Bisexual teen dies by suicide after being outed by classmates, family says (kids, news)

[dsjj251]

Originally Posted by boneyard1962

Well who killed them? They killed themself, they are too blame. The parents and family may have some ownership as well. As much as I detest bullies they might own some blame, but who sent the sexually explicit text to begin with? The person who committed suicide

What does it matter that he sent the text ? it was private, never meant for the outside world. This is no different than someone sneaking into your house and taking pics of you getting out of the shower.

Now we are back to calling 16 year olds kids? Which is it? They are adult enough to make life changing decisions like abortions, taking hormones, etc or they are not adults. 16 adult enough to drive. 16adult enough to be charged as an adult in a crime.

Im not sure anyone mentioned "adulthood" in this thread, I sure didnt. but if you want to go down this road, lets be clear about it.

"adult" is a catch all phrase. What most people mean is that the individual should be able to control their own body, regardless of age. And even if you dont take that argument, lets simplify it to legally. The age of consent has always been lower than the age of adulthood.

Your inclusion of that age rant is weird, like you had something you just needed to get off your chest.

This person suicided, no one said, or hinted that they did it to hurt anyone. I said they do it without regard to how it will hurt their family and that is a fact. As far as I can tell you simply want to argue.

You choose to shift the argument/conversation from the person who committed suicide,the person who was in pain, to the people left behind. You dont see the problem there ???

And this is a discussion forum, we are all here to debate/argue. You are doing it right now with your irrational comments.

[xray731]

But you're debating and losing the argument - can't you see that? Things are more accepted today by society like the texting, homosexuality ect. - but it doesn't mean it's right. I'm amazed at my millennial friends and all they put out there in texts and on places like FB. Middle school and high school are filled with a lot of immature kids who haven't even found themselves so bullying someone because they are different is the norm and always has been because it makes them feels safe. If you're the bully - no one bullies you.

I applaud these kids for coming out but they need to see the environment they are in. They have had to see how many like them have had problems and committed suicide - why put yourself in a position you may not be able to handle physically or mentally. I knew which of my friends were gay in high school - even tho they didn't come out and pretended to like the other sex. hey all waited until they graduated before coming out because they knew how rough it would be in the general society let alone in school.

[dsjj251]

Originally Posted by xray731

But you're debating and losing the argument - can't you see that? Things are more accepted today by society like the texting, homosexuality ect. - but it doesn't mean it's right. I'm amazed at my millennial friends and all they put out there in texts and on places like FB

How exactly am I losing the argument ?


And while I absolutely believe you should be careful of what you put out into the world, screen shotting and posting personal text messages on facebook is still a a social no, so im not getting your argument.

There is nothing wrong with saying "see the world as it is, not for what you want it to be"

But it is just as right to blame the person who did something wrong, not the victim. The kid who texted the boy he was dating, who committed suicide did nothing wrong.

[newtovenice]

Why didn't the other male teen commit suicide? Wasn't he outed too, as a bisexual? Wasn't he humiliated and bullied as well?

There is ZERO mention of the teen who he was sexting with. Why?

[danielj72]

Originally Posted by boneyard1962

Yeah it didn't really happen that way back in 1980, the 70's the 60's. I lived it.

It didn’t?? You must have lived it much differently than I did.

[Volobjectitarian]

Facts:

• Dead teenager is one who sent the text that created his own problem. He didn't send it using classified material dissemination protocols, he did it via a standard cell phone data plan, which means it was in the public sphere the instant he hit send.
• Dead teenager took his own life. None of the "bullies" murdered him, he committed suicide. That is a voluntary act of self-ownership. His life to take, he took it. According to natural, individual rights, nothing bad happened. An individual fully within their own rights voluntarily chose to do something with their own property and didn't hurt anyone else in the process. The family is indeed bummed out, but nothing illegal or immoral took place. Their son owned himself and his own life, and he made a choice according to those ownership principles.

Case closed.

PSA - if you are already emotionally fragile, do not arm bullies with the emotionally harmful ammunition that can hurt you. Do not send that text, instagram pic, facebook post, whatever. DO NOT SEND.

PSA - if you are a parent, you cannot blame everything in your child's life on other children. Take responsibility for your own failings. It's the more properly moral choice than trying to destroy the lives of others because you want to blame anyone but yourself.

[rstevens62]

Originally Posted by boneyard1962

When I read posts like this I have to wonder if I grew up in the same country.

Bullies almost never fight one on one and they didn't back when I was young either. They always traveled with a pose. As often as not they were high school jocks, so they had a few members of their hero teams with them.

They didn't challenge kids that were even close to the same size, they target small, undersized and the kids that the system doesn't give a damn about.. It's kind of hard to fight back when the odds are 5 on 1 or the other kid is twice your size and you know that the teachers are looking the other way. After all it's the star quarterback or the star linebacker and the big game is coming up. Add to this those bullies are often the children of prominent people in the community. No one takes your side. I literally had teachers lie through their teeth about who started it. That is the reality.

Yeah I came from a clan where you were expected to duke it out. Yes My father taught me to box, to fight dirty if need be. etc. That's all well in good except you are fighting the group not an individual. You are out weighed by all of your opponents. And life isn't the Karate kid.

That is the reality

Well, the bullies at our school also ran in packs, but when an actual fight broke out (which was fairly common in 7th, 8th grade), it was always 1 on 1.


The strangest part about all those fights in those days, 9 out of 10 times, by the end of the day, the 2 who were fighting earlier, had completely made up and were now friends, I cannot ever recall a time when a fight carried over.


IDK, maybe it was different in other schools.

[Volobjectitarian]

Originally Posted by dsjj251

What does it matter that he sent the text ? it was private, never meant for the outside world. This is no different than someone sneaking into your house and taking pics of you getting out of the shower.

Is that why he sent it over the super, double top secret bat phone, with 256 bit encryption and 3 Person integrity? Oh wait, he sent it via a standard data plan, and the instant he hit send, it stopped being exclusive property and became at the very least the IP of both he and the recipient, with said recipient having every right to further disseminate the text.

First rule to teach kids in the Internet Age - if you hit send, you are shouting from the rooftops that you want whatever you sent to be known far and wide, to any and all, forever and ever. That is the 1st Commandment of Social Media. If you hit "send", then you are declaring it to the entire world, permanently.

[dsjj251]

Originally Posted by Volobjectitarian

Is that why he sent it over the super, double top secret bat phone, with 256 bit encryption and 3 Person integrity? Oh wait, he sent it via a standard data plan, and the instant he hit send, it stopped being exclusive property and became at the very least the IP of both he and the recipient, with said recipient having every right to further disseminate the text.

First rule to teach kids in the Internet Age - if you hit send, you are shouting from the rooftops that you want whatever you sent to be known far and wide, to any and all, forever and ever. That is the 1st Commandment of Social Media. If you hit "send", then you are declaring it to the entire world, permanently.

There is a difference between telling your child to guard their safety and security , vs telling them that telling something to a friend or love interest means you want the whole world to know. The latter is a lie simply based on saying everyone should assume the worst .

And yes the person who put out his messages into the world is 100% the one to blame, not him.

[Robert&Ripley]

Back in the 70's, I was bullied by a few guys for being gay. Then one day while I was in woodshop class (ugh), the choir teacher stopped by to speak with the instructor and noticed I was having a horrible time along with the guys saying hateful things to me.

He approached me and asked if I had ever considered joining the choir. I said "I didn't know I had the option." He said "well you do and it would get you out of this class." When can I leave?

He took me down to the office, got my classes changed and voila, I was in the choir and found my safe haven. Due to the class being on the other side of the school and my entire classes being rearranged, I rarely ran into the the bullies again.

Thank You Mr. Kline for showing me some kindness, compassion and love and for making my junior high years a helluva lot better.

Peace and Love to all those youths who took their life and to their families.