A group of Canadian researchers has given the imprimatur of
social-science recognition to a fact that many of us who spend time in
internet comment forums have suspected: there’s a strong correlation
between online trolling and sadism.
“Both trolls and sadists feel sadistic glee at the distress of
others. Sadists just want to have fun … and the Internet is their
playground!” write Erin Buckels, Paul Trapnell, and Delroy Paulhus of
the Universities of Manitoba, Winnipeg, and British Columbia,
respectively, in a
paper to be published in the journal
Personality and Individual Differences.
The researchers define trolling as “the practice of behaving in a
deceptive, destructive, or disruptive manner in a social setting on the
Internet with no apparent instrumental purpose,” referring to trolls as
“agents of chaos on the Internet, exploiting ‘hot-button issues’ to make
users appear overly emotional or foolish in some manner. If an
unfortunate person falls into their trap, trolling intensifies for
further, merciless amusement.”
Read more here
Americans are not typically aware of how their federal and state prison systems work. What we think we know, we learned from watching television. When I took my first walk through at FCI (Federal Correctional Institution) El Reno Oklahoma as a new employee, I was surprised at how non-Hollywood real prison life is. Frankly, all I knew about prison life was what I saw on television or at the movies. Not even close.
As I got closer to retiring from the Federal Bureau of Prisons (FBOP), it began to dawn on me that the security practices we used in the prison system were being implemented outside those walls. “Free worlders” is prison slang for the non-incarcerated who reside in the “free world.” In this article I am going to compare a number of practices used in federal prisons to those being used today in the “free world.”
You might find that our country may be one giant correctional institution.
