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Normally I wouldn't trust Emily Bazelon as far as I can spit, but while I'm still working my way through it, her Slate article makes some arguments that seem refreshingly out of character. For instance, she indicates early on that the civil rights laws under which Phoebe Prince's alleged tormenters are being prosecuted are being tortured; that Phoebe had a history of psychological and social problems going back to Ireland (in confirmation of "Newcomer Dan"'s allegations in the comments); and that "Irish slut" is, forensically, not far from the mark.
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7 comments:
Hi, long time no see. Seems that Newcome Dan was on to something here, sad to say. The truth has finally come out. Read my take her and get back to me on this here or at danbloom in the gmail office
Yo, you remember me and you remember I told you all this in April and you dissed me and did not believe me at first and then later you apologized. I fed my tips to Emily and she went even deeper, after I spoke to her by phone. She, among all the other reporters, beleived me. We are not into hate. We are not blaming Phoebe. Here's my take, Jeff, and your reactions are welcome.
Lisa, I emailed the same news tips to Mr Eckholm and Ms Zemina at the Times when the story broke and I sent them also to all reporters covering this story in APril and only Ms Brazelon took my tips about earlier suicide and cutting seriously and went deeper and dug deeper and came up the very good follow up. She even took my phone call, frm Taiwan. But the rest of the news media in the USA refused to listen to me. It's on my blog from mid April, sources in South Hadley contacted my via email and FB and my blog zippy1300 by name and told me about the cutting, the cigarette burns on her arms, and 8 previous suicide attemtps in Ireland before Phoebe ever came to the USA. This will come out later. It wasn't just a suicide attempt in Mass. in 2009. This story has legs, sadly, and there's more to come. The Hollywood arc that the media fell for, including the Times and the Times bloggers on this, was the Mean Girls arc and while the bullies deserve the be punished, the school officials do too, and nobody wins here. But yes, reporters, and you too, Lisa, listen to people when the try to tell you news tips that they are sure of. You did not even return my emails to you back then. Neither did Holly Epstein. Neither did Dan Kennedy in Boston. Only smart savvy Emily B was brave enough to go where no other reported dared to go, and ask her, I was one of the people who supplied her with very good smoking gun tips that needed to be confirmed. She did. Good legwork, great reporter. She deserves a Pulitzer for this.
All that said, nobody is blaming Phoebe, who is an angel in heaven now. We are not blaming the victim. For me, I am blaming the news media for rushing to judgment when the story first broke in April and not allowing any contrarian news arcs to come into play....until now. Brazelon delivered the goods. And it's a tragedy all around.
google my blog search to see how i posted the exact same news, but unconfirmed, in April and May, and for this i earned the wrath of a huge party of angry people in South Hadley who did not want to hear the truth. They still don't, and a lad named sauerkraut is first among them. The blind leading the blind.
and remember those weren't my allegations. I received the smoking guns info news tip via FB and Emails from people in South Hadley who had the info and since the local media there would not dish, these sources inside S Hadley contacted my blog and I contacted Emily. My name is not in her story. Doesn't need to me. This is not about names or egos or who or whom? This is about the truth. It's coming out now. You mgiht remember Emily first article for slate in APril sort of took the other side than she takes now....why? I turned her. By my relentless phone calls and emails, I turned her over. She reports to me now. SMILE. And this blog, sir, helped encourage me to keep going in the weird direction I was compelled to go in. Beleive me now? Well, I thimk in fact you always did believe me, yuou were always on my side. Trumbill, what does he she think now?
you said it well, and best, above:
"Well, well, well...."
YUP!
Oldcomer Dan adds comment from another poster in NYC who said:
"This new Juky 20 Slate article makes two main points that seem to be widely
misunderstood: 1) That the victim had serious and unresolved issues
that played a major role in her tragic suicide and that were present
before she even met any of the defendants; 2) That the power
distribution between the participants in the ongoing series of
conflicts was different from the power distribution present in
situations most people imagine when the word 'bullying' is used. Many
commentors believe this adds up to some sort of "she caused it"
defense of the defendants, but this simply is not what the author
writes. The article sheds light on complexities of the situation that
contradict the widespread public perception of the incident based on
earlier reports. That's all. It seems clear that some commentors are
angry at the author for arguments that are not present in the article.
Before posting angry comments, please reread the article and consider"
what is and is not being said.
cc: Jeff Big Mouth blog,
As always, I agree with much of what you say and I enjoy our chats back and forth across the Great Ethersphere..... I need to emphasize in NO WAY do I excuse the actions or behavior of the ASSFAK-6, they must pay the damages, whether in court or jail or Heaven or Hell later on. I am NOT defending them, nor was Emily. That said:
RE: "For example, Bazelon brings up the fact that Sean Mulveyhill gave a school announcement denouncing bullying, yet her own story indicates he actively participated in at least 2 known acts of bullying."
YES YES, i think Emily started off her piece with that story to show readers that SEAN was and is a hypocrite and the school officials, too. That's called IRONY. SHe was not defending Sean. Read it again.
It's interesting to me how one's POV gets in the way of all this. You see all this YOUR way, Jeff, and I see all this MY way, and you are right, and me, too, I am right. That's what so interseting here. BUT i think that even if you were presented with hypothetically 100000 percent evidence of Phoebe's earlier issues, you so much want her to be innocent that you will not compute the info. It's not that you're stubborn. IT's that you are STUCK in that place called I AM RIGHT AND NOBODY CAN TELL ME DIFFERENT. In that case, let's wait and see what the pre-trial and trials tell us. If it goes that far.
But again, Jeff, I am NOT defending the ASSFAK-6 never never never. Neither is Emily. Still, I admire your wanting to stick up for dear Phoebe 10000000 percent. You are a good man, and you are on the side of angels. Me, too, same side, but i am coming at this from a media critic point of view. I am not concerned so much about legal issues or trial etc....but how the media portrays this story. that's my only interest. the bullies are GUILTY. yes. i know that.
alwaysareason
South Carolina
Did Phoebe re-enact her homelife at school by stealing other girls' boyfriends? I believe this was Phoebe's life, and that she felt the only way to escape was to end her life. She had to have felt there was nothing good in this world for her. I think the parents should be the ones in the public eye, every detail of their life scrutinized. One last thing, why did the mother separate from her husband and move all the way to America? That's pretty extreme. They didn't just separate and move to another house... this was a finalization of sorts. It was almost like the mother was so disgusted that she needed to run away as far as possible, and take both her girls. Look at the parents. The kids at school are not to blame, they were just protecting their territory in an immature way, like 99.9% of high school students do. Their actions alone did not push Phoebe to commit suicide. There had to be an underlying severe trauma that was triggered by the kids' actions.
Friday, July 23, 2010 at 10:47 PM
A top expert in youth studies in the USA tells me:
"I read the entire Slate series by Ms Bazelon. Thanks for the heads ip. It does document -- for the umpteenth time -- that the standard news media good-evil melodrama (as in the Gloucester Massachusetts case a few years ago, too) inevitably turns out to be almost complete fiction as more complex details emerge.
It makes me suspect the next shoes to drop will be more detailed revelations of Phoebe's history of family abuses in Ireland and other severe difficulties long predating whatever abuses occurred in South Hadley [perhaps even incest?], as well as the much more complex interactions she had with Hadley students with provocations on both sides."
"I want to emphazies that I continue to have great sympathy for Phoebe, who was abused by many people over many years and developed serious problems as a result of the repeated failures of those around her to address them, and anger at a bullying prosecutor and media who want to act as if the whole problem was just some rotten alpha kids tormenting a sweetly "different" victim."
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