- cross-posted to:
- technology@beehaw.org
- cross-posted to:
- technology@beehaw.org
A bunch of eighth graders in a “wealthy Philadelphia suburb” recently targeted teachers with an extreme online harassment campaign that The New York Times reported was “the first known group TikTok attack of its kind by middle schoolers on their teachers in the United States.”
According to The Times, the Great Valley Middle School students created at least 22 fake accounts impersonating about 20 teachers in offensive ways. The fake accounts portrayed long-time, dedicated teachers sharing “pedophilia innuendo, racist memes,” and homophobic posts, as well as posts fabricating “sexual hookups among teachers.”
If my kids did that I’d be perfectly fine with them getting kicked out of school or even if the teachers wanted to press charges. I know teachers can be shitty but this is completely uncalled for unless they were actually doing those things
Because the ends justify the means?
What do you mean with your question? What those students did is slander and mobbing. Those are prosecutable offenses.
Slander is a civil matter, and there is no crime called “mobbing.”
I meant that comment in regard to
If they actually did those things, it wouldn’t be slander.
If I were to guess, I’d take it as “unless the kids knew/suspected with good reason they were doing those things”, because that’s how I would feel about it at least. I would still want to talk to them about appropriate responses and make sure they knew they could trust me, but kids don’t always know how to bring up adults’ misbehavior.
If it’s just a fluke, that would feel like an ends justifying the means situation.
It would be harassment whether or not it’s true, so the teachers would still have reason to sue.
I just hope something happens with their parents too, because kids who do things like this tend to have shitty parents.
I’d like to first of all say that I don’t see any reason to believe the teachers did this. I hope the police proceed under that assumption unless evidence leading otherwise turns up. My original comment was about why someone might not want their children punished as severely, if the teachers did in fact do these things to their students, but I don’t think it’s likely (and really hope it’s not the case).
That’s true, but it’s probably not a huge concern. Middle schoolers under that kind of pressure will react without thought to consequences and if their most grievous response is to harass their abusers, most courts would probably recognize that. I would still explain to them that they can trust me and that I’ll believe them if they tell me something like this in the future, before it gets to this point.
Agreed.
Vigilante justice is faster and more.efficient than whatever corrupt thing y’all got going on.
So it’s fine if this smear campaign/harassment and character assassination hits the wrong guy?
Then you go and punish the people doing it. Idk what’s hard to understand.
Swift justice will always be better than whatever slow and corrupt shut y’all got going on.
And how do you determine whodunnit?
I know who wrongs me.
what does that have to do with this case, or this train of thought? Also what you are about isn’t vigilance but revenge.
What is revenge but self dispensed justice?