"This world would be a better place without you."
I would hardly consider this situation to be similar to "bullets and guns", unlike what the father currently believes.
And how does the internet react?
Wells posted the Drews' names and address on her blog. "I think there are a lot of reasons people would want to know," she explains. "There's the shaming and accountability side of things. And protection of the community: She could be doing this to other kids."
Overnight, Wells's blog ricocheted through cyberspace, and by morning, an online lynch mob had formed. Already pariahs in their own neighborhood, the Drews reportedly began getting death threats, harassing calls, and ugly e-mails and letters from the global village.
Its pretty disgusting IMO. Oh wow, telling someone to kill themselves online is a big crime, but friggen stalking them through the telephone, publisizing their address and sending death threats is fine?
The true victims are the Drews.
The sheriff's department increased patrols in the neighborhood, and Drew went into hiding with her daughter. The Drews' advertising business was forced to close, and Curt Drew's affiliation with a local realty firm was severed. Their daughter, now 15, has been too shaken to return to school, and Ashley Grills is under psychiatric care after threatening to hurt herself, according to county prosecutor Jack Banas, who decried the "vigilante mentality."
I don't know... but it seems like you seriously have to be in a bad mental state to begin with to fall in love and grow attached to a guy you've never met. Further, boyfriend / girlfriend squabbles are often and many times you don't know what you did wrong. You never know if it was you at fault, if its your friend at fault or whatever, etc. etc.
I'm not discounting that what Drews did was wrong. But what she did was not a crime by any stretch of the imagination. And what has happened to her and her family as the general population of the internet enact revenge on her disgusts me.
I'm sorry. I just find it hard to believe someone can commit suicide from pure words alone. It is clear to me that someone who follows the advise of an anonymous poster of a person she's never met before in her life to kill herself is not in a clear mental state. This story sensationalizes one aspect of her suicide which was
only the straw that broke the camel's back. There is a bigger story that we are missing here folks.
When I only read the first post I didn't think they were accountable for this. But then I read the article and it sounds as if they knew this kid's background and that she was already in depression. I'd say they should be punished in some way if they did this to her knowing her mental state.
As if a 13-year old can understand depression and mental states. It was mean, it was not necessary, but a typical person
should have easily lived through this. After all, it was not Drew who was accountable... the only one in Megan's room was Megan. Quite literally, it was a suicide, one responsable for the death by very definition was Megan herself.
Did Drew contribute to it? Yes, I will not doubt that. But again, there has to be a bigger picture here and it seems like the parents of Megan should have taken her real psychiatric help. I don't intend to be mean, but I don't follow any of this logic where Megan was the one who killed Drew, even after reading the article.
And any law that would stop the amount of idiots on the internet is great.
If it stops the idiots who are not only cyber-harasing the Drews, but friggen harasing them physically, that would be nice. I doubt it is possible.
