the era of cyber humiliation..

today's society consists of a new form of public humiliation, which comes in the form of social networking sites. instead of people actually writing mean comments or sending messages directly towards a person, they now have the chance to anonymously post opinions of others.

in the past few years the amount of facebook pages being created under the name of "spotted in..." have increased dramatically. at the beginning it started in cities, towns and villages. however, now you can find these type of pages directed at the schools or universities you go to. 

adults that use these pages, actually put them to good use. And many have found them useful in terms of finding a lost cat,  advertising jobs, or selling an item. on the other hand young teens have decided to take a new direction, and have gone as far as using it to personally ridicule others, and the worst part of it is, you don't know who wrote it. 

posting comments anonymously is not a new concept, sites such as formspring, askfm and tumblr have an option to create an anonymous question. however you are able to chose whether you delete this comment or post it publicly. 

whereas this is much different, your name may not be written in the post, but chances are there will be something on it that describes something about you, which instinctively you'll then realise they're written about you.

in more recent times snapchat pages have been popping up which in some cases could be worse. i myself recently became a victim on this type of page, my full name was posted across the snapchat. the thing is that anyone can access this, so in the long run it is more humiliating for you. 

of course its easy to just report the comment, but at the end of the day why should something like that have been posted in the first place? if the admin of the page can see it is a post that could hurt someone in some way then why do they they publish it...

some schools have had to get involved because students have been made targets. the comments and posts about people can be awful. i just feel these pages are unnecessary, because they aren't put to good use by the majority. who cares if you saw a "hottie" walking down the street, why post about it, stalker alert!!! although some comments may seem amusing from your point of view, you've got to sit there and think about how the person who's being written about is feeling.

all in all these pages are probably just a phase and will die out eventually, even i found them amusing at first. its all fun and games until you get posted up there, then you realise that really they're just pointless...

Do YOU feel safe in Southampton?

Every week there are reports of robbery and sexual attacks in Southampton. Not all attacks are towards students, but many members of the public also become affected by these assaults.

The city council website claims that crime rates have dropped by 14 per cent, this is according to their 2009/10 figures. However these figures are now outdated, and it would be interesting to see if they have increased or decreased in three to four years.

Nationwide, Southampton has a relatively low theft rate, especially when it is compared to cities such as Bristol, Manchester and Birmingham, which have some of the highest theft rates in the country. This does not change the fact that some people do not feel safe around Southampton, especially young students.

The UK Crime Stats website, which is updated monthly, states that Southampton had 211 violent attacks in January this year, these occured in the Itchen and Test areas of the city.

Southampton Solent University do promote things such as the “The Knight Bus”, “Take a mate” and “The Walking Bus”, all of which help students get to where they want to be safely. And as for the University of Southampton they provide a service called the “Safety Bus”. On the other hand these services only run up to a certain time meaning that when it comes to nights out students either pay for a taxi or walk home.

As for the local authorities they are constantly trying to cut down on the amount of crime that is currently in the city. The community have asked for a cut down in theft and fraud in shops and business and theft from a person, therefore Hampshire Constabulary have been working closely with SOBAC and shopwatch to target repeat offenders, even though it does seem that it isn’t always repeat offenders which do the crime. However there are still many attacks which have taken place.

George How, 19 was in Subway on Friday evening when he was approached by a tall male who asked to “borrow” his phone. He said “I handed my phone to the man in Subway and thought he’d call who he needed to then and there, but it turned out I found him slowly edging towards the door… I followed him out of the shop until I found myself in the park opposite Café Parfait” he continued his story by saying “He pretended to trip and the next thing I knew he’d gone and so had my phone.” After getting in contact with the police they said “We will get in contact with Subway at the beginning of the week, and check the CCTV footage for you. But for now you will just have to wait.” He was then given their contact details.

It isn’t just anyone stealing, students have stolen for students too, according to Leo Norton, 19. He said “I went to a flat party to find my phone had been taken out of my pocket… this was done by another student and I can’t understand why people feel the need to do this. I would never do this to anymore and I fully believe in karma.”

The Daily Echo has also reported that an investigation has begun into the robbery and sexual attack of a 19 year old boy. It happened in the early hours of Monday morning near St Mary’s Church. It has been said he took cash out of the nearest Tesco Express, and shortly after was followed by a man. Police are appealing for witnesses that may have been near to the scene at the time.

As for sexual attacks in the city boys and girls are warned to avoid areas of the city at night due to there being previous incidents in the area. During the first few weeks of freshers there were reports of several sexual attacks, which worried many, however it is all about taking care and being safe.

These same questions are always asked “Is the city safe enough?”, “What can be done about it?” and “Why isn’t anything changing?” Students are told from the beginning to avoid small alley ways and the parks around central Southampton, and as for members of the public they are also likely to know that these areas are not to use when daylight hours are over.

Oscar Pistorius trial- Guilty or not guilty?

 Oscar Pistorius was previously known as the amputee that managed to race in both disabled and abled events. At the 2012 Summer Olympics he raced in the mens 400 metres and the 4 x 400 relay, proving to the world that he was able to keep up with able bodied people as well.

This story is important for the world because before this happened he was seen as a role model, most likely by young amputees who wanted to become an athlete. One thing you can’t take away from him is that his persistence to race against able bodied people never stopped.

However on 14^th February 2013 he was charged with the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, who he shot 3 times. The trial is currently taking place, Pistorius has pleaded not guilty to the crime. However experts say through post mortem examinations that the bullets used to kill Keeva were of high impact and shattered tissue instantly. He was also known as a “gun lover” by many people.  

Pistorius’ story is that he believed someone was breaking in through the bathroom, apparently there were no burglar bars there. He also recalls that he thought his girlfriend was still next to him in bed at the time. Furthermore he was also on his stumps so felt very scared and felt the need to defend himself and girlfriend. One thing about this story is that how can someone not realise that their partner was next to them? Surely if you were to hear a noise you would look at your partner and then check. Not go in all guns blazing.

The BBC reported today that during the post mortem evidence he covered his ears and was sick, does this show signs of a guilty or not guilty man? You could argue that because of these actions he is in total shock and couldn’t believe the damage he has done, or he’s just a good actor.

During a radio bulletin a few weeks ago regarding the Pistorius trial; BBC Radio Coventry and Warwickshire accidentally put sound effects such as howling dogs and women screaming, it left listeners speechless. Whether this was an accident or not it definitely shouldn’t have happened during a professional show.

News 24 South Africa’s news has their top story about how there was a difference in statements by two witnesses, therefore his lawyers are querying this discrepancies. If they’re two different people surely their version of the stories are going to be different.

Personally I feel he is a guilty man, I just don’t see how it is possible to not realise your partner isn’t in the bed. Yes I understand that houses can get burgled, but he has security guards on site, so they’d hopefully stop them anyway.

William Roache Trial Continues...

William Roache trial: Coronation Street actor 'never met' accusers

William Roache is well known in the soap world. The 81 year old who is undergoing trial has pleaded not guilty to two rapes and four indecent assaults against five women aged 16 or under between the years 1965-1971. He also isn’t the only celebrity to be accused of sexual attacks on young children these past few years. Jimmy Savile whom was also in the limelight around this time was found guilty of more than 200 alleged attacks on young children. On the other hand co-star Michael Le Vell was recently wrongly accused of a string of sexual assaults and has recently said “This is my year… I am going to win back my career and kids”.

Ever since the Savile case the police have had hundreds of people flooding in telling their side of the story about how they were sexually abused by these actors at a young age. One view would be to say, were these people wanting this attention from them, if so, why are they now coming forward to complain. Of course sexual abuse is no joke and it is unlikely that people are going to lie, however there are the few that do.

The other view would be that these people felt that they wouldn’t have been believed, coming out and saying to anyone that you have been abused is difficult for anyone, mainly because many feel it is their fault, when as a matter of fact that’s not the case. Therefore whilst people were keeping quiet, these celebrities were able to roam around reoffending and hurting others. There is also the argument that rape is taken much more seriously in the 21^st century, many laws and regulations have been passed regarding this type of attack. Women and men shouldn’t feel like nobody is going to believe them anymore.

I personally find it hard to believe that if all these cases turn out to be true, how people were not believed at the time, it’s a dreadful thing to think that just because they are celebrities they were given lenience. We are all humans just because someone is on the TV does not mean that their sentencing should be different to any others.

I guess the final question is who will be accused next!?