Tuesday, November 27, 2007

No words...

13 Year-old Girl Commits Suicide After Cyber-bullying
What do you say about the tragic suicide of a young girl who was only 13. To make it worse, she did it because she just broke up with a boy. And worse? Said boy never existed. It was the mom of another girl in the neighborhood who just wanted to see what was being said about her daughter online.

Is setting up a fake myspace page and posing as a boyfriend to a girl this young a crime? If she kills herself over the relationship is it a crime then? I was listening to something about this on NPR this afternoon and I got to thinking about it. I thought about it a lot. Where are we headed when a mother would do this to another woman's child? Even if she had no idea the girl would end her life over the break-up how sick is it to do something like that to a younger person? Where is the wisdom that comes with age in this country? Does something have to be defined as a crime so we will know it is hideous and wrong? I'm just so sad.

5 comments:

Mona Zenhom said...

I have been thinking of this story since I read about it a week or so ago. The neighbor family should be charged with something. How horrible for this poor family and what that young girl must have been feeling. Unbelievable.

Jules UmmEmJoey said...

Asalaam Alaikum Sister,

It is very sad. Also I think it is a great example of how as parents we really need to watch what our children are doing online, if you can't sit there and monitor what they are doing, then you need to get a program to mointor which sites they go to. And ever more so we need to TALK to our children about things online. This is an unbelievable tragedy, but part of me wonders where this girls parents were. Were they talking to her about the dangers of people online? Were they talking to her about anything? Did they sit down each day and ask their daughter what she was doing, how she was doing, if anything was bothering her, if she was happy about anything? I just really think so many problems can be solved by open and honest communication between parents and children. I really think too much these days we plop our kids in front of the tv instead of spending time with them, or sit in frontof the computer, when we could be taking our children outside to explore teh creation of Allah (swt). Insha'Allah this will cause more parents to be better communicators with their children. It is so sad...

May Allah bless us all, and help us to guide our children on the path to Him,

Aeryn

Molly said...

I think the mother should be charged with fraud. It is inexcusable and a prime example of how messed up our society has become; both that the little girl would kill herself over it, and that the other girl's mother would ever take it so far. Why pose as a boy? Why not pose as a girl? And why "break up" with the girl? It sounds more like the mother was getting something more out of it than finding out whats being said about her daughter.

wanda loves... said...

Yea, I'm from St. Louis (where this happened). Its been all over the news. Recently city councils for a couple of the small municipalites have been passing ordinances against "cyber bullying" and deception on the internet.
IMHO, while the girl's suicide is quite sad, there really isn't any crime here. The parent's could definately sue that woman (and they should!), but if lying on the internet was a crime then half of the users would be in jail.
I think what is also important is the esteem of this young girl. The idea that a 13-year old even had uninterrupted access to a computer period, but that she was so heartbroken over a boy she hadn't ever even met. Sad sad sad.

Sketched Soul said...

As-salaamu'alaykum wa Rahmatu Llahi wa Barakatuhu my dearest sister,

This is the first time I heard the story..

wow..
Yes.. where are we headed when a mother would do that to another woman's child!

It's sad, (pathetic too).. but sad

Thank you for letting me know.

Wa'alaykum as-salaam
Love Farhana