She's my Winona.

About 9 years ago, an actress did some shoplifting, and it was in the papers and stuff. She was kinda famous, did some movies you might have heard of (Heathers is one). It's a little stupid to shoplift, to be honest. Especially in a designer store. They've got security guards and cameras everywhere! Duh.

What's also stupid is the current thread of news stories about installing a panic button on Facebook. The idea is that kids would feel threatened by a paedophile on Facebook and hit the button, reporting the incident and linking them to a site that can tell them how to deal with bullying, harassment, etc.

The reason it's come about is because of a 17 year old girl called Ashleigh. To summarise the story: she saw a topless boy on Facebook, started to talk to him, met him in person, found out he was a middle-aged murderer.

Now, I've talked to a lot of people on the internet; some were totally normal people, others were dodgy, depraved, and just gross (one guy sent me lots of videos of him masturbating. Yummy.) Some of my closest friends are people I've met over the internet, and then gone on to meet in person. Given that I'm still alive, there are safe ways to conduct yourself over the internet, even if you do encounter dodgy people, that ensure you'll be alive to come home to your folks.

Who meets people when they feel endangered by them? Hands up! Oh, I see no hands. This isn't just because it's the internet - it's because nobody goes to meet someone they don't trust! This is so bloody obvious. It's the way grooming works! Get their trust, get them to meet you without telling their folks. A child who trusts the person they're talking to isn't going to hit the panic button. Therefore, they'll still get murdered, if that's the unfortunate way it's going to go.

As far as I can tell, here is the problem, and the solution:

Problem: Kids/teens are stupid/insecure/lonely, parents don't communicate the risks in a non-lecture way, kids ignore sensible advice because They Think They Know Best.

Solution: Parents, talk to kids more frankly. Kids, appreciate that there are weird people over the internet. Don't meet everyone you talk to. Stay safe. (Never trust topless boys.)

Although I haven't always played it as safe as the government recommends (i.e. don't meet anyone over the internet unless your parents know all the details and come along to meet them too), I think I've done it reasonably. I've always talked to the person for an extensive amount of time before thinking about meeting them, and always stopped talking to them if I found any weird inconsistencies. In the cases of people I have actually met, I've actually got to know some of their friends as well a bit, and they confirmed enough for me to feel okay about it.

So, today's post was about stupidity. If I was on Mastermind, it'd probably be my specialist topic :p