Published: April 15, 2008 08:52 pm            

What would your teen do?

The tape of the teen beating that is the talk of the nation clearly involves various electronic media piling on and exhaustively airing the “animalistic” attack.

But the Internet is now the largest purveyor of the videotaped beating, although television network officials certainly can’t get enough of the tape, either.

The beating reportedly was in retaliation for comments the victim had written on her online MySpace page. The accused teens apparently hoped to humiliate the victim by posting the beating on the Internet, with a side effect of becoming online celebrities.

Bullying behavior is not isolated, especially for teenagers, but in this case there is film. That’s why television and the Internet outlets find this case especially titillating.

The victim was left with a concussion and two black eyes, and her attackers are to be tried as adults on charges of kidnapping and battery.

It is a case where plenty of blame is spread around, with the media in general and YouTube in particular singled out for desensitizing young people to violence.

But this argument rings hollow because no one forces people to watch the videos. However, it is also difficult to shield youth from video violence, with television, movies and games all contributing to the accumulation of violent images.

The more significant question should involve an examination of what circumstances allowed the teenagers to consider that violence was acceptable, and why none of the participants objected to the half-hour beating.

Some teens are like sheep, willing to go along with the crowd instead of standing on principle. Others have a mature sense of right and wrong, often fostered by parental guidance.

This incident could be instructive if the video outlets can cease and desist from wearing out the tape. But a fair question to parents of teenagers is, “What would your teen do?”

– The Goshen News

        

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