Girl Commits Suicide Over Internet Prank

[Sand]

Sand, you are mean to me. If I kill myself (I'm not 'cause I don't go for that); should my family hold you responsible?. or vice versa. I've said mean things to you. If you kill yourself (i hope you don't; I'm not worth it); should I be punished by the law?

 

Volourn, of course not. We are both adults, but this guy preyed on a child. A child. Don't you get that?

[~Di]

I'm going to come out of my WOT self-imposed retirement to comment on this story... and comment on some comments on this story.

 

Girls are emotionally unstable but this one sounds real weak so it was either poor genetics, bad parenting, filled up on prescriptions or all three.

 

First, girls are not more emotionally unstable than boys. Teenagers of both genders are, however, more emotionally unstable than non-teenagers. This is a biological fact, folks. Second, the speculation about genetics and parenting is both insulting and ludicrous, and no doubt was made by someone who has never raised a child to adulthood. Come back and talk to us again when you have.

 

Tragic but smells fishy. How do you go from happy to hanging in a closet in under 48 hours?

 

Women are like that, dude.

 

I'll presume that sexist piece of pap was meant as a joke, but in case it wasn't I'd like to point out that four times as many males commit suicide as females, with both white males and white females at the top of the suicide list. statistics here

 

Now to those who are blaming the grieving parents for being responsible for their child's death because they were overprotective or whatever, bollocks. Utter bollocks. Anyone who has raised teenagers knows that any one of them can go from the top of the world to life is over based on incidents most adults would consider minor annoyances... and y'know what? It's not the parent's fault; it's not normally even the adolescent's fault. It's nature's fault, a combination of frightening and bewildering hormones clashing with a concurrent biological need to assert individuality and leave the nest at a time when their brains aren't even finished developing. Gfted1, I know how much you adore your little girl; however, after she reaches puberty, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about. The good news is that she'll outgrow it in a few years, and be your precious daddy's girl for the rest of her life... but trust me, there will be some adolescent years that will leave you in emotional tatters.

 

Now, as for the dirt-bag neighbor (who knew this girl, and knew of her ADD problems), I agree he should be held accountable for what he did. I mean, lord. Adult men go to jail for pretending to be teenagers in order to woe little girls over the internet, and since the girl in question considered this non-existent boy to be her "boyfriend", there was no doubt romantic talk involved. So we have an adult conspiring to present a fraudulent personality and romance and 13 year old child, and when she is completely enamored... trusts him... he begins a vicious public assault on her. Any parent knows how important peer acceptance is to an adolescent... thousands of teenagers each year commit suicide because of bullying and harassment and estrangement from their peer group. When that kind of vicious crap is instigated by a grown-up, we suddenly give the guy a pass, blaming not only the victim (who was a child, dammit! but the grieving parents as well.

 

These parents did everything right. They monitored her closely, made every attempt to supervise activities that experience has repeatedly shown can be dangerous to young people. Yet their very diligence is now being used by some here as the reason their child died? ...While basically shrugging off the deliberately malicious act that precipitated her death as no big deal? That's just wrong. Just wrong.

[theslug]

Thats funny. They did everything right yet everything went wrong. Odd.

 

When parents closely monitor and supervise their children they are sending a message, a bad one. You aren't communicating trust, respect, independence or virtue. When you stop a kid from making a mistake, he doesn't learn the lesson, he'll just try not to get caught next time. When you consistently treat a person like a child, how else do you expect them to act? It's simple psychology, you keep telling someone they are something, sooner or later they are going to start believing it. You treat your kid like a trained animal they are going to resent you. And just becuase I haven't had kids doesn't mean I'm not observant or wasn't a kid myself not to long ago.

 

When I was a kid me and my friend were allowed to do whatever we wanted as long as we weren't inside watching t.v all day and we took advantage of this. Now what was the difference between me and him? Why did he turn into a drugged out loser who died in a drunk driving accident and me into a near straight A college student? Because my parents took an active role in letting me figure things out on my own becuase they did a good enough job raising me to be independent with common sense. His parents soaked up all his accountability and reinforced their naivety by believing he was a little angel.

 

And your statistic on males committing suicide more than women. Congrats on taking spin 101. Since when does emotional instability mean suicide, it's easily possible to take your life with a clear and objective mind, not to mention your stats don't take into account attempted/failed suicides. Men are statistically much more likely to finish the job becuase they use things like guns whereas women do things like pills which can be treated easier than a gunshot wound to the head. I mean this is just a fact of life, men bottle their emotions and are usually more level headed. Women are dramatic and to be frank, insane. When was the last time you saw a grown man or even a teenage boy crying while in public? Need I mention Elen Degeneres and her dog?

[kirottu]

I think when parents are over protective and protect their child so that nothing bad(even how small it might be) happens to him/her they are making a mistake. Not letting your child to deal with bad stuff also means that he/she doesn

Edited November 17, 2007 by kirottu

[Deadly_Nightshade]

Now, as for the dirt-bag neighbor (who knew this girl, and knew of her ADD problems), I agree he should be held accountable for what he did. I mean, lord. Adult men go to jail for pretending to be teenagers in order to woe little girls over the internet, and since the girl in question considered this non-existent boy to be her "boyfriend", there was no doubt romantic talk involved. So we have an adult conspiring to present a fraudulent personality and romance and 13 year old child, and when she is completely enamored... trusts him... he begins a vicious public assault on her. Any parent knows how important peer acceptance is to an adolescent... thousands of teenagers each year commit suicide because of bullying and harassment and estrangement from their peer group. When that kind of vicious crap is instigated by a grown-up, we suddenly give the guy a pass, blaming not only the victim (who was a child, dammit! but the grieving parents as well.

 

Firstly, as I already stated, her Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) has little or nothing to do with the fact that she decided to end her life, although it is true that her ADD medication might have contributed to the problem if it was the wrong type or had been misused. That said, I could not help but think there is a fundamental difference between adults who create fake profiles to lure children into sexual relationships and those who have made a counterfeit profile in an attempt to protect their own child from bullying - as the people in question did. You also cannot argue without further evidence that they, the adults who pulled the

[Istima Loke]

I'll presume that sexist piece of pap was meant as a joke, but in case it wasn't I'd like to point out that four times as many males commit suicide as females, with both white males and white females at the top of the suicide list. statistics here

 

More men commit suicide than women, because society gives them the role of the person responsible for their close environment (work, family etc.). So when a problem exists they feel greater burden than their female counterpart, leading to suicide.

 

I, as well, don't think that this incident alone could have lead her to suicide. Things couldn't have been as great as the mother presents them and maybe the zealous overprotection from the parents didn't help either.

[Hell Kitty]

More men commit suicide than women, because society gives them the role of the person responsible for their close environment (work, family etc.). So when a problem exists they feel greater burden than their female counterpart, leading to suicide.

 

The reason more men commit suicide than women is that men are less likely to seek help. Suicidal thoughts are an emotional problem, society expects men to be "masculine", and being emotional is considered "feminine". Men are more likely to bottle their problems for fear of being judged as weak. Men don't feel any greater burden than women, they simply believe they do, that a woman couldn't possibly feel the same burden. This is part of the reason people commit suicide, they think they are the only one who feels this way, that no one could possibly understand them. A man who believes he has greater burdens than a woman is like a white man who believes they are more discriminated against than a black man. Believing it doesn't make it so.

[mkreku]

In Sweden there's a funny bit of statistics to interpret. In 2004 151 youths took their own life in Sweden; 113 men and 38 women. During that same period TWICE as many women ATTEMPTED suicide than men, but failed. What does that tell you?

[Hell Kitty]

Attempted suicide is a cry for help, a sign that the person still has some level of hope, which is a Good Thing.

 

Of course, maybe it just means that stupid women can't even kill themselves properly! lololol!!!1!!1!8

[Xard]

This fourth page is made of stupid and fail.

 

[Colrom]

Thats funny. They did everything right yet everything went wrong. Odd.

 

....

 

When I was a kid me and my friend were allowed to do whatever we wanted as long as we weren't inside watching t.v all day and we took advantage of this. Now what was the difference between me and him? Why did he turn into a drugged out loser who died in a drunk driving accident and me into a near straight A college student? Because my parents took an active role in letting me figure things out on my own becuase they did a good enough job raising me to be independent with common sense. His parents soaked up all his accountability and reinforced their naivety by believing he was a little angel.

 

....

 

I wish that "doing everything right" was a foolproof guarantee of pleasing results.

 

Think of the power!

 

We would be gods!

 

I have found that winning gamblers often credit their "system" rather than their luck while losing gamblers often blame their luck rather than their system.

[Colrom]

I agree with Di on this about 110%.

[Guard Dog]

In Sweden there's a funny bit of statistics to interpret. In 2004 151 youths took their own life in Sweden; 113 men and 38 women. During that same period TWICE as many women ATTEMPTED suicide than men, but failed. What does that tell you?

 

I was going to point this out. For females the preferred suicide method is overdose, for males it's firearms. Obviously one is more likely to get the intended result than the other. I read somewhere that is why there are more unsuccesful attempts among women han men.

 

Way to stri the pot Di.

 

I still seriously doubt the actual perpetrator of the "prank" was an adult. It was his daughter. Grown men do not do things like this out of sheer malice. Teenagers absolutely would though. If a grown man is pretending to be a teenagers boyfriend online then he is more likely a sicko trying to pick her up.

[Sand]

Then he shouldn't be covering up for his daughter.

[Guard Dog]

Then he shouldn't be covering up for his daughter.

That is what most parents would do, protect their children.

[Guest The Architect]

Women are like that, dude.

 

 

Why did I only just notice this now? My bad.

 

It

[Sand]

Then he shouldn't be covering up for his daughter.

That is what most parents would do, protect their children.

 

There are protecting your children and there is letting them learn from their own mistakes. In something of this magnitude it would have been best that the daughter own up to her mistake and learn from it than have daddy come rushing in to the rescue.

[Istima Loke]

The reason more men commit suicide than women is that men are less likely to seek help. Suicidal thoughts are an emotional problem, society expects men to be "masculine", and being emotional is considered "feminine". Men are more likely to bottle their problems for fear of being judged as weak. Men don't feel any greater burden than women, they simply believe they do, that a woman couldn't possibly feel the same burden. This is part of the reason people commit suicide, they think they are the only one who feels this way, that no one could possibly understand them. A man who believes he has greater burdens than a woman is like a white man who believes they are more discriminated against than a black man. Believing it doesn't make it so.

 

 

If it seemed as if I implied that men are or should be more responsible than women, then I apologise. But my argument is based on the same root as your. As society expects from men to be more masculine than emotional, it also expects from them to bear greater part of the responsibility. Thus when something goes wrong, they feel most of the responsibility is theirs, thus they make their burden greater than that of their female counterpart. Anyway, I could be wrong, though that's what I heard from a discussion in school from a (female) sociologist (about how society views both genders). Also your example with discrimination is irrelevant to my point as there is a great gap between being and feeling discriminated. I hope I have made my point clear.

[Volourn]

"A man who believes he has greater burdens than a woman is like a white man who believes they are more discriminated against than a black man. Believing it doesn't make it so."

 

O RLY? So the white fellow who grows up in a predominately black neighourhood is gonna be less descriminated than a black man living in the same neighbourhood.

 

Your attitude of 'white people can't be victims of racism' is a joke.

 

 

Anyways, back on topic. What was done to the girl by the perp(s) is wrong. No doubt about it. But, they didn't kill her. She killed herself. At best, they're guilty of harassment; but not of murder or manslaughter or whatever other bogus charge people wnat to throw at them out of sheer disgust and what not.

 

And, no, that's not me approving of their actions.

[Tigranes]

If you believe you have burdens, then, to an extent, you do, as long as you think that way.

[Walsingham]

Firstly I like to complain about the lack of judgemental arrogance. Could we please have more? More judgemental arrogance I say!

 

I agree with ~Di that parenting is not an exact science. I don't think it makes any sense based on the scanty 'evidence' available that the kid's parents were over-protective. It sounds to me like with regard to the internet they took sensible protections. We have no idea how they treated their kids outside the internet. They could have sent her out to sweep chimneys. In any case, as I say, the point is that they behaved responsibly.

 

This is not to say that some parents appear to cause problems by being too protective. But who can say for sure? I mean, my parents were pretty good, took me into bloody warzones and made sure I brushed my teeth etc etc, and look at me!

[Sand]

Well, I hope this will kick in some laws that can punish those who prey on children like this. I think it is just sick that this guy is going about unpunished.

[Walsingham]

Well, I hope this will kick in some laws that can punish those who prey on children like this. I think it is just sick that this guy is going about unpunished.

 

Whuh? Going around? Preying? Kick? You sure you don't want to change your moniker to Judge Dredd?

[Sand]

Whuh? Going around? Preying? Kick? You sure you don't want to change your moniker to Judge Dredd?

 

I am not saying he should be executed or anything. 5 years in prison, maximum, less for good behavior, and up to $50,000 fine.

[Xard]

Gah, if this was DnD cosmology Sand would be creature of pure Law, whatever that is (ie. Sand is pretty much incarnation of LN )