Comments on: Stop blaming Myspace!!

By: Neil Johnston Rouse II

Neil Johnston Rouse II — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 22:20:18 +0000

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.

By: rosey3223

rosey3223 — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 15:38:37 +0000

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!!

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 17:17:57 +0000

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?

By: simplywriting

simplywriting — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 01:04:07 +0000

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.