Aunt Babz Commentary; The Reason for the Season

What is really going on??

Megan Meier's Mother, holding her pictures
Have you followed the story about Megan Meier, who hung herself, after a purported fake guy/fake profile, reeled her in as a love interest and then cruelly blew her off? ABC News Story

She states it's not her blog. On all accounts, it reads to me as authentic, what do you think. While I would side with her and her dilemma, the name of the blog,
"Megan Had It Coming," is plainly wrong and tends to sway me. I am left wondering? What do you think, did Lori Drew, the woman behind the fake MySpace profile, write the blog?

Here's one, rather cruel take on the story from Scared Monkeys;

Internet Cruel Intentions: 13 Year Old Megan Meier Commits Suicide After Cruel, Sick MySpace Hoax (Josh Evans)

There are sick acts that occur on the internet and then there are others that go beyond words and logic. We always warn children and teens that there are consequence to their actions. In the case of adults … there is no excuse. The following account is one of the most depressing and heinous acts of cyber-bullying and internet fraud against a teen ever. The tragedy that followed, almost makes the story impossible to read. However, everyone should and most read it and beware of those that would be such cowards on the internet to pretend to be someone they are not and to harass others. In this case the resulting tragedy was suicide.

A 13 year old girl, Megan Meier, committed suicide by hanging herself due to the insensitive and cruel actions of an adult who perpetrated a cruel hoax. 13 year old Megan Meier, who suffered from depression and attention deficit disorder, thought she was talking on MySpace to a boy her own age named Josh Evans.

Josh Evans never existed … he was a hoax!!!

The story that follows becomes one of the most insensitive and vicious hoaxes ever done on the internet. Especially when one considers that adults took part in it against an unsuspecting minor. The result is the death of a 13 year old.

DARDENNE PRAIRIE, Mo. (AP)— Megan Meier thought she had made a new friend in cyberspace when a cute teenage boy named Josh contacted her on MySpace and began exchanging messages with her.

Megan, a 13-year-old who suffered from depression and attention deficit disorder, corresponded with Josh for more than a month before he abruptly ended their friendship, telling her he had heard she was cruel.

The next day Megan committed suicide. Her family learned later that Josh never actually existed; he was created by members of a neighborhood family that included a former friend of Megan’s.

The parents of Megan Meier hope the people who made the fraudulent profile on the social networking Web site, MySpace, will be prosecuted and they are seeking legal changes to safeguard children on the Internet. This was the actions of adults, not children or teenager. Adults! These people should be prosecuted to the full extent of whatever law can be used.

“But when adults are involved and continue to screw with a 13-year-old, with or without mental problems, it is absolutely vile,” she told the Suburban Journals of Greater St. Louis, which first reported on the case.

The story gets even worse as the newspaper, St. Charles Journal, who first ran with this story then protected the identities of the adultswho drove a 13 year old over the edge to hang herself. The blogosphere and internet community became incensed and outed those responsible for the death of Megan Meier. KUDOS to those on the internet that outed those responsible. No one, especially an adult should be allowed to hide behind anonymity when there is a death … NO ONE!!!

Commentary

It gets even uglier, when people, such as blogger, Douchebags Reunite, outs Lori Drew by calling her a "Murderer," and lists the womans address. Of course, I think thoughtless and arrogant people, like this woman, need slapped. Your tag line of, "Being stupid has never been this cool..." speaks volumes. I'm certainly glad you are not in complete denial as to your own mental state. Why do you feel the need to stir the Pot of Pain?

Tis the Season for What???

More Babz Commentary

Did We Cut Off Our Nose To Spite Our Face???

We have children, sometimes it isn't planned but for many, it is the prospect of having a family, that is our goal. As well, I do not believe we think through, the full magnitude of what parenting, the actual job of it, if you will, really entails.

I will try not to jump on the soapbox but women, in their/our quest for equal rights and a wish to enter the work force, to make as much money as our male counterpart, have a serious career and live noteworthy lives, in many instances, have allowed their parenting to become a second rate lifestyle/situation. But Babz what the hell are you talking about?

Here, let me spell it out for you; We work[women] long hours, holding key positions. We strive to be the very best, proving that, oh yes, we can do anything and everything a man can do. And you damn right, we can and let me say this, we should be paid the same wage, as men. We still struggle for this equality and even I have been discriminated against because I lacked a glans. If we can't, however, do that job with the same gusto, if we can not perform that job, i.e., gaff that pole, pull that fire house, carry that equipment because we do have physical differences, from men, we should not and I repeat, " we should not be paid for that job, the same wage as the man who can climb that pole to install telephone wire, etc." Therein lies the joke and I'm not laughing

But Babz, how does this all have any impact on or anything to do with this MySpace thingy?

This Holiday Season, I have a few things, I'd like you to consider. Thus far, we have, for one, lost touch with reality, as to what "The Reason For The Season," is all about. How did this happen? And Babz, really, how does this too, apply to what you are talking about?

We have spoiled, for lack of a better word, our children, most likely out of guilt, for not being there, with expensive gifts. You could never again, get away with giving your son/daughter, that one gift set of the hat, scarf and mittens or their favorite music CD, along with a book, yada yada yada. It's keep up with the Jones and Smiths. Get my drift? No, you will go out this year and buy them a Wii, PC, Xbox, Playstation and we will spend thousands, if not several hundred dollars in an appeasement of our guilt. Sure we want to give our kids the world and I felt the shame, have a real distaste and anxiety up the wazoo, at Christmas time because as a single Mom, I couldn't pull the money out of my keester to buy each of my three sons, all those expensive gifts that Bobby and Mary down the street were getting and flaunting.

The days of crocheting a hat and mittens, as your gift, are gone. Right in the garbage went our values and beliefs, the very principle behind that reason for the season. You'll also find, in that garbage, values and beliefs concerning how we rear our children with even the most kindergarten of instillment; Do unto others as you would have done to you. This is big, huge and not without a universal magnitude.

Bullies have thrived for ages, this is actually nothing new. But if you'll remember and I'm speaking mainly to you Baby Boomers, the bullies were so outnumbered. It was usually that kid from the broken home, who lived in that run down house, with the mean dog. For the most part, it wasn't a pack of guys/girls, as it is now, out to utterly destroy anyone who doesn't fit into their mold of the haves and the have nots, the beautiful and not so beautiful. Our children have become vicious, vindictive and very mean. It is going on, right under our noses. You have purposely, looked the other way.

The American Dream Becomes A Myth/Lie

Somewhere, along the lines, we didn't instill the values and principles, trickled down through the ages. We left out the beliefs and life altering perceptions of understanding, of that basic premise, to treat others as you want to be treated. In our post Dr.Spock era, in that behavioral science of treating our kids with respect(and no spankings) and honoring them as kids with opinion, we left out the most elementary of rules; Respect...respect for others, respect for life and liberty, respect for adults, respect for ourselves, respect and value for material things and I could, quite seriously, go on forever.

How did this happen? That answer is two fold, I believe. Quite often, we have old school Dad's who are groping to understand our journey to be independent women. We assert ourselves, as "That Girl," with mixed emotion cause when we grow up, we wanna be that girl who has it all. We want a career, family(2.5 children), that beautiful 4 bedroom house, that SUV, credit cards, 52 inch flat screen t.v., computer in every room, beautiful clothes cause by God, we will not wear Walmart stuff, only Ann Taylor suits and drive a Lexus. Yes, we want it all. But our mothers were on the cusp of this new wave, new age thinking and in turn taught our men that, they work, come home and the wife does the cooking, cleaning and raising of the children. So, we work, run the kids to soccer practice, try to keep the house up all the while, making that instant dinner, you know the one that comes frozen, in a bag? We stopped sitting at the table for dinner, we're so rushed to get it all done. We are juggling so much, we don't even know our own children. Yes, because of that deviated perception of the American Dream, gone awry, we must work to maintain it and we've become that two income family, a necessity just to keep all those balls in the air.

Can you guess, just who it is, that suffers the consequence of our distorted dreams? Can you guess, who is sacrificed, inevitably raised by a system that is not working, i.e., our schools, T.V., Internet? Yes, it is our children, who from an early age, are placed in daycare, cared for by people who really don't love your children but handle them appropriately, if you're lucky, to just do their job. Once they are old enough, we feel it is the job of the school to teach them everything and we think they are getting all they need, at school. We allow them to watch, more and more violence, sexual content and learn false values from T.V. and on the Internet. Yes, we're just glad they're occupied, so we have a minutes peace, to fold the laundry. We omitted sitting and teaching them, reminding them to strive to be good people and as I mentioned before, to only treat others as we want to be treated, especially with regards to respect and a charitable heart.

I could place the full blame of this on the Mother but that would be a half truth. Yes Dad, you just love being able to come home, park your new Hummer in the driveway, walk in the door, to a fairly quiet house cause your kids are out or they're busy, in a Chat room, IMing their friends and you're able to get your dinner, put your feet up and watch Jon Stewart on your Flat Screen. Yea, you mow the lawn once a week and trim the shrubs, hopefully take the trash out which affords you the inalienable right to run the remote and watch what you want on T.V. cause you are the King of the Castle. Did your Dad teach you this? Back then of course, your Mom may have stayed home or at most, she worked a little part-time job, the beginnings of our assertion, as women. You heard Dad make the statement, "No wife of mine is gonna work." He eventually folded his cards, in the name of progress but still had the belief, handed down that, he didn't do dishes or laundry, "Oh hell no, men don't do dishes. That's womens work, son"

We're all mixed up, in this foggy American Dream. We've lost touch with what's important, especially in regards to our children, We need to seriously look at this. If we don't we will continue to have mass killings, such as what has just happened in an Omaha, Nebraska Mall and children, so distraught, not able to be comforted by their parents, for whatever reason, as the suicide, I've mentioned earlier.

Before it is too late, we need to look at our own values and beliefs, especially those we are passing down to the next selfish, greedy, plastic generation, we'll fondly call, "Generation Fake."

Could you possibly give yourself and family, the gift of assessing these ideas and principles, wrought with wrong? This Holiday Season, give your children, one thing, if nothing else, the wisdom that there is a Reason for the Season and maybe make a New Years resolution, to take your job and responsibilty as a parent, as seriously as it commands.

Oh and never be afraid to say Merry Christmas!!