A rape video goes viral. How Social Media can be a tool for great evil.

Social media can be an awesome tool for a myriad of reasons. Keeping in touch, news, entertainment, etc...However, just as with many other things, there is always a negative element, as seen below.

Link to source.

Johannesburg (CNN) -- South Africans woke up on Wednesday morning to the claim that a group of Soweto youths had filmed themselves raping a 17-year-old girl believed to be mentally ill.

The cellphone video is said to have gone viral among school kids in the township south of Johannesburg, and the term #rapevideo was trending on Twitter in South Africa on Wednesday.

The station reports that the gang of men promised the girl 25 cents for her silence.

And now this is "trending" worldwide.

What a sad world we live in. Obviously, rape is nothing new in our world. Neither are brutal stories such as the one linked.

However, with the popularity of social media...YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, etc...these stories seem to be more and more commonplace.

The worst part is, as shown above, perpetrators are now showing off their crimes (not just rape) via these outlets.

And even worse than that, there seems to be a great deal of interest in wanting to view the video amongst many on Twitter, and not just the regular perverts, but seemingly regular people...who see this as entertainment.

For what purpose?

I know there are a few South African members here amongst us. I'd like to hear their input as well.

reply to post by Juston


The worst part is, as shown above, perpetrators are now showing off their crimes (not just rape) via these outlets.


It's the worst part and the best part, as there is now evidence of the crime...


Stupid is as Stupid does...

reply to post by facelift



True, but with the intent of distribution. Thats what gets me. What is there to be proud of?

reply to post by Juston


Nick them all and bang them all up.

The same for any one who watches it.

What is wrong with some people?

Sick.

unfortunatly, the problem is , at least these days, we as a people are very visually oriented, so wanting to see this video to confirm/deny its relevance, and getting a clearer picture, i dont know if the OP is knowledgeable on so called shock sites, people want to see it, because they dont believe it, that being said.
the girl who was raped should be helped, because justice in kapetown is looking for a needle in 10 haystacks, and in soweto alone, these things happen on a regular basis, that is however harsh, is the reality.
being a ''white'' and having a very close friend live in capetown, i have never experienced the soweto situation myself, because we are strongly advised not to go near( although it is something worth visiting)
yet i cannot help myself thinking, what is different from all those other rapes, you said it yourself, every 26 seconds.
an unfortunate statistic brought on by the ever prevailing poverty amongst indiginous south africans.
aside from the video footage ofcourse.

reply to post by Megustav



Oh, I'm very aware of shock sites. Thing is though, you've gotta seek those places out, or even know about them. But with social media, it might show up on your feed, wall, channel, etc...without consent.

NGOs estimate a woman is raped every 26 seconds in the country.

...very disturbing statistic..

There are countless websites that claim to be for 'adult entertainment' that host these sort of videos.. one in particular I can think of has dozens. It's truly disgusting - as far as I know, the site operates on the fringes of legality. It probably says something about my internet browsing habits that I know of that sort of place, but there you go.

And I'm not talking about Hollywood-style 'rape fantasy' scenes which I'm sure we've all seen. The ones I speak of are filmed in the 'heat of the moment' usually on cellphone cameras and pretty clearly feature a victim in real distress. One that always sticks in my mind is one filmed during the final offensives of the Sri Lankan army against the Tamil insurgency - a Tamil woman is shown partially disrobed, obviously having been raped and then shot.

Human beings are dark creatures. I can deal with a lot of sick and disturbing things.. I used to be into the 'gore' thing when I was a teenager. It was less about enjoying what I was seeing and more about testing my personal limits of what I could push myself to sit through. Today I'm completely jaded to almost everything. But theres something just so fundamentally wrong about rape thats really truly disgusting.

it sucks kids worldwide are exposed - and desensitized - to this smut all around them including online. eye rape.

you could just be googling something for a 1st grade project and even with parental controls, nasty stuff can get by.

kids are extremely desensitized to smut, gore & violence so find it tolerable or even entertaining to indulge in, at later years.

it just gets worse and worse what people are aroused or entertained by - even rape.

what is rape? explicit sex and forcible violence, together.

reply to post by Megustav

The ever prevailing poverty is not the reason for the rapes-there are many millions upon millions of very poor young men all over the world,including my country,who do not rape,murder and hijack/burglarise/rob.It is a mindset of no respect for the lives,feelings and property of others,that is the cause.

And in my country,DEFINITELY the major cause of rape,murder and other crimes,is the inefficiency of the Police,a swamped court system,rampant corruption and bribery in the Police force,justice+prison system,and government being MUCH too soft on crime in general.Since the ANC government took over in 1994,this country has gone to the dogs where crime is concerned.This government does not seem to have the political will to stop crime,and the way things are,only a return to the death sentence and draconian measures will stop the tidal wave of crime-which they will NEVER do-strong measures against crime and the death penalty to this government is anathema-they equate such drastic measures with the previous apartheid government,for some reason.

In all cases like this video,and not just this case confined to my country,it is because there seems to be a "market" for such despicable things.Humanity is very sick,in general,this is just one of the systems.I cannot be sure,i did not watch the video-but these youths propably dont even see this as rape-to them,im sure,its just fun.Im serious.Hate to bring race into this,but seeing you asked a South African for their perspective-here it is.Being a fellow black person,propably saved this girl's life.If she was white,chances are 9 out of 10,she would have been murdered after the rape.I hate that this will make me sound racist,because i am in actual fact one of the least racist people you will ever meet.But what i said is tue,take it or leave it.

reply to post by Juston


Another terrible aspect of this is it will probably lead to arguments about censoring the internet. Just watch as the local governments use this as an excuse for doing just that in the coming months.

The internet can be a wonder, but it has its dark side. It would not be the same without this dark side, and even if the internet is censored, it will not reduce the rate of violence or atrocities ANYWHERE.

Have all those kid in the video arrested and give them death penalty, let's see how many kids want to replicate that, weak ass south african judicial system.


Posted Via ATS Mobile: m.abovetopsecret.com

There is a R50000 reward out for. the victim or the whereabouts of her boyfriend ???????????

Truly disgusting and barbaric. These delinquents deserve to be humiliated publicly and the strong arm of the law needs to come down hard.

Unfortunately, with the way things are going in the U.S. we are bound to turn into another S.A.

Originally posted by marvinthemartian
reply to post by Juston

 

Nick them all and bang them all up.

The same for any one who watches it.

What is wrong with some people?

Sick.

This ^^^^

Unbelievable. I feel sick to think that people have stooped so low as to distribute, then others to watch, such a horrendous crime. I wonder how base we are becoming as a species, that we are constantly pushing our boundaries as to what becomes acceptable.

It amazes me that a human commits such a crime against another human, but to then record it like it's an act to be proud of, then show to others - for me that makes this person below human.

They should not be afforded "human rights" because they have simply not shown ANY humanity towards their victim...

reply to post by facchino

Oh thats the way it goes in South Africa-the criminals have more rights than the law-abiding citizens.If a burglar (armed or unarmed ) breaks into your house and you shoot first and injure/kill him,you will most likely be arrested on the spot.Either way there will be an attempted murder/murder charge be brought-against YOU.Yes,really.

Thats exactly what happened to a friend of mine-he woke one night to find 3 intruders(if i remember correctly,1 or 2 of them were armed also) trying to break into his sister's house,where he lived with her and her 2 kids.Luckily he is a good shot,he managed to kill 2 of them-however,there was a 3 year long court case..he was arrested on the spot,and it took all those years before he was let off.

Let me put it this way,why would the government stop the criminals doing their dirty work for them? When they would face sanctions and worldwide condemnation (if not actual intervention,i suppose) if they did it themselves.Think back to a dark time,in Europe,you catch my drift?

Crime in now fair game entertainment.

Geez, everything Mcluhan way saying in the 50s and 60s about the electronic revolution is true. "The medium is the message". And the "message" of social media is just how sick, paranoid, immoral, and jaded humanity has become.

reply to post by Juston


Scary......while waiting for my next BSG episode to upload, I thought I would kill time on ATS and this was the first thread......and there staring back at me is a fracking Cylon!.....nice job at freaking me out.

reply to post by Res Ipsa


All this has happened before, and all of it will happen again.

It seems Romney ultimately backs the misogyny of "corrective rape" via his ultra conservative backers.

And it happens everyday under Obama too: