Megan Meier

[Rhode Islander]

A girl is savagely trolled on MySpace, and kills herself. Beyond highlighting the power of the mighty troll, I'm a little surprised by the mob mentality in the comments section. If a teenage girl is going to hang herself because a troll called her fat on MySpace, it was only a matter of time before another short term injury to her feelings prompted her to kill herself.

Am I wrong?

[Mr Sparkly Pants]

Originally Posted by Roid Islander

Am I wrong?

Quite often, yes.

[Melle]

From the article on Megan Meier: "She had attention deficit disorder and battled depression. Back in third grade she had talked about suicide"

It's obvious to me that she was on pharmaceuticals. Every kid who is diagnosed with ADD and depression gets a prescription. That's how the biz works. She was probably on at least 2 sets of drugs---the same drugs that have been linked to child suicide for years.

What the neighbors did to her is unconscionable. But a normal, non-doped child would NOT react by running upstairs and hanging herself.

[Ballard Pimp]

Originally Posted by Rhoid Islander

Am I wrong?

About everything important, yes.

You have no social skills.

Besides, you're fat.

[jfresh]

best derailment of a thread ever!!!!!

[Melle]

Originally Posted by Rhode Islander

A girl is savagely trolled on MySpace, and kills herself. Beyond highlighting the power of the mighty troll, I'm a little surprised by the mob mentality in the comments section. If a teenage girl is going to hang herself because a troll called her fat on MySpace, it was only a matter of time before another short term injury to her feelings prompted her to kill herself.

Am I wrong?

Rhodie, you are as wrong as can be.

It's shit like this---describing near-universal disapprobation as a "mob mentality"---that makes you come off like a complete ass to anyone with so much as an ounce of moral sense.

The universal disapprobation felt toward acts of cruelty is the furthest thing from a mob mentality. It is one of the few things that can remedy a mob mentality.

[toasterhedgehog]

Originally Posted by Melle

Rhodie, you are as wrong as can be.

It's shit like this---describing near-universal approbation as a "mob mentality"---that makes you come off like a complete ass to anyone with so much as an ounce of moral sense.

The universal approbation felt toward acts of cruelty is the furthest thing from a mob mentality. It is one of the few things that can remedy a mob mentality.

So let me get this straight. Rhode Islander thinks it's wrong that people are mad at someone for telling a little girl that she's fat, mean to her friends, and the world is better off without her in it.

Holy Crap. I mean, just... Holy crap that's fucked up. Wow.

Am I wrong in my interpretation?

[Melle]

Originally Posted by toasterhedgehog

So let me get this straight. Rhode Islander thinks it's wrong that people are mad at someone for telling a little girl that she's fat, mean to her friends, and the world is better off without her in it.

To be fair, Rhode Islander has not said it's "wrong" in plain language.

He has, however, derisively characterized it as a display of "mob mentality."

This to me is in keeping with the same fucked-up gimmick RI has used all along: Outrage is always illegitimate because of something he calls "the moral outrage gland." There is also a "liberal guilt gland." By means of this gimmick, strongly felt convictions are derided precisely because they are strongly felt. (See Ann Coulter, Scourge et al for applications of this gimmick to the falsely accused: e.g., if a liberal responds to charges of treason the way an innocent person would, they say "Wow, you're hysterical, you're tearing your hair!" Because yeah, all they did was accuse the hysteric of treason.) And now, in the latest version, universally-held convictions are derided on the basis of their universality.

No one here, to my knowledge, seriously thinks RI is stupid or inarticulate or boring, me included. But he is fucked up.

[Rhode Islander]

Originally Posted by toasterhedgehog

So let me get this straight. Rhode Islander thinks it's wrong that people are mad at someone for telling a little girl that she's fat, mean to her friends, and the world is better off without her in it.

Wrong.

Originally Posted by toasterhedgehog

Am I wrong in my interpretation?

See above.

[farfromowned]

I think all this fuss is uncalled for, really.

Here are my thoughts:

http://www.michaelcrook.org/blog/200...teh-internets/

[Melle]

Originally Posted by farfromowned

I think all this fuss is uncalled for, really.

Here are my thoughts:

http://www.michaelcrook.org/blog/200...teh-internets/

Eat shit, redneck butthole.

[Crow]

Am I wrong?

In this case, yeah, I think so. I know you know "it was only a matter of time" doesn't hold up ethically. And I don't think we can judge, from this distance, that this was a "short term injury to her feelings." And come on, she was 16.

[Mr Sparkly Pants]

Originally Posted by farfromowned

I think all this fuss is uncalled for, really.

Here are my thoughts:

With baded breath we wait, Rhode Islander/Michael Crook:

http://crookwatch.wordpress.com/

[emilyjanepearson]

It looks like no one here is fooled by Michael Crook.

My blog.

[Melle]

Originally Posted by emilyjanepearson

It looks like no one here is fooled my Michael Crook.

My blog.

You'd have to be pretty stupid to be fooled by him.

However, it doesn't strike me as particularly sensible to be obsessed with him, either, Emily Jane.

[Mr Sparkly Pants]

Originally Posted by emilyjanepearson

It looks like no one here is fooled my Michael Crook.

My blog.

Looking more closely, I don't think Michael Crook and RI are the same person. I regret I suspected so little of my 4rum Phrend 4-Life.

Rhode Islander:

Boxers or briefs?

[emilyjanepearson]

Originally Posted by Melle

You'd have to be pretty stupid to be fooled by him.

However, it doesn't strike me as particularly sensible to be obsessed with him, either, Emily Jane.

You're free to call it obsession if you wish.

I'm a "bad person" and I simply enjoy poking the little retard with a stick. A harmless pastime at worst.

Besides, it's a way for a non-nerd such as myself to learn how to use WordPress should I ever think of anything worthwhile to blog about.

[emilyjanepearson]

Originally Posted by Mr Sparkly Pants

Looking more closely, I don't think Michael Crook and RI are the same person. I regret I suspected so little of my 4rum Phrend 4-Life.

After a cursory look, I'd have to say RI is far more articulate.

[GirlDuJourToday]

Late to the Debate

The reasoning the community is so up in arms over this is because it was a neighborhood MOTHER that created the fake myspace profile. A grown woman. It's disgusting.

[Duncan]

Originally Posted by Rhode Islander

A girl is savagely trolled on MySpace, and kills herself. Beyond highlighting the power of the mighty troll, I'm a little surprised by the mob mentality in the comments section. If a teenage girl is going to hang herself because a troll called her fat on MySpace, it was only a matter of time before another short term injury to her feelings prompted her to kill herself.

Am I wrong?

That seems fairly flawed logic. Yes, there may very well have been underlying reasons but there are a couple of things that undermine your argument. First, and most obviously, things that can feel totally devastating when you're 16 can seem utterly trivial years later. Most of us can remeber an experience that, as a teenager, destroyed us. Years later (or often even weeks later) you look back and see how it really didin't warrant the heartache it caused. Yes, most don't take it as far as actually attempting or actually committing suicide, but sadly some do. The second is that just because someone is suicidal at one point in their life, it doesn't necessarily mean (in fact it often doesn't) that they will continue to be suicidal until they 'succeed'. To argue that if one "short term injury to her feelings" prompted her to kill herself another would have is frankly fatuous.

[KittenComputerGoddess]

This is why children's behavior continues to get worse each year, why they are out killing people without remorse. One person points out the fact that, well, there has to be more wrong than just someone being mean. But instead of people looking for what was really wrong, many attack all those who want to find out. Are you afraid to put the blame where it most likely belongs as usual (the parents)? Of course you are, parents screw up their kids and instead of just saying they fucked and learning from their mistakes they want to blame everyone else, like schools or bully's or someone who is posting on a forum.

So this shall now be known as 'the parents are blameless' age in the history books. Sarcasm aside, really, if the child doesn't know that what people think of them is not THAT important and thinks that your online popularity is everything life is about, there is something the child was not taught correctly or the parents were not paying any attention to them.

Browse through the 'I Anonymous' to see another example of how much attention most parents in the US are paying to their kids these days. I feel sorry for the kids, but it's the parents fault.

[KittenComputerGoddess]

Originally Posted by GirlDuJourToday

Late to the Debate

The reasoning the community is so up in arms over this is because it was a neighborhood MOTHER that created the fake myspace profile. A grown woman. It's disgusting.

Everyone lies online about something, unless you have some really interesting parents who gave you that name.

There was no sexual solicitation.

No laws were broken.

So how is it disgusting? A lot of kids will lie and pretend they are adults. Again, who is to really blame?

Online video games, you pretend to be a completely fictitious character which usually has nothing to do with you as a real person. Chat rooms, unless you are a moron you don't tell people too much info about yourself. Forums are the same.

The fact that this is thought of as disgusting is just a reflection of the poor judgement our society has become.

[GirlDuJourToday]

Kids pretending to be adults – They’re kids. That’s what they do. That’s also why they’re not legal considered legal adults until a certain age. Hopefully by that point they have learned enough to become mature. Adults are supposed to behave and act differently. Know what is right and wrong.

Online video games – Yes you create a fictitious character but you don’t do so with the intent to hurt a person in real life or to spy on them. That’s a game. What happened to Megan was not.

Chat rooms – It is never okay for an ADULT to prey on a CHILD for any reason.

The fact that the other girl’s mother went so far as to create a fake online persona pretending to be a boy that liked her, as a way to gain her confidence, is indeed disgusting. It’s one thing if the other teenage girl did it by herself because she is a child, but the mother had a direct role in this and helped maintain this profile. Again, as adults we should know the difference between right and wrong. There is no reason for an adult to mess with a child’s head like that. As a mother, this is the kind of stuff she is passing along to her children. These are the types of lessons she is teaching them. This grown woman specifically set out to lie to this child in hopes of gaining her trust. Once she had that she ended the whole sham by having the ‘boy’ tell her she is not a nice person. Furthermore, this mother knew Megan had a history of mental illness.

Even if Megan had not killed herself, what the other mother did is disgusting.

No matter what the outcome could have been with this story, that mother was in the wrong for what she did. We are not talking about two kids, we are not talking about two adults. We are talking a mother who should have known better and a child with a history of mental illness.

[KittenComputerGoddess]

Um, kid should not focus on being adults, and Megan was certainly NOT acting at all like an adult.

You are STILL trying to keep from blaming the core of the problem, like most Americans, you want to focus on curing a symptom and NOT the problem.

Also, I never said anything about adults who prey on children, and that happens offline more than online, online is just a tool for the more disturbed. If the parents would pay more attention to what their children are doing the online threats would be eliminated almost completely. However the online preditor is taking advantage of the parents not paying attention.

As for Megan, if she was at all well adjusted and taught by her mother the dangers of life and the fact that other people opinions of you don't matter then the whole mess would never have gotten so bad. If she did indeed have mental problems (sorry but all teens and pre-teens are mentally disturbed, scientific study on the development of the brain) then the mother should have limitted her exposure to the net anyway.

Also, you probably do not know much about online games, even if you do play them. I can log onto any online game and trace information while looking like a 'normal' player (which online gamers are rarely close to 'normal').

Also, if you saw a pic of me you would think I am 16. Since the only way to get your face online is through pics and cameras make me look less than half my age, I get treated as a child and people assume I AM underage without even looking at the profile. So even though I do not want to be treated like I am underage people do it all the time. (though it has nothing to do with the Megan thing it shows that not everyone you think are adults pretending to be children online are even doing it on purpose)

Maturity jokes and levels aside, any child who thinks that another persons opinion of them is so important as to take their lives has a LOT of issues, all pointing to the parents. However this will not stop you from making parents blameless because most people, as I said, are more interested in the immediate symptoms of a problem and not the actual cause or root.

[Ballard Pimp]

Originally Posted by GirlDuJourToday

Kids pretending to be adults – They’re kids. That’s what they do. That’s also why they’re not legal considered legal adults until a certain age. Hopefully by that point they have learned enough to become mature. Adults are supposed to behave and act differently. Know what is right and wrong.

Online video games – Yes you create a fictitious character but you don’t do so with the intent to hurt a person in real life or to spy on them. That’s a game. What happened to Megan was not.

Chat rooms – It is never okay for an ADULT to prey on a CHILD for any reason.

Welcome to the Stranger forum, GDJT. You sound like your head is on. Don't pay any attention to Kitten. She's the village asshole.