YouTube blamed for filmed beating

The typical pattern of denial of personal responsibility continues. Ringing familiarity with previous incidents of redirected blame, such as the McDonalds lawsuit made by an obese woman claiming the food chain was responsible for her eating problems, or the recent death of a Cardinals pitcher in a self-caused drunk car accident that led his family to sue the bar which supplied him drinks, or more commonly the several lawsuits that have been pressed against tobacco companies by their customers for their failing health, now the Internet site YouTube and the Internet as a whole have become the American public’s new scapegoat.

It began following the YouTube release of a grainy, 3-minute video depicting the brutal beating of Lakeland, FL, teen Victoria Lindsay. Hundreds of thousands of Internet cruisers have since witnessed the infamous chilling video of Lindsay helplessly fight for her life as several former friends trap her and beat her senseless.

Thanks to the media’s special attention, the video’s back-story is now as famous as the video itself. It has been revealed that tensions that eventually provoked the fight possibly stemmed from alleged comments Lindsay posted on her MySpace that insulted the teen girls.

In retaliation, Lindsay was attacked by six teenage girls ages 14-17 after she was lured to her friend Mercedes Nichols’ home. There the girls ambushed her and blocked the door, beating her multiple times even after Lindsay became unconscious. Two teenage boys acted as lookouts during the incident.

The most horrifying detail to the attack is the girls’ videotaping of Lindsay’s beating, to which the teens admit they had intended to post on YouTube in retaliation to Lindsay’s online threats.

Since the video’s release on the Internet, there has been a frenzy of media focus on the Landlake teens and the few blatantly fame-hungry and shameless families who have willingly spoke out. Shockingly, most of these families, Lindsay’s own parents included, blame the Internet.

“It all goes back to what the Internet is doing to our kids…I’m very upset at these Internet companies. MySpace is the anti-Christ for children,” said Victoria Lindsay’s father in an interview. “These websites that are creating a space for criminal activity – beatings, fights, MTV’s Jackass and all the other types of videos that are out – are enticing our children and desensitizing our children. And now, if they create the best shock video, they are the heroes.”

This would be accurate, if it were in the same sense that the sky is brown. The reality of the situation is that the Internet is no more responsible for the actions of these girls than the constructions workers who built the house that the beating occurred in.

If these parents were to think realistically for a second, they would remember that situations such as this have always existed, even when they themselves were teens. Kids have always beaten up other kids, girls have always gossiped about other girls, and teens have always sought notoriety among their teenage peers. These occurrences happen no more often then they did before the Internet existed, the only difference is that, through the Internet, we are made more aware of when it happens.

Regardless of their intentions following the beating, the girls who hurt Victoria Lindsay were so enraged that they probably would have hurt her no matter whether YouTube existed or not. And had they not videotaped the incident, police may not have had the evidence to arrest and prosecute them.

The genuine blame correctly lies on the girls themselves. First, and not to say she deserved the beating, Lindsay should be held responsible for the threats she made to the girls. But he girls who beat Lindsay are solely responsible for their own actions. They simply were incapable of handling the gossip that every high school student endures.

Ultimately, the sad reality is that everyone, especially girls, are going to be talked about during high school. You can either choose to have the class to take it gracefully and ignore it, or you can choose to be vindictive and immature and wrongfully strike back. These girls chose the latter, and as a result have been publicly embarrassed and may go to jail for the rest of their lives.


    Laracoulter@cox.net