South Hadley,MA Phoebe Prince 15 kills self over bullying #2

[Paladine]

there is a link to the "townreminder" local newsletter on this blog post from Sauer Kraut, the charges are a headline, not sure what's all in it, I haven't had the time to read it, yet...
http://run4chocolate.wordpress.com/2010/04/12/blaming-the-victim-part-i/

 

[thebear14]

Even if that did happen, the laugh could be a defense mechanism and not a sign he was happy about it. Some people laugh when they are not happy, or something went wrong. I don't know why people assume that if someone was laughing he was happy about it, maybe just the opposite.

I totally agree, some people do laugh when things go wrong. She also mentioned that he was being an a****** (not sure if we're allowed to cuss) about it, so that's why I got the impression that it wasn't just an uncomfortable laughter. But she could be totally lying and I could totally be making things up in my crazy head so guess we'll never know.

 

[Paladine]

I would think that people who are upset at bullying shouldn't be calling minor teenage girls offensive names. Otherwise I am having a really hard time believing these people are really upset at bullying.

Do you have a hankering for a link, bud?...lol...

Very slow news day. I'm replying to many posts, jjenny... Maureen has a post back a page or so about possible reasons for no dox released for the eldest. I'm going back to read it. It looked full of complicated terms, I wasn't up to it earlier. Now, with a timmy's in hand...I'm ready. Would you care to give it a gander? You are smart, imo...

 

[jjenny]

Yeah, because when my old boss's son killed himself I laughed about it.

Oh, that's right, I didn't. Never mind.

Not everybody reacts the same. I personally do laugh as a defense mechanism even if I am not happy. In fact I might be very unhappy but I still will laugh.

 

[Laurence]

Opinion piece dated today (4/12/10) in which the author claims that the bullying in this case and others is not a crime...

http://www.postbulletin.com/newsmanager/templates/localnews_story.asp?z=12&a=447192

For example:

If this sounds derisive, it's not because I doubt the seriousness of the conduct but because the specific counts underscore how clumsy a tool the criminal law is to deal with such behavior. Charging nine students is casting an awfully wide net.

I wonder if this person read the charge sheet we've seen for the three younger ones.

 

[OrdinaryLife]

Not everybody reacts the same. I personally do laugh as a defense mechanism even if I am not happy. In fact I might be very unhappy but I still will laugh.

Even if someone you knew killed themselves? Seriously??? There is a reactional mechanism to certain situations, then there is complete sociopathic reaction to, well, as an example, a death....

imvho

 

[Paladine]

I think someone who is comfortable with their emotions may show true sadness when hearing about a death. Some who aren't can cope in many ways, in my experience. Some through shutting down, some through inappropriate responses, such as giggling or laughing. My Mother is like that. She laughs when she's uncomfortable. It's protective, imo.

But there are also people who rejoice in others misery. Evil, really, imo.

I'm not sure which one Austin is...

 

[MaureenN]

Opinion piece dated today (4/12/10) in which the author claims that the bullying in this case and others is not a crime...

http://www.postbulletin.com/newsmanager/templates/localnews_story.asp?z=12&a=447192

For example:



I wonder if this person read the charge sheet we've seen for the three younger ones.

A lot of this is copied from here: http://wtop.com/?sid=1928897&nid=843

ETA... which says that it was originally printed in the Washington Post - so, I guess, it's not plagiarized, anyway - just re-ran in another post paper/online edition

 

[jjenny]

Even if someone you knew killed themselves? Seriously??? There is a reactional mechanism to certain situations, then there is complete sociopathic reaction to, well, as an example, a death....

imvho

Why do you assume that everybody reacts the same way?
"Another complication, he said, is that laughter can be a response to stimuli other than humor. For some, it can be the result of stress or fear."
http://www.abc15.com/content/living...-laughter-is-good/ADkqhsMFyEmDrVRfqh_gmQ.cspx

 

[OrdinaryLife]

Why do you assume that everybody reacts the same way?
"Another complication, he said, is that laughter can be a response to stimuli other than humor. For some, it can be the result of stress or fear."
http://www.abc15.com/content/living...-laughter-is-good/ADkqhsMFyEmDrVRfqh_gmQ.cspx

Assume? Not so much. There is inappropriate laughter in certain situations, absolutely. Gawd knows, been there and have done that. Then, there is laughter that is completely and simply wrong. The tragic death of someone (or any death of a human being), in my opinion, rates right up there as wrong on so many levels.

imvho

 

[MaureenN]

Why do you assume that everybody reacts the same way?
"Another complication, he said, is that laughter can be a response to stimuli other than humor. For some, it can be the result of stress or fear."
http://www.abc15.com/content/living...-laughter-is-good/ADkqhsMFyEmDrVRfqh_gmQ.cspx

You should have heard the cracking up that was happening during the serious part of my dad's funeral. We all just needed a release.

And we all miss him deeply, still, every day, almost 20 years later.

I agree that we can't know why Austin, supposedly, laughed. But, I think that, beyond the laughter, he also made some callous comments (reportedly) that might put the laughter in context

 

[OrdinaryLife]

You should have heard the cracking up that was happening during the serious part of my dad's funeral. We all just needed a release.

And we all miss him deeply, still, every day, almost 20 years later.

I agree that we can't know why Austin, supposedly, laughed. But, I think that, beyond the laughter, he also made some callous comments (reportedly) that might put the laughter in context

I enjoyed the same with family after my Mother died and other beloved family members passed. It is a release as well as remembering/rejoicing how they touched our lives. The stories!

As far as this guy, he was not family who was touched by this precious life. This reaction by him is darker.

imvho

 

[rsorcha]

You should have heard the cracking up that was happening during the serious part of my dad's funeral. We all just needed a release.

And we all miss him deeply, still, every day, almost 20 years later.

I agree that we can't know why Austin, supposedly, laughed. But, I think that, beyond the laughter, he also made some callous comments (reportedly) that might put the laughter in context

My grandmother passed away in January; at her funeral I was crying really hard, and my older brother went to put his arm around me, in the process knocking my purse to the ground. We both cracked up, in the middle of the funeral. Loudly.

That was completely off topic.


BACK ON TOPIC, maybe laughter was a defense mechanism? The whole "don't let them see you cry" thing

 

[Paladine]

read post #9807....and the replies...
http://www.masslive.com/forums/southhadley/

 

[Paladine]

I AM ANGRY. This is the same :loser: as before, covered by the Boston Herald. I'd bet there are many people who will feel as pissed as I am about their attitude. They seem to be unrepentant and intent on bullying everyone go away. I think they want their cesspool back. :Benny_monkeysmilies

"South Hadley teachers union president fires back at media’s ‘nasty tone’"

"The president of the South Hadley teachers union today defended the school’s handling of the Phoebe Prince bullying case and blamed the media’s “nasty tone” for cyber-threats targeting students facing criminal charges.

“Some in the media have painted a picture of South Hadley High School as a school out of control - a place where everyone knew of the bullying and no one did anything about it,” Bill O’Neil, president of the South Hadley Education Association, wrote in a letter to the Herald. “That image is just plain wrong.”

He declined to be more specific, citing “privacy considerations, investigations and court proceedings.”

O’Neil, a high school teacher and former campus safety official, said some of his members, including himself, have received threats by e-mail and phone. He said the incidents were reported to law enforcement. He described the threat he received as “generic.”

See that? They are using the fact that a few people are harassing them as an excuse to get media to back off. Back off. That means they could slow/decrease reporting on things they SHOULD be reporting on because it's drawing nutbars, is the reasoning...the excuse. THIS is why we can't go all Clint Eastwood on these people. They'll use it. They'll exagerate it, imo. It's to their benefit. It WILL eventually make media back off if it keeps up.

Peeps...if anyone reading this is thinking of contacting people or threatening, please don't. When I see someone doing it I try and give them a heads up...dude, it ain't helpin'.

ETA: NOT that WS'ers would. http://news.bostonherald.com/news/r...t_medias_nasty_tone/srvc=home&position=recent

 

[Paladine]

Off topic - they sure seem to have gone with the low bidder for the message board system. It's awful.

OT it's horrible, I have to say. Very hard to follow posts. I hate reading there.

 

[Paladine]

"Supt: We Knew Prince Reported Bullying"

The scope of the bullying was thoroughly detailed in court documents. It shocked the community and the Commonwealth, but to those inside the schools, it was something they say, they already knew.

"Reports are actually quite consistent," Sayer says as he compares the school's independent investigation with the Northwestern District Attorney's investigation that alleged the school knew about the bullying before Prince's death.

Sayer says timing is the intangible that no one is considering.

"Did you guys know the bullying was going on, when the bullying was going on," CBS 3 Springfield asked.

Sayer responds: "We first learned of the bullying on January 7th and January 7th on. The extent of the bullying we did not know about. We only knew about the activity of one group of students and the things they had done on the 7th and 8th."

While Sayer won't tell us which group they knew about, knowledge surrounding the second camp of alleged bullies sprung after Phoebe's death.

Darby O'Brien said Mrs. Prince contacted the school in November. Sayer previously told us Phoebe had kept it to herself and told no one. WHO didn't tell Sayer? Or was Sayer lying? What about the cafeteria, where Phoebe was yelled at by Sharon? Teachers saw that, says the DA. What about the library incident? Who saw that and did nothing? The dox say someone did. I'm sorry but enough's, enough. Quit with the excuses and chest pounding. Some people didn't do their job. And they also have a twisted sense of right and wrong, imo. If ANY adult heard those words being hurled at that child and did nothing they should be fired, imo. They have bad judgment, as I see it.

http://www.cbs3springfield.com/news/local/90716114.html

 

[Paladine]

HA! Told ya The BIG school committee meeting is on Wednesday, I think they're jostling for support...

"South Hadley school officials blasted for blaming media"

A letter slamming the media for whipping up a frenzy over the suicide of Phoebe Prince forced a friend of the late teen’s family to lash out last night, asking why South Hadley school officials are still more focused on defending themselves.

“The kids have had the book thrown at them,” Darby O’Brien said of six teens accused of bullying Prince.

O’Brien, an advertising executive and friend of the Prince family, added, “What about the people in charge of the school?”

O’Neil also blamed the media’s “nasty tone” for the emergence of cyber-vigilantes who have hurled threats and vicious taunts at the accused bullies.

But O’Brien said it’s the lack of leadership within the schools that has made South Hadley the focus of nationwide media scrutiny. He questioned why the school committee hasn’t held emergency meetings to address the district attorney’s findings that Prince’s abuse was common knowledge in the high school.

“Why hasn’t that happened?” O’Brien said. “Why hasn’t anyone done that? Are they clueless?”

http://news.bostonherald.com/news/r...y_school_officials_blasted_for_blaming_media/

 

[AstuteLearner8]

http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2010/04/as_phoebe_prince_bullying_fact.html

Well, I guess in this story maybe the parents/activits will be protesting on Wednesday at the meeting?

Luke T. Gelinas said Monday School Superintendent Gus A. Sayer and South Hadley High School Principal Daniel T. Smith as well as School Committee Chairman Edward J. Boisselle should step down.

 

[Paladine]

http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2010/04/as_phoebe_prince_bullying_fact.html

Well, I guess in this story maybe the parents/activits will be protesting on Wednesday at the meeting?

Hey, Astute :wave: Welcome and thanks for the link!

Wow...I like this qoute...

Luke T. Gelinas said Monday School Superintendent Gus A. Sayer and South Hadley High School Principal Daniel T. Smith as well as School Committee Chairman Edward J. Boisselle should step down.