but I needed to share this awful story of what happened to a 14 year-old girl in northen Sweden. It's all over the news here:
It's translated by me so I apologize if theres any bad grammar.
Bjästa is a small society just outside Örnsköldsvik. It's population doesn't even reach 2000, but the small town still has a Junior Highschool. On the school website they proudly sport the motto: Safety, comfort, belonging and trust.
Empty words you'd think. It was here 14 year-old Linnea was raped at one of the school's toliets. She was in 8th grade then, just a child. He was one year older and one of the schools most popular guys. Last night the tv program "Uppdrag granskning" (Mission investigation) told us about the event that turned the habitants of Bjästa into a raging mob.
Linnea was brave enough to go to the police and the whole society turned against her.
Her old friends, classmates and their parents, the priest and the fine Bjästa school's own principal - none of them did anything to help Linnea after the rape. Instead the rumours started to spread...
Linnea had allowed it, she lied, she just wanted to hook up with the guy. She was a whore. The young teenagers spread the rumours, and even worse, the adults tagged along. No one believed Linnea, she had to be "burned at the stake".
From now on Linnea had to walk to school alone. She looked sad and afraid, one schoolmate tells.
But both the Disctrict Court and the Royal Court found the boy guilty of rape.
That's when the real hell started for Linnea. She became a target of threats and violation, and she was too afraid to attend her own graduation while the boy went and got a standing ovation.
- A demonstration for the human value, the priest who let the rapist in said. The priest hadn't even "given the girl a thought", because she wasn't there. Or as one of her classmates says: "The boy is worth more than the girl."
At that same night of graduation the boy rapes another girl, and he is once again found guilty and got sentenced to juvenlie prison.
But the bullying remains, it exist on Facebook (A group that was founded in the boys defence quickly got 4000 members), Youtube and once particular site that works towards getting the boy freed.
Source: http://www.aftonbladet.se/ledare/ledarkronika/evafranchell/article6837635.ab
What the article doesn't mention is that the because of all the threats and violation, Linnea had to move to a boarding school 500km away from her family (I think thats about 200 - 250miles), the priest did also say that he thought that the "boy was brave to have enough courage to attend the graduation (of a school that he did no longer go to)". When the tv-reporter tells the Priest that the boy raped another girl after said graduation, the priest aswers with a "I feel so sorry for the boy.... and for the girl too of course". The school that took a neutral stance during the investigation of the boy (understandable), did nothing to help the bullying of the girl, nor did they help her when the boy was found guilty (the boy even confessed).
The priest, the schools principal, and some of the teachers are now being investigated by the Swedish church court aswell as the Swedish Equality Department.
Which leads to the discussion. As I find it outrageous that a town can act as this one did, one of my friends said that it could probably happen anywhere as long as the rapist is popular enough. Do you agree? Are we so blind that even though the evidence clearly says that the rapist is guilty, we just cannot accept it because he/she is one of the most popular guys/girls at school/work?
And the video of the standing ovation.
Description of vid: It's a bit slow in the beginning, but it's so nicely done when Dennis (the boy) shows us what a great person he is and how much his friends means to him.
Btw, I did not ask for permission because I thought it was still Free for all Friday. Please feel free to delete this if it's a topic that you don't think is suitable on this site.