Comments on: Nihilism, Barbarism and the 14 Year-old Adult. http://citizenwausau.com/blog/2007/12/05/nihilism-barbarism-and-the-14-year-old-adult/ A Site About Life in Wausau, Wisconsin Tue, 30 Apr 2013 13:26:03 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 By: Barry Liss http://citizenwausau.com/blog/2007/12/05/nihilism-barbarism-and-the-14-year-old-adult/comment-page-1/#comment-435 Barry Liss Fri, 07 Dec 2007 14:43:37 +0000 http://citizenwausau.com/blog/2007/12/05/nihilism-barbarism-and-the-14-year-old-adult/#comment-435 deepintheheart is right – CW could tread on the nihilistic. However, it’s an interesting medium in that people have the opportunity to be vigilant defenders of the word and hold people to account. To be sure, the medium itself privileges the literate and technologically savvy. It’s important to keep an open dialogic back and forth. The question to ask is qui bono – who benefits by profaning the word?

Barry

]]> By: deepintheheart http://citizenwausau.com/blog/2007/12/05/nihilism-barbarism-and-the-14-year-old-adult/comment-page-1/#comment-425 deepintheheart Thu, 06 Dec 2007 13:29:13 +0000 http://citizenwausau.com/blog/2007/12/05/nihilism-barbarism-and-the-14-year-old-adult/#comment-425 Nihilism. Barbarism. Wonderful.

If I am not missing something in Barry’s original post (call me simple), the idea of language deterioration is also linked to mediums such as CW.

Reference my choice of “wonderful” above. How do I really mean wonderful? Imprecise communication–language choices–breaks down meaning and creates confusion when our own human instrument can not hit the sarcastic crescendo that we may or may not intend.

Ever send an email and have your message misconstrued?

Ever spend time clarifying, “No, I am not angry with you.”

Words can be powerful tools. The craft of delivery can make them deadly.

]]> By: Tom Neal http://citizenwausau.com/blog/2007/12/05/nihilism-barbarism-and-the-14-year-old-adult/comment-page-1/#comment-424 Tom Neal Wed, 05 Dec 2007 17:43:38 +0000 http://citizenwausau.com/blog/2007/12/05/nihilism-barbarism-and-the-14-year-old-adult/#comment-424 Barry … true words. I guess it’s relativism … how we look at (classify) someone and treat them is relative to how we feel about them (or vice versa?). How we feel about them might be situational or stereotypical. That kid would not have been considered for adult processing if there hadn’t been the fatality. He wasn’t placed in the adult category because of what he did, it was because of the result of what he did. No fatal result … no “adult” question comes into play. It’s relative. Now, the kid allegedly tries to whack a jailer and escape … the adult question becomes heavier, and to many, it becomes moot. Maybe with his alleged attempted whacking, he’s deemed too heavy-duty for the juvie system. I don’t know how that works. But, come on, where do we send a 14-year-old adult for incarceration? Prison? After what would happen to him there, he’d almost certainly come out a killer if he came out alive. This adult designation has little to do with the kid and a lot to do with our own sense of outrage and helplessness. Stupid kid. Stupid system.

As I often say, we make choices and judgments that make us feel good about ourselves (look for a post from me on abortion I hope to see on CW soon, but ideally only after this thread of yours is aired and explored).

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