Opinion: In today’s pages: MySpace bullying, Wal-Mart’s lawsuit, Schwarzenegger’s money
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
George Washington Law School’s Jonathan Turley wonders how to punish a cruel cyber bully:
Megan was contacted on MySpace by a boy named Josh Evans.... Josh went into detail about his own difficult life and immediately struck a chord with Megan. For six weeks they corresponded. Then, when her infatuation was at its peak, Megan received a well-planned, well-timed blow. Josh suddenly told her, ‘I don’t know if I want to be friends with you any longer because I heard you’re not a very nice friend’.... However, according to her father, the last message from Josh was the worst: ‘Everybody in O’Fallon knows how you are. You are a bad person and everybody hates you. Have a s----y rest of your life. The world would be a better place without you.’Megan fell apart. She went to her room, tied a cloth belt around a support beam in her closet and hanged herself. Perhaps the only shock that could rival Megan’s death was the news (given to her parents by a neighbor) that Josh had never existed -- he had been created by adults who lived nearby.
‘Shock Doctrine’ author Naomi Klein explains how global economic jolts push people out of the picture. And Milton Viorst writes in from Beirut to say that U.S. policy could push Lebanon into another civil war.
The editorial board asks Wal-Mart why it pursued a lawsuit against a severely disabled former employee for a relatively small sum. The board also advocates a shift in LAPD schedules from a three-day to a four-day work week. Finally the board remembers a time before Arnold Schwarzenegger set the fundraising record, when he promised to spend his own cash and avoid special interests.