A tragedy to be sure. The mother involved in the 'hoax' seems to be a particular unpleasant individual and obviously a bully. I thought the fact that her first action on learning that Megan had killed herself was to phone the other girl in an attempt to cover her tracks and the veiled threat to the newspaper about being careful what they wrote were very telling. She is obviously completely aware that she has culpability in this matter.
Were they solely to blame? No. Could they have foreseen the drastic consequences? No. But as adults their behaviour was shameful and they would have known, at the very least, that they were distressing a young girl who was vulnerable. That in itself is appalling.
Ann, I think there's a huge difference between this case and Paris Hilton. When you put yourself out in the glare of the media and beg for attention then you have to expect that not all of that attention will be positive. Especially if your behaviour and public persona are ones that invite criticism. Paris Hilton made a quite deliberate choice to make herself famous and she can hardly complain therefore that sometimes that fame brings her attention she doesn't like. When you grab the media tiger by the tail and court it, you can end up getting bit. And if you can't stand the heat...well it's easy enough to get yourself out of the kitchen if you really want to and lapse into obscurity. Let's not fool ourselves here. Paris Hilton loves the attention and courts it every chance she gets. And, since the criticism of her behaviour hasn't led to her making any changes in her life - minor or major - then we can only assume that she isn't too devastated by the negative attention either. It would be simple enough to do if she really cared what people thought of her.
Megan, however, was simply engaged in chatting with (so-called) friends on a networking site.
LabRat
