Jul 17 2008
Stop blaming Myspace!!
I’m gonna take a small break from my movie reviews to post this as it disturbs me a little…well, enough to write about it.
I got a bulletin today on MySpace with the message titled “Stop Blaming MySpace”, and this is what I read…
“Anybody happen to catch Nightline last night on ABC? In case you didn’t, one of the hot topics discussed was MySpace. It is no secret to anyone who reads the newspaper or watches the 6 o’clock news that MySpace has been in the limelight because of “sexual predators” trying to “abduct and corrupt” the youth of the world. To this I say bull shit! I see dozens of profiles a day showing 14 year old girls dressed like sluts, wearing four inches of make up and 32 layers of eyeliner, displaying their age as 18 years old and profile lines stating “Oh, I’m So Sexy” or “Hey There, Wanna Check Up On It?” Come on! The youth of today’s world are already corrupt enough due to the undying need to be “older” than they really are. I seriously doubt there are tons of people on MySpace stalking “innocent young girls” who just happen to have tramped up profiles and ages 4 years greater than their own..
On Nightline, there was a story of a 12 year old girl who was a drug-addict and attributed it all to MySpace. She claims that Myspace allowed her to easily find drug dealers in her area, as well as older men to have sex with her. Now, at the age of 14, she has been checked into a drug-rehabilitation clinic and has been away from her family for 5 months. Her parents would rather place the blame squarely on the shoulders of MySpace instead of their daughter, who even admitted that at the age of 12, had already tried weed, crack, X, and had slept with numerous guys older than herself…but of course, it wasn’t her fault, it was all because of MySpace..
Once again, COME ON! When are parents and children going to stop passing the blame and grow up enough to take responsibility for their actions and the actions of their children.. Parents: monitor your children online, take some responsibility for YOUR children! Children: if a profile name sounds like something that comes out of a cheap horror movie, like “DARK ANGEL OF DEATH WHO EATS THE BRAINS OF GIRLS”…chances are you DO NOT WANT TO ADD THEM AS A FRIEND. Apparently there is new legislation in Congress now to block MySpace in all public schools and public libraries across the United States. All because little girls want to act like sluts and don’t want to accept the consequences of their actions, and parents don’t want to accept the fact that their “innocent little girls” are posing as 18 year old crack whores trying to buy drugs..
A 14 year old girl and her mother have filed a law suit against Myspace. com because she was sexually assaulted by another user. She said he lied by saying he was on the high School football team, and THAT gained her trust. Obviously if that’s all it took to gain her trust, chances are she’ll pretty much trust anybody and anyone (not really MySpace’s fault)..
She’s suing Myspace. com for $30 million because she believes MySpace has poor security. WHAT A CROCK OF SHIT! Myspace is not a babysitting service, take responsibility for your own actions!!! What happened to her is a terrible thing and should never happen to anyone, period. Where were her parents? Why are they not held responsible for what their daughter does in their own home? Myspace has many many ways of blocking out/screening people, some are: you have to ACCEPT the person you may or may not know as a friend, as well as deny people you do or do not know, you can have certain security measures added like making your profile private, or asking for last name and email address, you can block a person, you can only associate with people you ALREADY know or simply you can NOT be on MySpace if you lack common sense..
Eventually, if this continues, MySpace could be totally outlawed from the Internet. Restrictions will be put in place in order to make MySpace “safer”. I don’t know about you, but I use MySpace to keep in touch with my family and friends, use it for messages, and just to have a space that is my own. Just because some children want to act grown up, does that mean I may have to eventually give up my MySpace? If you feel the same way I do, please, re-post this in your blogs or bulletins, or both as “STOP BLAMING MYSPACE”. If enough people post this and spread the word, maybe people will get the picture and stop blaming MySpace for every little thing that their children do wrong. As a user of MySpace, we should all re-post this and take some sort of action. This is not a chain letter, and nothing will happen to you if you don’t re-post this in 321654987 seconds. However, of all bulletins you will read today, I am sure that this one is the only one that actually has a point to it..
MONITOR YOUR KIDS ACTIONS AND COMPUTER TIME
Pass this on if you support Tom, and Myspace.”
This is my view on this. Since when did the internet become babysitters for any child, whether they be a child, teen, or young adult? It is not Myspace’s fault like the bulletin states that these young girls are posing as 18 year olds and dressing like they belong in a strip joint! It is the parents fault for not monitoring what their children do.
Now I know that in this day and age both parents need to work in order to support the family, but computers are password protected! The child does NOT have to have a computer in their room! I am a mother of three and I don’t care how unliked I am by not only my children, but their friends as well, my children are NOT going to have a computer in their room! Honestly, my reasons are because with having a computer, t.v, cell phone, and gaming system in their room, they are not going to spend much time with family. But then I read this bulletin and I’m happy with the choice that I made! I know that I will be able to monitor my children better. I may not be able to know EXACTLY what they do when they go out or are in school (I mean come on, I was a teenager once too!!), but at least I know that I will be able to watch them when they are home and know that they are safe.
I am aware of one instance where a teenage girl committed suicide because a couple of classmates pulled a mean joke on her and posed as a fellow boy who she had a crush on at school, and when she found out killed herself. I am aware that somethings are hard to control, but still, that’s not Myspace’s fault, it the user who did such mean things fault!
I just think it’s absolute baloney to put the blame on someone else rather than yourself!
4 Responses to “Stop blaming Myspace!!”
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I have to say, I’m with you guys on all of this. I am the parent of FIVE children - two of which will be 14 in a month. We already monitor their online time, and will continue so as they continue to mature and use it more frequently. Why is it that today’s society is so incredibly hell bent on blaming others instead of looking at their own parenting.
Anyway, I’m glad you posted this.
I hope that Myspace won’t be outlawed. If it is, maybe we can sue the people who behaved badly and blamed Myspace for taking away something that we like?
Simplywriting, I also don’t understand why today’s society blames others instead of themselves. I could understand if Myspace was a site that allowed the type of behavior that they are being accused of, but Tom is doing everything in his power to stop it! He has it to where if you put your ACTUAL age on there and if you are still a minor, then your profile is private. He has it to where if someone wants to request you as a friend, they have to know your email address or last name…that prevents a lot if you think about it AND it protects you!! It’s up to the parents to be aware of all the tools there are to protect yourself on there, it’s up to the parents to make sure their children are protected! I’ve seen 15 year olds have their age set to 18 just so that their profile wasn’t private!! It’s up to the parents to check that, not Tom! And yet, I can’t even count how many notices I’ve gotten from Tom stating how he was doing profile checks! Why should he be the one to do that?? It’s a public forum, therefore the parents should be the ones to make sure their children are doing as they are suppose to.
It really does outrage me how society is. I also hope that Myspace doesn’t get shutdown over this type of stuff. If they do, I also agree Stephanie that we should sue those that are causing all this ruckus!! It really is unfair and stupid and I will be very upset if Myspace or any other social networking forum gets shut down over something that the parents should be doing!!
My response to a friends request to re-post.
I agree with everything your friend said, but the way it was said could use a little editing, or smoothing over.
In places it sounds a little like the small town football hero had some kind of right to rape the cheerleader because she was not wearing a bra, or was wearing a mini-skirt. I think that however naive the victim, they are still the victim.
I believe that guns do not kill people, people kill people, and that Myspace is a tool, which, as with any other tool, can be abused. I agree that ABC is more than somewhat left leaning, tending to always blame the tool.
Still, I have a hard time beating on the victim, however stupid the victim may have been.
Some of the facts are also a just a bit misplaced. Pedophiles are looking for the 14s that actually say they are 14. Not the 14s claiming to be 21. Thank God we have 25-year old policewomen on line pretending to be 14.
Your friend is obviously very intelligent; certainly they have done their research, and over all have made a point. But too sharp a point can kill, when the object is to prod.
There are things that can be done, I am not sure if it can be done through Myspace, maybe someone should ask ‘Tom’ for whatever he’s worth. But on-line petitions with electronic signatures are a very effective means we appraisers use when we disagree with pending legislation.
I think it is most likely a first amendment issue, not likely to get anywhere anyway. But I would sign a well-worded petition.
Once again, it is not that I do not agree with the meat of the issue, but I must take pause at the wording.