Enough is enough.
That's all I can really say on the matter to begin with. Enough is enough. We've indulged this rampant idiocy for too long, and now I'm going to speak out against it. I know that I'm not the only one who has this view on the matter - I am really just setting out the thoughts of many, but at the same time I believe a coherent counterargument needs to be formed, because matters are getting out of hand.
Warning: I plan on being fairly brutal. If you're an advocate of Project 512, you probably have a thin skin, so I'd advise you not to read this. However, if you are an advocate of Project 512, you're probably too self-righteous to heed this advice, so continue at your peril.
What the hell is Project 512?: This bit I'll explain without bias, because there are probably a few people here who don't know what I'm talking about. I can't actually find an official description on the site - but the gist of it is this. Project 512 is a website that is moderated by young adults and targeted at combating depression, anxiety, bullying - basically any problem that affects teenagers. You basically log on, find the forum that describes your particular issue, write about it, and other users respond. There is merchandise, donation options, that sort of thing.
Now I'm going to present my arguments as to exactly why Project 512 is a terrible, terrible thing and why it would be far better for those involved if the entire site was destroyed. This may seem rather over-zealous, but it has taken me some time to come to this conclusion and I'm going to present this as logically as possible.
Point 1: Project 512 encourages self-diagnosis and hypochondria due to incredibly poor standards of response.
I'll put this in simple terms. Angsty Child 1 posts up a story about their issue of choice. Angsty Child 2 responds with something along the lines of "that sucks, sounds like you have bi-polar/depression/*insert mental condition here*". Angsty Child 1 believes this, whether or not they actually have such a condition.
Medical diagnosis complete, without the intervention of a trained professional! Marvellous. Which leads me on to my second point.
Point 2: Project 512 has little to no appropriate moderation.
Nine times out of ten this isn't a problem. The individuals that go on there and tell their "omg nobody likes me SOMEONE HELP" stories usually get responses along the lines of "that sucks, but look what happened to me!". And that's fine - there isn't actually anything wrong with these teenagers, they just have angst. But what if someone comes along with serious issues? With blanket access for all users, what is to stop some twelve year old taking the piss - or even simply giving a trivial response, such as "lol that sucks." Especially in the cases of advanced mental disorders, it wouldn't take much to push someone over the edge, and this site encourages them to pour out their heart and soul to an entity of teenagers wrapped up in their own problems. Not exactly safe or healthy.
Point 3: Project 512 is a breeding ground for angst. It exacerbates the problem rather than combats it.
This is the point I believe I will face the most opposition about. I base this upon individuals I'm actually aware of who frequent the site, and from browsing the site's contents and drawing logical conclusions from said contents. I refuse to believe that surrounding yourself with the issues of others and airing your own issues in such a setting is conductive to good mental health. There is a place for discussing and surmounting your issues. That place is with a trained professional. It is an inappropriate setting for real issues, and it encourages the teenage penchant for attention whoring, excessive drama, and pointless anger. Thus, it is detrimental to the teenage population that accesses it.
Point 4: The moderators/higher ups of the website are utterly self-righteous and pompous, to the point of being spiteful and vicious in defence of their creation.
This is where, sadly, I am going to have to get personal. I speak primarily of [edited], though I am sure they are not the sole representatives of this cohort. The phrase "If you're not for us, you're against us" applies here, and also my arguments in my previous blog post about 'weak' personalities. These two individuals in particular have nothing else of interest in their lives. Their Facebook pages, conversation - in short, their lives - revolve around Project 512, and their 'issues'. They should be considered seperately, however, and I'm going to cover them both simply because they both illustrate my point in different ways.
[Edited] is, simply put, a distraught and unhappy teenager who has been encouraged to not only express his discontent with himself, but positively wallows in it. At any hour of the day he is self-loathing and what's more, he seems to take a warped sort of satisfaction out of it. And at the heart of this is Project 512. I feel nothing but pity for him and urge him, if he is reading this, to seek proper help - this is a poor substitute.
[Edited] is, to my knowledge, the founder of Project 512 and its chief supporter. In short, it has consumed him. The phrase 'self-righteous douchebag' is one that has been applied many times, and I think it very apt. It is a curious thing that sometimes people who believe they are doing good in the world are so monumentally arrogant about it that they place themselves far above everyone else, and [Edited] has certainly done that. He is judgemental, aggressive in defence of his creation, preaching - even going so far as to attack other, similiar causes (those who have encountered him will remember his rage at TWLOHA Day, claiming it was for 'Twilight bitches who don't know what they're talking about.) There is no way in his eyes but his way, and unfortunately Project 512 has encouraged in him the teenage penchant for believing that everyone is against him. The rumours that he spends the donations and merchandise proceeds on his car, admittedly, have no evidence behind them - but I would believe them.
I have nothing more to say on him, say that I hold him in a position of utmost contempt and want nothing to do with him save laugh at his incredible stupidity and arrogance.
To conclude this: Project 512 is a plague upon those who use it. It encourages and exacerbates their issues, would be downright dangerous for those individuals who actually need professional help, encourages self-diagnosis and self-righteous arrogance, and should not be allowed to continue.
12 comments:
I agree with the points which you made about 512 being an unhealthy environment for people with 'problems' to be in.
After all, Misery does love company!
But aside from that, it probably wasn't all that fair to personally target two people, even if they are responsible to the site/admin. It isn't really a fair thing to make sweeping generalisations about these people, and especially when specifically referring to and identifying these individuals on a public domain (ie using their names for everyone to see).
I expected the examples given to cause the most controversy in people's responses, for obvious reasons.
To be fair, I will acknowledge that the conclusions I drew on both those people are based on how they have presented themselves publicly and on nothing else. For all I know, in private they are completely different people.
In public, however, the traits they display were too fitting for my argument to ignore - but I'll edit out their names anyway.
It'll still be quite obvious who I'm talking about, but this isn't in the nature of a personal attack, more a portrayal of the pitfalls of Project 512.
I agree with pretty much everything you said here, I have been waiting a long time for someone to speak their mind on it, and this pretty much sums up everything that is wrong about it. Granted it is a good idea, just executed very wrongly and by the wrong people.
Wow. Project 512 is... I don't know. I feel like some sort of emotional vulture, just from a quick browse of the forums. Emo poetry, discussions on cutting... "Is it so wrong to feel so good?"
Is placing such an opinion in public view a good thing for impressionable people, particularly young adults? They may in fact start cutting as a result of exposure to such an opinion. Smoothly segue to the Yellow Ribbon fiasco, where the NZ Government said much the same thing of the youth suicide awareness organisation(http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10010612&pnum=1).
I believe that (to use depression as an example here) discussing depression with other depressed people will lead to more depression. People that have overcome depression may be able to help - to show the path, as it were - but requires people in the discussion that have conquered depression. In an internet discussion, heavy moderation or interjections by trained professionals should be mandatory, attempting to create a situation not unlike a group therapy session.
Unfortunately, the anonymity of the Internet will draw the attention-seekers, the forum trolls, who by their very nature will monopolize the time of said professionals, leaving the people who actually need help without it.
In the end, if someone needs help, they should seek help; from a medical professional or a trusted friend, not a visit to a website for solutions. And it comes down to us - both individually and as a society - to make the act of asking for help socially acceptable.
Well hello Jason, I disagree fully, your post is not logical what so ever. I took a look at the site, and what your blubbering about is complete nonesense. What makes me laugh more is, if this is you:
"Having said that, the site is somewhat spiffy and I approve heartily.
Even if it encourages self-diagnosed teenagers with a deep-seated desire to be..."
Isn't that contradictory? You say you love the guy's site and now you're here saying crap and lies. Are you jealous of the admins efforts in making the world a better place? And what about this rumor? Where the hell did that rumor come from? Your ass? Is that the only shit that's been flying out from there and are more going to emerge? Please... Be logical man and look at the site more before you post silly things like this... I really think your just jealous of this guy's efforts, its written all over your face...
About self diagnoses, why are you so quick to say such horrible things?
Funny how you said if you put an area filled with people who are down then its going to cause problems like they are some sort of disease... The site's purpose is to make people feel wanted in the world when they feel no one else they know can be confronted. Also, if you pay attention, the admin ALWAYS mentions that they should seek professional help, while your sitting there phrasing it as if it never crossed his mind and only saying random things from his head. You make me laugh, get your facts damn straight, or are you just looking at things crookedly?
Your one sad man...
No sir, what is sad is that you had to make an anonymous alias to speak your mind. If that is truly how you feel then you would of backed up your statement with the support of your identity.
That post that you are quoting, IgnoreItAll, actually went on to critique the site further. I cannot quote the entire post, as perhaps understandably I have been banned from the 512 forums.
If you are who I suspect you are - poor spelling and grammar, personal, childish remarks - I suggest you back down. You're raising a hue and cry about absolutely nothing. The above are my views, I have backed them up, and I will stand by them.
Also, as to the threat of legal proceedings if I do not take down the 512 logo from the top of this site - I refuse to do so.
This whole thing has been blown completley out of proportion. After all, I'm just one person expressing my point of view. If you don't like it, nobody is forcing you to read it.
And the post did warn you you might not like it.
I have to say that a couple of the points that are raised are, while relevant, unanavoidable. With the point that there are young adults using and in fact running the site; there are a vast amount of websites like it. Any popular forum site could host such negative things and are quite obviously also lacking professionals in the area of "teenage angst".
Some good points were raised, I must say that I myself did originally support the idea of the site just as it was starting, and yes, therefor I am a user of the website. By saying this, I have to argue that not all of the users on the website are filled to the brim with teenage angst. I consider myself now quite mentally stable and in some cases find it 'mentally soothing' to sit back and notice that I am no longer an angsty nuisance. I think that in some cases the website could be found to be atleast partially guilty (no matter how little or big the partial may be) of bringing on negative thoughts/behaviour/feedback. I can see why some of the users could be summarised as self righteous, but you must remember that written words are easily misinterpreted.
I will say as a person who has recovered from severe depression that the website could potentially trigger a very negative event, not necessarily from poor or ignorant advice, but even from just one bad comment. It can set people over the edge.
I couldn't have possibly imagined that the website could have come to this point, this level of controversy...I honestly thought the website would go no where and no one would ever really know about it.
From reading one of the comments about this blog, I must say one thing of defence for the website: in some cases it is absotulely necessary for someone who is (for lack of a better word) angsty, people need to be able to vent, some people need an environment where they can talk about the fact that they harm themselves, some people need to be able to share their poetry (however crap it may be), because they feel unable to say exactly what it is that is making them so upset. Heck, some people even just need to be able to talk about how fucked up they think their life is because it can make them feel like they aren't alone.
When I was sick, I thirsted for an oppertunity to see if any one else hurt the same way that I did, everyone I knew in real life made it apparent that I was alone. I found pleasure in writing crappy poems because it felt like for once I was getting the words out, and for once they actually meant something. Yes, some of the things on these websites that I used did resort in negative thoughts/plans/behaviours...but these websites will always be around. There will always be wesbites that encourage people to self diagnose (I know that I was encouraged to, but the problem was that I was right). It's just sad that some people who self diagnose never seek the help of a proffesional afterward.
I need to sum this up now:
I feel that I can not personally express my feelings towards the website, in fear of appearing to be "for or against" the website, but even more so because this website has become so controversial in a particular school environment and I would not want to cause any trouble. But wow by this point with school over, I don't care any more. Also this thing won't let me post anonymously.
Feona, that was masterful fence-sitting right there. Interesting points.
I never thought of it as fence sitting, but I must say it is a rather accurate word for it! I'm glad that I won't really have to put up with all of this stuff now that school is over.
I feel that Feona's points were not only interesting but accurate. Since I first noticed the site the purpose it served was seemingly just a way to vent. A way to find others with similar situations. Poetry, conversation, and confessions hardly seem to be destructive actions that one should be worried about.
However, I would certainly agree with you as far as professional help goes along with your opinion of the administration. Although I do not know the name of said admin, the way he bashed your post and refused to comment left me with very little respect for him (much like "IgnoreItAll" on this blog). You made a valid, rational argument and brought up some crucial points on which it seems his intention is to ignore.
It seems like many teens are tired of hearing about professionals. They may consider themselves "beyond help" and be put off someone's suggestion to get help.
HOWEVER, this is no excuse for leaving it out of your website.
I'm sure it would be annoying but there really ought to be a professional help suggestion or link on basically every page. I wouldn't disagree if you said that he is more concerned about his website than his users but unfortunately that is not reason enough to discredit the whole idea and the positive effect many users may find when Project 512 is used the way I understand it was intended.
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