Not MyFault Suicide

Often in response to different stories in the news, me and my friends begin to discuss What is Wrong with America?? Well the discussions this past few days have covered many topics from Redskin's Shawn Taylor's death to the recent MySpace death in Kansas. The latter story has been annoying me the most.

For those who have been living under a rock the story goes like this:

The hoax centered on a MySpace profile that appeared to belong to a boy named Josh Evans who contacted the girl, Megan Meier, in September 2006 when she was 13. After a month long flirtation, Josh’s e-mail suddenly turned nasty, and he and Megan quarreled online. Megan hanged herself on Oct. 16, 2006, the day after she received a message from Josh saying, “I don’t like the way you treat your friends, and I don’t know if I want to be friends with you.”

Lori Drew, an adult neighbor who lives four houses from the Meier family, said in a police report that she created the Josh Evans character to gain Megan’s trust and learn what Megan thought of Ms. Drew’s daughter, a former friend of Megan’s.

Reaction to the case has been strong, with angry postings on the Internet identifying the family behind the fake profile. The household has reported vandalism, including a brick through a window, once word got out about the circumstances surrounding the death.



Now let me preface this by saying that Lori Drew, needs her ass whipped. But after initially hearing this story my first thoughts weren't will Lori be charged but where the hell were Megan's parents?

I believe we always want to pass of blame for situations on other people but never claim our portion in the mess. Megan was 13, her parents should have been monitoring her internet activity and better yet if their child was that insecure and lacked self esteem, she had no business on MySpace or any other social networking site. But no of course Megan is the victim so her parents can now go on national tv snottin and cryin about their being no justice, since Lori is not being prosecuted. I say Lori should serve some time and so should her parents for child neglect and raising a child with out any self esteem. But that is just me...

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

wow i thought i was the only one thinking this. how do you go from i dont want to be your friend to let me go kill myself

That Dude Right There said...

I agree. A child died because of irresponsible adults.

bLaQ~n~MiLD said...

I whole heartedly agree with your assessment!

~Damnit!

Chet said...

I first heard this story a little while back and here recently it has been the topic on various talk shows, etc.

The parents in both cases are to be blamed if anyone can or should be blamed, no child should ever have such low self esteem that allows him/her to get so involved with another person or myspace friend that when the relationahip (if you can call it that) goes sour that it crashes the child's whole life. Parents must take the time to teach the children the risk that can be associated with cycberspace and mean people.

That neigbhor that took the initiative to pull such a prank should find herself behind bars or in some sort of serious counseling project.

Mr. Jones said...

Lori - Should go to jail for contributory negligence. This is usually reserved for civil wrongs, but can absolutely be applied criminally. She very much contributed to her physical harm and acted directly to harm the girl's mental well-being. I'm not sure why the DA isn't throwing the book at Ms. Lori.

The Parents - I disagree with you here. We all know that no parent can monitor everything a kid does. If they try, we hide it. That's just reality. These people lost their kid, that's tough enough to deal with. They don't need the strain of unnecessary legal action that won't stick.

Mr. Jones said...

Plus, if the state were to file charges against the parents, they'd never win b/c of rule #2 of the old common law rule (res ipsa loquitur). Lori's behavior was not under the exclusive control of the parents.

C. Baptiste-Williams said...

legal action against the parents wasnt for serious