Any idea how she paid for her plane ticket? It must be expensive to fly to Jordan. And, was it one-way or round-trip?

16 year-old going across the lake to Canada (with friends) and parents don't see through it. (Ah, but evil step-mother figures it our only with help from a sibling?)?

Great parenting and family dynamics. Wonderful example of why your minors shouldn't have unfettered internet access, unless you have raised them to be responsible.

Going out to the MySpace website, I don't know how they even read messages. It's all in a black background, light gray transparent foreground text. Can't be read easily. With some bit twiddling I am able to read it and geez what garbage.

Great parenting and family dynamics.

You know this family pretty well, eh? Bad things only happen to bad people in bad families.

Wonderful example of why your minors shouldn't have unfettered internet access, unless you have raised them to be responsible.

And who forgot to lock your door, little boy?

With some bit twiddling I am able to read it and geez what garbage.

How ironic; I made the same adjustments, and found that the site was covered by your posts.

Congratulations, astigafa. You just forfeited the right to ever complain about personal attacks against you on this site. A completely off-tangent posting just to insult someone? That is truly assholery above and beyond the call of assholeness.

J.

Anyone looking for love at MySpace is a loon.

You know this family pretty well, eh? Bad things only happen to bad people in bad families.

Uh, no. But bad things happen a lot less often when parents pay attention. No way could I or my sister have pulled this off when we were teenagers, even if we had had the internet and stuff.

What I want to know: WHAT WAS SHE THINKING? She's just go over, say "hi", and come back?

Where there's limited information the mind often fills in the details with fantasy. It's like the Benny Hill episode where some male nudists ignore the female nudists all around them, but are all bug-eyed and wolf whistling as clothed women go by on the street outside the nudist camp.

This 16 year-old girl let her imagination fill in the missing details and fell in love with a figment of her imagination. If this guy lived next door she would probably think he was a jerk and have nothing to do with him. Because of software like PhotoShop, you can't even know what someone really looks like. I suspect many of the profiles are what a person wants to be not what they really are. MySpace is not a good site for immature people to be on. Too much eye candy and not enough unbiased factual information to know anything about anyone posting.

At least on Wisbang there's no eye candy.

Congratulations, astigafa. You just forfeited the right to ever complain about personal attacks against you on this site.

You mean I won something? Oh, boy! This is going to be great!

johnmc:

A completely off-tangent posting just to insult someone? That is truly assholery above and beyond the call of assholeness.

What he said. Sorry.

astigafa

This generation we really have to worry about. They have no sense of shame in the way my generation growing up in the seventies did. There is a book out called The Notebook Girls which contain journal entries involving subjects like sex and drugs that young people in my day never discussed openly.
Perhaps, to these youths life has become too boring. OK, there is still peer pressure and the desire to keep up grades but other things come easier. Parents today give in too readily to the denands of thier children. In a world where everything, music, information, communication is so accessible the idea of flying halfway around the world to meet a realitive stranger is an adventure. To go back to thirty years ago going from New York and taking the PATH to New Jersey on our own was an adventure. Saving money to buy a record album or something else we wanted gave us a good feeling.
Then again, not every 16 year old does what this girl did.
GA

I don't know about the sense of shame, GA. Sure it was different then in some ways but I don't think that people are really any different from what they ever were. 16 year old girls used to get married or elope and get married or... just end up in a bad place. Nothing very new there.

I think that biggest difference is what you said... saving money to buy a record album was a big deal. But then it still is for my kids. How on god's green earth does a 16 year old simply purchase any sort of plane ticket, much less a ticket to go overseas?

And I would suspect myself of bad thoughts because of the obvious wealth involved except for the fact that the "cover story" that the parents accepted was something I wouldn't allow any of my children to do.

And that isn't a "kids these days" vs. "used to be" either. I know teens (and younger) that travel alone or go overseas as exchange students but there is a adult responsible in those cases. The idea of approving a trip to Canada (I grew up in Minnesota, Canada isn't that big a deal) without knowing who - what - where - and when for your 16 year old kid is *amazing.* Any kid might do something incredibly foolish but it's this Canada thing that makes me more than willing to jump on the "bad parenting" bandwagon.

And... just to be thorough... I know people who met over the internet and married people from other countries. I'm not going to automatically decide that this guy is a scum-bag or that the picture is so very bad (it's gothish, but that's popular and agsty and all emo-like). It's not making friends in strange places that is so very bad... it's the secrecy. Legitimate meetings, particularly the first ones, tend to have chaperones and be on neutral ground. We don't have to be afraid of technology.

Common sense works.

It is true that the internet is no more than a means to meet others and to pass on information about these "terrible things" that people, not only the young, do. I knew of a number of older people that have gotten themselves in situations thru or outside of the internet.
What is different is these things a generation ago was hushed. I had two cousins who eloped and while it was frowned upon my family didn't say much about it. Perhaps there will be a time when internet romances will not be viewed as novelty.
I am really sympathetic for the young girl in a way. While she was aware that she was doing something that he parents would view as wrong "the heart" often rules over logic or invents its own. As adults we are aware of this more but can still fall under the influence of our emotions.
Still. with young people as in general, communication is so important and they must have enough trust to discuss those things that they feel without the fear of being unneccessarily judged. It is so hard being both a thinking and feeling being.

that kid is a grade A moron and her family makes it even worse.

on the cnn interviews all you heard was "why and how could this have happened?"

because your daughter is a grade A back stabber. dont blame myspace, blame that kid.

yeah, she would in seclusion if she was my kid alright but only after a press conference where i back hand her in front of the american public, not cry because the internet is "bad". ugh, american hicks are bringing this country to its knees.

Just to let everyone know who is trash talking Katherine she is my step sister and you all dont even know her so who ever has a nasty comment to make about her you all can run it by me first cuz im sick of hearing this shit about how stupid my sister and my family are. You idiots dont know any of us and if you honestly have that little of a life to trash talk someone you dont even know than thats pretty sad. My sister loves this guy and thats why she went to see him. Hope you all burn cuz you people are redicilious.

Jordyn Miri
15, Michigan

Oh, another one. I can't believe that there are more than one "air-head blond bimbo in that family"
Yes, you people are dumbasses. If you don't like it,,, tough...(stupid is as stupid does)

Oh for pete's sake, "Jordyn," learn to SPELL! (and while you're at it, change the spelling of your name, too).

Your sister is an idiot, your parents are irresponsible and incompetent, and you are clearly a moron as well. Your sister doesn't "luv" this Palestinian goon -- she doesn't even know what love is. He wants a ticket out of the hell hole that his people created and that is all your sister is good for as far as he is concerned. Once he had your sister under his thumb, he'd have taught her quickly enough what abuse is, and your parents would have been powerless to help her. Don't you get it? Read about Islam. Learn about it. The worst human rights abuses in the world against women are committed by Muslim men. This is a fact. Go and study. Try hard not to be an idiot for the rest of your life.

Hi. This is Jordyn again, Katherines sister. Anyways she was over last weekend and all we did was laugh at these retarted comments. Like seriously, do you all have nothing better to do than to search the web about MY family's life? And then state your opinion, do you think we care? NO we dont. We dont know you so just shut the hell up my god.Oh, and to the bitch who wrote about me I odnt know her name is something like "lastqueen" I dont know something retarted like that..well you told me to check my spelling?Is that all you can say? Why dont you check yourself bitch because you need something better to do than to proofread my comments you weak ass dumb fuck. You all are honeslty wasting your time with this website.. Katherine, Abdullah, Me, my mom, and dad, we DO NOT CARE WHAT YOU HAVE TO SAY SO KEEP IT IN YOUR MOUTH OR SAY IT TO OUR FACES. Because I think if it came down to it, if you had the chance to talk the way you do about us on here, to say it to us in person, im pretty sure you wouldn't. So think twice before you speak because it isnt like you assholes are perfect so get over your stuck up selves.

Jordyn Alyssa Miri
-Grand Blanc, Michigan
=D Fuck You!