WTF is wrong with people sometimes? - YouLookFab Forum

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WTF is wrong with people sometimes?

Janet

(website)

Veteran

Just need to vent/rant for a moment. Some of you probably saw in a recent WIW thread that I have a friend whose wife is probably in the end stages of a 15-year bout with cancer. He's already incredibly stressed -- he has a demanding job, and triplet 10yo daughters and a 14yo son.

Last night his girls came to him and told him their babysitter showed them videos of this stupid &%$# Slender Man viral legend/myth. This stuff is awful -- I don't know if you've heard of it, but it's violence pure and simple. I don't want to Google and learn more, but I remember reading some story about teenagers who attacked a friend as some sort of following ritual. It's just disgusting.

The babysitter told the girls it was their secret and they should never tell parents or adults. Of course, they went right to their dad, thank goodness. Their mom is in the hospital. The girls slept in the room with their dad last night, they were so freaked out.

He fired the sitter this morning and told her he was going to call the police so there is a record of his concern. Told her never to get near his kids again.

I'm livid. Can you imagine someone exposing three young girls who are already losing their mother to this kind of crap?

No advice or anything needed. Just venting. I'm so glad the girls had the confidence to say they were uncomfortable and go to their dad.

There is already so much darkness and evil in the world. Why do people feel compelled to celebrate this kind of thing? I enjoy a dark TV show or scary movie as much as the next person, but showing this kind of crap to young children goes way too far.

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44 replies

Latest reply was from TraceyLiz65

Debbie

Veteran

I am livid for you. Those young girls are under so much stress already and didn't need this. I am glad he is going to the police.
I will keep this family in my thoughts and prayers.

April

Veteran

Good grief. That level of poor judgment is beyond comprehension.

Anonymous

I'm speechless!!! Un-believable!! I'm so careful what I let my 10 YO watch. You give someone trust, as in babysitter.. and this happens. Ugh! I feel for your friend. How awful. He did the right thing calling the police.

Janet

(website)

Veteran

I was shaking I was so angry. Need to go out for a run. I knew you all would understand!

Those kids are so sweet. I just can't believe how messed up this is.

LACeleste

Veteran

That is terrible. Sickening. I hope the Dad does follow up --ETA: parents would be best first step as another post below wisely pointed out. Messed up and discouraging. I will keep the family in my thoughts Janet.

shedev

Veteran

Those girls are to be commended for speaking up for themselves and not having to continue to be exposed to that inappropriateness.

MsMary

Veteran

WHAT?? That is just awful! I'm so sorry, Janet! And yes, those girls deserve a medal for taking it right to their dad!

Kimberley

Veteran

WTF, indeed! I am sick to hear this, Janet. So glad the girls feel comfortable going straight to their Dad. Their relationship is obviously rock solid and will be a great source of comfort in the coming days. Hugs.

Janet

(website)

Veteran

Thanks, everybody! I felt bad enough back when my youngest stepson was about 11 and we watched the Buffy episode "Hush" and he had nightmares.

I just can't get my head around this. Thank you for the support.

catseye

Veteran

How old is this babysitter?

Here I am trying to find a babysitter for my son. Now I probably will not consider a teenager girl anymore.

Janet

(website)

Veteran

Catseye, I'm not sure. Old enough to drive, and surely old enough to know better.

rachylou

Veteran

Whoa! Step back. I heard about Slender Man and that case. I used to scoff at the notion of "a culture of death" spreading, but I've quite changed my mind about that.

Boko Haram, the group that kidnapped the 200 girls in Nigeria? I've learned that they also invade boys' schools. If the girls hadn't been girls, they would have been killed. It wasn't some misogyny-driven agenda. They're a purely psychotic militia of teenagers.

rabbit

Veteran

This sounds above and beyond and would make me so upset too.

Some people just don't care about exposing young kids to violent media -- I had sitters that when I stayed at their house as a little kid would watch Halloween, Jaws and Poltergeist, things my parents would never have allowed. I tried to stay in the other room because I was frightened but still got exposed to some stuff that gave me nightmares.

Recently I was at a theater watching Capt. America 2 and there was a guy with a toddler who was visibly crying and upset during the more violent moments. As a teacher I remember a very religious parent at a parent conference telling me it was fine if her young teen girls watched violent movies, but nothing with sexual overtones. I just wanted to shake my head about her priorities.

I understand ghost stories are a right of passage in a way for kids that enjoy them, but there is a big difference between hearing/reading a story and seeing the visuals.

ironkurtin

Veteran

I agree that adding stress children's lives is terrible.

But -- Slenderman isn't "violence pure and simple." My understanding is that it is a new kind of urban fable or fairytale born via the internet in a sort of communal storytelling setting. It's not a NICE fairy tale, but it's just supposed to be kinda spooky, like a ghost story around a campfire. The girls who killed someone over it were not responding to Slenderman as the story was created. They made up their own crazy about the meme.

So yeah, it was a really, really, insensitive bad call on the sitter's part, but she wasn't indoctrinating them into a death cult. Just to add some perspective.

Astrid

Veteran

I didn't know Slender Man so I went and googled it and after I saw the first few images I stopped looking. I categorically refuse to watch any kind of horror movie (those films that consist of nothing but horror) and thinking of anyone making young children watch something like this just makes me sick. Never mind the whole "keeping it secret" stuff, that just makes it worse.

crutcher

Veteran

How old is this baby sitter?...I think she had very little compassion or judgement to bring this up to kids who are already raw emotionally...I have and am learning that you have to really take people where they are and often times...we just aren't aware where they are...
That said...I hope the Dad will at the least have a talk with this babysitter and maybe use this as a teachable moment..or at the most have a talk with the police...
Poor children...just one more nail in the heart...

Thistle

Veteran

First, deepest sympathies to your friend and his children. I cannot even imagine what they are going through. Losing your mom as a chld is devastating enough. This Slender Man garbage is just not needed. What they need is something light and uplifting.

No idea how old the babysitter is, but some kids have better judgement than others. No excuse for it. And I am hoping she was using it as a scary camp fier story rather than actually beleiving in it. Either way, so far off base as to not even be in the park.

As for Slenderman, the incident actually happened in my town. One of the parents of one of the perpetrators works at my company. So yeah, heard waaaay more than I wanted to about it.

In a nutshell, Slender Man was an internet meme, created in an internet contest to be scary, like the next Freddy. As internet memes do, a lot of fan fiction was created. None of it real. None of it meant to be. But the girls involved thought it was real. And were either evil enough or mentally disturbed enough that they wanted to essentially join Slender Man / Freddy's side.

All involved were young, very young, 13 at the oldest.

Janet

(website)

Veteran

IK, it may have started a bit more innocently, I dunno, but what the sitter had them watching was filled with foul language and horrific murder for sexual gratification. So this fairy tale has clearly taken on some really adult overtones and has some really awful associations. So yeah, terrible, terrible judgment on the sitter's part.

Transcona Shannon

Veteran

OMG!!! My 19 year-old son told me about this and he won't watch or participate in any discussions about it. In his words "that's just bloody sick and twisted".

That is an incredibly insensitive babysitter and should know better than to expose not only impressionable young children to something like Slenderman, but children who are already feeling emotionally raw.

If I were the father, I might be letting the babysitter's parents know?

Suz

(website)

Veteran

OMG. This is SO upsetting. I am furious on that dad's behalf and aching for those poor girls. The keeping it secret part is the worst of all! I am so glad they spoke to their dad.

Now I am worried that maybe my daughter knows about this. I had not heard of it. That's what I get for keeping my head in YLF all the time.....the world seems like a nice place where you are on here half the day....

ironkurtin

Veteran

Janet, yeah, it started out as just a story. Fiction is incredibly powerful, and in this case, not as a force for good. We could have a whole conversation on how creating stories meant to inspire fear and catharsis can actually be useful, but it's 100% clearly not appropriate for these children.

lyn*

(website)

Veteran

Hmm, I'm of two schools of thought on this one - it's probably not the right context for bringing up these types of stories with girls that are going through a lot right now, and it's good that they are able to talk to their dad about it.

I think that after someone is exposed to stuff like this, it's important for them to work through it with someone that they trust (such as their father), as opposed to saying this stuff is all bad and it shouldn't be talked about and put away.

While we didn't have the internet growing up, there were some murders and things going on when I was about that age, and of course, there was also 9/11. I did a lot of my own research when my parents didn't want to talk about stuff like that which is good/bad in its own way. I think kids naturally have a curiosity about death and it's good to address it in an open way with them.

Janet

(website)

Veteran

Lyn, I agree. I'm so glad these girls had the trust to talk to their dad about this. This family has a really strong network of supportive people, which is good for all sorts of reasons right now.

I also get that kids have a natural curiosity about death, and my friend's children have lost their grandparents already so they understand loss, but I can't help but think that this is a TERRIBLE time to introduce them to stories of violent death, especially stories that involve abduction and killing of children. They're already feeling vulnerable (they do not yet know the full extent of their mother's situation -- my friend was going to sit them down today once their older brother was home from a beach trip with a friend). The timing is absolutely awful.

claracluck

Janet I'm glad he has a good friend in you.

Deborah

Veteran

Janet I am so sorry about this, and I am thankful that you posted because my son has recently mentioned Slender Man to me (he is 11). We are careful about what he looks at but sometimes something does get through. We have just had a chat and are checking his devices are clean of this game/program. And IK thanks for the further clarification on it.

Will be upholding the kids and your friends family in prayer xxx

viva

Veteran

The internet has made it easy to twist what used to be just creepy urban legend into things potentially much more lurid and thus confusing and powerfully dark ... that, and the incredibly bad timing of sharing this with your friend's daughters ... it all just makes me terribly sad. They are so vulnerable right now. I'm so glad they were able to go right to their dad.

Caro in Oz

Veteran

No words!!!!!
Lots of good thoughts for this family, I'm so glad they could talk to their dad.

Anonymous

Wow, that is horrible. I have a bit of a soft spot for Slenderman, but mainly because of an academic journal I webmaster for. We had a great article recently in our monsters issue about the origin of Slenderman and how it provides a window into what is deemed monstrous today.

http://www.semioticreview.com/.....lender-man

Sounds like the original idea has been elaborated and twisted further. So sorry for those poor kids.

I think occult/monster/scary is a phase a lot of teenagers are drawn to (growing up it was a Ouija board and horror films/books) but that is a severe lapse in judgement on the part of that babysitter.

Irene

Veteran

I agree that these were not the right kids to listen to this story, but it's just a spooky story nevertheless! It's a fable, a myth, an internet creation, like the Boogey Man or Sleepy Hollow.
Come on, I still remember reading The Witches (Roald Dahl's) the first time around: that first chapter is the scariest I've read to this date. It starts saying that witches look like normal women, then adds that your teacher might be one of them and finishes saying that witches hate children (I was a child). Then he goes on to explain how this girl disappeared and showed up in a painting, where she kept growing old until one day she was gone... Still gives me the creeps, I am serious.

Just because one crazy kid killed his parents because of a video game (or role game, can't remember) it doesn't mean video games or role playing are a bad thing.

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