I don't watch the news much so i don't know if this is, like, a really big story or something but i just heard about it the other day when i was in the waiting room at the drs office. i was doing some homework somewhat listening to the news when this crazy story got my attention... and really creeped me out a lot:
this girl was talking to this boy on her myspace page. they had an argument over the internet that ended up with the girl's suicide. The girl had had a background in depression but apparently this was, like, the last straw. The story was a terrible one when it happened, obviously, but it got even worse just about a week ago when they found out the boy she was fighting with didn't really exist at all. He was just a false identity created by some 40 year old housewife. What makes it even creepier is, at im not sure if this is entirely true because i was only half-listening, the woman may have been trying to avenge her own child's hurt feelings left over from mean comments written by this girl on his myspace page... or something like that at least. No one knows how to punish the woman for the crime (or if it is even a crime at all for that matter) because the internet is so new there are not set laws about what is right and not right,who you can be and who you can't. The anchor woman said it is the modern-day "frontier." And we're all cowboys trying to figure out what's right, to fight the so-called bad guys, and in the meantime have a little creative fun.
i know this is slightly unrealated, but its weird, huh? worse then weird, its really really horrible.
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6 comments:
Are you kidding? This is totally related! I hadn't heard this story... there's an episode on frontline I'm planning on watching Tuesday which might be about this... about the blurring of lines between reality and fiction and about what that does to relationships (esp. young peoples' relationships). I have a feeling Reul is going to feel really guilty when she finds out that Elliot killed himself. She's probably going to feel like she should have been there for him (but she couldn't be because she was in the hospital). Actually, this inspires some new thoughts as well... maybe once Sam realizes that Aloe was probably Elliot's closest friend, Sam blames her for his death... all kinds of stuff to explore there!
Thanks so much for your post.
PS- even if this had been actually unrelated, just hearing from any of you on this blogger seriously makes my day. Thanks!
That story made front page news in the Chicago Tribune. It's beyond bizarre....and it may sound extreme to say it, but such calculated manipulation on the part of the mother is, in many ways, worse than if she outright killed the kid herself.
Isn't it weird that the internet -- just a screen and a keyboard -- can bring out the worst in people?
Hey... do you know the title of the Trib. article? I'm having a hard time finding it online.
Anonymity does seem to bring out the best and the worst in people.
I disagree, Marnie. As twisted as this mother may be, there is no way that she could know that the kid was going to kill herself and in the end, it was the kid who killed herself so she is responsible for her own death. It doesn't excuse the mother from being a huge bitch but there's no law against being a bitch.... yet.
They might be able to get away with a "fraud" case though...
Here are the results of the case if you're innterested. wow. i can't believe this it's so sad.
http://news.aol.com/story/_a/woman-indicted-in-myspace-suicide-case/20080515152309990001?icid=100214839x1202298087x1200088009
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