1)http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_427341.html
2)http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_429194.html
A group of teenagers plan to suicide as one of their close friend, Witaya, claims that a world war was coming and that they had to die in order to be resurrected as slayers who would save the world from demonic attacks.
This case actually happened last year 23rd of August. However, the case was brought up on court recently.
This news really caught my attention. It’s amazing how a group of teenagers had such a strong belief for their religion that they could take their live so easily. From what I have read, the 8 boys played World of Warcraft and Online games like other normal teenage boys. I believe that they belong to the Allies Faction (in the game) which requires them to slay demons. They could be too engrossed in playing the game and bring what they see from the virtual world to reality. OR. It might be someone who influenced them that they could have special powers and the boys eventually believe in it. And came Witaya, who told them they can save the world from world war III by taking their own lives.
For someone to take their own live is never an easy task or a day thing. I believe the boys were under "brain wash" whenever they go for their weekly ritual since 2006 to 2008 at Witaya's house. Someone else or Witaya could have been guiding them through the ritual and telling them about their beliefs of they will be resurrected as slayers who would save the world. Through this period of "brain wash", I believe that the boys were persuaded under 2 factors; Logos and Pathos.
Logos: This definitely does not sound logical to me. However, the teenagers were still young and they were easily influenced by what they had being told. They brought what they have seen from the virtual world to reality. Thus, the teenagers believe in whatever they have been told.
Pathos: I feel that it might be due to the environment created at the ritual. The atmosphere at the ritual makes them feel "holy" and well taken care of from their religion. In the situation like this, the boys were easily influence/persuade by the speaker. I feel that parent should communicate more with their children and know what they are doing. The mind of a child is innocent, they are easily persuaded and they are mostly unable to differentiate what is right and wrong.
Key Point: Persuasion is one of the key points of Rhetoric. Under Persuasion there is 3 points, which are Logos, Ethos and Pathos. For someone to be persuaded, one or more of these 3 points must be used.
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Hello,
ReplyDeleteI believe the teenagers, like most teenagers, lacked emotional stability, which was why an emotional appeal (Pathos) would be strongly persuasive towards them. For example, a teen who is constantly angry or depressed might feel a "need" to take control of a situation.
Without belittling the teenagers too much, I feel that for one to be persuaded to act against social norms by logic (logos), one has to be either brilliant to the point of being slightly autistic, or dull. I doubt the teenagers were the former.
The fact that computer games nowadays are so immersive can also be considered a form of Ethos. Normal people are kept grounded by their sense of morality (logos)as well as having a certain degree of control over their emotions (pathos), but in this case, without either of those persuasive factors to guide them, these psychologically disturbed teenagers might have succumbed to the world that was created for them.
Indeed. I totally agree with your perspective that the "brainwasher" in question had mastered the art of persuasion.
ReplyDeleteIt makes us ponder why would these teenagers be willing to believe the words of a charlatan easily rather than doing their own 'research' into the issue.
Power of communication over the internet used in the wrong way?
Witaya's grandma is a spirit medium and growing under such an enviroment, it is very natural for Witaya to be influenced. His prophecy of the 3rd World War between gods and demons probably derived from the concept of World of Warcraft(WoW). His friends, probably diehard fans of WoW had seen Witaya's grandma in trance before and were in awe. That probably made them easier to persuade.
ReplyDeleteAt such a young age, i guess it is hard for them to discern for themselves what is real and what's not.
ReplyDeleteThey will be easily swayed or persuaded even more so by a close friend rather than a stranger.
As such, i also agree with you that parents should pay more attention to their kids and find out from their kids what kind of friends are they hanging out with, what kind of topics they regularly discussed.
Such a tragedy can be prevented even if just 1 kids parents know about it. However it is sad to say that nobody(adults) actually knew about it till this tragedy struck.
I agree that they must have been 'brainwashed' & probably WoW would've played a role in this incident caused if not No teenagers would do such a thing.
ReplyDelete& Something i dont understand, why did the parents allow their children to attend such 'ritual'? & Why wouldnt the children told their parents what were they taught? It's pretty silly, IMO.
Yes, teenagers nowadays, got so "into" games, that they sometimes 'brought' it to real life.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I don't think that "The atmosphere at the ritual makes them feel "holy"..." alone influenced the boys' thinking.
Instead, i feel that parents should teach their children what is right and what is wrong, what is real and what is not. From this, parents should spend more time communicating with their children.
Well, teens nowadays do get swayed easily by external influences. Partly also because they want to belong to a group or because they are led to believe in a certain cause.
ReplyDeleteParental guidance is very important even in the teen years. However, many parents find it tough to connect with their teenager(s). There are those who are too busy working, then there are those who have long given up on their children, and there are also those who care too much and end up pushing their children away.
Another thing to note is that playing the game is a commonality but it does not necessarily mean that it is the factor that influenced them. Studies cannot totally prove if games are the cause of violence. Likewise in this case. This is probably one of the factors that played a part.
As teens, they are still developing their concept of self. In fact, the concept of self continues to develop till their 20s before it stablises. With this in mind, and with all those other external factors and issues that teens today face, it wouldn't be surprising to hear of people being able to "brainwash" them into doing things.
Often, there could be signs that adults could have noted. However, not many are trained to do so. How it was possible even for such an incident to happen is actually the result of many factors, and possible, it is also an incident that could have been prevented.
I agree that parents play a very crucial role in a child's growth. Constant communication is crucial at any point of time as a child is growing. Parents perception and advices may not always be right, but at least, like what you have mentioned, simple matters like being too engrossed in a computer game; parents could just play a little part in educating their children on the importance and danger of the game, and most importantly, not to endanger their own lives.
ReplyDeleteBeing "brainwashed" or "persuaded" is one thing, another is that they were partially too engrossed in the game to begin with, which makes it easier for make-beliefs to happen, and to allow people to mislead them.
At a point of view, parents should be blamed for not guiding their own children well enough and not teaching them the correct stuffs.
ReplyDeleteHowever, if we see it from parents' point of view, they are just trying to let their child experience more of life and independence from young.
In this incident, I can only say that this is a kind of murder case! No one is at fault. Murder took place when a "weapon" is used. Everything can become a weapon, even a person, who is well-learnt in martial arts, is counted as a weapon.
In this case, this murderer's weapon is his mind. He uses a mind technique somehow similar to "hypnosis" to make people die. He makes use of innocent minds of children to kill themselves.
Even if a child's parents told him/her that dying is wrong and talk all "right" senses to them, it's not enough. There's always a way to counter everything in this world.
Influence is the factor that causes death.
I guess each and everyone is afraid of death and as a child of their age, seeking death would seems more tough for them as compared to the an adult as they couldn't make a decision on their own. i guess you might had miss out a important point that according to Witaya, they will be able to be able to return to the world with a "special power" which will enable them to stop the war.
ReplyDeletethis point made by witaya made them believe that they will still return to earth after they jumped off the building.
this could be 1 option witaya used to ease their worry of 'death'.
To add on, their gaming experiences and their believe in the family background of witaya do act as factors that made them believe in jumping of the building.
I agreed that if more attention was given to these children by their parents, this tragedy could be avioded.
From these articles, it has clearly shown that those teenagers were in their confusion state. They were unclear of their actions and consequences, and easily being influenced by their leader, Witaya. The group turned Witaya’s words into their belief. I understand that each and every individual’s has the right to believe in a religion, however, they should practice the correct way in worshipping and be flexible in handling situations. In my opinion, being boys, most were just curious and wanted to experiment whatever Witaya said was true.
ReplyDeleteI believe that communication between pareents and their children is vital to the growth of the childrens' mind. Teenagers are easily 'brainwashed' into believing something because they still lack the skills to differentiate whats wrong and whats right, whats virtual and whats reality, etc. Communication, hence, enables parents to 'check' on their children. They will be able to learn more about what their children do during their free time and give them the possible advices.
ReplyDeleteHihi,
ReplyDeleteHmmmm... I think this is rather a sensitive issue to talk about? Perhaps nobody would know the answer for their actions? This is a belief by the individuals, 'outsiders'/ audiences have no right to judge any point of corrections.
However, having to said that, I think the society still bares the responsibilities to this incident. Because everything still comes under this environment and where we are today.
Parents of these kids also plays an important role. Similarly, bares the equivalent amount of responsibilities in causing this incident to happen. They should acquire to their kids more often, engaging them in daily communications. These communications are truly important not only within parents and their children, but also a relationship with your love ones.
Hence, I believe we can reach a better balance milestone and with right communication frequency. Thus, I would say many/most of these issues/incidents can be carefully resolved.
An
I feel the pathos elaboration is not true as religious rituals are just normal rituals and dosent drive us crazy. Normal people go, nothing strange happen to them and the teenagers are mainly brainwashed due to the addiction of their gaming.
ReplyDeleteAlso parents play a huge responsibility to discipline their kids which plays a factor to their addiction and what happened to them on the article.
"Someone else or Witaya could have been guiding them through the ritual and telling them about their beliefs of they will be resurrected as slayers who would save the world."
ReplyDeleteFor the above phrase, I do not reckon as a fact as they are merely young kids whereby rituals and beliefs would actually brainwash them for the majority portion.
On the other hand, I felt that it was more of the charismatic speaker and followed the footsteps of their fellow peers.
In this scenario, parental guidance is definitely essential, in order to cease such eccentric and bizarre actions to occur again.
i agreed with what you stated above. These teenagers may be curious or that due to peer pressure that they want to check out whether Witaya said is true. Teenagers like them who spend alot of time in the cyber world can be easily, i would say influenced. May be due to one: the game that they played - slayers and stuffs, another is that they are like what you stated, bringing what they see from the virtual world to reality.
ReplyDeleteI believe that if their parents communicated with them at certain point of time before the tragedy occurred, lives of these young boys perhaps can be saved, sometimes the art of persuasion is hard to resist, they play with humans mind, in this case the innocents of the young.
Cyber games are what most young people play almost everyday & they like to imagine that they could bring what is inside the virtual world to reality.
ReplyDeleteI believe teenagers nowadays tend to share their problems with their friends more then they share it with their own parents. hence this will lead them to believing their friend's advice.therefore communication with parents does do a big part in teenagers' life.
The first kind or pursuasion depends on the personal character of the speaker and he, the person who initiated the whole event, definitely played his role pretty well to puppeteer his friends.
ReplyDeleteThe young minds' are pure.
They absorb everything be it right or wrong.
This is where the parent comes into the picture.
They educated their young ones.
Once their kid is being mislead, it is hard to get them back on track.
The second method would be place the audience into a certain frame of mind. E.g, a room.
The third on the proof, or apparent proof, provided by the words of the speech itself.
Well, we all learn from mistakes.
Let this article be a warning or create awareness amoung us all.
Such a tragic.
i think teenagers should be mindful of the activities they are participating in right now. With regards to the religion portion, i strongly feel that such "religious" organization are to be monitored strictly once they are " formed".
ReplyDeletei think that the linear model of communication is being used in this situation. witaya who was the leader of the pack instilled this idea of suicide within the other friends and expect them to believe in whatever he said and follow him. although the friends responded and some hesitated, witaya did not change his mind. the feedback channel was not around to allow any comments from his friends. he has blocked out any form of response and was set on whatever he was going to do. psychological perspective of communication can also be observed here in which witaya sees his friends as the source of and destination for his information and make the receivers appear to be empty recepticles waiting to be filled with other people's ideas.
ReplyDeleteThe moment you mentioned that they played WoW, I can imagine parents having a field day blaming the media, gaming and whatnot but themselves on the behaviour of these children. Like the Columbine shooting, many were quick to blame the media for its influence on youths and how it eventually led to the violence. I think it's really hard to truly understand how they had come to their decisions. Like in communications, many factors account to the future actions or attitude of a person.
ReplyDeleteIt is easy to persuade someone when they do not have any idea of what to do in life.
ReplyDeleteFor instant, if I want to have noodle for lunch, I will most properly have noodle got lunch even if all the others are having rice. If I do not know what I want to have for lunch, I will just follow the crowd.
Teenagers usually do not have an identity yet, so they will just do whatever their friends are doing, or start up a trend and persuade people around them to join in. This might have to do with the ' not to be left out' mentality. Whatever results it may led to, they are facing the consequences together.