You can sense the buzz the news producers at the Today Show, CNN's Nancy Grace and the others must have felt when they first got the emailed report: "We have a video of Florida cheerleaders beating a fellow teenager for 30 minutes and there's a tie-in to YouTube and MySpace." They must have tripped over their Ferragamo laces getting the news vans rolling to Lakeland, Florida to interview these young lovelies, their parents and the local sheriff. Sex, violence and the Internet? We'll all get Emmys!
I can't help the cynical thoughts when a story like this airs. The facts are pretty sad and simple. A dispute among some teenaged girls went "webby" when the beaten girl (allegedly) posted nasty comments on her MySpace page. First stupid act. Then there was some back and forth trashtalking via MySpace messaging. Second wave of stupidity. Finally, an in person meeting of the involved girls turned into a 30 minute videotaped beating of the victim by six of her peers. Supposedly the purpose of the video was to be posted to MySpace and YouTube, though that never happened. It is now evidence for law enforcement.
The simple fact is that this ugliness has almost nothing to do with the Internet. It's a rather sad story of some rotten kids doing some heinous things, getting caught and now having to pay the price via local law enforcement. It's incredibly sad that these stories get so much play because they pander to our lowest notion about what causes children to turn to evil. It's not the Internet that landed those bruises or caused that concussion. No one talks about the fact that the parents in this story seem to be unburdened by notions of blame or right and wrong. The mother of the ringleader was quoted on the news as saying "it's been blown out of proportion" and the victim "was warned not to go into the house" as if that excuses a beating so severe the young girl still hasn't regained full sight or hearing.
The Internet is not the cause of good and evil in our children. It's not where our children will learn right and wrong. They are supposed to learn that from us, the parent. Each of us can at least be reminded by this tragic story that, left without appropriate guidance from the adults in their lives, teenagers are capable of incredible cruelty, both verbal and physical.
Original posting date: Wednesday, April 9, 2008 | 2:45 PM |