Don't Kill the Messenger

Vancouver Taddler (an uneducated way of spelling "Tattler") is a blog which was recently taken down from the internet. Despite the fact it no longer exists on Tumblr, there are still many screenshots of it up on Google. This was a blog which was anonymously opened with the intent of doing just what the name implies - tattling. The blog would critique people -particularly teens- from a certain part of town and of a certain social stature (namely rich people from the West Side/Point Grey area). Vancouver Taddler made it's intentions clear from the start, asking readers to email the owner of the blog with information and pictures about anyone they felt should be humiliated. Basically, the site acted as a middle man: if you hated someone and wanted to get them/get them back, but were too much of a coward to do so yourself, you'd send your "dirt" to Taddler and the owner would do the rest. 

Eventually, after pictures of people got bad, namely one girl who was looking at her thong-wearing butt in the mirror, somebody called the cops. Some UBC student, who saw her "friend" on the blog contacted authorities. They started looking into the matter. Stupidly enough, the owner of Taddler chose this as the perfect time to put a face to the blog. She came out. 

What she had done, had become so sensational that it was on the local news 3 nights in a row. The police were speaking with her, and she had even become suspended from her preppy, rich, all girls school on the West Side - Crofton House. Really, a very sad thing to happen to an eighth grader, in their first year of Senior School. (I have reliable sources on the matter, and realized that no other news outlets have successfully leaked the information). 

Now, what's my take on all this? What do I think of the fact that some are calling for the arrest of this girl? What do I think of the fact that authorities are considering charing her with child pornography and cyber-bullying? Terrible, simply terrible. It's very simple, a person shouldn't be arrested for simply facilitating something.

The girl didn't force the people featured in her blog to take pictures of themselves in thongs, or ask each other for sex blatantly over text message, nor did she force any of the actions taken by the people on her blog - she simply hit post. Yes, that's all she did! She didn't even take the time (like I am now taking) to type up the post. She took the already screenshotted, already sent, already ready material and hit the "publish" icon. Who sent this material? Obviously, kids that were interested in revenge themselves, but didn't have enough dexterity or audacity to publish the post in their name. Instead, from the comfort of their home, they opened up their little black books and spilled the beans! They had their wrath felt! 

Okay, but who could really blame them? Ask yourself, if you would do the same? Would you actually send the scandalous picture of your "fr-enemy" to a girl who claims that she will publish it, with no mention of your name? Maybe you would. So who can you blame, really? Probably only your friend, who was willing to take their shirt off, take a picture of their private area and then send it to you. Was their really any need for them to do that? I don't think so, and I don't sympathize with them. 

I understand the argument about mounting peer pressure, but can tell you from first hand experience (I am a teenager) that a little self control and parental guidance is all you need to not have to take your shirt off. (Some kids don't have caring parents, in that case, blame it on the parents crappy parenting skills.) If an adolescent guy asked me to take my shirt off and send him a picture of my breasts, I'd decline - not just politely, but quite violently, for the sheer fact that the boy saw me as someone who would do such a thing, is angering. You have to be stupid to agree to such a thing.

Next, if you come to the point where you are oh so desperate to mate with a peer, try and hold back the urge - it is possible! At least, don't ask for sex over SMS. 

So to conclude: who is responsible is the person who was taking photos of themselves, (or their crappy parents, who were terrible at raising their child properly) and if one person must have the blame thrust upon their shoulders, it should be the people who emailed in the photos, not the girl herself! Really, no one ever wants to kill the messenger, yet that is exactly what is being done to this girl. She was brave enough to facilitate a device for off-loading hateful burdens, but people are criticizing her. Would it have been different if she facilitated a blog where people were asked to send in lovely pictures of their friends to show what nice people they were. 

Society doesn't like the dark side of people, girls don't like it when their breasts become everyone's screensaver, and decide to sue anyone that puts their breasts out there. That's a joke! Take a moment to think about what needs to exist for these people to stop asking for sex so explicitly, and for people to stop flashing. Stop trying to defend them with things like peer pressure! Don't kill the messenger, kill the perpetrator. (Figuratively, of course.)