The Glade 4.0

I think we've talked about the bullying issue here before havent we? This is a tough subject for me. I really dont know what the answers are.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaki ... r_pho.html

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“Strong people are harder to kill than weak people, and more useful in general”. - Mark Rippetoe

Being a teenager is tough. Really tough. Having a strong support network including a loving family and good friends can make or break a person during their teenage years.
Does I think bullying can push a young person over the edge to suicide? Absolutely.

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"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Jesus of Nazareth

Based on what's been released, this sounds like it goes WAY beyond the normal realm of child bullying.

My question is where the hell were the parents in this? Her parents should have noticed she was upset and found out what happened. Then her parents should have addressed it with the other kids parents, who in turn should have dealt with their kids.

If that didn't work, then you get the various authorities involved, whether at the school or the police.

You can charge minors with statutory rape now? Isn't that basically outlawing sex for anyone under 18?

It says that some of the people charged are 18. It seems logical that they are the ones charged with statutory rape.

I should also point out that if, say, a 17-year-old has sex with a 10-year-old that's statutory rape too.

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"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."

She was under the age of 16, they were over the age of 16. If they had all been 17 or all been 14 I don't think statutory rape would apply, would it?

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"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Jesus of Nazareth

The article says that one of the people charged with statutory rape is 17. Phoebe Prince was 15. If that automatically qualifies as rape, something is **** up.

hrmmm. According to Massachusetts state law the legal age of consent is 16 and the minimum age to prosecute for statutory rape has not been legally defined....so if a 17 year old has sex with a 15 year old in Massachusetts, you can legally charge the 17 year old with rape.

http://aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/08/sr/statelaws/summary.shtml

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"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Jesus of Nazareth

Yes it is **** up - the statutory rape law.

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"...but there exists also in the human heart a depraved taste for equality, which impels the weak to attempt to lower the powerful to their own level and reduces men to prefer equality in slavery to inequality with freedom." - De Tocqueville

Most statutory rape laws are a morass of absurd attempts to make sure older people don't have sex with people too toung to meaningfully consent while at the same time trying not to make it criminal to be a teenager with hormones. Unfortunately, they tend to do an appalling job of it.

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"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."

I'd be wary to draw any conclusions given the complete lack of substantive details.


This could be anything from serious harassment to typical teenage "I'm going to kick your ***!" drama. The fact that she killed herself isn't proof positive that the bullying was anything out-of-the-ordinary. I'm sympathetic, but depressed people -- especially teenagers -- don't always kill themselves for the most objective reasons. Of course, any kind of bullying is bad. But there's a big difference between "that's a shitty way to treat people" and "this is criminal and we should prosecute you for it".

Of course, this may very well be exactly what the prosecuting DA is making it out to be. I'm just saying that I would need to see some actual evidence of actual criminal wrongdoing. Otherwise, well ... this is all very tragic, but I'm sorry to say that people do have a right to be assholes.

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Sail forth! steer for the deep waters only!
Reckless, O soul, exploring, I with thee, and thou with me;
For we are bound where mariner has not yet dared to go,
And we will risk the ship, ourselves and all.

That's why we have trials to figure out all these minutiae.

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I prefer to think of them as "Fighting evil in another dimension"

People can find any reason to kill themselves... 80% of the time it is due to psychiatric disorders, IIRC.

According to this it's 90% http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publicat ... ml#factors

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"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Jesus of Nazareth

Massachussets law stipulates that educators and school administrators, police and rescue personel are legally required to report extreme cases of bullying. People are going to get in serious trouble over this.

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Ezekiel 23:19-20