Violence - Tag - In a past life…

Bits & Pieces 2013-06-06

J. Timothy King — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 14:00:12 +0000

Links and things that I’ve run across recently.

April Fools!

A couple months out of date…

Starting today, we are shifting to a two-tiered service: Everyone can use our basic service, Twttr, but you only get consonants. For five dollars a month, you can use our premium “Twitter” service which also includes vowels.

Unfortunately, the post had to be withdrawn from the Hebrew and Arabic versions of the site, because no one understood the joke.

(Not really. I made that last part up.)

Stories to Evoke Fear; Stories to Inspire Love

J. Timothy King — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 00:00:13 +0000

This is part 2 of my story of being subjected to the “texting while driving” video making the rounds, the kind of unintended effects videos like this can have, and why the alternative is so much more satisfying.

To sum up from yesterday, a friend of mine posted on Facebook the “texting while driving” video, which contains an extreme, violently graphic depiction of a severe (maybe fatal) auto accident. My friend posted this with only one comment, that it’s “a short video that speaks volumes.” Not a word of warning regarding its nature or content. And I frankly beg to differ regarding how well it “speaks” and what it says.

For the full experience, however, click here for part 1.

WARNING: Be Inspired Rather than Subjected to the "Texting while Driving" Video

J. Timothy King — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 00:33:24 +0000

I was going to write about something else today, but now I’ve forgotten what it is.

Instead, I’m going to talk about a personally traumatic experience. Because I was one of the people today subjected to the “texting while driving” video that’s been making the rounds.

I say “subjected to,” because I had not heard of it before, and I received absolutely no warning of its extreme, violently graphic content. So I am giving you fair warning, if you haven’t seen it. But I also want to talk about the dangers of watching videos like this, and about the alternative. Because I’m so emotionally keyed-up, I might say something I’ll regret later. But I think I need to express a unique insight on this video, as a writer and storyteller. I’ll also connect it to a repeated trauma that I was forced to experience when I was in elementary school.

This essay is long enough that I’m splitting it up over 2 days. I’m scheduling the second part to be published about 24 hours after this one. (That’s Wednesday at 8 PM.)

And I promise not to name names. (At least not real names.)