<p>Again, you’re using that pesky word “should.” If you read my post a little more carefully, you might get what I am trying to tell you.</p>
<p>Fine. The girl herself, rather than her parents, MUST be the one to decide how to handle a message that she receives.</p>
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<p>You don’t get it do you? I wouldn’t joke freely with people I don’t know very well. I only joke with my closest of friends who I know in and out and they know me in and out.</p>
<p>I know what my friends think is funny and they know what I think is funny. That is all that matters.</p>
<p>insomniatic, it’s clear that we think it’s YOU who doesn’t get it. </p>
<p>Sigh. This is why it can be so tiresome when kids write in the parents forum.</p>
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<p>I am not a kid. It doesn’t matter if you think I’m right or not. These are just opinions. Some people agreed with me and some people agreed with you.</p>
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<p>Sign. This is what happens when you try to talk to senile persons on the internet. I guess we shouldn’t be too hard on them. I wouldn’t be in too happy of a mood either if I didn’t have the teeth left to enjoy solid food. I guess these seniors just need a place to vent. Go ahead…</p>
<p>(I’m just joking by the way. I’m guessing you probably don’t find it funny. But I’m sure many others do. It’s all a matter of taste. Don’t send the TSA to my house, please.)</p>
<p>No, we will not send the TSA to your house, but the CIA and the KGB are on their way. There is nothing wrong with your computer monitor. Do not attempt to adjust the settings. We are controlling the transmission.</p>
<p>;)</p>
<p>Sign [sic] This is what happens when you try to talk to juvenile persons on the internets. I guess we shouldn’t be too hard on them. I wouldn’t be in too happy of a mood either if I didn’t have the teeth yet to enjoy solid food [damn, Gerber is making a fortune!]. I guess these babies just need a place to vent. Go ahead…</p>
<p>Touche, BunsenBurner ;)</p>
<p>This is the lovely thing about the internets [sic]. The anonymity brings out the best and the worst of us all.</p>
<p>Also - katliamom, don’t assume that just because some of the posters on here may give off a, err, youthful vibe, that they are not parents themselves.</p>
<p>Yes, some people here may just be (not saying if any of us posting here on this thread are or are not, but do respect that there is indeed credence to that possibility) simultaneously acting as both, a college student, AND a young parent as well. Now THAT, my friend, is a tough gig.</p>
<p>The Parent Cafe may be a place designated (though obviously not restricted to) for parents to share opinions. It is NOT a place for preaching to choirs who are all part of a same demographic/age-group/point-in-life/I-totally-get-what-you-are-saying camaraderie.</p>
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<p>There is no indication that the OP’s daughter was close friends with the idiot who sent her the text. He surely didn’t “know what she thinks is funny.” Although the OP’s daughter thought her mother was over reacting, she also told her mother that it was a “bad joke.” We are simply trying to make it clear that the guy who sent the text was very lucky the OP or her parents did not take this further than they did. As the young man in question was not held accountable for this “joke” (and someone PLEASE tell me what is funny about RAPE-it’s not-it’s sick, quite frankly, and the fact that anyone would find rape jokes amusing is really disturbing), he is likely to repeat it to another person he also doesn’t know well. The next time (and there will be a next time as he apparently doesn’t get it) he may well find himself in trouble at college or with the law. There are a lot of “senile” people who don’t stand for this nonsense, and there are even young people who wouldn’t hesitate to report a person for threatening to RAPE them. This will not go well for the “joker” if he continues this kind of gross behavior-someone will eventually call him on it.</p>
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<p>Says who? You? If a minor receives a text which a parent views as a threat and said parent decides to file charges against the person who sent the text, it will NOT be the child who decides how to handle it. It will be the judge or jury who decides how to handle it. The world doesn’t always work the way we think it “should” or “must.”</p>
<p><a href=“and%20someone%20PLEASE%20tell%20me%20what%20is%20funny%20about%20RAPE-it’s%20not-it’s%20sick,%20quite%20frankly,%20and%20the%20fact%20that%20anyone%20would%20find%20rape%20jokes%20amusing%20is%20really%20disturbing”>Quote</a>
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<p>Who said somebody being raped was funny? These two kids were not joking about somebody that got raped.</p>
<p>Should we not joke about anything? How about the economy? Overweight people? Stupid people? The President?</p>
<p>The fact is if these two kids are joking and they know that rape is wrong, then there is nothing to worry about.</p>
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But you are not a parent, are you? Just because you think this was a joke, ther is no evidence that it was (even if the recipient of the text blew it off), and a parent has the responsibility of protecting their minor child, especially from a threat and especially when they advised their parent. Since you like “data”, here’s one example [Legal</a> Advice: Criminal Law | California | Re: Text message threat! | LawGuru](<a href=“Text message threat! | Legal Advice”>Text message threat! | Legal Advice)
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<p>Here’s another example. Threats are not “jokes”. They are , and should be taken seriously [Teen</a> arrested for text message threat - US news - Crime & courts - msnbc.com](<a href=“http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10301317/]Teen”>http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10301317/)</p>
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<p>There has been no indication from the OP that “two kids” were joking. She said her daughter received a text and interpreted it as a bad joke.</p>
<p>The joke wasn’t about someone who got raped, but about someone who is going to be raped. WHY is this funny?!</p>
<p>No one said people can’t tell jokes. Sending someone a text saying you are going to rape the recipient can get you in serious trouble. If the recipient or her parents find it threatening and report it to authorities, it will not matter that you were “joking.” That is what most of here have said over and over, yet there are some who still don’t get it. How they think a recipient of a text like this SHOULD react has absolutely no bearing on how they WILL react.</p>
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<p>Is the daughter in fear? Doesn’t sound like she is.</p>
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<p>Like I stated before, I only joke openly with friends I know very well. I know how they will react to the jokes I tell and they know how I will react to the jokes they tell. It’s as simple as that.</p>
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<p>Last line of the article: “Garcia said the girl did not know the boy but that he knew some of her friends.”</p>
<p>You just proved by point right there. If I got a text like that from somebody I didn’t know, then of course I would take it very seriously.</p>
<p>This is the not the case with this girl we have been discussing.</p>
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<p>“In order for it to be criminal, the threat must have been intended by the sender to be a threat of death, bodily injury or significant property damage. The threat must be sufficiently immediate. The receiver must have then suffered reasonable fear of the threat being carried out.”</p>
<p>Was the threat sufficiently immediate? No, it wasn’t.</p>
<p>Did the girl suffer reasonable fear? No she didn’t.</p>
<p>Case closed.</p>
<p>Exactly. Case closed. The “Kids” win this one :)</p>