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Star Wars Kid Cuts a Deal With His Tormentors
Posted by
samzenpus
on Fri Apr 07, 2006 11:11 AM
from the suck-it-up-kid dept.
from the suck-it-up-kid dept.
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?"
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Hindsight is 20/20 (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Hindsight is 20/20 (Score:5, Funny)
Well, we can thank him for this much. Next time any of us is in a situation where we're dancing around playing "air lightsaber" (or even just air guitar), at least we can safely scratch "videotape it" off the list of "right things to do".
Schadenfreude: The joy of learning from other people's mistakes.
Parent
Re:Wrong translation.. (Score:4, Funny)
Parent
Re:Wrong translation.. (Score:4, Funny)
No, he said humor.
Parent
Re:Wrong translation.. (Score:5, Funny)
If you don't think puns and knock-knock jokes are suffering then you must be the bastard that keeps telling those damned jokes.
Parent
Re:Hindsight is 20/20 (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Obligatory informative Simpsons quote (Score:5, Interesting)
7F23: "When Flanders Failed"
http://www.snpp.com/episodes/7F23.html [snpp.com]
Parent
Re:Obligatory informative Simpsons quote (Score:4, Informative)
Really, it means "damage joy" (Schaden = damage, Freude = joy). I get a little bit of it every time I see this episode, because they screwed it up on syndicated TV. The word 'Schadenfreude' doesn't really connote a judgment on the feeling itself.
And speaking of that, not too long ago at the U, I saw some poor business major (guessed - he was going into the business school) catch the strap of his bag on the handle of the door he had just pushed open. Full speed, he swung around when the strap tightened up, and went face-first into the other side of the door. I discovered at that moment that transparent glass doors have distinct advantages over opaque doors.
I had to suppress laughter for about three hours afterwards.
Ahh, sweet Schadenfreude.
Parent
Re:In case you didn't laugh enough the first time (Score:5, Funny)
You may have a perfectly-working sense of humour. The video is not funny, it's 100% stupid. Some kid jumping around like a Methed Manatee. Big deal.
What's REALLY funny is his claim in court that "he let himself go and no longer lifted weights to keep fit." That fat fuck wasn't "fit" when it was recorded, so unless he had his stomach stapled between then and when he found out it was on the Internet, he's a fat fucking LIAR.
(Full disclosure: I am also a fat fuck and partial idiot; the difference is that I don't claim otherwise.)
Parent
Re:In case you didn't laugh enough the first time (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:Hindsight is 20/20 (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
Parent
Re:Hindsight is 20/20 (Score:5, Interesting)
/*EndPopPsychology*/
Parent
YOU HAVE TO BE KIDDING ME?!!! (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
Parent
Re:Hindsight is 20/20 (Score:4, Interesting)
Frankly, no. But when you're constantly being hurt, it gets to the point where all that hurt condenses into one very dense lump, threatening to to supercritical at any time.
I never intentionally hurt anyone physicially, and while I have hurt people emotionally, that type of hurting is unavoidable in friendships and relationships. I didn't have fun in those instances. It hurt me as well as them.
But to go out of your way to torment others, for FUN, mind you... just for FUN.. to get your rocks off.. that's when my fantasies would come out.
If you can't see the distinction, then you've never been on the wrong end of the stick.
Parent
Wrong... (Score:5, Funny)
That is absolutly incorrect. It is well know to those of us that beat the crap out of a bully or two in our youth, that a baseball bat to the head will change things very quickly. If you avoid arrest, the bully very quickly learns that you are not a "fun" target anymore.
Parent
Re:Wrong... (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
Re:Wrong... (Score:5, Insightful)
That is absolutly incorrect. It is well know to those of us that beat the crap out of a bully or two in our youth, that a baseball bat to the head will change things very quickly. If you avoid arrest, the bully very quickly learns that you are not a "fun" target anymore.
How right you are, but here's the funny part that I found: you don't even necessarily have to win the fight, you just have to be willing to fight it.
Putting up the resistance is usually all that's necessary. The mere threat of resistance is enough - bullies don't want to fight, they want to walk on you without effort. So, make 'em work for it, and you'll generally be left alone. I've see that to be true all throughout life, in all my personal and business relationships.
Be friendly! Work hard, help people, go to parties, be social, and be honorable in all your dealings! But whatever you do, make DAMNED SURE that at the first sign of any real threat, that they know that it would be painful to be your enemy.
Parent
Re:Hindsight is 20/20 (Score:5, Insightful)
I, too, was bullied in middle school and high school. And yes, it sucks. However, I could leave school and go someplace else where there were other kids and "start over" and probably not be bullied. For example, the other kids in my Boy Scout troop did not bully or make fun of me. When I was in high school, I often went to church activities. There were other kids there and I made friends and there were girls there that liked me, etc. When I was back in school, all the kids hated me and no girls were interested in me because of the ridicule I got from the other kids. So, I learned that the problem wasn't with me, it was with the bullies. And then I went to college and I was very popular.
Ghyslain can't do that. Every place he goes, people are going to know that he is the "Star Wars kid" and make fun of him. He will never have a chance to start over with a new peer group with a clean slate. And that's what makes it worse - and that's why I really feel sorry for him.
Parent
Re:Hindsight is 20/20 (Score:5, Insightful)
That lesson is: Temporary embarassment can lead to huge cash rewards!
Parent
Re:Please clairfy (Score:5, Funny)
But he didn't get $351,000, because they reached a settlement. That implies that he took less than the $351,000 he was suing for. So here's all we can deduce based on logic: He got somewhere between $0 and $350,999.
Oh wait, I'm on Slashdot, and that requires me to end all of my posts with an unintentionally ironic derogatory statement about people who post on Slashdot.
Parent
Go with The Force Luke (Score:5, Funny)
Everyone's different (Score:3, Insightful)
I'd like to sit down and talk with the guy, though...
Wow (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Wow (Score:5, Funny)
and probably still whining that he wasn't offered a spot on the Jedi Council as part of the settlement.
Parent
Overreaction (Score:5, Insightful)
Furthermore, I doubt that it will prevent so-called cyberbullying; it will just remind the more intelligent bullies to wreak their mischief anonymously.
When I think of all the bullies I had to deal with growing up, back in the pre-Web days, and the revenge I could have gotten by spoofing them on a website, well, I guess I'm glad I didn't have that opportunity to do something so easy that would haunt me the rest of my life. It would have been fun, though.
Re:Overreaction (Score:4, Funny)
That's 300K+ Canadian
Parent
William 'She Bangs' Hung had a choice (Score:5, Insightful)
I still think got lemons bla bla you know
William Hung Signed A Release... (Score:5, Insightful)
Things would have been different if... (Score:5, Funny)
It doesn't sound so funny.. (Score:5, Informative)
For the record:
He had to drop out of school due to harassment.
He still gets approached by people on the streets about it.
His parents had to hire a private tutor for him.
He ended up on anti-depression medication.
It's not funny, don't laugh.
Re:It doesn't sound so funny.. (Score:4, Insightful)
The SWK will simply have to get over it all, and in fact should proudly take credit for his (unintentional) participation. Nerdy and overweight, he STILL did what he did out of his sheer love of the genre, and to a significant extent I'm sure the video producers did the same. As the years pass I hope he'll come to understand all that, and that it will take much of the sting out of the embarrassment he experienced. He's already made some money off the deal, so perhaps the maturing process has begun.
Parent
Re:It doesn't sound so funny.. (Score:5, Interesting)
This reminds me of previous story about the difficulties of employers reading personal blogs and making employment decisions based on what they find on the Net.
We're looking at a medium where what is put up will last for many many years (verging on forever, possibly) and while you can control what you post yourself, you can't control what others share. (You can go retroactively to the courts and get mocked mercilessly for it though.) People (even many here on slashdot) don't realize what a powerful medium it is.
I don't think that many people realize the tremendous potential for abuse that the internet holds. Sure the kid got 15 minutes of fame out of the deal, and he arguably didn't make the best use out of it, but this will dog him his entire life. He's one extreme example of how someone can leverage the internet to abuse someone else and cause irrepairable damage.
My guess is that whoever modded the parent funny didn't *really* understand how serious the problem is.
Parent
Re:It doesn't sound so funny.. (Score:5, Insightful)
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?
Parent
Re:It doesn't sound so funny.. (Score:4, Informative)
Didn't read the whole article did ya...?
At the bottom you find-
Mr. Laflamme says in his examination that his father had savings of $500,000 from an inheritance.
So at least one of them will barely be affected.
Parent
Re:It doesn't sound so funny.. (Score:4, Insightful)
Parent
Re:It doesn't sound so funny.. (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:Completely wrong (Score:4, Insightful)
It seems to me that you really don't understand what free will is. Psychological pressure is a determinating factor, EVEN in murder trials. Can you say "temporal insanity"?
Of course, you haven't been ridiculized in public or bullied so what the heck do you know.
Parent
Crazy time? (Score:5, Funny)
I surely can, but I don't understand what crazy time has to do with the subject.
(Note for the humor impaired: I know the OP meant temporary insanity)
--
Worst. Sig. Evah.
Parent
Re:It doesn't sound so funny.. (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
Parent
Walk a mile in his shoes... (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
Re:Walk a mile in his shoes... (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:Walk a mile in his shoes... (Score:5, Insightful)
A basic tenant of all legal systems (western and eastern) is the separate existence of "civil" wrongs (torts, contracts, etc) and "criminal" wrongs (murder, robbery, etc). For nearly 1,000 years western civilization (English common law at least) has recognized the right of an individual to bring suit against another individual even if no criminal law was violated. Most people are exposed to this concept in high school, I'm surprised it wasnt on the CHSPE.
The star wars kid sued under tort for intentional infliction of emotional distress (among other claims). This cause of action has been recognized in some form for hundreds of years and suing people for tortious actions is nothing new.
Parent
His parents named him Ghyslain (Score:5, Funny)
[Subject line deleted to prevent offending /.'ers] (Score:5, Funny)
I disagree with this, but on the other hand... (Score:4, Insightful)
I'd also like to lay a [un]healthy amount of blame on this kid's parents. First of all, if he weren't fat, I'd say that this might NEVER have happened. And even if not being obese could have prevented some of it, it's unquestionable that his obesity exacerbated the situation greatly. And whose fault is a child's obesity? Without a medical excuse, it's the parents. And only recently has the media started to actually pay some attention to the problem. (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0496200/ [imdb.com]) The damage done to a child who is obese is not just physical, but mental and emotional and the scars last for life. The damage resulting from childhood obesity alone could have been the root cause that made him so vulnerable to being bullied in the first place.
Nothing on the planet will stop all kids from potentially being bullied and/or being bullies themselves. It's actually part of the natural human condition. But adding to it through parental neglect is more than just a shame, it's child abuse and should be addressed criminally just as other forms of abusive/criminal neglect are.
There's not a single law possible to force someone to actually care about the feelings of other people.
While I don't think they should get off free... (Score:5, Insightful)
I mean, if these three had been working together to create this, then maybe. But this was more a case of pebbles starting an avalanche. Now I'm sorry the avalanche landed on Mr. Raza, but well... I don't think you should be punished for more than you intended to do, or reasonably could expect of consequences. It would be quite another thing if they were harassing him right up to the point where he freaked. But they dldn't, in fact they were as powerless to stop it themselves. Yes, someone found a funny tape and showed it to a buddy or two. That's not a $350000 offense.
He Sued Krispy Kreme? (Score:4, Insightful)