In class we have been exploring the Internet and its uses. Some people argue that it is good while others argue it is bad. I personally love the Internet and all of the tools and services it supplies me. While I don’t think that it is necessarily acceptable for people to use it to exploit others I do admire how fast and easily news gets out. My favorite thing about the Internet is you never know what you’re going to get. I was extremely shocked to find a story about a British boy who recently fathered a child at the age of 13. THIRTEEN years old? How is that even possible? I’m pretty sure that at the age of thirteen I still thought that the stork was in charge of getting babies to where they’re supposed to go. I couldn’t imagine my little thirteen year old brother even coming close to putting himself in that position. I checked and re-check to make sure that I was reading this story off of a reliable source, to my demise I was. The Sun, a real life news source in Britain reported it (here’s a link to check it out).
After I got over my initial shock of the story, I began thinking about the privacy of families verses the sensationalism of journalism reporting. I asked myself whether or not it was fair for this story to be out into the public, whether or not the family or the new father wanted to be labeled a certain way. I think that we can attribute this die-hard, absolutely have to get the story mentality to the Internet. Writers obviously want to get paid more and assigned better stories, but if we didn’t have the Internet would people read or know about as farfetched stories as these? Would gossip and intrusion of people’s private lives be so acceptable? While I love the Internet and all of its ins and outs; I’m not sure I’d want my personal life to be a click away from anyone. Would you?
4 comments:
Unfortunately this has happened before in Britain. In 1998 Sean Stewart became the youngest father ever recorded (age 12). Its hard to imagine how these situations come to be but they do.
Somehow the case in 1998 didn't get anywhere as much attention as the current one. This may be because the growth of the Internet has allowed the story to be shared all over the world, but I think it mainly has to do with how childish the father looks, especially contrasted with the mother's appearance. The family definitely wanted this attention though. They were paid for the photographs and story (Reporters can't just go into your home and take pictures of you without your permission). After other boys began claiming they were the father, a family friend told newspapers that the girl's mum told her to say Alfie was the father because it would make a better story (link). Now the PCC (Press Complaints Commission) is investigating the case because people may not be paid for stories about children unless it is in the child's best interest (obviously this is not the case). Currently a ban has been put in place against further reporting on the case. Honestly though, I don't think this will help the couple's situation. These children have horrible role models in their lives and I think the parents are the root of this entire situation.
I thought this article was really interesting. The title was extremely catchy and got my attention immediately. Daddy at 13?!?! That’s insane! But I guess it happens in some places. But then again, the media and the news are known to make little things huge and eye-catchy. That’s their job, so to speak--which is exactly why celebrities hate it when the media pries into their personal lives. Just a few clicks and anyone can find out who dated who and who is no longer a couple anymore. I think this would be interesting for a little while, but after sometime, maybe it would really get annoying especially when the media is putting personal lives on display. But I guess that’s the price you pay for being famous. And you just enjoy it while you can.
Yesterday I was watching the news after the Oscars and saw that a young girl and boy in Southlake were getting married. The girl must have been about eight-years-old and the boy a little older than that. But really? Getting married at such a young age! Given that the girl was very ill and this was her last request before she died, I understand where the parents are coming from and I don’t really know what else to do in that kind of situation. Here is the link explaining the article.
http://www.wfaa.com/video/news8-index.html?nvid=334848
Wow.
Like Dyvrsity mentioned, this article is definitely an attention grabber. The thing that struck me the most was the boy's picture accompanying the article's title. This boy looks way too young to even know what sex is! The author even noted that he looks more like eight years old than thirteen.
So many questions ran through my mind as I was reading this article. For instance, where were his parents when they're little thirteen year old son was losing his virginity to a fifteen year old girl. Although that's only a two year age difference, 13 and 15 are very different ages and a lot changes between those years. I feel so bad that both of their innocence was lost so young. Now they've been robbed of their childhood because they brought their own child into the world!
His immaturity is overwhelming in the clip of the video interview and my jaw dropped when he asked what 'financial' meant. It's so unfair for that little baby girl to have to grow up in a household with parents not even old enough to make their own curfew let alone be responsible for another life.
While the boy and his girlfriend's parents must remain strong from them because they're their children, I still think they need to come to the table a little bit more. The boy's father says that he's handleing the situation well because he could have been home playing with his video games instead of being at the hospital?! I just don't think that they're acknowledging the reality of the situation here.
As far as the media's influence, the boy looks shell shocked when asked questions about how he is going to be able to handle a child and it seems like exploitation to the 'couple' and their new baby. I guess press release is very different in Europe, because in the U.S. I know it would be very difficult to release information about minors like for release.
There are some good issues here for critical thought. The original post, for example, by college girl, connects with Siegel's complaint about the flood of trivia on the Internet, and how the news becomes more and more a race to the bottom of people's need for scandal and gossip. And Schuichon corrrectly reminds us that the story hadn't even been verified--so who really knows who the father is without a DNA test. The Internet has made it possible for anybody with a desire to humiliate themselves for money and book or movie contract to tell their "story" and get everyone else talking as Siegel says, about the latest buzz, just conforming to the gossip machine and helping somebody else make a buck.
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