Marvel getting desperate
No, he hasn't endeared himself to anyone never finishing "Song of Ice and Fire" -especially with the horrid HBO ending serving as the de facto ending of the story - but he's correct. Social media sites have ramped up what has always been human nature: schadenfreude and self-righteousness (and they do it purposefully to get people to stay longer on their sites, which generates more money to the social media sites).
But these reactions aren't anything new. An MRI study done several years ago revealed that people's most positive emotional response wasn't to good news about something or someone they support, but in fact was hearing that something bad happened to something or someone they did not like.
Social media has taken that tribal instinct and put a magnifying glass to it because:
a) disputes and events that used to happen and be quickly forgotten are now posted on sites that expose them world wide, and
b) people don't feel the awkwardness of saying things in person to people's faces and so say truly horrible things because they don't feel the automatic negative feedback of speaking inappropriately that one feels when doing so in person.
It's a sad state of affairs. People really aren't any meaner than they used to be (humans have always been cruel); it's just that people have been given carte blanche to act on their basest instincts whereas they did not have that outlet so readily available to them before.
No, he hasn't endeared himself to anyone never finishing "Song of Ice and Fire" -especially with the horrid HBO ending serving as the de facto ending of the story - but he's correct. Social media sites have ramped up what has always been human nature: schadenfreude and self-righteousness (and they do it purposefully to get people to stay longer on their sites, which generates more money to the social media sites).
But these reactions aren't anything new. An MRI study done several years ago revealed that people's most positive emotional response wasn't to good news about something or someone they support, but in fact was hearing that something bad happened to something or someone they did not like.
Social media has taken that tribal instinct and put a magnifying glass to it because:
a) disputes and events that used to happen and be quickly forgotten are now posted on sites that expose them world wide, and
b) people don't feel the awkwardness of saying things in person to people's faces and so say truly horrible things because they don't feel the automatic negative feedback of speaking inappropriately that one feels when doing so in person.
It's a sad state of affairs. People really aren't any meaner than they used to be (humans have always been cruel); it's just that people have been given carte blanche to act on their basest instincts whereas they did not have that outlet so readily available to them before.