethack play and merely observing role-players going at it in a violent, dangerous fantasy world of their own design. For autists and others who find it difficult to separate fantasy/reality, or understand metaphor and allegory, we tend to mistakenly impose fantastic ideas upon the mundane world around us. For all the hours I invested in DOOM 2, I'm not actually a US Marine, I don't carry firearms, human passengers on the train are not Beholders or Revenants, and when someone leaves a coat behind, that's not an Armor Pak for you to grab! ...but I can still distinctly hear his grunts and screams as the demons injure him...

pesus 2y ago

> By college I was surrounded by virtual psychopaths and mentally ill behavior. It was unavoidable. There was fantasy role-playing, AD&D, furries, sitcoms, crazy websites and forums, Slashdot, Usenet, just infested with psychopaths and bizarre malicious ideas. By your own admittance you've heard voices in your head throughout your life, but you think people playing D&D or watching Friends are somehow mentally ill psychopaths with "bizarre malicious ideas"?

yonaguska 2y ago
I read it as- there are psychopaths operating within and bizarre malicious ideas being propagated through those hobbies and mediums. I'm inclined to agree, but I wouldn't single it out to any specific hobby, activity, forum, news-source- though some are definitely more prone to infestation.
AStonesThrow 2y ago
Some are; not "watching Friends" but many TV programs model and demonstrate mentally unstable behaviors, and role-players play characters, usually not themselves, and the epithet "murder hobo" is not inaccurate. Yes, many bizarre and malicious ideas have been introduced to me and my classmates through Nethack play and merely observing role-players going at it in a violent, dangerous fantasy world of their own design. For autists and others who find it difficult to separate fantasy/reality, or understand metaphor and allegory, we tend to mistakenly impose fantastic ideas upon the mundane world around us. For all the hours I invested in DOOM 2, I'm not actually a US Marine, I don't carry firearms, human passengers on the train are not Beholders or Revenants, and when someone leaves a coat behind, that's not an Armor Pak for you to grab! ...but I can still distinctly hear his grunts and screams as the demons injure him...