Personally, I’d blame the parents

by admin on July 21, 2009

Fourth Geelong student commits suicide: News.com.au

Suicide is a terrible business, but it’s not helped by quoting mentally deficient adults in newspapers either.

The opening paragraph…and the sub-headline used on the front page of news.com.au reads

A GRIEVING mother has blamed the internet for the death of her 14-year-old daughter.

Yes, the internet KILLED her daughter! It reached out and grabbed her, causing her to kill herself…or something like that. But wait…

I want to tell people to keep their kids off the rotten internet, it?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s a horrible place,?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢ she told the Geelong Advertiser.

?¢‚Ǩ?ìI can guarantee you that if she didn?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t go on the internet on Friday night she?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢d still be alive today.”

Yes, the internet is to blame clearly. But here’s where we pull out some more details. You see, we’re actually talking about a case of school bullying, backed up with cyberbullying (despite what the article says, the two are rarely not linked.) As for the person who was bullying her child? We’ll clearly she’s not to blame…

?¢‚Ǩ?ìI don?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t blame the girl either, these are just kids throwing comments at each other for God?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s sake, but she (Chanelle) obviously could not see past what was going to be done to her,” she said.

Yes, you see it wasn’t the bullying that caused the suicide….it was the internet! And it wasn’t related to this…no….

She said Chanelle was having trouble with some friends from school, but it was a minor issue that had not changed her mood at all.

Now remember how she was having a minor issue at school?

?¢‚Ǩ?ìWhen you?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢re 14 years old, who knows, if you don?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t think you?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢ve got any friends ?¢‚Ǩ¬¶ maybe that?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s not worth living and obviously it wasn?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t for her

.”

So lets get this straight: the child was being severely bullied at school, the mother considers it a minor issue, ignores it, the child kills herself, and the mother blames the internet and not the child or children that drove her daughter to commit suicide to begin with.

You know if I had a parent that dumb I might consider ending it all as well. It’s also cheap fodder for News Ltd to be publishing that does nothing to help in the fight against teen suicide…indeed publishing this crap actually causes more damage by perpetrating bullshit reasoning for teen suicide while all but ignoring the real reason behind the loss of this girl.

Tagged as:

  • char_hates_you
    excuse me.
    i was one of chanelle close friends i spend the summer with her and her FAMILY
    you have no fucking right pointing the finger at the family or chanelle! i am APAULLED by what you are saying!
    you clearly dont have a family or a daughter who has been bullied the internet IS to blame and i bet millions of people are behind me you are a horrible rude man and after someone lost a family member less then a week you have no heart and i think you are as bad as Emily Hynes and Caitlin Finn the girls who THREATEN to tell all Chanelles secrets to the school chanelle couldnt live with that happened leave the poor fucking family alone you horrible man! why are you blaming the parents they gave her everything was always there for her so dont go fucking judging people before you get to know them! you being a fucking wanker someone took there own fucking life mate! and your all fucking who gives a shit im going to blame the parents cos im a low life dickhead!
    are you fucking stupid! Her family loved her so fuckingg much! and your saying suicide was caused by the parents know man get a fucking life you should judge if you dont know them personally people like you should no be aloud to say these kind of this! you are a cold hearted man! im so speechless! i cant believe someone would say that how would you fucking feel mate. over 300 teenages wont be at school tomorrow to go to her funeral and people traveling from swan hill and warrnambool to say goodbye to there bestfriend your a DISGRACE TO AUSTRAILA!
    kids dont tell there parents everything because the kids are scared the parents will ttry and take over yes the issue was minior then it got so fucking bad! you horrible heartless low life creep!
    i dont care what you have to say to me if you even get off your ass to cos i love chanelle amy rae and her with all my fucking heart and im not going to stand here and fucking diss them like you think your king of the world you know you are basically cyber bullying! telling her parents they werent good enough to rasie there daughter so she commited suicide dont be all fucking hardcore with the keyboard mate! say it to there faces and thats what caused her death not her parents!
    signed everyone
  • I'm not pointing the finger at this girl, nor would I. Her loss was a tragic loss that should never have happened. However a mother who glibly blames the internet and ignored the bullying she received that led to her suicide...well, it wasn't exactly helpful ,was it.
  • People like that make me laugh. Whatever lets her sleep at night I guess but honestly, she should take some responsibility. And blame the kids bullying her, not the medium. If your kid drowns are you going to blame rivers?
  • Ahh good ol News Ltd at it again. It surprises me that they even published the details for the help services. At least a lot of the comments on the article are questioning the parents and schools lack of intervention in all these cases.

    It is sad no doubt, but kids these days get away with so much crap that unless parents stop using tv, computers, etc. as baby sitters and actually start being parents and properly teaching their kids right from wrong, this sort of thing will continue.
  • And here's the Conroy screw up laid bare: Kids are far more at risk from kids they know online over any net predator. But filtering won't fix any of the issues related to that.

    Oh and I won't start on the mother's abdication of responsibility...

    Tom
  • In this case, I find more fault with the paper than with the parent. If my daughter had just committed suicide, I don't know what sorts of inane things would be coming out of my mouth. Perhaps on further reflection the mother will reconsider her feelings about the Internet...perhaps not.

    Now certainly the paper could report what the mother said, but presumably could have somehow noted that she made the statements just a few days or a few hours after the death of her daughter.

    You see, that's the problem with journalists - they just throw the news out there without placing it in context. If a blogger had reported this, I'm sure they would have handled it differently. :)
  • sleepdentistry
    Actually, Our parents have played in their days, so they want to aware us the new challenges, But their is a big difference b/w their days and today. They don't know the today's situation, but they want to run us according to their own plan, It really bad.
  • Tim
    Duncan have you got kids mate? I can't believe you'd publish this about her mum less than a week after it happened. Really insensitive. Yes, agree that newsltd probably shouldn't have published it, but tell me, how do you react 3 days after you lose your child? Are you completely 100% rational in your responses to every question? You're quite a crap blogger - you basically take out each comment, which has come from 3AW, completely out of context anyway. Interested to know your background. You sound like a social misfit.
  • Yes actually I do have a son. One who I would be there for if he was being bullied at school, and not simply dismiss it as kids have fun. As for being a "social misfit" you defense of this mother says far more about that being a label appropriate for you.
  • jackiesherwood
    Wow! Do you know what shock is? Do you know how long it really takes to process something like this? Because I do. I've had to come up with answers to questions by people I really didn't have a clue why I had to tell them anything. I've lost one family member to suicide and have a son who is thirteen with special needs, one being that he has extreme psychological issues. We have worked with psychologists and a very good youth psychiatrist for years. We do everything we can for our son and follow all the experts advice, but most of all we love him, dry his tears, be firm when we have to be, advocate for him at school every week and mop up the blood (literally!) We live in Geelong. We lived on Minerva Road and it's purely through chance of moving that our son didn't end up at Western Heights College. I don't blame the school, I just feel so deeply for all those who have been hit by these tragedies. My son has been bullied terribly at his school, and has admitted since this last suicide and a special assembly, that the last time he slashed his arms, he hoped he would die. thank God we found him.
  • Yes, and you did everything a good parent should do and I congratulate you for it. I also feel terrible that this girl died, but likewise I feel angrythat her death occurred because her parents dismissed schoolyard bullying as nothing important to begin with then blamed the internet...while actually saying that they don't blame the girl who was harassing her daughter online.
  • emiilyp
    ummm dickhead, she killed herself after going on the internet
    so she was obviously beeing bullied worse over that then school.
  • She was being bullied by her classmates...at school and online, actions that her mother ignored and dismissed out of hand. The internet didn't kill the girl, her classmates drove her to it. End of story.
  • kimberlyelizabeth
    This was really insensitive for you to write..
    Everyone has already pointed out the reasons so I don't feel the need to repeat,
    I just thought I should let you know how disappointing it is to see someone react like this when someone is dead! and in this case it's a 14 year old girl..

    I'm just disgusted.
  • No, what's inappropriate is a mother blaming the internet when she ignored her child being bullied.
  • kimberlyelizabeth
    It started as a minor situation, of course the mother would have been supportive, but ask any teenager, most will say they have been bullied in a school yard. It is logical for her to blame the internet, as the messages sent over it just hours before her deaht, were the ones that convinced the girl to end her own life, if the internet had been eliminated from the situation, it wouldn't have gotten to this extreme stage and ending in a death.
    I really don't think you should be judging this when you aren't personally involved and really have no clue except what media has told everyone.
    I myself didn't know the girl, but I know a very very close friend of hers, I think I would understand the situation a little bit more then you would.

    I'd appreciate it if you would get the facts right before blaming a poor mother who has lost her child.
  • Prince Ruprecht
    Judging by the comments by her firends here. she was a great loss to the intellecutal world. She could have been the next Hawking, Chomsky, Clinton (choose whom you prefer) or Spears sibling.

    Char- I understand your pain. Obviously I too am appalled- with the obvious exception being I know how to spell it. My grief knows no bounds, but I personally do so with better spelling, grammar and understanding for basic communications That said sweety, I'm here for you. Stay strong. Stay in school etc.

    Jackie- you expressed yourslef so well- yet again you could do with a paragraph break or two and maybe, just maybe, grade 5 English, but well done. I know it could not have been easy writing your comments on butchers paper with a crayon and then re typing it here. Well played. You get four FAILS out of Three.

    Emily- your comments are also sooo heart felt. I fed them into some translating software which struggled a little/lot. I'm not sure what language you wrote this in- I only ask this as the software says it "doesn't speak dickhead". Harsh, but that's what it said.

    Yours
    Ruprecht the monkey boy.
  • Jackie S
    Ruprecht- Instead of thinking yourself an illustrious english scholar, why don't you COMPREHEND what is being written here.

    This is about emotions and feedback, not grammar nor spelling you revolting little toad - that's 'english' for FUCKWIT.

    Grow up you moron. And until you've walked in any of our shoes, SHUT UP!
  • Prince Ruprecht
    I did walk in your shoes- and for the first time ever they had their laces tied properly!

    GOOD TIMES!

    What I am comprehending here sweety is that a 14 yr old girl had unfettered access to the internet. She was bullied online and her mother seeks to blame the medium not the meanies.

    Duncan had it right from the beginning. Parental failure dressed up as "blame the net".

    Oh and you want insensitive? How's about not taking any of the burden for her failure to address a little girl's heartfelt fears? What about blaming an inanimate object for the emotional distress of your daughter? And don't run the line that we ought to be quiet during a family's time of grief- she spoke out first.

    yours
    Ruprecht.
  • Jackie S
    Well then I think I've worked you out.

    You, like many other's, have tried to suicide but failed. And this is is your way of justifying your cry for help.This is what seems to be driving your insensitive attack on all those affected by this loss.

    Freud enough for you? That'll be $175.00
  • emiilyp
    ruprect, or whatever the hell your name is,
    its not like the mum was just blaming the internet, but kids our age are heaps braver then they are in real life, they can say shit on the internet but not have the balls to say it in real life.
    and a lot of kids that bully over the internet dont even know the kids there doing it to, which is also another reason why the internet is dangerous.
    and for you duncan, do you think that the parents dont have enough on there mind without you typing up your bullshit saying they killed her.
    you didnt even know this girl so dont fucking start blogging about this.
    you dont know the things she went through.
  • Prince Ruprecht
    Let's go to the video tape:

    "I want to tell people to keep their kids off the rotten internet, it’s a horrible place,’’ she told the Geelong Advertiser. "

    Then

    '“I don’t blame the girl either, these are just kids throwing comments at each other for God’s sake, but she (Chanelle) obviously could not see past what was going to be done to her,” she said."

    She blames the internet- NOT the kids who bullied her daughter.

    Oh and if it helps you, your kids and society: try "THEY'RE doing it" AND "enough on THEIR mind" you fucking simpleton moron bumpkin dickhead.

    Your kids have a hell of a future ahead of them if you can't even master the basics. Maybe Chanelle (no 4) can set an example. Duncan and I and see what she went through: Shitters Ditch with some Dumb Fucksville thrown in. She made the right choice...

    As a wise man once said "cut your loses, kill yourself..."


    yours in Jesus,
    Ruprecht, Niccolò . aka The Prince.
  • hisso
    She just lost her daughter Duncan.

    You're better than this.
  • I'm sorry, but this sort of tripe in newspapers damages the message that should be getting out about teen suicide. Other parents with kids in trouble read this story in the paper and get the idea that the internet is to blame and ignore the real problem, and then we tragically lose more kids. If this post saves only ONE life by correcting the failure of News Ltd publishing this to begin with, then I am better for it, and so is society.
  • davud
    It's just that most of the focus is on the parents and News Ltd seem to have largely escaped your wrath.
  • nicole2905
    i knew chanelle, not very well, but i saw her before some football games, footy clinics and we would always stop and say a quick hello.
    you have no right to post something like that about a greiving family!
    if you had every felt the pain of losing a loved one you couldnt have brought yourself to type this. your are clearly a cold- hearted man who has no respect for anyone.
    if chanelles mother wants to blame the internet for her daughters death then let her do it! whatever will help a brokenhearted mother deal with what has happened!
    i dont care if you agree or disagree with this approach, to even think something like that is disgusting!

    you are whats wrong with this world!
blog comments powered by Disqus