maskitheclown: (Default)
maskitheclown ([personal profile] maskitheclown) wrote2009-12-13 09:40 am

Hope.

This week for Idol, [livejournal.com profile] intrepia wrote about a girl named Hope who had killed herself over an issue of "sexting."
A person in my other fandom expressed her rage over the news-coverage fail and social blindness that happened here much more eloquently than I ever could, so I suggest you browse the comments.

This is the story
*
Article *
NBC's piece *

And her parents are seriously a fucking prize.

In short:
Girl sends a picture of her breasts to a boy she likes.
Another girl finds it on his cellphone and distributes around.
Bullying starts.
School suspends the girl.
Parents ground the girl for a whole summer taking away her phone and internet.
Girl starts cutting. School makes her sign a contract saying she's not gonna do that again.
Bullying continues.
Girl kills herself.


Lesson to be learned here is apparently that texting photos of yourself naked is bad, and bullying is ok if you're bullying someone who totally had it coming. Also, technology is bad and there is absolutely no way for a grown person to influence a child, even their own.

I express my rage through sarcasm, I really don't want anyone to take that last paragraph seriously.

PS I'm sorry for spamming, but this needed a post of its own.

[identity profile] afterxbirth.livejournal.com 2009-12-13 01:11 pm (UTC)(link)
ohmydear god they actually make you sign a paper saying you'll rather talk to and adult than cut yourself? has anyone ever told these idiots that signaling that cutting is a bad thing that should stop immediately is going to have the exact opposite effect of what they want?

[identity profile] maskitheclown.livejournal.com 2009-12-13 02:12 pm (UTC)(link)
The only possible use of that contract I can see is to rid school of all responsibility, because "Here, see, she signed she's not gonna do it and she did it anyway. It's all her fault." Which is extra ridiculous because I'm pretty sure even in the US minors can't sign contracts unless they're emancipated.

[identity profile] afterxbirth.livejournal.com 2009-12-13 02:47 pm (UTC)(link)
mhmm. it's just, stupid is what it is. i especially hate how most schools all over the world have the mentality that bullying of any kind is normal. just because it happens all the time, doesn't mean that it's okay and you shouldn't really do anything about it, jesus. i was talking to a friend of mine a couple of weeks ago and we were talking about high school (he goes to the same one i went to) and i told him that i never want to go back there or see the people i went to school with ever again because i got teased and made fun of all the time. his reponse? 'heh, that's normal.' yeah, normal, happens all the time, so who fucking cares that i still have self esteem issues because of it right?

[identity profile] maskitheclown.livejournal.com 2009-12-13 03:39 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeah, I hate that it somehow became normal and no one even thinks it's something to fight against. "It's been happening through generations, you just need to get through it."
Riiight...

As I said somewhere else, when discussing gay couples adopting children one of the most common arguments I'll get is "Those kids have a hard life anyway, imagine how they would be bullied by other kids for having gay parents!" And I don't even know how to respond to that because OF COURSE it's easier to adapt to the bullies than try to educate them and y'know, raise them as decent human beings.

And apparently it's all only worth a mention when someone dies, everything else is eh, less relevant. Like all those traits that make someone a bully will suddenly disappear when he leaves high school.

[identity profile] afterxbirth.livejournal.com 2009-12-13 03:48 pm (UTC)(link)
we had a discussion about gay couples being allowed to adopt in class and the same issue came up and i said basically that it's not the gay parents' fault that they'll get bullied, but societys for labeling gay people as somethin bad, and a classmate of mine (the one who brought up the bullying issue) looked at me all confused. and i asked her if she didn't uderstand what i meant because i said it in english or if she didn't understand it at all and she answered 'no i have no idea what you were trying to say with that' *headdesk* *headdesk* *headdesk*

it's like, well, you're weird, you're somehow out of the norm, of course you're going to get bullied, duh. and it's all your fault too, because if you were just like everyone else there wouldn't be a reason for you to get picked on now would there? *HEADDESK*

[identity profile] maskitheclown.livejournal.com 2009-12-13 04:05 pm (UTC)(link)
*facepalm* OMG. She's... ngh, never mind. Did she get it eventually?
The reaction I usually get is annoyance and "now you're just talking bullshit" because wth am I even thinking wanting to change people like that. Like I'm a petulant child who's demanding an expensive toy even though we can't afford it. It's so incredibly frustrating and makes me feel helpless which I really hate.
Seriously, "ne seri" is my least favorite phrase ever.

Hah, yeah, my dad REALLY likes to use the word "normal." Everyone knows what normal is and we should all try to be as normal as we can. *nod* them is the facts of life. If we don't... well, we have to face the consequences.

[identity profile] afterxbirth.livejournal.com 2009-12-13 04:14 pm (UTC)(link)
nope, she didn't. her friend explained it to her one more time and she still looked hella confused.
hahahaha, ne seri, that's a phrase i hear from my dad a lot XD. and yeah i get what you mean i get that too sometimes. it sucks.

i don't like the word normal. because it automatically implies that everyting else is not normal and wrong.

[identity profile] maskitheclown.livejournal.com 2009-12-13 04:18 pm (UTC)(link)
LoL well, she's a special little snowflake... or, well, normal :)

Yeah. I hated it even before I understood half the implications I do now. I still go out of my way to not use it, except in conversations like this, because somehow it feels as discriminating as all the other negative words put together. Just no.