You may or may not have heard of Megan Meier, a girl who committed suicide last year due to being personally insulted by a MySpace "friend" (whose account was actually created by an adult neighbor). She had been diagnosed with depression and ADHD, had always had some self-esteem issues, and was trying to lose weight. At the time she met this "friend", according to her parents, she had never been happier, and was thrilled beyond belief that a cute boy actually thought she was pretty. After several weeks of communicating, the messages from "Josh" became more and more mean-spirited and insulting. The icing on the top of the cake was a message that insinuated that the world would be a better place without her. After she read this message, she took it to heart and hung herself.
It had since been revealed that the mother responsible for creating this account did so to monitor Megan's attitude toward the woman's own daughter, who had a falling out with Megan not long before. Soon, other neighbors got the password and began to correspond with Megan on MySpace through the "Josh Evans" account...and they definitely did not have kind words for her. They knew she had these disorders, and that her self-esteem was extremely vulnerable, but instead of trying to be understanding, they thought it would be entertaining to bait her and see her reaction. They called her ugly, among other things, even though she was actively trying to lose weight to improve her self-image.
Her parents monitored her MySpace activity, and only let her access her account with their permission. It's not clear whether her mother knew of the age limit for MySpace account-holders, which was 14 years of age (Megan was 13 when she died). On the day she hung herself, her mother had forcefully asked her many times to log off her MySpace account, but she wouldn't, and Megan became more hysterical the more comments she read insulting her character and weight.
Not surprisingly, many bloggers have posted about this, and most of the ones I've read were highly sympathetic to Megan and her parents. On one sympathetic blog post, the blogger asked for justice for Megan's family and harsh punishment for the woman responsible for the fake account. One commenter (unsurprisingly, who remained "anonymous") posted an unbelievably cruel, insensitive comment:
Insulting a recently-deceased 13-year-old girl, calling her a "liar", and insinuating that it's a waste of space to ask for justice when the girl would've committed suicide eventually anyway is not just insensitive...it's downright cruel. The person who wrote this would not have been out of character posting demeaning messages about Megan on the "Josh Evans" account. This is the kind of "human" being who thinks making fun of, mocking, teasing, baiting, and insulting people less fortunate or "normal" than him/herself (fortunate to be an insensitive bastard?) is horribly entertaining and boosts his/her own self-image. These are the people who directly or indirectly contribute to many of the problems with modern kids, including the school shootings and suicides like Megan's, by being prejudicial, intolerant, hateful, and less than understanding. All these kids with low self-esteem want is for someone to pay positive attention to them, accept them for who they are, and overlook their physical/emotional conditions. It's sad how superficial modern society's become.
There is justice to be sought in Megan's story. The message about the serious effects of bullying should be spread to every corner of the Internet and every community in the real world. Whether the mother who created the fake account and her collaborators should be persecuted is not the big issue--the big issue is bringing to light the facts, forcing people to pay serious attention to them and to prevent things like this from ever happening again.
Her parents monitored her MySpace activity, and only let her access her account with their permission. It's not clear whether her mother knew of the age limit for MySpace account-holders, which was 14 years of age (Megan was 13 when she died). On the day she hung herself, her mother had forcefully asked her many times to log off her MySpace account, but she wouldn't, and Megan became more hysterical the more comments she read insulting her character and weight.
Not surprisingly, many bloggers have posted about this, and most of the ones I've read were highly sympathetic to Megan and her parents. On one sympathetic blog post, the blogger asked for justice for Megan's family and harsh punishment for the woman responsible for the fake account. One commenter (unsurprisingly, who remained "anonymous") posted an unbelievably cruel, insensitive comment:
"Anonymous said...
Justice? What a waste of space you people are. If a girl is that messed up in the head to where "breaking up" with a guy she had never met sent her over the edge; she was going to off herself sooner or later, no question about it. I mean, what if, God forbid, she got a rejection letter from a college?
What is this garbage about "things a 13 year old girl should be interested in?" Myspace does not let 13 year olds have accounts. She was an online liar too!!"
Insulting a recently-deceased 13-year-old girl, calling her a "liar", and insinuating that it's a waste of space to ask for justice when the girl would've committed suicide eventually anyway is not just insensitive...it's downright cruel. The person who wrote this would not have been out of character posting demeaning messages about Megan on the "Josh Evans" account. This is the kind of "human" being who thinks making fun of, mocking, teasing, baiting, and insulting people less fortunate or "normal" than him/herself (fortunate to be an insensitive bastard?) is horribly entertaining and boosts his/her own self-image. These are the people who directly or indirectly contribute to many of the problems with modern kids, including the school shootings and suicides like Megan's, by being prejudicial, intolerant, hateful, and less than understanding. All these kids with low self-esteem want is for someone to pay positive attention to them, accept them for who they are, and overlook their physical/emotional conditions. It's sad how superficial modern society's become.
There is justice to be sought in Megan's story. The message about the serious effects of bullying should be spread to every corner of the Internet and every community in the real world. Whether the mother who created the fake account and her collaborators should be persecuted is not the big issue--the big issue is bringing to light the facts, forcing people to pay serious attention to them and to prevent things like this from ever happening again.
