I am sick, sick of this blameless society that we have created. When the hell did it happen? If someone knows please tell me. Please tell me when people woke up, then decided throughout their day that if anything went wrong it was someone else’s fault? We have become a people that are litigious spoiled pansies. My sickness is caused by the latest frivolous lawsuit against MySpace.
http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2007/01/22/76105.htm
I have enclosed the news article link for everyone to read and hopefully be just as sickened by it as I am. No, do not be sickened by what happened to the victims, but instead be sickened by what the parents are doing. To summarize; 4 families are suing MySpace and their parent company News Corp. for an undisclosed amount (millions of dollars) due to their underage daughters being sexually molested by adults they met on MySpace. This is the reason their lawyer is quoted for the monetary lawsuit “hopefully these lawsuits can spur MySpace into action and prevent this from happening to another child somewhere.” I love it when people do this. What often happens with these lawsuits is the plaintiffs claim that they are doing it for the money but instead to create a reaction that will force the corporation to change their policies due to being sued for so much. Of course that is always the excuse for such large sums of money. If the family sued for 1million and won, then MySpace would not pay attention. However, for perhaps 30million that would inspire them to act and never let another underage person be victimized again. Before you start trashing me for my callous attitude for the molestation of these girls and potential for psychological trauma, let me mention that I am not denying that the parents have the right or reason to sue MySpace. What they do not have the right to, is the right to sue for money and to point fingers saying “you caused my daughter to be abused, so pay up suckers.” If you really want to protect other children from being in the same situation as your daughter then sue the company to make mandatory safety, security and privacy policies. These policies will be age verification and other protocols to assure than the mixing of age groups cannot happen. If you counter what I just said with “but Thor the kids will just lie” then shut the fuck up, since you have just proved my next paragraph and read on. I have great respect for families that sue a company out of gross negligence or incompetence, and when they win the money is for loss of wages or medical bills only, in addition to the mandatory changes the company must enact so it never happens again. What the hell are the millions of dollars for? Is it to punish a multibillion dollar company that will only write off the loss on their taxes? Will it buy back the girl’s hymen or innocence? Or is it a hell of a way to suffer in style?
This is the time where I have to say BULLSHIT. Take that fucking finger that you are pointing everywhere and point it toward your chest. You the parent are the responsible party. You are the one that had no fucking idea what your child was up to. You are the one that allowed your child free access to the internet, without supervision. You are the person who did not educate your child to recognize or be aware that there are people in this world who lie, connive and want nothing more than to hurt you. You are the person responsible. Why do you think that when a child gets arrested the first thing they do is call the parents, then ask “Where were you?” I say the same thing should apply here. Hopefully the judge, before hearing any of the case should ask the parents; “Mr and Mrs. (whatever their names are) can you tell me the location of your daughters computer? Oh really it is in her bedroom? What site blocker software have you installed on it? Oh really, none huh? What have you taught your daughter about sex and sexual predators? Oh really, you thought that was the schools job huh? How did this person who molested your daughter contact her, besides on MySpace? Oh really, they called her on the personal cell phone you bought her, interesting? Have you ever looked at your daughters MySpace page or what sites she has been accessing? Really you didn’t want to violate her privacy? So what are your plans for the money if you win and what would you like MySpace to do pending the verdict? Really you do not have any counseling set up for your daughter, or money set aside for education, in fact you really have no formal plans for the money? Really you could care less what MySpace does, as long as you get paid?” It is then that the judge should require mandatory safety measures to be enacted by MySpace so that it will not happen again. What should be awarded the family? They should get nothing, except the realization that they suck as parents. I mean where does it end. These two people met on a public site, set up with no restrictions. If MySpace is to blame for this, then who else should be held accountable? Should the phone company since they could have installed a age verification system so people over 18 could not call anyone under 18? Should the auto manufacturer be sued since they could have installed systems that make you enter the name and address of the person you are driving to meet, if they are not of legal age then the car will not start? Should the internet providers be sued since they could have blocked all access to sites that allow age range interaction? Should the public school be sued since they did not provide enough education on child predators and what to avoid? Should the manufacture of the chair be sued since she was sitting on it as she types to this person? We should go after the computer company also since it was the computers that linked the two together. Whatever you do, do not tell me that I am being silly. If shit like this lawsuit are allowed in the court, then where does it stop? Blame the parents and their stupid child. They did not teach her enough to know better, and she made a decision (although a wrong one) to meet this guy. He did not break into her house, or kidnap her. He lied and she bought it. She was conned. Why is any of this MySpace’s fault?
So next time you do something stupid (no matter how bad), think of how you could have avoided it, then do not do it again. Chalk it up as a learning experience, it is part of life with free will attached. We are given the opportunity to choice our own paths in life, no matter how rough they are. If you walk down the wrong path, then figure out how the hell you ended up there, so you do not take the same path again. Children do not have that knowledge, so they need parents to teach them. If the parents are inept or too incompetent to do that, then do not blame anyone else in society for that failure. Blame the parents. Of course there will be the rebel child who was taught by loving and competent parents. That is the time when the parents and rest of society point at the child and say “sucks to be you, guess you will listen next time huh?” If I had my way; MySpace would be cleared of all blame and if not already doing on their own , required to post a disclaimer that people have to sign that states “MySpace is a public site. They do not verify or assure that anyone is who they say they are, to include age, race, sex or gender. Let the MySpace user beware.” The parents should be required to attend a group parenting class with their daughter and pay all of MySpaces legal fees.
I think that parents, when faced with the molestation of their children, are in shock. They deny, deny, deny, and then when they can’t deny any longer, thanks to SOCIETY IN GENERAL, of which YOU are a part, they strike out, no matter how ridiculous it seems to others around them. The arguments you present here are logical. But you forget that molestation, no matter how it happens, is something that stops the world for a child, and is the most illogical event in the universe. You can’t apply your rules to chaos. It doesn’t work.
It seems clear that you either don’t have children, or you are so far removed from people, you don’t have a clue about how the world works. You say: “If the parents are inept or too incompetent to do that, then do not blame anyone else in society for that failure.” Give me a break.
Parental ineptitude or incompetence have nothing to do with molestation. What a stupid comment to make. What parent is going to stand over their child and monitor every move their child makes online? I’m sorry, if you ever have children, maybe you want to start a blog on how to do it. But I would probably suggest that you stop your gene pool here and now. Don’t have kids.
The blame for molestation should be cast on the perpetrator, where it belongs. Not on the parents, and certainly not on the child. MySpace is to blame as much as the parents, in that they were THERE. No, you fool, the perpetrator is to blame. Not parents who may be in the other room cooking a meal, or God forbid, catching a moment’s rest from a hectic day. God help you. God help your child. And God help those parents who are free-falling through the insanity of someone robbing their child of their soul.
Let me help you. There are perpetrators walking the streets in Hometown, USA who have molested and molested, and the LAW and LOOPHOLES allow them to walk freely. They may be a registered sex offender, but in the majority of cases, the registration of these criminals falls through the cracks. No one is there to supervise and no one checks unless the offender offends yet again. So parents who want to press charges, or want to file at least a civil suit sometimes wait YEARS for restitution and then, most of the time, don’t get it. The law is on the side of the offender. If you don’t believe this, check your local DA’s office. I’m sure there are reports a-plenty where charges have been filed, but the perpetrator is IN THE FAMILY OF THE CHILD they molested and no one wants to upset the family structure. Check your statistics. Please. You sound like an idiot.
You are an idiot.