Cruelty, like every other vice, requires no motive outside of itself; it only requires opportunity - George Eliot
The world can be a cruel place…there can be no doubt about that. It is mainly the older generation that tend to have a fear of the internet and because of that it is deemed to be responsible for many problems in the world.
I would argue that there were many things before the age of the World Wide Web that could be blamed for many of the problems society faced in years gone by. However the story of Megan Meier may just bring those fears to the surface once again.
The 13-year-old from Dardenne Prairie, Missouri thought she was in the midst of an internet friendship with a teenage boy called Josh; who contacted her on her MySpace page and began exchange messages with the girl.
Megan suffered from attention deficit disorder and depression and she was plunged back into despair when, a month after they began communicating, Josh abruptly ended their friendship, telling her he had heard she was cruel.
A deeply upset Megan committed suicide the next day. Megan’s family later found out that Josh never existed. A neighbourhood family, which included a former friends of Megan’s, created this character.
Her father found a message from ‘Josh’ the day after she died in which Megan was told she was a bad person and the world would be better without her. Quite amazingly there is nothing that the authorities can do, even though they are still investigating.
The woman who created the fake profile has not been charged with a crime, she is alleged to have told the St Charles County Sheriff’s Department that she created ‘Josh’ because she wanted to know what Megan was saying about her own child while online and also gain her confidence.
Megan’s parents had been storing a foosball table for the family that created the MySpace character. Six weeks after Megan’s death, they learned the other family had created the profile and responded by destroying the foosball table, dumping it on the neighbours’ driveway and encouraging them to move away.
The tragedy has had a great affect on the family and has led to the separation and planned divorce of Megan’s parents. The Aldermen in Dardenne Prairie are to propose a new ordinance related to child endangerment and Internet harassment.
It is shocking when something like this happens and I can understand how the internet, especially in a small community, can be perceived as an evil force. However can someone please tell me what the family that created ‘Josh’ was thinking? How could they believe that this would not cause some sort of harm to the girl?
Ok I am not suggesting for one moment that they were hoping that they would push the girl so far over the edge that she would take her own life, I am sure that no one would have wanted that. At the same time was there not a shred of decency there that would have led them to believe that what they were doing was going to cause harm in some way?
Should Megan have had access to a MySpace account at such a young age? Probably not but I do not think that is the issue right now. If I were part of the family involved in this hoax I would take a long look at what I had done and wonder about myself, wonder why there was a need to do something as drastic as this just to find out if there was a bit of gossip being spread around.
It beggars belief and, I am sure that for the Meier family, something that is will be hard to forgive.
Monday, December 3rd, 2007 and is filed under Pain and suffering, Thoughts & Questions, Views on News.
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