This post is done in reference to the newspaper article titled “They died ‘so as to save the world’ “published on 13th September 2009 in The Sunday Times.
We are all probably quite familiar with this story that has been running in the papers since the court proceedings for this case started. Eight boys planned to jump off the building because they believed that by doing so they can save the world, resulting in the deaths of two teenagers with the others backing out, one backing out earlier on and the others got frightened after seeing their two friends jumping down.
Verbal Communication here is used by Witaya (the leader of the group , as stated in The Sunday Times article) to express the ideas and opinion of one to a group of people as well as for building up a relationship with them. But most unfortunately, the ideas and opinions expressed almost led to the deaths of 8 teenage boys, where he convinced them that they had to die in order to become slayers to save the world by killing demons and that world war 3 was coming. He also built up a relationship with this group of boys through active verbal communication, asking them if they had any problems and “always advised them to be good.”
When some of us read about all this, we sometimes can’t help but wonder how they could believe in something that we might feel is ridiculous or something that we thought no one could possibly believe in. But somehow words managed to work its power.
According to one of the boys, as quoted from The Sunday Times, said “….whatever he says, we will believe….”
We are able see the impact of language through this incident. We are able to see how powerful words are. This normal 16 year old teenager’s words had so much power. It even had the power to convince the others that in order to save the world they had to give up their lives.
The power of words can be so powerful that it sometimes terrifies me but in other times amaze me. It can bring someone down but it is also able to push someone up to achieve greater things. It can shape someone’s thoughts and perception. It can hurt someone but it can also comfort someone.
Perhaps perception had a role to play too. Witaya may have , during selecting information, filter/retained certain specific stimuli or information based on his beliefs or preference then organized the information through one of the organizational principle , figure and ground , becoming too focused on a certain point , in this case that certain point being they have to do something to save the world .This resulted in a misinterpretation where he may he have interpreted it based on his individual characteristics , on what he believed in. Thus creating a warp perception of things which was then commuicated to the others.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Hello there! Yes, I've been following up on this story and to tell you the truth, it kinda spooked me out. Its rather amazing that Witaya was able to convince his friends that committing suicide was the only way out so as to appease the 'spirits' so to speak. His friends must have really trusted him and his words to have continued attending his sessions and all. I agree with you on the point that the power of words is really powerful at times.
ReplyDeleteIts a great post by the way...so keep 'em coming :)
Also, please do drop by my blog at www.aqidahrahman.blogspot.com
Thank You! xoxo Aqidah
Yiran!
ReplyDeleteI read the article too, and I was so shocked at the real story of events. The teenager really used language and his persuasion skills to change the opinions of the boys, in this case, killing two, albeit indirectly.
Hence we should all learn a lesson from this. In our daily lives, we can watch what we say to people, as well as differentiate between right and wrong about what some people say.
Good job! :)
Aiming
Though this post focuses on the main point about verbal communication, but I feel that many aspects of communication goes on and resulted in this tragedy. Like for example, the common experiences they shared in their gaming, what goes on in their mind while they played the game. On the other hand, these teenagers had also been involved in medium activities which can be considered supernatural and things might have happened which was beyond their control.
ReplyDeleteNevertheless, it is true, that though the spoken persuasion of Witaya which led to the death of his friend. But why did we not question who, or what had the hold of leading Witaya to believe in being a slayer in order to save the world?
hey yiran
ReplyDeleteit amazing how powerful verbal communication can be isn't it? but i think what mattered more here was groupthink. it was scary how they were able to influence each other's attitude and mindset into taking their lives away so easily. what do you think?