MySpace Party Turns Into Rape

 

 

 

Those who have been reading my blog know my feelings about MySpace.com.

Today, I am posting about two alleged crimes recently in my own neck of the woods.

Both were as a result of on line activities through the MySpace.com website.

  The third is a blog which appears to be in favor of death row inmates communicating to millions of vulnerable teens out there through MySpace.com.

I am outraged by all three.

  The first, a local newspaper article entitled:
My Space Party Turns Into Rape by Kristen Melamed of The Aegis.

   "Two men have been charged with first degree rape after allegedly partying last Friday with a 16 year old ... girl they met on MySpace.com and then sexually assaulting her when she was incapacitated."

   "The two men met the girl on MySpace.com several weeks ago and invited her to a party being given at a local motel. The party was announced through MySpace.com and consisted of male and female adults along with several male and female juveniles and underage drinking.

The men left with the apparently intoxicated girl after she became ill and began vomiting. According to a Sheriff's office spokesman, she was then driven to a house where she was allegedly raped and sodomized."

   "The young girl was reported missing the next morning because she had told her parents she was spending the night at a friend's house. An individual showed up at the precinct to inform them that she had been partying at the motel and at one point had become unconscious."

   "This is a perfect example of why parents should know where their children are, who they are with, and where they can be reached," said the spokesman. 

 I couldn't agree more.

  My husband and I have always been very proactive when it comes to our children's safety. MySpace.com is banned in our house and it will stay banned. Our 14 year old son is certainly allowed to be on the computer but we monitor his activities very closely.

   In fact, we saw where he did click on to MySpace once and immediately discussed our views, the danger, and why he would no longer be allowed to visit that site. Prior to talking with him, I visited MySpace. I was shocked at the filth I saw on there. No way would I want any child of mine to be visiting that site!

   As any typical teenager would, he tried to push that rule a bit. We discovered it almost immediately and he no longer has his own screen name. He must go on using mine. That ended that. Thankfully, he didn't get too upset. He knows deep down that we're just watching out for his safety.

   The second article in my local paper has to do with another party set up through MySace. It's entitled, MYSpace Party Ends in Gunplay, also by Kristen Malamed. In this case, the party suddenly turned violent and a man was shot in the abdomen and subsequently flown to the trauma center.

  The third article is on a blog entitled 27B Stroke6.  This author is discussing the rights of death row inmates to be on MySpace. However commendable the author is for condemning the pedophiles on MySpace for trying to victimize our children, I must take exception to his view that it's somehow OK for death row inmates to expose our teens to their warped views of life. How many of us would want our impressionable young teens to be influenced by someone like this? I certainly don't!

Parents need to be more proactive in controlling the behavior of their children. However, I don't believe any adults should be interacting with children on internet websites! Even with being proactive, it's very difficult to monitor their online activities every minute of the day, especially if they're on a friend's computer. I have stated before that I believe MySace.com is very dangerous to our teens and should be banned.

   However - what with free speech and all that - that's not likely to happen - especially if people are making any money off of it. Why else would they have it? They have to be getting something out of it - at the expense of our children.

   I believe that if MySpace.com won't police their sites then they should be held accountable for any harm done to our children. They know what's going on. They can't just sit back and close their eyes or hide their heads in the sand. They must take proactive steps as well.
 

Comments

[Bob Jones]

One thing. Why not: Dont Do Stupid Stuff on mYspace. instead of trying to get it banned, or whatever, just use it for what it was made for: to have fun and talk to YOUR FRIENDS. good plan.