Today I’m going to split from the normal topics and discussion on the show to discuss a matter that is spreading through the press and blogs. There was a cheerleader that was assaulted by a group of 8 high school students after being lured to a house. She was knocked unconscious and then repeatedly beaten by the teenagers, driven away from the scene, and threatened not to go to the police.

The discussions that took place on the tape released to the public are typical of what you might find in a high school argument. The girl was beaten after giving a quote unquote wrong answer to the question, “Why don’t you like April?” This is childish crap turning violent and possibly life threatening, and is an example of society in its current state. This is how high school was when I went there in the late nineties to two-thousand and one. This is how high school has been for possibly decades.

The parents of the victim and the sheriff of the town the assault took place are blaming MySpace and YouTube for this incident. This is where the adults in the situation are being unreasonable. YouTube has been a hub for videos of all types, and yes though they may include questionable and sometimes unethical content, I don’t see how placing the blame for senseless violence can be set on one of hundreds of video hosting sites. YouTube doesn’t promote violence, and has never featured anything like this before. YouTube features video podcasts, musicians, interesting video art projects, and dogs on skateboards.

MySpace is a social network, and as such is a reflection on its users. Many users, including politicians, musicians, actors, actresses, scientists, educational institutions, and yes even Christian evangelical preachers use the site to promote themselves and their message. If users use MySpace for senselessness, then the content produced by the users is the fault of the users and not the fault of hub by which they voice their message. Free speech is a funny thing. If high school students chose to speak negatively about each other at the mall, then banning malls across the country is somewhat idiotic. Yet every day the mall is just as much a place for spreading gossip and making enemies as MySpace has ever been.

My point here is that we need to stop blaming technology for our kids moronic outbursts and start parenting by perhaps either setting up reasonable rules as to what your kids can and can’t do online, or if you do allow them the privilege of setting up a MySpace, Facebook, twitter, or a Pownce, or any other social network page, that you take the time to learn your kids user names and check up on what their up to from time to time. Guess what, parents need to evolve, technology isn’t going to stand still because a parent is incapable of controlling their children’s actions online.

This was a tragedy, and the kids involved deserve punishment to the full extent of the law. I have a sad feeling that Myspace and YouTube are going to be brought up in a senseless lawsuit brought on by concerned parents. Blame the idiots, not the unwilling third party technology that they use to be idiots. Blame parents that apparently have no control or idea what their children are doing online. It is the responsibility of the parent, not Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Facebook, MySpace, or Google executives.

This is just an opinion article
Matt Ryan of The Daily PWN