Quick update on this post: I've deleted a few hateful comments already. I'm not so much concerned about what you say about me, but I won't tolerate anyone who says anything about this girl or her family. If you're one of those who would like to leave a hateful comment, feel free. Just know that it will be deleted within seconds.
I'm really disturbed. Yesterday a fifteen year old girl was hit by a train near my house. Her name was Shariah Casper and she was the cousin of a friend of mine. This morning I spent an hour or so reading articles about the accident, which I won't recap here. There are plenty of recaps elsewhere. I found out that there was a facebook page dedicated to this girl and I "liked" it.
I can't remember the last time I've felt this revolted by human beings.
There are people on this page posting horrible, cruel, heartless things. Someone has made a fake facebook account of Shariah and keeps posting on the page. How disgusting. How sickening. I feel for this poor family who would undoubtedly do anything to have their little girl back.
"Your friends saw it? Lucky them. I always wondered what would happen, does the body like, explode? Or does it rip into two pieces?"
"The dumb b*tch was dumb enough to cross a train track. Thank god she died."
"I don't have a problem, it's funny to rip on a dumb dead girl."
"rest in piss"
"That "poor" slut "
"Miss Casper, you and your tits will be missed."
That's really just the beginning of the pile of garbage overflowing out of that page. That alone makes me angry and sickened, but these trolls (and I know they are trolls) have the standard defenses in place. They cite "The Rules" and specifically Rule #20. In case you aren't familiar, Rule #20 of the internet is that "nothing is to be taken seriously."
As one commenter so aptly and simply put it, there is no rule #20. It only exists because people like this exist.
They say "don't feed the trolls." They say "if you stop commenting on my post, I'll stop." They say "this is the internet, get over it."
I love the internet, really I do. Most of the time I find awesome things and awesome people here. But this is what I really hate. This idea that anonymity and a computer screen make it okay to say whatever you want to whoever you want. It is so false. These "Rules" and internet memes and phrases that get used to harass this girl's family are nothing more than a flimsy pretense that allows cruelty to go unchecked in this situation. You can cite the rules all you want, but anyone who tries to use them as a free pass openly displays that they don't have a shred of human decency. This isn't primarily about what is the norm on the internet. It's about a tragedy, a horrible accident, and the way some people react to it so...heartlessly. I don't understand. Just because the internet offers a sense of anonymity, does that really mean that we should all become monsters? How can you consider yourself a nice person or a good person or any kind of decent person, really, if this is your reaction to such a sad event?
I have always had a problem with using the internet as an excuse for spreading hatred and pain because I know that it can do SO MUCH BETTER.
Today I am disgusted, sickened, shocked. I find it difficult to "not feed the trolls." That phrase implies that the hurtful comments of a troll are not their fault. No. Not true. It's a TROLL'S fault if he or she posts cruel, heartless things. No one else bears the responsibility for it. Citing these internet excuses marks these people as cruel. Cruel, cruel, cruel. It's a lame defense and a callous defense.
I don't know what other word to use.
Words can't express the disgust I feel today. The sadness, the shock, the anger that instead of offering support and kindness, the internet community offers hate and cruelty.
It's days like these that I'm ashamed to be a part of it.
I'm going to go help by flagging them all.
ReplyDeleteBetter watch who you flag, some of us are just talking, not harassing. You may end up getting yourself banned.
ReplyDeleteThank you for posting this. I can't believe that we live in a world like this where people will do anything to get attention. I am so sickened by the people posting terrible things. The family and friends have enough to deal with.
ReplyDeleteGosh.
ReplyDeleteEven though you're right, it's not funny at all, i'm still very glad you posted this. I too am utterly disgusted.
But then I followed your link to that Christmas Miracle over at the Bloggess and now I can't stop crying. :') That was truly wonderful to read. Thank you. =]
My sympathies are with Shariah's family.
Gods. People are scum sometimes, aren't they. Honestly though, this entire post just gave me major respect for you, and a serious desire to do damage to internet users. Let the plotting commence, and I hope that we as a species can do better in the future.
ReplyDeleteThank you Megan! People like this really make me sick to my stomach. Thank goodness for people like you who actually represent what we call "humanity". I take comfort that maybe some day natural selection will occur, and we won't have to deal with all that any more. I've learned to not read thing like that, trolls comments. Just ticks me off and ruins my day.
ReplyDeleteI "liked" the page too. I live in the neighborhood. I was driving by about 30 minutes after the accident happened. My heart dropped when I was told by a bystander what had happened.
ReplyDeleteI stopped reading the page because of the ignorant things written by the trolls who thrive for attention.
There are no rules for the internet. There is no rule #20. There are violations that can get one banned from their ISP or arrested by the law, but there are no rules of the internet as implied by the loser trolls.
Thank you so much for taking the time to post this. I know firsthand how out of control this all can get and it's honestly repulsive. The things people will say about people they barely knew, it's almost unreal. And no one ever stops to think about how this is effecting the family and friends of the person(s) who died who get to read all this hateful information and that's not something they should have to deal with, especially after losing someone they loved. It doesn't even matter if you didn't like that person, because what if it was someone close to you? How would it make YOU feel to read and hear about that? No one ever stops to consider it.
ReplyDeleteIt's people like you that make me believe that there actually ARE good people on the internet.
Trolls are bad.
ReplyDeleteI'm totally with you on the Immature haters thing...It's amazing what sort of Twisted Demons people can become with Untracable Anonymity...Which is why I distance myself from Facebook and comment without Anonymity...Sometimes I wonder...how heartless has this world become? As a romantic, freethinking poet-philosopher, I begin to dispair at humanity, from what I see...
ReplyDeleteWay to go Megan! Type the snot out of 'em! ;)
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry about Shariah... way to go for standing up for her & her family!
ReplyDeleteFuck off kthx
ReplyDeleteThe culprit of all thies troll posts: http://boards.4chan.org
People like that discust me. Sorry about Shariah.
ReplyDeleteThe thing is, these people are not anonymous on facebook. Each post has their name and picture next to it. This just shows how few people actually care about being anonymous, they just want to get a cheap laugh. Kudos, Megan. You have won my support.
ReplyDeleteI wonder how many of these people who used memes to make fun of a dead girl want to go to hell. there is really no excuse to laugh at someone's death.it takes something like this to see the true scum of the world is not in the battle fields or in pin stripe suites, but in our own back yards, sitting in their mom's basement, and waiting for something tragic to happen just so they can make fun of it.
ReplyDeletePoor girl...and her poor friends and family. She was too young and I wish her loved ones peace.
ReplyDeleteRegarding trolls, they will always exist but that doesn't mean that they're opinions are worth listening to. Most are either very young kids who aren't old enough to understand empathy, or they are people who were so emotionally damaged at a young age that this is the only way they have to fight back at enemies who no longer exist. They're frustrating, but once you view them as people who deserve pity rather than a response it makes it much easier to ignore the 1% of the population who are terrible and focus on the 99% who aren't. You can't change those people by attacking them. I wish you could, but you can't. Focus on the good, on the just, and on the caring. It's hard, but it's often the most positive option.
I don't mean to be rude, but welcome to the internet. They do this to every single "RIP" page on facebook. You shouldn't expect anything different just because this hits closer to home. Yeah it's messed up, but they do a lot more messed up things than trolling facebook memorial pages. Again, welcome to the internet, where nothing is sacred.
ReplyDeleteDo not stand at my grave and weep.
ReplyDeleteI am not there; I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow;
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain;
I am the gentle autumn's rain.
Do not stand at my grave and mourn.
I am the dew-flecked grass at dawn.
Where tranquil oceans meet the land
I am the footprints in the sand
To guide you through the weary day.
I am still here; I'll always stay.
When you wake up to morning's hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry.
I am not there; I did not die.
Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can steal.
ReplyDelete