Teen girl commits suicide after being harrassed on MySpace

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This is the link to the article:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21882976/

You’ll need to read the article to understand my comments (unless you’ve already read about this elsewhere).

Unfortunately bullying and harrassment is not an uncommon thing. But an adult targeting a teen? What kind of sick, twisted woman would do that?

Personally, I didn’t agree with the family wanting charges to be pressed...until I came across the part where the fictional MySpace person told her the world would be better off without her. If suicide is illegal in many areas, shouldn’t it also be illegal to encourage someone to do it?

And it makes you think...how do the words we say online affect other people?

Last edited 25 Nov 2007 01:13 pm by Etain

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Yeah, I’ve already read this from a bulletin. It’s really pathetic what those parents did and for the stupid reason they did it. It’s hard to believe what the world’s come to these days, and it’s scary when you think about what your sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, or friends are going through because of the missing moralities of a few ignorant people.

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I agree Cid. And the mother said that she befriended the girl on MySpace because she wanted to find out what she was saying about her own daughter.

I don’t understand how bullying fits into that. And I can’t even imagine what mother would teach her own daughter that cruelty towards others is ok.

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Fuckin people these days (referring to the retarded parents who made up the fake myspace)

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I have no idea why they would. And what I don’t understand even more is why these people are being allowed to get away without any repercussions.

Last edited 25 Nov 2007 01:50 pm by Cid

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Thats sad. What mother does that?

jpb

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I didn’t read the whole article but I predicted something like this would happen sooner or later.
Someone tells someone to kill themselves over the internet and they do it, or something along those lines.
I can’t stand the argument “it’s only the internet, it’s not real” (which is just a pathetic excuse to talk shit to strangers online). That girl is dead and it’s pretty fucking real.
What stuns me is no one’s being charged for this. I can’t believe they’d let anyone get away with something like this.
How irresponsible can people be?

Somewhat related article:
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23390052-details/Chatroom+users+%27egged+on+father+who+killed+himself+live+on+webcam%27/article.do
(don’t feel like creating a separate thread)

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Wow I read the second article, thanks jpb. I don’t get why people behave like that. I know some people do it because they don’t believe the person...but you never know when someone is serious.

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It’s a horrible thing but I disagree with the parents of the girl about the whole monitoring thing.

Also, the “adult bullying a kid online” thing isn’t so uncommon... not even here on moviecodec.

Remember LeClair vs. Savage?

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That’s really messed up that someones parents did that. Nor do I see why anyone would kill themselves over myspace. Still. I wonder what the daughter of the woman who drove their to friend to kill themself thinks of her mother. Quite frankly I hope the daughter would now hate her mother for driving one of her friends to kill herslef.

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That second article is really messed up... I can’t believe people would tell somebody to kill themselves and then while they saw him setting up to do it, they kept egging him on about going through with it...

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Also, Etain, I’d think this should go in on-topic. I don’t think you want too much joking in this one or it going...off-topic...

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Touche. But actually in that case it was the kid who tried to encourage the adult to kill himself. And I think of bullying as being something that is one-sided.

Oh and good idea about the on-topic.

Last edited 25 Nov 2007 02:42 pm by Etain

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Either way, the adult did retaliate back.

I’m not trying to say either party was right, but this kind of thing happens a lot. And at the time, no one really thought much of it, people just picked a side to go on.

And now, even with Savage gone people still occasionally rag on him. Again, without a word from anyone else.

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It happens quite a bit here actually...

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Actually in my opinion there’s a huge difference between bullying and retaliation. Retaliation usually implies defending yourself (or seeking retribution for) an action someone else did. Bullying I think of being one-sided - where you get harrassed/threatened/physically attacked without having done anything.

Now don’t get me wrong - I’m not justifying what happened - for either party. I’m simply explaining why the scenario is vastly different than the one with the girl from MySpace.

Cid - you’re right. That’s partly why I chose to post this. It’s really sad when someone comes on and says they’re considering suicide and people harrass them.

Last edited 25 Nov 2007 02:47 pm by Etain

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There’s a difference, yes, but I don’t think either is more favorable than the other in a situation like that.

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I know, it’s sad and it’s pathetic. Even when a person’s just depressed and they’re looking for comfort people criticize and harass them. A prime example is what goes on between certain members of the forum and Skittles. People think “it’s just the internet” they think that “I don’t take what I hear online seriously” and so they don’t think other people will. But people do take it seriously, I know I’ve been hurt by some of the things thrown at me, even though I make like I don’t care and just play along, it hurts. And I’m sure I’m not the only person online, or even on this site who feels the same way.

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Atresac - Read the edit I posted before that . And in all honesty I’d rather not spend time rehashing that. Otherwise we’ll get into a discussion of a whole different set of ethics, which will take this off-topic .

Last edited 25 Nov 2007 02:54 pm by Etain

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Ah, good point.

However the girl in the article, and the parents who invented “Josh” (destroying the good name of Josh, just like that ass Cid) obviously have serious problems, so that’s something that should be taken into consideration (not that I’m saying if they don’t have problems it’s ok).

I just don’t think killing yourself over someone online is too common of a thing.