The family of a 7-year-old Trenton, Mich. girl who is battling a terminal illness has had to take on a very different battle: taunts about the child's condition from their neighbors. http://abcnews.go.com/Health/MindMo...-neighbors/story?id=11851233&cid=ESPNheadline (Sorry, I would just watch the video of the neighbors if this is too loooong) Kathleen Edward is in the late stages of Huntington's disease, a genetic degenerative brain disorder, according to media reports. Her mother, Laura Edward, died of Huntington's last year. Because of what the Edward family said was a longstanding feud with their neighbors, Jennifer and Scott Petkov, Jennifer Petkov posted images on Facebook of Laura in the arms of the Grim Reaper and Kathleen above a set of crossbones. Neighbors also say the Petkovs built a coffin, put it on their truck and drove past the Edward home, honking the horn. When asked by a reporter from Detroit television station WJBK why she posted the photos, Jennifer Petkov said it was for "personal satisfaction" and because it upset the child's grandmother. Shortly after the feud was mentioned in news stories, people from around the world posted Facebook, YouTube and Twitter pages of their own attacking Jennifer Petkov. The Petkovs have also allegedly received death threats and had eggs thrown at their house. The Petkovs have since apologized to the Edward family, telling The Detroit News their actions were "ignorant." They said they would apologize in person, but the Edward family has personal protective orders against their neighbors. Mental health experts, who have no relationship with either family, say without knowing more about the Petkovs, it's difficult to say exactly why the couple behaved the way they did. The experts believe there could be a variety of reasons for their behavior, including poor conflict resolution skills, a lack of moral development and the desire to bully. "This is probably the most extreme case [of cyber-bullying] I've ever heard of," said Cheryl Dellasega, author and professor of humanities at Penn State University College of Medicine in Hershey, Penn. "It's another way that people can say things that are really cruel that they wouldn't say to somebody's face. They're angry, resentful and jealous and put it up on Facebook knowing that the other person will see it." Peter Sheras, a clinical psychologist and professor at the University of Virginia as well as an author of several books on bullying, disagrees that what the Petkovs did is a form of bullying. He said it's a very striking example of how many people in society have tremendous difficulty settling disputes. "We don't have very good skills at managing conflict," said Sheras. "We don't have enough mechanisms for socializing people into civility." Dr. Ken Robbins, clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin, said, "Some people don't make it to full moral development and don't learn about empathy or feel guilt or remorse." He also said that the Petkovs did exhibit bullying behavior, and adults who are bullies lash out at others for the same reason children who are bullies do. "It's a way to feel like they're taking control of a situation, acquiring power by demeaning others and by making others feel humiliated." Experts believe there could be some underlying psychological problem as well."I have to wonder if there wasn't some pathology involved that they would need to express something so heinous online," said Dellasega. They couldn't work their negative feelings out in some other way, like through counseling." They stress that people need more lessons in civility so incidents like this one and other well-publicized cyber-bullying cases don't become a nationwide epidemic. "There are lots of ways to solve problems. We need to have a commitment to actually resolve the problem in different ways," said Sheras. "We need classes on being a good citizen, on supporting each other and being aware of the culture we live in," said Dellasega. The Edward family told a reporter from WJBK that they want people to leave the Petkovs alone so their neighborhood can heal.
? Needless to say, I *hate* seeing *ANY* news of incidents dealing with crap like *this*.... Where is their *heart*? Where is their *soul*? Do they not have the sense enough to KNOW??!? That it could just as well be *their* family on the receiving end of such....filth? Prepare for The Lord Thy God to swoop down upon you and rip your godless, filthy, puerile, reeking heart....gut...from your worthless body....and condemn *you* to Suffering and then Death. Itz coming.................................................... OpinionsCartoonStudios@Yahoo.Co.UK
I'm not using this horrible story as a stepping stone to talk about how civilization has forgotten how to be civilized, thanks to the internet, but I don't believe that these people would have made a picture and printed copies and put them all over this family's lawn and posted it all over the neighborhood, if the internet wasn't available to them. Sadly, the internet has allowed ordinary people to do extraordinarily HORRIFIC things to others online. This is one of them. What a sad story.
Maybe so, maybe no.. But it *does* stand to reason that - evenm before the online era - said perpetrators would have possessed enough depravity to do something of an equally vile and hateful nature...with whatever tools they woulda had at their disposal even then.. One out of *oodles and oodles* that may *never* be reported to the public by the media.... Sad but true.. OpinionsCartoonStudios@Yahoo.Co.UK
Its one thing to read that - but the video takes it t a completely different level. Wow. Just wow. She has not evolved since highschool, bet she was a "mean girl" and a bully then too. Just about the same mental and emotional development. Me, me, me. Well, she pretty much made her and her hubbys own bed with the "pranks" and the way she made herself look like in the interview. They wont have it easy for quite some time.
Yes, this story is one of them. Unlike when a cheated spouse may make flyers and put them up locally to show what a cad their spouse was, it doesn't travel far unless it makes the news (or the mistress who paid for this- These people got their comeuppance, What disgraceful human beings! You think you've heard it all, then something like this proves there's room for more.
Yes, I agree and don't deny that. However, I think the prevalence of such disturbing instances now is because of the ease that online photos and photoshop offers people. I do believe that many of these instances you hear about nowadays wouldn't have happened 20 years ago. Adding things to a photo online takes all of like 5 minutes, without getting out of your chair or having to spend money. That right there gives easier access for loads of people who normally wouldn't have gone through the trouble before, to actually do something online that's extraordinarily stupid. Having said that, I do believe, given what was written about what this neighbor did, aside from the disturbing photos, shows that without the internet, she wouldn't have been stopped from doing something horrible to this family. That shows she's truly depraved, imo.
As short as it is, its telling as all getout. Dispicable idiot she is. No thought of the victims and the repercussions on them... Karma is a bitch, she will get hers.
Geek, agree that she is evil and karma is a bitch but ppl dont necessarily get theirs. Lots of evil folks walk around everyday doing plenty of evil shit without getting theirs, sometimes it is the nature of mother nature not to get theirs.
That is very true, however - this foo did put her stuff out for everybody to see, she will be recognized. I bet her iminent future will be a bit rough. and no, I dont condone the death threats they got, thats not better.
Sometimes right away...for sure.. And sometimes *never*...at least as well as *we* may know.. But often times....for *lots* of people....it takes a *serious* amount of time before it *does* come their way.... And - in all fairness - the victim(s) who've been wronged *are* there to witness it---or at least hear tell about it.. Of this I can only opine: 'Nuff Said!!!! OpinionsCartoonStudios@Yahoo.Co.UK
A dying child the target of such things makes me so angry, I hope to god she never see that coffin drive by her home, this kind of souless, deplorable, abhorrent, gutter snipe and sickening behaviour makes my heart hurt for this poor sick child and remaining parent. :smt011
That goes DOUBLE for ME!! Your eloquence and superlatives have my total admiration, Babe. The person(s) in question....WILL get theirs yet..in *one* way or *another*.. DEPEND on it! OpinionsCartoonStudios@Yahoo.Co.UK
