I think that I've witnessed a new step in the evolution of the media's relationship with computers.
Thirty-nine people killing themselves is apparently considered "big news", and major air time was devoted to the story, both locally and nationally. I was rather amused by the talking heads dissecting the cults web sites, looking for "clues" and "motivation". They did everything but print the URLs on the screen so that we could make up our own minds. I guess this is the new way to guarantee your notariety: Whatever you do that may attract attention, make sure that you put a web page up, and the media will come cyber-knocking. Only problem is, the cultists e-mail will not be forwarding on to their next account...
The rock radio station talking DJs ("Less talk, more rock!" sure...) were laughing at and about the cultists today, calling the cultist actions "Darwinian", mentioning that it was nature's way of "thinning out the herd". Their missunderstanding of natural selection was most noticeable in that in true natural selection, the traits that do not promote survival are culled out before the genes that possess these traits are passed on to future generations. Many of these people had families, and therefore had survived long enough to breed. But there are further implications in this event that must be explored.
It's all too easy to laugh at the cultists. After all, it is not "normal" to slay yourself at the command of someone else. However, you are expected to do so if you're in the military. If you're lonely, or troubled, and were in search of some greater truth, and someone supplied that truth to you, you might very well be more than willing to follow that person, to the ends of the earth and beyond. I understand (from the media's dissection of the cultists Web site, as well as information gathered about them before their final act) that the people who were members of this cult were considered "computer literate", "sharp", and "techie" types. I often think that those of us involved in computers, especially those of us who use computers as a communication tool, are somewhat removed from the rest of humanity. We use this box and screen to be our interface with the real world. Perhaps some people are more easily lost within that interface than others...
Copyright 1997 by Richard B. Webb, aka The Outsider.
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This document was placed here on March 28, 1997, and has been viewed countless times.