Facebook has been used by possibly nefarious parties to secretly find out the color of your underwear, to take sides in the disputed Iranian election, and is now being used by a 15-year-old to protest being grounded by her parents.
Her crime was simple: she went to a party with alcohol present and was late for her curfew by one hour. Her parents responded quickly to their daughter’s crimes with a swift and possibly harsh judgment: they grounded her for five weeks.
Since then, the girl has waged a Facebook campaign that can safely boast 1,667 members, many of which who believe or purport to believe that in this particular instance, the punishment does not fit the crime. She has also started circulating petitions around the school gaining signatures of fellow students (and teachers?) who don’t believe that being grounded for five weeks is an appropriate punishment for her situation.
Apparently, her parents originally compromised with each other on the length of the punishment and aren’t budging an inch. In response to her Facebook group, some parents have started their own opposing group. It’s official; it has now become another Facebook war.
Now, she is in the NYT. Amazing. Although she didn’t necessarily get her required outcome (ungrounded of course being the necessary goal), her social networking skills are pretty fricking great....if I had to hire someone to publicize my cause, Tess might very well make the top of the list.
Of course, not everybody agrees- I just joined her infamous Facebook group myself and the self-righteous NYT readers have weighed in with basically the kind of responses you would expect:
“Yes, you deserve to be grounded.”,
“You know what, if you don't want to get grounded for drinking at a party, then be smarter and don't get caught. End of story.”,
and some cautionary bs advice about how this kind of campaign could adversely affect college applications.
As evidence of how far this story has traveled, one dude posted:
"Hey Tess -- you even made the newpaper in Calcutta, India!! I also found the article about you in newspapers in Minneapolis, Sarasota, Florida, Honolulu, Hawaii, and on a TV station website in New Delhi, India!! Looks like people around the world hear you and support you!!!"