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  • Drew Didn't Cause That Suicide


    Not sure what we should or could do about baby-brained grown-ups who suffer from a total lack of sense, Emily. But you are so right to point out that cyber-strega Lori Drew didn't "cause'' that poor girl to kill herself. Not to give this horror show of malignant, helicopter mommying a pass, but these arguments over who or what ever "make'' someone do such a thing always seem to undermine the most important thing we know about suicide, which is that the culprit is pretty reliably the disease of depression. (I was reminded of this a few years ago when a friend took his life. Oh no, I told another friend; he called me last week, and I never returned the call! Gee, don't think that's why he lost hope, she answered--snap.) And I also agree that we cannot criminalize every invitation to "Oh, go jump off a cliff!''--whether issued on the Internet or nose-to-nose.
  • MySpace, Mom's Space


    I've been chewing over the conviction of Lori Drew in the MySpace suicide case, with super-blogger law professor Ann Althouse here, and here in Slate. Torie pointed out last week that Drew should have stayed out of the teenage realm of MySpace. I agree, but I'm also left feeling like cyberbullying is a problem that parents, not the government, have to chip away at. I realize, though, that there's a harsh edge to that. It's not as if telling parents to look after their teenagers is a panacea (or hasn't been said many times before). I wonder if any of you wiser moms have thoughts?
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