Jason Unger

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

The case of these cheerleaders who recorded their beating of a fellow teenager, 16-year-old Victoria Lindsay, and then posted the video online, has received a lot of attention in the media.

And it should. There's obviously something wrong when a bunch of kids attack another and then promote it as some sort of badge to be proud of. (I'm not going to post the video, but it's easy to find on YouTube.)

The coverage, however, seems to be only focusing on YouTube and MySpace and whether they should block these kinds of videos. The father is even "blaming the Internet" for the beating, which is about as moronic as blaming the telephone for prank phone calls.

But the fundamental question lacking in this entire storyline is an easy one: why?

Why did these teens beat up the other girl? Was it completely unprovoked? Did they do it in order to post a video and get their "15 megabytes of fame"?

(On a side note, that's the dumbest phrase ever. Seriously, stop trying to be punny, people.)

I don't know the answer — the only thing I can find is that "[the] suspected teen attackers claim the victim had been threatening them through postings on her MySpace page," according to WESH, the local NBC affiliate. The cops say they filmed it so they could put it online, but how did it come to that in the first place?

Look, obviously I'm not advocating beating up people and posting videos of it online. It's stupid, and you're going to get arrested. Cyber-bullying is a serious thing, as the family of Megan Meier tragically found out.

But the media isn't doing their duty here. Following the Internet storyline is one segment of the coverage, but every one is making the assumption that that's why they beat her up — to post a video online.

Can we get the real facts here, please?

The suicide death of Megan Meier, the 13-year-old Missouri girl who hanged herself after a neighborhood mom posing as a young male teen told her "the world would be better without her," is one of the biggest tragedies facilitated by the Internet.

While police aren't charging the hoaxster, Lori Drew, with a crime, the court of public opinion has spoken.

The Drew family is currently being shunned by their neighbors and the community at large — an entirely appropriate reaction.

"I think that what they have done is so despicable, that I think it absolutely disgusts people," Tina Meier, who lives 4 doors down from the Drew family, told ABC news. "I can't take one ounce of energy worrying about who does not like Lori Drew or who hates Lori Drew. I could not care less."

Because of the situation, Drew's clients left her home-based advertising business, forcing her to close it down.

Unfortunately, because of the ill-will towards her, police patrols have increased in the neighborhood, essentially turning Lori Drew into a victim.

For some reason, people think the Internet is still an anonymous form of communication. It isn't. There are real people on the other end of that screen, and your actions and words can and do affect them.

Look at the morons who keep on getting caught on "To Catch a Predator" — they don't realize that their actions online have ramifications, even if they aren't immediately obvious.

The Drews have apparently received death threats, which is absolutely not an appropriate response. But when a person does something so horrible and the law can't do anything about it, it is up to the community to react.

What Drew may have come to realize is that the community isn't just the people who live in her neighborhood — it's the entire Internet, as bloggers unearthed her name and address when the newspaper wouldn't report it.

Welcome to the digital age.

I was browsing around Wikipedia today, specifically the entry for Jack Bauer, when I noticed an oddity under the "Trivia" section: Jack and Teri had another daughter, named "Cassandra- Joanner Bauer (aka 'CJ'), who (in a twist of fate) was adopted by Lynn McGill after Jacks 'death'." Huh? I'm probably one of the biggest 24 fans out there, and I've never heard of this.

Read more »