Happy Slapping, Insult Chat Rooms

      This is a still shot from a "happy slapping" incident that resulted in the death of a homeless man.  For all my fellow Americans who are thinking just what the heck is "happy slapping"  "Happy slapping is a fad in which an unsuspecting victim is attacked while an accomplice records the assault (commonly with a camera phone or a smartphone). The name can refer to any type of violent assault, not just slapping, even rape and sexual assaults have been classified as "happy slapping" by the media."  (from Wikipedia, September, 17 2007).  That's one trend that I am proud to say that did not originate in the United States.  Perhaps we are smarter than that or perhaps it's because of our litigious society so the average person is savvy enough to know not to create any hard evidence of an assault. 

     But seriously, I heard about happy slapping for the first time on BBC Radio One which I receive on my satellite radio service provided by Sirius which I love.  Apparently, some teenage boys dropped kicked a cat (who lived to tell), recorded it on mobile phone video and then distributed it to their school chums who then reported it to the authorities.  First of all, those boys must be sociopaths or seriously misguided (and to those boys, try to sue me for slander and let's see how far you get).  Secondly, why would you be so proud of drop kicking a poor defenseless animal.  It really does shock the conscience.  For those of you who have a shred of feeling, I assure you that  those boys were punished.

   In a similarly disturbing vein, I recently learned that there are insult chat rooms where people enter to trade jabs and ribbings.   On March 21, 2007, Kevin Whitrick was in such a chat room with about 50 other people.  He threatened to kill himself on a web cam and his audience urged him on.  He was successful in his endeavor. 

Do I need to write more? 

    

Comments

[Chat Rooms]

It's sad to know that some people are using chat rooms for their own good. That is why some sites are now shutting down their chat rooms in order to get rid of this kind of issues.