Top Six Ways to Kill Piper: Sick YouTube Video is Cyber Bullying

My first beef is with Youtube's lack of moderation of the videos that are being placed there. These types of videos should not even get to the point where they are open to public view.

My second beef is yes the children concerned should be punished and the punishment should suit the crime.

My third beef is their parents should be held responsible for not monitoring what their children are doing on the internet.  

Children can be really nasty to each other its always been that way and will always remain that way unfortunately. 

A punishment to fit the crime, would be to my way of thinking more milder than given in outrage seen on these threads. These are children we are talking about and not adults that have learned that bullying is completely wrong.

This incident would be an ideal example for the head master of the school they attend to use to help stop bullying amongst the students. The girls should be brought on the stage at assembly and asked to apologize to their victim. Then the head master should explain to the students why all types of bullying is wrong. Both offenders should be put on 6 months probation and their parents be consulted about the crime and advised to monitor their children use of the family computer/s.

Yes its dreadfully wrong what these girls did, but we must remember their at a stage of life where they do not realize the problems they can cause by stupid actions and walking on wrong paths. Hopefully they will learn and others children at the school will benefit on the lesson that bullying is wrong.

To brush off this incident by saying it was a harmless prank -- no malice or hate -- is a total copout.  This girls should probably remain at their school because everyone will know who they are.  If they move to another school they will start with a clean slate.  They most definitely need counselling!

The identity of Piper Smith was not known until Piper's mother put her own daughter on the news.  Her entire name was not used in the video. Youtube did not remove the video from the website,  one of the parent's of the girl's involved did.  More people have seen the video since Piper's parents have turned it over to the media than when it was on Youtube.  Yes, Piper's parents turned the video over to the media, the media did not get it off Youtube, though that is what all the stories lead the reader to believe.  The media conveniently leaves off two of the ways to kill Piper depicted in the video.  Why do they leave these two methods out?  Because these two ways show the rediculousness of the video and clearly display that the children who made the video did not have any intention of actually causing harm to Piper.  What are the other two methods?  Ask Piper and her mother.  This was an ill thought out, hatefull act but it was in no way a death threat. 

Education Education Education. Somebody has clearly gone mad to allow this video to happen.

There are a lot of things the story left out.  The girls were punished. There are federal LAWS that forbid the release of detailed information. Do a Google search on FERPA.

Why are people so upset with the school district?

Was this a class project?

As a sixth grade teacher, I would never allow my students to create this sort of video in the classroom. And if this was a class project, how did the students get access to YouTube through the district's filters?

Obviously the mentioned school allows their students much more freedom than mine.

It horrifies me to consider that the police have summed the incident up as basically harmless or no malice on part of the girls (predators). I already expected the school to drop the ball & avoid the much bigger issue that overall bullying requires a much tougher intervention & consequences that will not only impact the girls involved but also the parents. I would have already contacted my attorney & pressed forward toward a civil suit including sexual harassment, defamation of character against each girl involved or parents. I expect this is not the first time said girl bullies have chosen to participate in this reckless endeavor & it will probably not be their last.Overall the girls need to be held accountable & penalized, it is irrelevant to consider no harm done since it is not your child. Therapeutic supports & counseling needs to be court ordered & reviewed frequently to change bad behaviors & destructive attitudes. We have to start somewhere & look outside of the box!!!!..

TMK

In reality is this not the same as, or even worse than uttering a death threat??? Which is a criminal offense...My question is, Where did they learn to respond to someone with this type of behavior? Even worse how far might they have taken this?

I believe some counciling is definately in order here...

My position is as follows:   I'm sure Piper and her mom are not perfect themselves.  They almost seem to be talking down on other people in their interviews.  The mom insults the police cheif and others.  Thats pretty much all this video is, an elaborate joke and insult.  Everyone has fantasies of hurting others or doing bad things to people, but that doesn't mean it's a threat.  In a news article I read where one of the other girls was interviewed, it seems like this video was a retaliation for Piper slandering the other girls.  According to the young girl Piper would "spread rumors to boys and talk about us behind our backs".  It just amazes me at how Piper and her mom act like they are so distressed and can not believe someone would do something bad to her perfect angel, yet in the next sentence they are talking down about officials and the police detective almost to the point of flat out insulting them.  They seem really shallow and too worried about other people.  As far as punishment; well there seems to be no real threat here.  It was a cartoon.  There was no actual threat made so there is no reason to discipline the other girls.  It's freedom of speech and expression, you see worse on TV and movies daily.  Until these other girls actually make an outright threat or give any reason to suspect violence, nothing can be or should be done. 

In my opinion the making of this video is no different than imagining you want strangle the moron driving 25 in the passing lane on the expressway.... except now with our technology we can make replicas of our imagination.  What about the show South Park.....it's almost similar to this cartoon and they kill off some celebrity or famous person weekly.  If it was a real threat don't you think the show would be cancelled and the creators in some legal battle??  Just like this cartoon, it's freedom of speech and expression and you can not tell other people or force other people to think a certain way or do a certain thing.  Another example:  on SNL there was a skit where they imagined an assassination.  Is that a threat???  Absolutely not, it's purely for entertainment and comical purposes just like this cartoon.  There is no way this would hold up as an actual threat in court. 

Our little babied, prissy society needs to grow up and let stuff roll off their backs. Too many people are worried about what other people are doing instead of doing their own thing.  You cannot force someone to think the same way you do, so might as well worry about your own life and happiness.  Simply ignoring this cartoon and being the bigger person is the best thing to do. While wasting media $$ on this ignorant story we have real problems to worry about in the country....like the mass return of opiate and heroin addiction.  There is more heroin and illegal drugs on the streets now than we have seen since the early 90's.  There are actual dangerous criminals out there, and addiction is an epidemic.  Teach your kid about real problems.  Only a shallow-minded individual would take any heed or pay any attention to the contents of this cartoon. People are too worried about what others think instead of bettering themselves.  Just remember, if the other girls have nothing better to do than make goofy cartoons all day, they are not gaining any education or enjoying the real pleasures of life so they are only hurting themselves.