(no subject)

[rm]

http://suburbanjournals.stltoday.com/articles/2007/11/11/news/sj2tn20071110-1111stc_pokin_1.ii1.txt

A young teenager kills herself after her online boyfriend turns on her. But the boyfriend wasn't real; rather he was the product of the parents of a girl the suicide used to be friends with.

As I said in the comments on karnythia's journal, this has me close to tears because it confirms every terrible thing I've ever thought about childhood, parents and popularity.

Comments

[redstapler.livejournal.com]

Wow.

That is ABHORRENT.

[heron61.livejournal.com]

I'm completely overwhelmed with how horrible some people can be. Dear gods that's utterly vile. I can easily see teens doing this sort of thing to one another, but parents of a teen should at least have some vague clue of why this was a deeply wrong thing to be doing.

[schmidtybooger.livejournal.com]

Dear god that's terrible. There is no hell bad enough for people like that.

[delicatetbone.livejournal.com]

God that is so awful...there are times when I am thankful that my diaries from highschool were not online. Shit, there are times when I stress out now about online drama -- I can't imagine what it would be like if I were 16

[marzipan-pig.livejournal.com]

I've thought this too, I've been about sick about ridiculous LJ stuff as a full-on adult, I would have been in trouble as a kid.

Once in adolescence my parents brought another family over to the house to apologize for some bullying cruelty to my sister, and it made a big impression on me, that my family (difficult as they were) were willing to stand up for us about stuff like that. My mom had been (complexly, about ethnic stuff) bullied as a kid and I think she couldn't stand to see it happen to us too (though for totally different reasons).

[rm.livejournal.com]

Word. I had a similar reaction. The answer to this problem is not slapping additional regulations on MySpace.

[pennswoods.livejournal.com]

This makes me ill on so many levels - and even more certain I never want to have children.

I suspect that what they did was already illegal

[haya.livejournal.com]

as I think it would qualify as stalking and harassment.
One problem we have though is that many states have very different ways of interpreting and enforcing this.

Re: I suspect that what they did was already illegal

[sethg]

At the very least, they'd have grounds to sue for "intentional infliction of emotional distress".

Also it distresses me how much people

[haya.livejournal.com]

seem to be into abusing others these days.
I remember a fair amount of it happening when I was young, but people are a lot more public about it now.
And especially the younger crowd has a great deal of difficulty appreciating each other.
Someone can work very hard and accomplish a lot, but they are nothing if they are not also pretty, and just the right weight and shape.
It's scary.

[annablume.livejournal.com]

That's horrifying.

[roadnotes.livejournal.com]

The parents who could come up with this idea just horrify me. And yes, it makes me think that all the horrific things I try to convince myself aren't true of people are.

[awe-struck.livejournal.com]

This makes me sad, tearful and ill all at the same time.

I hate when parents defend their children at all costs and this is certainly a case of that.

As a parent myself, I try to be honest about what my child might or might not do. When she is in the right, I fight tooth and nail for her. When she is wrong, I do not defend her. I can not imagine going to these lengths for her.

How sad for the parents.

[phaenix-ash.livejournal.com]

what vile people.

i am so terrified of the things i'm going to have to deal with as T grows older, whether she's one of the popular girls or not. there's so much treachery on both sides, so much in this culture i want to shield her from and simply can't.

[awe-struck.livejournal.com]

The daughter could be mine btw. She is autistic with ADD and depression and has already threatened suicide.

[labellerose.livejournal.com]

it a Hannah Arendt thing-the banality of evil.
This child was murdered. And the perpetrators who drove her to her death?
Not a 'drug pusher' not a 'stranger' not someone with the 'gay agenda'.
a nice white middle class couple in a nice white middle class subdivision.
"It never happens here"..
Faugh.

[coridan.livejournal.com]

What is it that causes people to victimise and wish to murder the unpopular?

My fury grows by the minute.

CB

[shay-writes.livejournal.com]

I was aghast. There are no words.

[ladyofthelog.livejournal.com]

This is awful and very upsetting.

I wish they had named those horrible people. I understand their reasoning for not doing so. But seriously.

[rufus.livejournal.com]

jesus. h. christ.

it's all horrible, and mindblowing, and *unbelievable*, in the sense that I wish it were not true, so that I did not have to share a planet with those people.

but what really made me want to strangle them through a computer screen? The line about it not being their fault because she had threatened suicide before.

I. just. words fail me.

[upstart-crow.livejournal.com]

Nothing really shocks me anymore when it comes to human cruelty.

This shocked me. It's the most disturbing and awful thing I have ever read in a news story. Ever. And I've written a few of those disturbing and awful stories myself.

As far as I'm concerned, they handed this poor girl a loaded gun.

I shudder to think of MySpace being slapped with more restrictions (and really, what have more complicated, restrictive laws ever done to stop lawlessness?). Because limiting freedom is not the answer. People like these parents will bully, beat and even drive the emotionally defenseless to suicide with or without a fake MySpace profile.

On the other hand, it is loathesome that stalking and harrassment laws may not apply to this case.

And I don't usually condone vengeance, but good on their victim's parents for smashing their god damned pool table. I'd have done more than that, and I can't even raise my voice without blushing.

[coridan.livejournal.com]

Popularity is poison.

This pushes so many buttons for me, because up until my college years my peer group has always been vicious to me.

I'll comment further once I calm down.

CB

[burningmetal.livejournal.com]

This has to be the ultimate form of bullying. And to be done by adults---it's just unbelievable. I hope that others will join in trying to pass legislation to make this form of abuse a crime.

This breaks my heart.

[jslorentz.livejournal.com]

I cried. I even know an adult who attempted suicide over a fake profile.

[upstart-crow.livejournal.com]

What also pisses me the hell off is the people on the comment threads in various places this story has been posted/linked to who are trying to use this murder to make a stupid political point about how anti-depressants kill children. Um...

And the people saying "remember her as more than just a person with depression" annoy me, too. To me that's like saying, "remember her as more than someone who had blue eyes." Yes, depression isn't the totality of a person but it should never be written off as irrelevant like that.

[raaven.livejournal.com]

God.

I read about these so-called people, and their ability to manipulate one teenager to death with only limited internet access, and I wonder what kind of horror story they are creating for their own daughter, who they have full access to - and how long she will survive it.

Poor kid.

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

I wept telling someone about this too. So horrible. I'm used to the idea that kids can be horrid to each other but I was appalled to see that this was started by someone's parents.