Slashdot Mirror
Star Wars Kid Cuts a Deal With His Tormentors
An anonymous reader writes "Ghyslain Raza, who gained instant online fame as the 'Star Wars Kid' settled this week with the families of the three classmates who posted his two minute Lucasfilm screen test on the Internet. No details were released but the suit sought damages of $351,000. A victory for the victims of cyber-bullying, or missed chance by thin-skinned Ghyslain to cash-in as the next William 'She Bangs' Hung?"
That is the main difrence the kid had this put on him not buy his own choice
I still think got lemons bla bla you know
Did this kid?
Hey, I'm just your average shit and piss factory.
I would hope for the other way round, but unfortunately it won't happen.
The kids who posted this without thinking how it would affect his life are the ones who should be learning from this.
Fame is a fickle thing, some people try their whole lives to get it, others try to stay away from it. Being forced into a difficult situation IS bullying, and I hope this kid can grow out of his stereotype.
Everybody does stupid things, but to be reminded about them every single day must be hell.
liqbase
Having been a rather akward teenager myself, I can understand why he decided to file suit against them. I don't know anything about this kid or how he feels about himself or even what he went through on an every day basis before this occured but I remember being in high school and feeling invisible to the rest of the world. Suddenly, one day to have myself posted all over the internet and being the subject of laughter, at the age of 15, would have been psychologically devestating to me. It is easy, for those of us who are adults, to be critical of his choices but we weren't the ones treated this way. We never walked in his shoes and never suffered the embarassment that he suffered.
On the outside, since we have no emotional attachment to the situation, it's easy for us to say "I'd ride that money train all the way to the bank" but that fails to give the situation its true weight. Being 15 is tough enough for most kids without having themeselves publically humilitated by their peers just for a few laughs. I'm not a huge fan of law suits in general, but in this instance I am. The action of these kids was not criminal but it was a terrible thing to do and there needs to be consequences.
What the hell? Why are so many of the comments saying things like this? He somehow deserves what happened to him because he wasn't smart enough, wasn't confident enough, didn't take advantage, whatever. Has everyone on this website forgotten what it's like to be a socially inept, outcast 15-year-old? Sure, by and large we've grown out of it, but a lot of us would not have appreciated having something we consider completely humiliating broadcast to the entire world.
You "can't blame someone else because of your personal problems," but what if the problems in question (humiliation in front of a worldwide audience, constant attention from the media and from strangers, drastically increased bullying in school when he was already not the most popular kid around) are in fact a direct result of someone else's actions? Can't you blame them for those actions, especially when they were done maliciously?
Everyone seems to be talking about fame as though it's this wonderful gift. Here's a clue: Not everyone wants it. And not everyone should be forced to want it, just because it's your opinion that he should have seized the opportunity and made a few bucks. Maybe he prefers the lack of fame over any potential profit he could have gotten from it. I know I would hate to be famous. That's not a sour grapes thing, I do have an ego and I would like to be well-respected within my own field, but real fame? Have you seen what the world does to celebrities? It's disgusting, and I'm glad that there's no realistic way that would happen to me.
Should the kid have filed a lawsuit? Maybe not. Personally I would lean towards no. But there's a big gap between "a lawsuit is inappropriate here" and "What's the matter with this kid, he deserves what he got, why is this bullied, insecure 15-year-old acting so insecure and immature? He should just get over it." No doubt he will get over it, but give him a few years -- it took a lot of us that long even without a major roadblock like this.
[END RANT]
I am the man with no sig!
What bugs me is the lack of scope here. Okay so they sue the parents of some kids who released a video. Obviously these families are fucked for life because of this incredible debt. Who has 100k to laying around? Guess little Johnny isn't going to college now because of a childhood prank. That seems highly unfair.
Now in the real world, people at sites like fark, ebaumsworld, etc sold a whole lot of banner ads with this video. Why aren't they being sued? Or the graphics professionals who took a boring video of a fat kid from some website and added in effects and sounds, hosted it, and promoted it? Its one thing for me to release a video and its another for the video to get picked up by commercial interests and artists and turned into this week's crazy meme without permission. Ebaumsworld still hosts it now. Why are they free from litigation?
The real problems with these lawsuits is that they just get the easy money while fark and ebaumsworld and the rest continue this kind of nonsense. They dont ask permission, they don't ask the source, they just link and host and put all the banner ad money in their pockets. They're laughing all the way to the bank while some canadian families are now expected to get the 300k other people have made off this kid.
So "cyberbullies" get some sort of lesson, which probably won't resonate to the rest of the culture of bullying and website profiteers get off scott free. That's justice?
Spot on... after 3 years of daily beatings, I started tracking people down when they were heading home, alone, in the middle of the night... the beatings ended in a right big hurry and it was entertaining to see them become unwilling to be alone... anywhere, once you know what fear truely is you quit being so willing to inflict it on others. Someone who hasn't been through the beatings and torture can't even come close to understanding how that feels and the mental, emotional, and physical scars it leaves. A fist fight sucks and you might win might lose... a gang of people getting you down and beating you regularly is a whole different story. A bully understands one thing, pain, end of story, until they feel it they have no concept and they don't care... after they feel enough pain they lose intereste in dishing it out anymore. ever.
Shadus
Comments like yours remind me why I hate internet forums.
First of all, you took what he said out of content. even though he said what you posted. you completely overlooked the main focus of his post, and chose to dwell only what you took issue with - not because it was offensive, but because it hit a nerve with some unresolved issues that you have.
Those kids were just being kids, everyone in that situation would have done the same thing. I would say Raza should have thought how video taping this ridiculous video AND LEAVING IT IN THE SCHOOL TV STUDIO would affect his life. I mean, did he expect no one to see it there?
That would be the point. And guess what? Like it or not, it's true. Young boys have been doing things of this nature for years. Even kids who aren't bullies play pranks on each other sometimes. Not because they're evil - because they're kids. Truth be told, you don't know what the relationship was between the kids. That's today's ultra-sensitive society - everyone's having fun, until someone gets mad, tells their parents, and someone's getting sued. Half of the time the kids intentions weren't even how they tried to depict them as.
But that's not why I hate the internet. I can tolerate views that differ from mine with no problem. What I can't stand is the attitude that's reflected in the comment that you made:
Yeah, I know your type well, if you're what I think you are. How's the gas-pumping business, ya fucking jock?
I take online abuse on a regular basis from people like you, and I wasn't even a jock. Not because I'm rude, because people like you who hold these types of things in. They walk around fine, but the moment they get into a situtation of power, they're hell to deal with. Support forums are full of them all over the internet. You see, after years of being bullied, you have your safe haven where you can say whatever you like to whoever you like, and they just have to take it. Whether their power is in being a moderator, or in having a bunch of friends on the board, they frequently abuse it. They walk around all the time with a chip on their shoulder, making curt and semi-sarcastic, hoping someone says something back so they can let them have it or boot them from a room.
That "Internet John Wayne" crap isn't any less offensive or abusive than the kids that posted a silly dance tape on the internet. At least the kid recorded it himself.
Would that work for rape too?
Okay I've read this story for a few moments, and this is the FOURTH TIME THIS HAS BEEN COMPARED TO RAPE. Are you kidding? Do you really think some idiot video taping himself doing something embarrassing, on and using school property, and then leaving the video in a public place, is remotely comparable to rape or child abuse? Jesus. Get some bloody perspective.
As far as this kid being alienated "because" of the video -- I have a pretty good feeling that he already was alienated. (And that he already had some odd interpersonal traits. When most well-adjusted people would have laughed at themselves and tried to capitalize on the situation, this guy acted like he'd had a labotomy or something). The video just gave him a lightning rod to focus all of his anger.