So.. did you defriend Jesse on Facebook?

Yes, that was 100% seriously one of the many idiotic comments I got when I emailed people about the Jesse incident (click here for details). Sorry to call you out but I even had to tell my friends about this comment because I thought.. maybe I was looking too much into it or was dumb or something.. but no, they agreed it was pretty idiotic.

The victim in the incident is a close friend of mine. She opened up to me after it happened back in October. It took all of my self-control not to tell the whole world about what Jesse did. But I kept it a secret out of respect for my friend, "Laya," as the New U calls her. When she called me a couple weeks ago, in tears, on the verge of a breakdown, I couldn't stand not doing anything, so she finally gave me permission to do whatever I wanted to do to help her, obviously without revealing any confidential content to others.

I began writing emails and letters like crazy. It just flowed out of me... all the anger, hate, and disgust. I got a couple of hate emails back, that's fine. Or just didn't get any responses, that's fine too. Got a lot of doubts from friends, which was completely understandable since I couldn't give them any physical evidence other than words.. I was pretty shocked when I first heard it too. But the thing that got me the most.. were comments like these (quote on quote):

"But.. he was on twitter the day he got arrested.."
"Well, he's lgbt, why a girl?"
"He's so nice though, Lyds, he couldn't do that to someone."
And the best one....
"So.. did you defriend him on fb and stuff?"

Nothing like, "Hey, is your friend ok?", "I hope your friend's doing all right, I'm sorry to hear that." Of course, I have lots of other friends who have been so supportive and I want to thank you guys so much. They have definitely outweighed those kinds of comments and have helped me through this past couple of weeks. My friend and I really appreciate all of the amazing support you have provided.

It just bewilders me what our generation and society have come to these days: Twitter and Facebook. Really? REALLY?? I mean, seriously.. really??!!!! It stuns me. It really does. I can't believe that our world has come to rely on Twitter and Facebook as legitimate reactions to insensible events. I hope that our society can change.. can change to a time when victims find the bravery to speak out against their attackers, when victims speak out and do not fear blame and retaliation from the public, when the justice system isn't corrupt, when the truth WILL really set you free.