Filed under: Internet, Kids, News, web 2.0
MySpace blamed for 2 middle school boys' groping incident
If anyone doubted the influence of MySpace and social networking in general, this sad story will make you think again. Two middle school boys were recently charged with felonies for allegedly groping two female classmates at a middle school in Bradenton, FL. If charged as adults and convicted, the boys could end up on Florida's sex offender registry. The boys claim they were inspired to such acts by MySpace's "National Grab a Boob Day." Apparently a custom among MySpace users is to call out fictional holidays such as "National Lollipop Day" and "National Skateboarding Day." A cursory search for National Grab a Boob Day on MySpace turned up nothing, however September 20 was supposedly "National Ass Grab Day."
The girls who were assaulted are fine and after being harangued several times, one of them called her own holiday, "National Kick 'em in the Groin Day" and ran away. For their part, the school authorites are taking the incident very seriously and say such acts won't be tolerated.
It's sad these young boys acted the way they did and had the chutzpah to blame it on the juvenile social conventions of MySpace. MySpace requires users to be at least 14 years old, but even children younger than this know right from wrong and 'no means no.' We hope they learn a valuable lesson about respect and personal space and that they get a second chance to get it right.
[via http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20070925/NEWS/709250545]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Peter said 11:16AM on 9-26-2007
They not only will learn their lesson, they will pay for it the rest of their lives. For what they did, they will NEVER be allowed to do the following:
Join the military
Join any government service, like Peace Corps.
Live in most college dorms
In addition, they will find that for as long as they are on the registry, they will have to endure civil humiliation, harassment, potential vigilante justice not just against them, but their families, and in fact, live a life that is FAR WORSE than ANY level of parole, including for murder.
Yep, these two boys have done it, and they will wish they were in prison instead of on the registry.
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mavkato said 12:30PM on 9-26-2007
they haven't been convicted yet, so they are on no registry. it says "if they are charged as adults..."
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Anna said 2:10PM on 11-23-2007
Thats gayy.
Myspace had nothing to do with it...
1. Kids in highschool (( or middleschool or whatevver )) make up that stuff on thier own. Even without myspace. Its like a rumor around the school that its "backwards day" in elementary. Exept someone starts a message board to telling about it before school on myspace.
2. Its not myspace's fault. Kids can post bulletins (( which are like messages that are sent out to all of your friends at once. You can only see your friends' bulletins )) about whatever, and then someone reads it and reposts it so everyone on they're freinds list can see it... and so on... eventully, the bulletin is expossed to countless numbers of lists, and it cant be tracked.
3. Who tries out those tthings? Thats retarded. The boys should have used common sense and not have done it.
Thats what I think.
Lighten up.
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CertafiedBluntHead said 8:10PM on 11-25-2007
they make up "fictional" holidays like national skateboarding day??? yeaaah, i'm pretty sure that its not something made up by myspace, thats a pretty national thing and its been happening for a few years now, don't associate something good like skateboarding with some garbage talk like this
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Jerry said 10:04AM on 11-26-2007
You know, I am tired of the media always pointing fingers at myspace for stupid stuff like this. For one, if any girl online ends up getting raped or killed, it is THEIR fault for giving their predator their location... NOT myspace. They could have done the same thing on any of the instant messengers and turn out the same results. In fact, I bet there are countless cases where girls were raped just by telling some one their address over an instant messenger. Come on, anyone who gets in trouble over myspace is only guilty of the crimes themselves. You know as far as the media goes, I continue to read these stories blaming myspace for a bit of humor... yet it disgusts me at the same time.
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