Trolls, Flame Wars & CyberStalkers: December 2007

Sunday, December 02, 2007

Case# 25 Immediate~MEGAN MEIER~CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?

Just so that others KNOW, this blog is so important, it belongs in both my blogs. Katie

Fighter of EOPC, did a live broadcast with FOX's syndicated Mike & Juliet Show on 11/30/07, where EOPC was sandbagged, insulted, called names just for using a pseudonym to protect themselves and for bringing some attention to the Internet and public as a whole on the Megan Meiers story that happened in 2006.

I am here to support them.

What is your reaction when a 13 year old commits suicide by hanging herself, all due to what the Internet brings on its super highway and you learn an adult used her as a token of play? Especially at the hands of an adult that knew her & her family well, and that set up the plot (using the fake name "Josh Evans") to make this child feel really special, unique, only to destroy her in the end with so much trauma and stress. An adult who told Megan "the world would be better off without her". An adult who has shown no remorse or taken any responsibility, to the point she told Megan's mother to "give it a rest."

This was such extreme emotional rape that this 13 hung herself as she just felt that she could not face life anymore. Is this plot a murder even though they did not knot the loop, or place this child's head in the noose? Some say not, and it is a controversial subject.

In my eyes, it is just as close to murder as one can get without touching this poor child, pulling a trigger or hiring a hit man.

Let me give you a brief history of this child, as it might fit the description of your own child without you even knowing the trauma that lies deep in child's heart, the way they feel about life and not fitting in, their personal insecurities. Megan, battled attention deficit disorder, bipolar depression and a weight problem for much of her young life; always tried to fit in with others her age, suffered with her own emotions and others not understanding. She had a great deal on her plate for a 13-year old child with all these problems. Anyone that would pay attention to her, make her feel special, compliment her, tell her she was worthy, etc., would obviously mean a great deal to her. It was the attention she needed to make her feel better, and gave her a reason to smile and face the next day with a smile. ALL of this was known to her cyberbully/ attacker. Very well known.

To make a long story short, she had a falling out with the perpetrator's daughter. And this other child's parents that had issues with Megan, stepped in via the Internet creating a FAKE MySpace profile of a boy that supposedly liked Megan, and that eventually led to Megan hanging herself.

Instead of explaining to their own child that this is part of growing up, how to handle this situation and being a REAL PARENT, they set out to destroy Megan. And they did. Took time to set up falsehoods, talking to Megan on the Internet with MYSPACE, instead of being a RESPONSIBLE PARENT to their own child of how to handle teenage years. And to make matters worse, since these adult parents knew Megan, they knew her insecurities, and how to get to her, how to make her suffer. How to destroy her. They might as well have had a gun and shot her. Yet, no gun was needed. And, I think they knew that. I think they knew Megan well enough to expect the outcome of her committing suicide.

"Oh, Mom, you don't understand" Megan said to her mother. The thing is, Megan's mother did want to understand, yet realized that while she talked about the dangers of the Internet, and all the things that could go on with it, especially her young daughter that felt some wonderful feelings with all the attention she was being given, her mom also I think had to be careful of how she choose her words to warn her child.

Telling her to not believe anything she heard on the Internet, also might come across to Megan that her mom, who loved her with her heart and soul, was putting Megan down as Megan might have then thought that her mother did not believe in her or think she was special to have a caring and loving relationship. We do have to pick our words careful when it comes to things like this. Parents are not trained on how to express to their children that they are tokens in a game, or beingused, therefore try to give some leeway to let in what happiness their child is experiencing. Yet, I bet they do not sleep well at night as they are unsure of what consequences might fall as they could not find the right words without hurting their child more. Taken from EOPC in a blog with words from Megan's mom:

"That was always the talk," Tina Meier told Lauer, repeating the conversations she had with her daughter: "'Megan, c'mon, we don't even know this person. Let's not get too excited.' She'd say, 'Oh, Mom, you don't understand.' So I did talk to her daily about that. But children at this age, they don't think that."

And then the boy, (remember, this was not a boy, but a parent, an adult) turned on Megan, leading a campaign of vilification and online name-calling that ended when Megan took her own life.

If this does not bring tears to eyes, then we might need to check our tear ducts. SOMETHING IS WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE that a child's mind can be played with by someone using a false personna that spent time with her, told her how wonderful she was, built the confidence as a person she felt she could depend on, make her smile and feel special, thought her life was changing; yet once this was all purposely done, sprang upon her that she was nothing, so much that this poor child felt she can no longer live and takes her own life.

Megan Meier hanged herself Oct. 16, 2006.

For over a year, the law did nothing. Lawmakers used the excuse that "no law fit." That's simply not true.

On Friday, November 30, 2007 Fox TV's Mike & Juliet show had Fighter on via phone, NEVER mentioning that EOPC is a victim's services site. A site that helps those adults conned, coerced, and traumatized by predators online. They treated Fighter as a representative punching bag of a "CYBER MOB" (their term) of bloggers, never mentioned her site (despite producers promising they would!) or the great work EOPC does for victims.

Fighter was also villanized along with other bloggers for posting ALREADY AVAILABLE INFORMATION about the perpetrator of Megan's cyberbullying. Things already posted by the New York Times. Mike, one of the hosts, chided Fighter for linking to Rotten Neighbor, despite Fighter telling him repeatedly she had never advocated violence or viligilante justice against the perpetrators and again, was linking to already publicly available information.

As fellow blogger Danny Vice says:

The media has earned it's reputation as the "drive by media" for a reason. It thoughtlessly reveals the names of anyone it deems newsworthy on almost every subject, in it's relentless bid to get the 'exclusive rights' to a story or simply gain market share.
...

The Vice could go back and list thousands of stories where the media wasted no time in delivering the names and occupations of individuals that were later exonerated of any wrong-doing. The vice is aware of no instance where the same media outlet apologized to the family who was wrongly accused. The media simply cut the story and jumps on the next "name" that emerged as a compelling story.

Don Henley's "Dirty Laundry", a great song from the 80's, certainly nails it on the head rather well I think. The hypocrisy here is so well documented over decades of story telling, that simply opening tomorrow's newspaper easily confirms the silliness of it.

The Vice has concluded that naming Lori Drew was legitimate news. She is a primary subject of the story, is not a rape victim, and is not a minor. Identifying her breaks no new ground, nor does it deviate from what news outlets do on a daily basis.

The Vice also reminds readers that her name and her role in the Megan Meier tragedy were documented as public record. A public record that Lori filed on her own accord. This is a critically important fact in this case.

News outlets, bloggers and the general public were handed Lori's name and Lori's own self admissions when she herself filed that police report and sought to elevate the severity of the situation that had developed between her and the Meier family.

Had Lori Drew simply acknowledged what she did was wrong, and apologized - the police report that identified her may have never been filed, and the entire situation may have well been kept at the lowest profile.

The real story here may not even be about Megan Meier. It may simply be another example of why the Golden Rule has endured the many years it's been repeated. Do unto others, as you'd have them do unto you.

CLICK HERE FOR DANNY VICE'S GREAT BLOG

Dr. Keith Ablow proved he is merely a media sensationalist as well by questioning the fact that Fighter herself was using a pseudonym (because EOPC outs predators (potentially DANGEROUS pathologicals) and the persons running the site wish to protect their own families while assisting victims) implying Fighter had 'psychological problems' to which the audience foolishly applauded.

Fighter was positioned instead as a 'raving lunatic' and a 'cyberbully' who wasn't allowing the law to 'take its course' without getting a fair shake for the work EOPC does.

Dr. Ablow and the hosts never even bothered to question the sociopathic tendencies of the adult that drove Megan to her death or the righteous indignation of bloggers who are angry that the law has done NOTHING in over a year until this came to light. Nor was the sick blog called 'Megan Had It Coming' called out.