Comments: 18 Score: [-] 403 [+].
< 1 >
Posted: 1 year ago by 2manyusernames:
Charges in this case would be obscene and probably would not hold up in court, or at least not on appeal.
What was done might have been cruel but there was no criminal law broken.
The real people responsible for her suicide is herself as well as her family and friends who did not see that she had issues. It wasn't like she was the perfect well-adjusted kid and than one person breaks her heart and she hangs herself.
I am sure there were signs that she was a troubled teen.
She obviously felt she couldn't talk to her friends, family, (church?).
The mere fact that the person being cruel didn't exist doesn't make it illegal, nor should it for that manner.
Are we saying that if a person is cruel and breaks another's heart, if a person gets another to fall in love with them just to hurt them or make fun of them it is okay unless the online persona didn't really exist in which case it is manslaughter? That is silly.
Real kids can be just as cruel if not much more so. Does the fact that the person being cruel doesn't exist make it worse? Obviously not.
Megan did not know that the person was a made up person. That fact had no bearing on her killing herself. Her heart was broken, she felt she had no one who she could turn to (that tells you something about her family and friends) and killed herself.
The fact that person who broke her heart has no bearing on the outcome of the tragic events.
What happened was horrible and tragic. It is very sad to see a teenage girl hang herself, but to try and blame this one event is wrong.
There were probably other things in her life that led up to her deciding to take her life. This was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back.
Score: [-] 141 [+].
Posted: 1 year ago by larknet:
Not to be mean or cruel but isn't there an age restriction on MySpace, like 14? This girl was 13. Not that it is criminal, I am just making an observation. This is sad for the entire family and her friends.
Score: [-] 64 [+].
Posted: 1 year ago by unoriganl:
Some of these children get really wrapped up in what others say about them and take it to the extreme. Sometimes bullying gets so bad that everyone in the school has written or read a rumor about the victim and start to belive or exacerbate the problem. I read another article that goes more deeply into what may or may not have happen.I would like to see the parents at least evaluated to make sure they are not screwing up there child. Why would you as a parent do this to another child? Kids should not be left alone with a computer and should not have that much free reign on what sites they view or interact with.
Score: [-] 141 [+].
Posted: 1 year ago by Skippii:
I did not realize at first it was the PARENTS from down the street who did this prank. That's some seriously sick, messed up parents who would do that to one of their own daughter's friends.
Score: [-] 175 [+].
Posted: 1 year ago by Skippii:
I changed the description, because my friend and I agreed that the article was rather confusing and I thought that would help to clear it up.
Score: [-] 27 [+].
Posted: 1 year ago by hypersapien:
« 2manyusernames : The real people responsible for her suicide is herself as well as her family and friends who did not see that she had issues. It wasn't like she was the perfect well-adjusted kid and than one person breaks her heart and she hangs herself.
I am sure there were signs that she was a troubled teen.
She obviously felt she couldn't talk to her friends, family, (church?).
The mere fact that the person being cruel didn't exist doesn't make it illegal, nor should it for that manner.
Can you honestly say that the parents down the street weren't responsible? Her own parents DID know that she had issues, so did the couple that did that to her.
Also, the person being cruel DID exist. She just didn't know their real name.
Score: [-] 67 [+].
Posted: 1 year ago by tundramonkey:
...no criminal charges, or could they?
...depression, they knew she had add, they knew ...
The Meiers' 13-year-old daughter took her own life, they believe there is someone behind it
I think a five year old wrote and/or edited this article. There are missing capitals and incomplete sentences and I think the author should take the '5th grade' test advertised at the top of the page.
I definitely do not think that the actions of the family down the street are criminal. Weird and cruel, yes, but not criminal.
It's terrible and tragic, but I also have agree with unoriginl's point about having (or so we assume) free reign on the computer. I might be old fashioned here; computers really weren't too common when I was 13, though.
Score: [-] 70 [+].
Posted: 1 year ago by gammerus:
"They knew she had depression, they knew she had add, they knew the medication she was on," Tina Meier says about the family she holds responsible for Megan's death. "They've known this for years."
...Why would ADD cause suicidal tendencies?
Score: [-] 63 [+].
Posted: 1 year ago by Skippii:
I agree with everything. The article is poorly written, and poorly edited.
The actions are not criminal.
This is an excellent case for a "Wrongful Death" civil lawsuit, not a criminal one.
Score: [-] 72 [+].
Posted: 1 year ago by hypersapien:
« gammerus : ...Why would ADD cause suicidal tendencies? It's a badly edited article. She had ADD, but she also had other problems that led to the suicidal tendencies. I'm betting the ADD only made that worse, though.
Score: [-] 63 [+].
Posted: 1 year ago by sykeo56:
My heart just sank when I read the description of that article. That really is horrible.
My sister is in law school right now. I'm pretty sure she'll know whether or not laws were broken. I'll try to report back tonight.
Score: [-] 62 [+].
Posted: 1 year ago by sykeo56:
« hypersapien : It's a badly edited article. She had ADD, but she also had other problems that led to the suicidal tendencies. I'm betting the ADD only made that worse, though. ADD is no good when you're depressed. The two things kinda multiply to make you feel really s**tty. ADD medicines doesn't really help cope with depression either. It actually makes you feel pretty crappy.
Score: [-] 69 [+].
Posted: 1 year ago by 2manyusernames:
« hypersapien:Can you honestly say that the parents down the street weren't responsible? Her own parents DID know that she had issues, so did the couple that did that to her.
Also, the person being cruel DID exist. She just didn't know their real name. Responsible? No. A factor? Yes.
I am merely pointing out that it wasn't this incident by itself which caused her to take her own life.
I doubt that it was one bad thing, one hurt that caused her to kill herself. I imagine there were many things that made her feel depressed. Things real and/or imagined, but other things, other factors.
What happened was tragic. I am just saying that if the family/friends weren't offering more support than giving her pills than it probably would have happened at some point. If this "person" didn't break her heart it would have been someone else. Perhaps it would have been a friend using her, perhaps it would have been some boy that used her in a diffent way. Perhaps it would have been just someone that didn't return her love.
What the adults down the street did was insane and Evil, it just wasn't the sole cause.
I was also pointing out that if the parents knew she had issues, they should have been more emotionally supportive of her, should have been there for her so she knew she could go to them with her problems over her heart being broken.
If her parents knew she was that fragile, they should have had much more control over her internet activity. Very very very few online relationships work out. Such relationships are bound to hurt someone. Most 13-year old girls are more fragile then the average person, she was even more fragile than that.
The only reason I compared some fictious person to a real person breaking another's heart is the story talked about the user that the girl thought she was talking to didn't exist. It was a creation of the adults from down the street.
*EDIT* Now if the people who made up the fake persona knew the girl was clinically depressed than that would be a different story. Then a criminal case just might be made.
Score: [-] 82 [+].
Posted: 1 year ago by 2manyusernames:
Something is missing from the story, or at least something I am not understanding.
Okay, we have a family who is trying to get information on their daughter. A family who is trying to spy on their daughter and go undercover so to speak to get it.
Their online persona befriends Megan, their daughter's friend. They hope to get some bit of gossip to see if their daughter is doing the sort of bad things they did when they were teenagers.
Okay, so far so good. All understandable. Not justified, not good, certainly not right, but an understandable activity.
I am sure they thought what they were doing was in the best interests of their daughter, that they were watching out for, trying to keep her out of trouble.
If it stayed at that, than all would have been fine. Why did they start writing nasty things? I assume the others that did so just did because they were jumping on the bandwagon.
What purpose did they have in deliberately being cruel? If they weren't getting gossip or if they did get what they were searching for, than quit contacting Megan and delete the account.
I don't understand the transition from checking/spying on their daughter and telling Megan that "the world would be better without her"
Score: [-] 72 [+].
Posted: 1 year ago by drnothing:
« 2manyusernames :
What was done might have been cruel but there was no criminal law broken. That's where vigilante justice comes into play...
Score: [-] 28 [+].
Posted: 1 year ago by mahler87:
« 2manyusernames : The real people responsible for her suicide is herself as well as her family and friends who did not see that she had issues. It wasn't like she was the perfect well-adjusted kid and than one person breaks her heart and she hangs herself.
I think I understand your point, but I have to say the way you worded it is very insensitive and a bit tactless.
You have to remember that whenever someone takes their own life it is a tragedy, and the circumstances leading up to it, in addition to the fact that the girl was only 13 years old makes this case that much more terrible.
Although, in terms of semantics, she may have been physically responsible for her own suicide, I find the way you worded it to be offensive and narrow-sighted. Even though her parents may have missed some warning signs, it is relatively common for girls and boys at this age to experience feelings of depression and isolation. More often than not, these children are extremely adept at hiding the true extent of their feelings. I can't begin to imagine the grief that they are experiencing.
Score: [-] 117 [+].
Posted: 1 year ago by 2manyusernames:
« mahler87 : I think I understand your point, but I have to say the way you worded it is very insensitive and a bit tactless.
You have to remember that whenever someone takes their own life it is a tragedy, and the circumstances leading up to it, in addition to the fact that the girl was only 13 years old makes this case that much more terrible.
Although, in terms of semantics, she may have been physically responsible for her own suicide, I find the way you worded it to be offensive and narrow-sighted. Even though her parents may have missed some warning signs, it is relatively common for girls and boys at this age to experience feelings of depression and isolation. More often than not, these children are extremely adept at hiding the true extent of their feelings. I can't begin to imagine the grief that they are experiencing. I agree, I tried to clear up my point in other comments. I was merely stating that the "boy" breaking her heart is not the sole cause of her suicide.
Yes, it is tragic, yes it is horrific. There are many factors that led to the suicide. I imagine that if it wasn't this 'boy' it would have been something/someone else.
I just thought that the parents and friends should have been there more for her, should have tried to reach out to her long before she got this bad. Maybe that was an impossible task, maybe nothing could have been done, maybe they didn't know how bad she was or how to reach her.
It is tragic either way. I was just saying that you can't place all the blame on the 'boy'
Score: [-] 40 [+].
Posted: 1 year ago by tragluk:
There was no 'prank' involved. You could title this "Myspace deception leads to teen's suicide"
Or did it? Nobody knows for sure, but whenever someone takes their life people want answers. They want to blame it on something. Tie things up neatly and put them to bed. Sometimes there simply are no answers and they'll never know the complete cause for what happened to their daughter.
A tragedy indeed. And now one made even worse by 'media coverage'
Responsible reporters know that you NEVER publish a suicide. Studies have shown that when you write stories about suicides that suicides compound. Even a "Person of Interest" suicide is handled very lightly and journalists know that wild speculation is a very dangerous thing with an emotionally charged situation like a suicide.
Someone was in a hurry to get this out, the lack of editing or even a basic spellcheck (reprot?) (add?) and the following of basic AP styles makes me seriously question the thought that went into this before rushing out with the news.
Score: [-] 80 [+].
< 1 >