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The the danger of the uninformed, media fed voter

I came face to face with a most aggressive form of bigotry yesterday. At a meeting where attendees were warned beforehand to not speak on any subjects of a political nature, one attendee managed to get on the agenda under the farce of needing to accomplish another goal. When he was finally called on to speak, inconsistent with the purpose of our meeting, and irrespective of the admonishment regarding political subjects, this gentleman began using our meeting as a forum to support his political agenda. Not only did he blame Republicans for all the economic problems throughout history, he diminished our entire war on terror to nothing more than a greedy fight over oil. This voter is the scariest voter of all. This voter, while under the guise of knowing his subject, had not researched at all, but rather gave us a spiel that was nothing more than a regurgitation of what the liberal media has been spoon feeding us.

What’s interesting is, this gentleman stressed how the economy boomed during Democratic leadership. Sadly, he overlooked the fact that the booming economy during the Clinton administration was a farce. The economy appeared to be booming because Bill Clinton wanted every American to be in a home, so he called upon lenders with the demand to make the loans happen, whatever it took, resulting in the mortgage crisis we have today. Bill did not have the forethought to understand that lenders would have to make up for potential future defaults through loans with a variable interest rate. And, lenders didn’t stop there. They aggressively pursued college students, and everyone else for that matter, to extend credit so everyone could live the “American Dream”. No wonder the economy appeared to be booming. Americans were running up debt like never before. Merchants were ecstatic -they profited the most from this frenzy. Now, we’re dealing with the fallout at the hands of a Democratic congress who vowed to filibuster anything President Bush tried to do. This high school mentality has no place in the running of our country, and in the paraphrased words of Sarah Palin, at this point, both parties and their constituents need to stop placing blame and come together to figure out how to fix it.

Now, with regard to the war in Iraq. Anyone who believes that the Bush administration used 9-11 events and the evidence of weapons of mass destruction to go into this country and start a war, my suggestion to that person is to take leave from their job and spend a year in Afghanistan, or Baghdad, right alongside a U.S. soldier every single day of that year. If one can do that, only then would that person have earned the right to make assessments of why we’re really over there fighting -and, to set the record straight, we didn’t start the war. The war began on U.S. soil on September 11th, 2001. Every soldier I have spoken with who has served in this war has stated that we are most certainly fighting the right war for the right reasons. They see first hand why our troops are over there, and anyone diminishing it to a mere fight over greed of oil has no respect for our U.S. Military, and in particular, disrespects my son who is serving in Iraq now.

Whether your Democrat or Republican, I encourage you to do your research and be informed before you go vote, and that does not mean your research consists of watching Katie Couric bashing Republicans and having love-fests with Democrats. That blatant bias is not news reporting. She has reduced her position in the media world to nothing more than a forum to support her own personal agenda, without regard for providing a fair, unbiased view of the real issues out there.

Editor's Note: This piece used with the permission of Gracie Dane. Gracie is a guest contributor for MTW and a regular at SensibleLife.com

 
A New Breed of Stalker: The Cyberbully

Sensible Life normally features in this section people who are making a difference –a positive difference –in the world, but this issue, we want to touch on a very real group of people who impact the world in a negative manner. Their impact has even resulted in death. This group is known as cyberbullies. I was at home ill last month and was flipping through some channels on the television, when one program caught my attention. The Dr. Phil Show was interviewing Tina Meier, the mother of 14 year old Megan Meier. Megan committed suicide in the fall of 2006 by hanging herself in her own bedroom closet, prompted by hateful messages flying back and forth on MySpace between her and a fictitious boy, Josh Evans.

The bogus character profile of Josh was created by Lori Drew, the mother of a former friend of Megan’s. With the assistance of that former friend, as well as enlisting the help of a temporary employee, Josh Evans came into the cyber world and right to Megan’s virtual door. The sole purpose of Josh’s existence was to gain Megan’s trust and learn what she was saying about her former friend to others. To read the entire story, visit this link http://stcharlesjournal.stltoday.com and also at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megan_Meier .

This story has brought up some painful memories of girls physically stalking my own daughter, even threatening to kill her, and the difficulty I had in getting something done that would protect her. Sure, incidences can be reported, but unless charges are filed, and sentences imposed, the person being stalked is only adding fuel to the fire by reporting the matter to authorities. Before all was said and done, we sent my daughter to a private school and had our home monitored. It’s a scary thing when your child is going through something like this. It took about two years after she changed schools before these girls would stop harassing her, although it was more at a minimum level with no death threats after she left the school these girls attended.

Whether in person, or online, bullies exist everywhere. Even a consumer website, Planetfeedback.com, that was designed to help consumers get results on problems they were having with merchants has been degraded to the point it no longer looks or feels legitimate. The reason for this is because PFB began to allow comments on letters posted on the site. Members can now create personal profiles, as well as their own blog and they can stalk and harass other members without anything being done to prevent what is referred to as “flame wars.”

When I first learned about this, I tried baiting them with a couple of issues, and what I experienced was like throwing out a carcass in vulture country –they flocked and they flamed. Since I had no passionate stake in the game, I was somewhat amused by the scenario, but I can see where someone who might be passionate about the letter they had written would be offended and upset at some of the comments. The trolls, as the flamers are sometimes referred to, tended to be really venomous, and many times they get sidetracked from the real issue. When I tried to delve further into this by contacting PFB for an interview, I was met with cynicism –the gentleman I was e-chatting with didn’t believe I was a reporter with a newspaper at the time. I had to scan in copies of my articles, and once he received them, he never responded again, completely ignoring my e-mails. Hmmmm…did the bully get bullied back? I still have those e-mails in my archives in case he ever decides to talk with me.

The thing is, people do get upset over these flame wars, but what they fail to realize is the type of person who has the time to do this. Think about it. What kind of person has the time to sit at a computer round the clock –yes, some of these posts come in at all hours –and make comments about the problems of others. If you’re wondering, take a look at the profiles. Some of them haven’t even lived on this earth long enough to know what a serious problem is, much less be able to give sound advice on some else’s.

It’s not much different with many of the MySpace users. There’s something intriguing about hiding behind that virtual wall and being anyone you want to be. It’s as if some become drunk with the power they can exercise over others. It’s much different than just a bad rumor going around at school. Instead, the rumor is posted in a public forum where anyone can easily find it. That narrows the option for a safe haven for someone being bullied. There is no option to go to another place and get away from it. This makes the bully’s target feel more helpless and intimidated, and the bully more powerful than ever.

Currently, there is not much case law on cyberbullying. Megan’s incident will help in changing that, but how sad that someone had to die to make others sit up and take notice.

If you insist on creating a profile on a site like MySpace, remember these things for safety purposes:

1. Consider the source. If you don’t personally know someone, approach with caution as you would a stranger on the street. If their profile is a picture of someone who is exceptionally good looking, and they seem perfect in every way, there’s a huge red flag. No one is that perfect.

2. Don’t engage in flame wars. If you get in the middle of it before you realize what is happening, then post something that is totally out of context, or something that is intended to be funny. If they continue insulting you, sound like a “broken record” and repeat the comment, or simply stop commenting at all –even if the temptation is great. This takes control away, and they will likely get frustrated and quit commenting. After all, how can one continue a conversation like that without becoming bored or disinterested. It may take several sessions of doing that to finally get them to go away and bother someone else, but hang in there. I’ve done it and it works.

3. Remember who your real friends are. Don’t shun them for your cyber friends, or you may end up losing out all the way around. Also remember the flip side of “you can’t be liked by everyone,” in that, not everyone hates you either. If someone online is claiming that everyone hates you, think about the reality of that statement. Also remember, if you have one good friend, you’re not alone in this world.

4. Be considerate and don’t incite anger in others. If you go out there in cyberland and make bold and brassy comments, it’s the old adage “you reap what you sow.” And be who you are online. Don’t exaggerate, or create bogus profiles. It’s no different than telling a lie, and liars are generally caught at some point and have to own up to the farce.

5. If you find you are getting angry or upset over something being said online, no matter how tempting it is to stay online and continue exchanging messages, don’t. Walk away and give yourself time to cool down.

Editor's Note: This piece reproduced with the permission of the author. You can view other commentaries she has written at sensiblelife.com.