The verdict is in!

I was compelled to pen this tonight. I was perusing top stories and headlines this evening after dinner and I stumbled upon this quick verdict. I had been following this case of the “drunk” 16 year old child that was raped by 2 local boys, while others witnessed, watched and filmed the disgusting details of this FELONY. Yes, by the way, RAPE is a felony, punishable up to life in prison in some cases.

Steubenville High School football players found guilty of raping 16-year-old girl

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/highschool–steubenville-high-school-football-players-found-guilty-of-raping-16-year-old-girl-164129528.html

I am still in shock and my insides are churning, my head is spinning, I want to scream and blame social media, facebook, twitter and Youtube for being ONE of the culprits of exposing our children to all kinds of hate, bullying, torturing, porn, via free forums for sociopaths to brag about their actions, their crimes and act and pretend to be “gangsta’. Again, this new social media obsession supports anyone with an IPhone or camera. They can post a video in 60 seconds, of anything, anywhere, anytime, in this case it became a “hit” via texting and facebook as the crime took place. The crime is RAPE. My mind can’t wrap around how these events unfolded. Maybe in one aspect it was a God send to the victims parents. Within days, they were able to gather all evidence via socialnetworking sites, and present the police with a ton of information and evidence and confession.  I think my rage comes from the confession part, the part where the attackers speak about it..about her… about another human being.

“quotes” Yes, this was extreme arrogance. The arrogance to not just joke and brag like the teenage boys they were, but to commit those jokes to text messages, to snap a photo of the girl being carried out like she was a casualty coming off a battle field. Even guys who weren’t there sat around a basement laughing about how “the dead girl” was “so raped.”

The sad fact is I hae been following and studying the effects that social media has on children from a young age that are regularly exposed to violent, graphic material, footage and information. It is proven they become desensitized, unaffected, unemotional and unmoved. Their minds learn to turn it off emotionally. In this case, it is so evident that no one even thought to call or help this girl.  Here is a statement from one bystander and filmer…

A culture of arrogance created a group mindset of debauchery and disrespect, of misplaced manhood and lost morality.

They were allowed the freedoms of young adults, yet lacked the maturity to handle that freedom.

“The entitlement we heard during testimony, it didn’t seem like any empathy or support for the victim,” said Katie Hanna, statewide director of the Ohio Alliance to End Sexual Violence. “To see these things happen and to say, ‘I don’t recall; I didn’t think it was a bad thing; I just thought this was OK.’ It suggests that this was commonplace behavior.”

Commonplace behavior? I cringe and fear creeps in. The next generation, the future leaders of our country? Are we really going to dig in his past and say, he was a troubled teen, that suffered and was denied a father figure in his life? C’mon! I have read thousands of times about the breakdown of the nuclear family. Gone are the June Cleaver’s homemakers, the 2 parent households. Welcome to our new world, full of single parent homes, unattended young children and absentee fathers. It’s not just a breakdown of the nuclear family in America, its a breakdown of the mere fiber of humanness and right from wrong. Our technology and social media is so advanced, we watch war on TV live, we witness police brutality and crimes happening live on media sites.  Our children are exposed to ALL of this 24/7. I see my own grown children absorbed and sucked into the new way of communicating. Hell, I am even guilty of it, IM BLOGGING about it all right now, furious and frustrated and afraid, yes I am scared for our children and the world they are part of. Today, for some, I suppose is a day of Justice, at least for the 16 year old victim and her family and for that I can say Thank you and thank God for the 12 jurors who reached this verdict.

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