You're kind of missing the point, shimuamua. For one thing, the girl's parents WERE supervising her very closely - she was only allowed access to her MySpace account when it seemed that she was genuinely doing fine, and well-adjusted, and even then she was under constant supervision. During the day in question, Megan became so upset about what was being said about her that she deliberately disobeyed her mother when she was asked to log off. In fact, it was all a case of unfortunate timing, according to Tina. The only reason Megan was unsupervised that day was because Tina was running late for a doctor's appointment. I honestly don't see how her parents could have monitored her any more closely unless they had locked her up and put surveillance cameras in the house.
Secondly, we are talking about an intricately planned psychological assault on a young girl by a pair of adults. Girls in their early teens are always especially emotionally vulnerable to things like self-image and public opinion. Even if Megan had not been suffering from depression, this sort attack could have had serious psychological repercussions. I remember a certain incident that happened when I was 13, where all my friends got together and jeered at my dancing at a party behind my back. After I found out about it, I developed severe self-confidence and trust issues and never danced again in public for the next five years. Since then, I've grown a very thick skin with regards to barbs like this, but I wouldn't call what happened to me at 13 an over-reaction. at that age, at that vulnerable time of my life, things that seem trivial to me in adulthood were real and critical to me. We laugh and ridicule the antics of 'teeny-boppers', but this sort of drama is a necessary part of growing up. We can't measure other people's emotional response by our own personal yardsticks, especially not that of a child's. Sensitivity is all a matter of perception. Who's to say what exactly constitutes 'over sensitivity'? Our emotional responses are each unique and equally valid.
However, I get what you say. It's highly unlikely that the impersonators would have anticipated Megan killing herself as a result of their hoax. However, as I have pointed out before, it would certainly have messed up even a normal 13 year old to a serious degree. These people were parents themselves; they should have known that. And it was no random attack. It was a carefully, strategic and single-minded attack on the girl, premeditated for months beforehand, designed to have maximum impact at a significant time in her life. In my book, adults screwing with a vulnerable little girl's head in this way is as bad as sex-talking kids on-line.
I wonder whether you understand the nature of depression. I know that a few of the members of these boards suffer from it, and they will be the first to tell you that this condition entails that they are not in full control of their actions. I myself came close to suicide once, and that was not even with clinical depression - I was severely stressed. And what triggered it was, on the face of it, a completely trivial incident. One minute I was peaceful and enjoying myself, next minute I'm hovering at the brink of an abyss so painful and frightening it was beyond comprehension. Now that I am completely recovered, I look back at that time and can barely believe that was me. But it was me, and in that time, at that place and in that condition it was very real. To say that it's your own fault for not being rational in a situation such as that is completely laughable.
America has a phenomenally high number of sufferers from depression, as I understand it. The thing about mental illness is that you never know whether or not you have it, or somebody else has it, or what will trigger it in someone. Now, it's true that we can't walk around on tip-toe our whole lives hoping we won't set somebody off. It's one thing to crack an inappropraite joke, voice an opinion or say somethng spiteful in the heat of the moment and watch unintended consequences unfold. You can't help being human - it isn't your fault. But bullying, online flaming, hate campaign s and trivializing people's emotional sensitivity are serious issues which act as triggers for tragedy. For things like these, people should be made to take responsibility. It's like waving a hand gun around and saying, "well, I didn't MEAN to!" when it accidentally goes off and hits somebody.
I wonder how many tragedies and hate crimes could have been prevented in this year alone, if people took the concerns of 'oversensitive' people seriously. The Virginia Tech Shootings, for one.
