The newest trend of "cyber bullying" has reached a new low. In addition to using websites like JuicyCampus and Facebook to terrorize their peers, teens have begun to use YouTube as a means of victimization.
CNN, along with several other networks and news outlets both mainstream and alternative, released a video of a 16-year-old girl being brutally beaten by six teenage girls from her school in Florida. The teenage girls, along with two teenage boys, lured the girl into a house where they proceeded to attack her for more than 30 minutes. The teenage boys kept watch outside of the house as the girls, both individually and collectively, beat the victim until she fell unconscious. The girls began the assault again after she regained consciousness. The attack was video-taped by several of the girls and posted on YouTube.
As the networks replayed the brutal beating over and over again, one could not help but become intrigued by the sheer disregard for human life that these girls displayed as they continued to assault the victim even as she screams for mercy from the fetal position.
The parents of the victim, who was hospitalized with blurred vision and hearing loss, began to speak out via the news networks against the websites YouTube and MySpace saying that "MySpace is the anti-Christ for our children". The suspects involved in the beating alleged that the victim had bad-mouthed them on MySpace.
And so began the blame game...who's fault is it?
Analysts are now beginning to point fingers in the direction of these popular networking and gossip sites as the culprits for influencing such violent and reckless behavior. They claim that the enticing "anyone can be famous" premise of YouTube and an ever-increasing shock tolerance has driven teens into a cycle of progressively appalling behavior. These individuals propose that kids do not see the postings made to these websites as punishable behavior and; therefore, feel virtually untouchable. As a result, using these websites as a means of torture or victimization has become commonplace.
Simply looking at the extensive comment lists on various blogs and news sites will show the intense debate on the subject. Proponents of the sites claim that it is not fair to blame these useful tools for those who use them inappropriately. Individuals of a variety of ages left comments criticizing everyone and everything including the girls, the sites, the parents, and even the victim for refusing to physically defend herself.
While it is not shocking that we find ourselves playing another round of blame game-teenage behavior edition, the area of cyber-bullying is unchartered territory. Do these new issues indicate that the reins should be tighter on these sites and those that use them? Ask the eight teenagers who will be tried as adults and could be facing life in prison for what, I'm sure, they thought was a good idea at the time.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment