MySpace and YouTube Didn't Cause The Cheerleader Beatdown

Having just successfully reassured another group of parents that the internet won't eat their young, listening to CNN's clueless American Morning anchor attempt to pin this one on MySpace and YouTube really irritated me. She basically asked the victim's mother if MySpace would now be persona non grata at home, and mom talks about how horrible it is because parents can't access their teens' personal accounts and know everything going on (online) -- as if there was a time when parents knew everything about teens' lives before the internet.

The incident itself was extreme bullying. What may have surprised people is that it was a bunch of cheerleaders acting like a girl gang, except they weren't jumping their victim in, they wanted to send a message to her and other girls like her that "trash talking" has consequences (unlike beating the crap out of someone). There has been a steady increase in girl-on-girl violence over the past several years that has nothing to do with the internet. The idea of filming and posting the beating is not new -- this has been happening here and in Europe for awhile (these types of videos being posted to YouTube). Before YouTube, teens made sure word of these types of fights or beatdowns got around the old fashioned way, i.e. word of mouth. Now they can literally broadcast it "for their friends" and others at school. Most teens who post these videos only intend for them to be seen by their peers. This video never made it to YouTube, instead it went right to television for the whole world to see. The idea of posting it to YouTube didn't inspire the beating -- it's just the new way of making sure the other kids at school know it happened.

The internet didn't make those cheerleaders beat up that girl. If the internet didn't exist, and she "trash talked" them at school, I guarantee you they would have done it anyway. If anything, the internet may have given the victim a false sense of security that she could say stuff ("trash talk") she probably would not have had the courage to say in real life to an "invisible audience" on MySpace without realizing that it would get out. Teens still don't understand that if they don't want someone to find out about what they posted about them online, they shouldn't post it -- period. If parents could focus on driving this message home instead of on how they can spy on their kids 24/7, we might begin to see a little less drama that can lead to this type of vicious bullying.

Comments

[julieeiluj]

I can only imagine a loved one being beaten as this girl was by they young criminals. They should be tried as adults and made an example of.

[axt113]

Sorry but I don't care whether the gilr who got beat trash talked the other girls online, they had no right to beat her, they could have easily spoken to their teachers parents, etc. and stated they had issues with what the girl had said, but they had no justification for what they did and deserve to go to jail for a long time.

[Philippa]

I am with the blogger. MySpace did not cause the beatdown. The suspects planned to get back at the victim (who thrashed them on videotape and posted the said tape on her MySpace account) without the involvement of MySpace. They learned of the "trash-talk" because it was posted on the website. The lesson here is, don't post anything on the internet that you don't want people to know.

The suspects deserve to go to jail. Clearly, they planned their attack. They made sure to document it (for posterity?), too. But will imprisonment alone be enough to make them realize how wrong their actions were? These teens need to be placed in programs that address teen violence and get as much counseling as needed until they understand the severity of their wrong doing and feel remorse. The parents of the suspects who share the attitude of the mother who claims the police has overblown the situation need to be educated about teen violence and need to be counseled as well. Any form of violence should be rejected whether it is committed by adults or teens.

[LoRiseAntlers]

You're completely ignoring the fact that the root cause of all this is the fact that these sites either cannot or will not take the responsibility of insuring that content posted there is not harmful in any way.How many people need to die or get injured before you have the courage to admit that the adults who own and administer these sites have a responsiblity to monitor them and make sure that content that is dangerous is deleted?

[jvarga]

How is the video itself dangerous? Should we apply that standard to EVERYTHING? IE it's apparently myspace's or youtube's fault that someone did a terrible job raising children, so why is it not a ford's or gm's fault when a stupid kid gets in an accident and injures or kills someone?

[MerhabaAbi]

The root cause is that a group assaulted and individual. The result is that thanks to YourTube, they got busted.

[LetterLover]

And what good would deleting the dangerous content do? It would make it easier for everyone to ignore the problem. Many parents live in denial and are content saying, "My daughter would NEVER do that." Thanks to the video those parents have to watch this horrible reality and ideally (hopefully, please God!) punish their children accordingly, effectively, and even take some of the responsibility themselves. This also makes it impossible for the school not to mention the rest of us to be complacent.

My hats off to the blogger!

[RedBirdy]

I agree that Myspace and Youtube didn't cause this mess. I was watching the footage on Dan Abrams show last night, and he showed on of the mother's saying, If she could not back up what she said, she should not have posted it on the website. I was outraged that a parent would say such crap.

They beat that girl so badly, she was unconscious, then when she came to, they beat her again. She lost some hearing in her left ear, and some of her vision in her left eye. What those girls, and the guys who "looked out" did, was horrible. Nothing that girl said on myspace deserved what she got. And the sheer arrogance of those idiots who videotaped it. I hope that the prosecutors can charge them as adults, even the 14 year olds. Let's see how tough they are when they are behind bars. Cowards.

I think parents need to monitor what their children do on the internet. But parents aren't always around. That's when good parenting would have kicked in. If I had done what those kids did, you would have to keep me in jail. I would be too afraid to see my parents. That woulda been a consequence more frightening than prison.

[MerhabaAbi]

My B.S. meter just pinged at miximum. You're saying that what your parents would have done to you is worse then what could have happened in prison. BULLSHIT! No excuses for the vicious battery, the perpetrators need to be prosecuted according to the law and serve time. We all have a responsibility to behave within the confines of the law, even those who get so upset that they want children tried as adults. If they are tiried as adults,, why do we ever discirminate in law enforcement based upon age?