For the past week I've been working to put together more information that will soon be available to readers about this site and what is expected of individuals, any individuals, myself included, who post or comment. This is a big, behind the scenes issue, as many bloggers are currently debating how to maintain civility on sites and what steps can be taken to do so that still keep free speech and other ideals alive and well.
There seem to be examples not just online, but everywhere, that make you wonder how could someone do that? Or say that? Or act that way? And how does one get to that point?
Today there was an article by Matt Birkbeck (with Kelly-Anne Suarez contributing) of the Morning Call (read it here) regarding a lawsuit made by the father of a Nazareth teen who died. The lawsuit was filed because according to the suit, the death scene photos of his son were posted on a MySpace page under the title, "There is no better way to kill yourself," and shown in school by the son of the Deputy County Coroner to fellow students who knew the teen who died.
To say this individual's actions are disturbing would only be an understated beginning. The suit, among other things, refers to the actions as a 'reckless indifference'.
We hear many horrible things thanks to the speed at which news now travels, the glut of information providers who seek to grab our attention with stories worse than what we've heard before, and the ability to find news and information from around the globe, but yet, when a story like this is reported as happening so close to home, it does make you wonder how and to what end? If our children have become so indifferent to everything save themself, we are in trouble indeed.
Does one person's action reflect the whole, no, but it probably should remind us all of the fact that we need to pay close attention to what is happening as children 'grow up faster' and do so at the expense of not recognizing or fully comprehending the consequences of their behaviors.
1 comment:
I follow these guidelines.
1. Publish as fact only that which you believe to be true. (If your statement is speculation, say so.)
2. If material exists online, link to it when you reference it.
3. Publicly correct any misinformation. (These corrections would appear in the most current version of your blog and as an added note to the original entry.)
4. Write each entry as if it could not be changed; add to, but do not rewrite or delete, any entry. (Changing or deleting entries destroys the integrity of the network. I will correct a spelling or grammatical error anytime I discover one. And I have a fifteen minute rule for changing posts. Once it's up for fifteen minutes, it's there for the entire world to see even if I know I'm dead wrong. At that point, I have to do a correction.)
5. Disclose any conflict of interest. (This is particularly important for an anonymous blogger.)
6. Note questionable and biased sources.
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