Are people really this cruel?

[Theben]

She went to her mom and got yelled at, she went to her dad and got dismissed, and then immediately went to kill herself. ****ing hell, this isn’t the fault of MySpace or of the Internet, if you are going to charge someone, charge her parents for neglect. I’m appalled.

So am I, at your projection of your own bias into this article. Please show me exactly where it says her mother "yelled" at her. I only read "told was upset". It could well have been a typical mother-daughter chat. Nor did her father "dismiss" her. You're reading what you want to read.

Your work with youth rights is highly commendable. So don't **** it up with such piss-poor tirades.

[OzzyKP]

Oh please. The article said she was "shocked" by the language and told her how upset she was. You think she sat her down and said "now dear, I'm shocked by your language, and personally that makes me feel upset. I just want to express my feelings on the subject." Uh no. When parents are upset and shocked, they yell or at the very least communicate in such a way as to make their kids feel bad which is not at all the appropriate reaction to the situation. The article isn't going to print what the grieving parents said anyhow. You need to look at the news more critically and figure out what possible angle the article would have (in this case, clearly they aren't going to try and demonize the parents, though imho they should).

But fine, if you think what the mother really said was "Now sweetie, please try not to use language like that in the future. I love you now give me a big hug." Then fine.

The facts remain however that she called her mom, talked to her dad and immediately thereafter she hung herself. She turned to them for help and they didn't provide it. That is damning right there. I think those facts drive my interpretation of what was said, but believe what you want to believe.

[Dinner]

That a neighbor's mother was online pretending to be a teenage boy is pathetic. How is it the girl's mother didn't know CPR either? I'm guess that's a neighborhood filled with retards.

[Qilue]

How can you expect ordinary people to act compasionately when hate groups are able to extort free air time.

http://www.godhatesfags.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westboro_Baptist_Church

[b etor]

Originally posted by Oerdin
I guess that's a neighborhood filled with retards.

[Elok]

Originally posted by Qilue
How can you expect ordinary people to act compasionately when hate groups are able to extort free air time.

http://www.godhatesfags.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westboro_Baptist_Church

Where did that come from?

WRT the OP, this doesn't seem like cruelty so much as horrific judgment, helicopter parenting and general thoughtlessness/stupidity. Apparently both of the Drews lost their jobs and have been harassed ever since, which seems like overkill. The whole thing feels profoundly inane to me.

Lessons to be learned from this:

1. The internet is swarming with phonies and heels, and you shouldn't take any of it too seriously, especially if you're a teenage girl.
2. The world of teenage backstabbing and gossip is best left to teenagers themselves, since they can't be charged with anything for being nasty, and are accustomed to ostracism.
3. Also, getting that involved in your kid's life makes you look pathetic even if nobody kills him/herself as a result.
4. MySpace is a wellspring of pure evil, and all who get sucked into its vortex are contaminated by that evil.
5. Angry mobs online act similarly to angry mobs IRL, just without pitchforks and torches.
6. Don't screw with people's lives after having them hide expensive gifts for you.
7. Anything else? I'm sure there's plenty more to be gleaned from this mighty tragicomic saga.

[Theben]

Originally posted by OzzyKP
Oh please. The article said she was "shocked" by the language and told her how upset she was. You think she sat her down and said "now dear, I'm shocked by your language, and personally that makes me feel upset. I just want to express my feelings on the subject." Uh no. When parents are upset and shocked, they yell or at the very least communicate in such a way as to make their kids feel bad which is not at all the appropriate reaction to the situation. The article isn't going to print what the grieving parents said anyhow. You need to look at the news more critically and figure out what possible angle the article would have (in this case, clearly they aren't going to try and demonize the parents, though imho they should).

Maybe your parents treated you like **** when something happened that they didn't like, but most of us had normal parents, who may have gotten mad sometimes, but usually reasoned us through why things happened the way they happened and what did we learn from this and blah blah etc. etc.

And I never said exactly what happened, I said there's nothing in the article to indicate what kind of conversation happened between the parents/child. And it's not like writers never choose certain words to liven up their writings. At any rate I'm not the one ready to throw the parents in the clink b/c of what I suspect was said.

The facts remain however that she called her mom, talked to her dad and immediately thereafter she hung herself. She turned to them for help and they didn't provide it. That is damning right there. I think those facts drive my interpretation of what was said, but believe what you want to believe.

Wasn't there something about her being "unstable"? Not to mention she was *ahem* a teenager!?! Unless, heaven forfend, you've forgotten what it's like to be a teenager, when minor things are blown out of proportion and major issues have "ruined their lives forever". How many kids have killed themselves in the past when everyone around them thought they were fine?

You're right about 1 thing. Her parents didn't provide the help she needed. That doesn't mean they didn't try, and/or do their best to help.

[jkp1187]

Worst thread necromancy of the new year.

[Dis]

Originally posted by jkp1187
Worst thread necromancy of the new year.

I'll try to top that here soon.

[Sirotnikov]

I totally agree with Ozzy.

The crossing between the real life and the internet is ever more ambiguous. We are finally starting to understand that it's not "virtual world" that can be separated from "real life", rather it's just part of life, because soon it'll affect your real life if you are not on the internet.

[Sirotnikov]

Apparently both of the Drews lost their jobs and have been harassed ever since, which seems like overkill.

no it isn't
Lori Drew killed a little girl.

[Elok]

No, Lori Drew created an account to spy on a little girl, and that account was then used (it's not proven that she was the one who did it, another teenage girl had access to the account) to talk crap about her. Within twenty-four hours of learning about the nasty rumors, the little girl in question killed herself. A tragic response, but totally disproportionate and not really foreseeable. It doesn't even qualify as manslaughter IMO.

[Ecthy]

Which in itself makes it right to dismiss their parents from work?

[Proteus_MST]

Originally posted by Sirotnikov
I totally agree with Ozzy.

The crossing between the real life and the internet is ever more ambiguous. We are finally starting to understand that it's not "virtual world" that can be separated from "real life", rather it's just part of life, because soon it'll affect your real life if you are not on the internet.

I totally agree with Ozzy and Siro

In a german Forum we also had some sad examples for internet affecting RL (one with a suicide, too)

In the first (more harmless) case an Ex-User who was banned form the forum forever didn´t handle it al too well and, when there was a member meeting near his home location he successfully tried to find out the adress where the meeting would take place.
He went there, insulted the members which were present and almost started a brawl with a member, which could only be prevented thanks to the diplomacy of another (female) member who succeeded in calming botth of them down and to persuade the banned member to leave.

The second tragical case had some parallels to the case of the little girl (although this case is more confusing and would be too hard to narrate in depth, therefore just a brief description).

The user who commited suicide also posted in another Forum which had been founded by a banned Ex-Member of our Forum. At some point the made some provocant postings in this other forum and, because of some other postings afterwards he believed that people from this other forum were after him.
Well, the result was that finally he commited suicide because of this, despite attempts to calm him down and get him to think rationally (as it was obvious that there was more his own paranooia involved than real stalking).

[Ecthy]

And what odd kind of place is it you post at?