Myspace in the News Again

I read today that a teenager from Michigan lied to her parents so that they would obtain a passport for her. She disappeared on Monday but turned up Wednesday when she hopped a flight from New York to Tel Aviv. The soon-to-be 17 year old was attempting to reach Jericho, to meet a 25 year old man she met on myspace. The FBI arranged for Jordanian officials to speak to the girl on her layover and they convinced her it was in her best interests to return home.

The parents were shocked, stating their child was a straight A student who had never been problematic before. Apparently, it's myspace's fault.

WTH, people? Why does America insist on blaming myspace? Not to say that there aren't pedophiles out there who prey on kids through myspace and the rest of the internet, but when a teen coerces her parents into a passport it stands to follow that she knew what she was doing. She did a lot of planning in order to travel some 600 miles to NYC. She saved a ton of babysitting money to purchase a ticket for an international flight. And you know when the officials in Jordan were putting on the pressure to go back home, her first thought was probably "my parents are gonna ground me for the summer!" or something along those lines.

This event is the 2006 equivalent of sneaking out of the house after curfew so you and your friends can go to a kegger at some guy's house who's a friend of your friend's cousin's girlfriend's brother. So what if you're underage? So what if you have no idea who the people throwing the party are or even if they're sane or decent? You did it because you were a teenager and it was a party and the thrill of not getting caught was a cheap and easy high. In the end, you were still responsible for your actions and paid the price if your parents found out. This Michigan teen needs to own up that it was her decision to skip the country. Stop playing the blame game and accept the consequences of your actions.

Please, no hate mail. I realize that there are adults who seek out impressionable children expressly to entrust them, set up their relationship and eventually rope them in. They are sick and disgusting perverts.