Letters to the Editor
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The Brownshirt Mentality Fueled By Truthiness
The blind emotion and willingness to ignore laws and fact for a sense of justice disturbs me. This far into the PATRIOT act and FISA abuse era people are still willing to abandon rights in an emotional reaction to a story they don't really know.
The law is not based on emotional needs but logic and justic for good reason. The legal response to an issue is not always the emotionally satisfying one, and that's a good thing.
Someone wrote: "That said, I don't blame the prosecutors for charging her. Even if it doesn't stick, they've sent a message. Drew's behavior may not have been illegal, per se, but it is unacceptable. The indictment itself is a message that our society won't tolerate this kind of behavior, especially from adults."
Filing unfounded charges just to "send a message" are the methods of authoritarians. It's a short hop to justifying imprisoning innocents at Gitmo (which we are) just to send a message to terrorists.
In addition most people are presenting a half-remember version of the story which isn't correct. I suggest you read the New Yorker article. It makes it clear the prank involved mix motives and it wasn't a premeditated harassment but things said during a flame war between Megan and several people including the fake account - which was being used by a teenager at the time.
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/01/21/080121fa_fact_collins?currentPage=all
When Tina got home, at five o’clock, she found Megan in front of the computer in a state of superheated distress. An insult war had broken out among Megan, Josh, and some of their friends. Megan had called another girl a slut, and the aspersions were returned in kind. Ron says that after Megan died he discovered a final message from Josh, saying, “You’re a shitty person, and the world would be a better place without you in it.”
It was still an ugly comment and tragedy, but it was not some methodical scheme to drive Megan out of her mind. It was an 18 year old girl who admitted writing the comment in the heat of an exchange. It wasn't the woman being charged. They didn't know Megan was a suicide risk - her parents weren't even sure that she was.
Were it not for the faux identity, this story would be tragic but not criminal. Unless you think an 18 year old should be brought up on federal charges for a nasty prank.