What Has To Happen For Us To Shut This Whole Thing Down?
An 18-year-old boy ("man," if you are a judge) has been accused of using Facebook to sexually abuse classmates from his high school. We're gonna need a bigger :(.
This is the second horrible Facebook crime I have heard about in the past six months (plus the Megan Meier story that broke last December, and I'm sure there's plenty of others I have missed). And even though it doesn't have the same visceral gruesomeness as Husband Hacked Wife to Death with Meat Cleaver After She Changed Facebook Status to Single, it's still pretty fucking awful. Does Facebook actually do anything other than hurt people? I mean, I know how fun it is for you to send your friends limited edition JPEGs of patterned toilet paper that only cost a dollar (what a bargain), but I don't think that you actually need to do to much moral math to figure out that maybe it's not worth it if this is also happening.
Obviously, crazy people will be crazy people will be crazy people, and crazy is as crazy does, and crazy always finds its level, or whatever. I recognize that people were able to hurt each other for thousands of years without ever being tagged in a photo. But still. If not being able to be contacted out of the blue by people from my high school who I fell out of touch with for a reason means saving a life, I will happily UNSUBSCRIBE.
Posted by Gabe at 3:00 PM in Justice
Tags: Burn The Internet To The Ground | Crime | Facebook
Why was the kid they interviewed so out of breath? Did they catch him during his morning jog? Or did he run all the way to the local news station to share his thoughts on the case?
Score = 11
I like how the interview kid is like "From what I've heard who've gotten HONK HONK HONK --who were victims of that." the AP is a comedic genius.
Score = 11
ALSO how are they getting him on child pornography charges if he's in high school and all these kids are in high school too? ALSO who sends naked pictures to random strangers on Facebook? ALSO, "release the photos to the school", what? ALSO, given the homophobia of high school students, who is would ACTUALLY rather suck dick than have 'the school' find out you sent naked pictures to a chick? ALSO, 300 years in jail?
Maybe it's because I didn't have sex in high school (because I'm gay, like this kid, and it's impossible to have gay sex in high school without employing hijinks) but this kind of sounds like only orange-level despicableness that's being sensationalized and outraged by people who are just disgusted by the fact that he's a dude.
I mean if it was the exact same crime and it was say, a fat chick posing as an attractive chick, would it even go to court? I'm not saying he shouldn't be in trouble, I'm just saying this story's kind of getting a "c'mon!" out of me.
Score = 2
"Employing hijinks"? WTF? Blackmailing and then raping someone is not a "hijink". Scooby-Doo has hijinks, this is an Law and Order SVU episode (in all likelihood this will be a SVU episode).
Score = 18
Gabriel Garcia Marquez is responsible for the sentencing.
Score = 8
I'm pretty sure that taking naked pictures of children is illegal, no matter how old the photographer is. Also, to play your gender-bias game, imagine if it was a guy blackmailing fifteen 14/yo girls into having sex with him out of fear that he would distribute your naked picture at school? Would you have any doubt at all that this guy was a truly evil scum bag? Putting the "gay spin" on it just makes it seem more unbelievable that a dozen guys were willing to take it in the ass instead of having their picture passed around.
As to the 300 year sentencing, I expect he's being charged with possession of child pornography, then 6 counts of using the internet to arrange for sex with a minor, and 6 counts of rape by coercion or some combination like that.
Score = 6
I am firmly in the "This is being sensationalized because it's a guy" category. Yes, it's despicable. But once you take a naked picture of yourself and send it out into the universe, you're kind of asking for some blackmail, or you're telling the world "I don't give a fuck if you blackmail me." And that's what we're talking about...it's not like he actually raped someone.
Score = -6
He definitely 'actually' raped someone.
Score = 3
I didn't realize that the sex acts in question actually occurred. In that case, yes, sex under coercion is totally rape.
I guess I just assumed that any heterosexual kid would happily let naked pictures of himself get released to his school rather than submit himself to sexual assault by a really creepy guy. Or anyone for that matter. I mean the whole thing is pretty horrible the more you think about it.
Score = 0
I agree with BradOFarrell. I think that any gay male would kind of sympathize with the student.
Score = -11
True story, my high school hockey coach got arrested last year for this same shit, though he'd been doing it long before facebook came around (he used a hidden camcorder in the changing room- clever 'hijinks', natch!). Worst part is, this went on for some 14 years, he was convicted of dealing in child pornography as a result of it, and hes only getting ~10 years from what I hear. I wonder what made this kids sentence so severe.
Score = 3
Honestly, though, how fucking stupid can you be to send naked pictures of yourself to a girl you've never met over a social-networking website?
Score = 10
Happens to me all the time, TalbainJ! Fake girls always be requesting my n00ds.
I've got to start being less fucking stupid and more fucking careful.
Score = 8
Umm- I'd say you'd have to be 14-17.5 years old, fucking stupid.
Score = 2
The Megan Meier story was MySpace, not Facebook
Score = 0
Naive headcases are getting snatched up andkilling each other either way.
Score = 0
Would be kind of funny without the whole, you know, blackmail/sexual molestation element.
Score = 0
I'm freaked out that some people consider rape, blackmail and owning naked pictures of underage boys "hijinks".
Score = 3
I like all sorts of HIJINX. Especially HIJINX LIKE, aerial wolf hunting, child abuse and also, rape! They are the MOST FUNNY HIJINX ever! They hilarious, just like Carlos Mencia is hilarious.... :-(
Score = -2
This might make me a jerk, but did anyone else laugh at the possible sentence of '300 YEARS' ?
I LOVE that. Like 'Life' or "life without parole' or '286 years, up for parole in 220' would be a disgrace to those poor kids and a travesty of justice- Let's hope this kid doesn't pull a Buck Rogers on us
Score = 0
what. an effing scumbag. disgusting
Score = 2
This is obviously a horrible thing to do but I don't think its worse than the rape and abuse that goes on all the time that is not talked about on the news. Since this involves the internet the media is all excited to play up their "the internet is dangerous" agenda but teenagers should know better than to send naked pictures to strangers. You should never asume that someone on the internet is telling the truth about their identity.
Score = 3
How did this get him thrown out of school?
Score = 0
What astonishes me is the author's conclusion that Facebook should be banned. It seems to me that any channel of communication between human beings can be exploited; why single out one social networking website? Does he really think that the criminals mentioned above would behave reasonably if Facebook were not available? Taking the reasoning here to its logical conclusion, one should also shut down the Internet itself—indeed, the entire telephone network—for the public good.
It is more likely that reasonable human beings do not magically become axe-murderers or rapists just because Facebook is available.
Score = 0
What's all this talk about "hijinx"? Let's just call this shit out for what it is--SHENANIGANS.
Score = 1
It is cruel to you to attach pictures of beautiful macarons to your comments, Carrie.
Score = 0