this post was submitted on 14 Mar 2024
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Very sad situation.

top 42 comments
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[–] Ghostalmedia@lemmy.world 73 points 8 months ago (3 children)

Poor kid.

What happened with the bullies that started the fight? Are they being punished for pushing a kid to kill themselves?

[–] Anamnesis@lemmy.world 22 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (2 children)

Apparently Nex started the fight by pouring water on them. Hard to believe that someone might lash out that way if there wasn't a history of bullying though.

[–] BreakDecks@lemmy.ml 17 points 8 months ago (1 children)

"Apparently" is doing a lot of work here. This is the story the group of teens that beat Nex gave the police. There's absolutely zero legal precident for using violence to defend yourself from having water poured on you anyway, so I don't see how it's relevant to decide who "started the fight".

[–] PrettyLights@lemmy.world -3 points 8 months ago

"Apparently" is doing a lot of work here. This is the story the group of teens that beat Nex gave the police

Did you listen to Nex's recorded statement? Nex volunteered the idea that they poured water and initiated the confrontation because the others were possibly "laughing at them".

Nex is also on camera filling up the bottle and going into the bathroom to confront the group.

Does that mean Nex deserved to be beaten by a group of people? No and they should be investigated. But stop making up facts to suit your narrative or ignoring information that contradicts what you hoped happened.

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 5 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Is that how it started? I'm guessing Nex didn't pour water on them unprovoked. That doesn't sound like the sort of thing a bullied nonbinary student would do.

[–] quindraco@lemm.ee 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Yes it does. Haven't you ever been bullied before? Lashing out is 100% expected behaviour, and highly recommended by Sun Tzu.

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I was severely bullied. That's why I never started anything that would risk me getting my ass kicked.

[–] quindraco@lemm.ee 3 points 8 months ago

Speaking as someone who was severely bullied, I knew to a certainty that I would get my ass kicked no matter what I did, so fighting back had no real downsides.

Of course, it also didn't work, any more than it did for Nex. Exactly like with Nex, ambushing did not win the fight for me, because it's just an urban legend that all bullies are cowards who will flee if you fight back.

[–] PrettyLights@lemmy.world 1 points 8 months ago

Nex provided a recorded audio and video statement, I'm confused on how so many people are interested in the story but won't listen to the firsthand accounts.

[–] jordanlund@lemmy.world 12 points 8 months ago (1 children)
[–] SeaJ@lemm.ee 3 points 8 months ago

Not exactly harsh sentences:

In May 2011, the case was resolved, after agreements to plead guilty to lesser charges. Five of the defendants were placed on probation, with several also sentenced to community service. The charges against a male student were dropped at the request of the Prince family.

The kids basically got away with murder.

[–] afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world 5 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

If by punished you mean there local church is giving them an award of being a defender of Christ

[–] ChunkMcHorkle@lemmy.world 48 points 8 months ago

Not that I don't have absolute, unshakeable, limitless faith in law enforcement and local school boards, but I genuinely hope Nex's family gets a second autopsy outside Oklahoma. Not least because their initial symptoms seemed to have a lot in common with head injury.

No, it won't bring Nex back. But if they did this, then establish that fact via disinterested parties. The local government and law enforcement are anything but neutral parties here.

If Nex's family is willing, I genuinely hope they are considering getting a second opinion: in many ways, this outcome lets the bullies off the hook . . . and not just the ones in the bathroom.

I don't need to know the details, but I would like to see this conclusion confirmed by another forensic medical examiner elsewhere, and I don't think I'm the only one.

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 47 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Let's say the coroner isn't full of shit, which I'm not convinced of- what was the cause of the suicide?

Because I'm guessing it had something to do with him (he preferred he/him) having the shit beaten out of him by a bunch of bigots.

[–] Buffalox@lemmy.world 23 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

I always say Turing was killed by the UK authorities, because he was forced to take medication to chemically castrate himself, because it was illegal to be gay. That changed his personality and drove him to suicide. But IMO it was clearly murder by the state.
When an LGBT person is driven to suicide, it is more often than not murder by the society and people surrounding that person. If in doubt, just look at the statistics, transgender people have way way higher suicide rate than any other demographic. That's obviously not caused by normal untreated depression, it's caused by persecution and lack of acceptance that make life a lot harder for them.

[–] BreakDecks@lemmy.ml 10 points 8 months ago (1 children)

You are absolutely right. We really do need to stop treating suicide universally as cowardice or mental illness. Sometimes people kill themselves because it's the only way out of a cruel world. We need to look at how society allows such cruelty.

This young person was killed by the students that beat them and the school administrators who enforced sexist and trasphobic policies against them. They may not have committed the fatal act, but absent their cruelty, Nex would still be alive today.

We see suicide weaponized by transphobes quite openly from groups like Kiwifarms. We shouldn't play dumb about it, intense enough bullying should be viewed as intent to kill. In a just world, making a person miserable through harassment and assault, leading to their suicide, would land somewhere between manslaughter and murder.

Michelle Carter got convicted of manslaughter for convincing her boyfriend to kill himself. We need to expand that precident.

[–] Buffalox@lemmy.world 2 points 8 months ago

Absolutely, it's sad how this generally doesn't click with most people. Bullying isn't just bullying, it's assault, and should be treated as a crime.

[–] ObsidianZed@lemmy.world 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

What makes you think they preferred he/him pronouns? I've seen most sources state they used they/them. Did you know them personally or what are your sources?

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

During the vigil in Owasso, some participants used masculine pronouns when referring to Benedict, and some friends later told NBC News that Benedict used he/him pronouns primarily and also used they/them pronouns.[57][58] At the Owasso vigil, one participating friend said, "I want to start off by saying that Nex was transgender, and he used he/him pronouns" and "He was so much more than his transness."[58]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Nex_Benedict#Vigils

[–] ObsidianZed@lemmy.world 2 points 8 months ago

Ah, fair enough. I kept seeing they/them pretty exclusively which seemed supported by the mention of 2 Spirits, but you know, 'journalism'.

[–] TheFunkyMonk@lemmy.world 36 points 8 months ago (1 children)

What a world we live in where children are dying because people can’t manage to learn some pronouns.

[–] SeaJ@lemm.ee 28 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

And who caused that suicide? The bullies who beat Nex half to death.

[–] afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world 12 points 8 months ago

I don't know why the media won't tell us the religion of the bullies.

Might call the principal there again and ask.

[–] Head@lemmings.world 15 points 8 months ago

Press X for doubt.

[–] restingboredface@sh.itjust.works 0 points 8 months ago (2 children)

"2SLGBTQ+ people"

I'm a little behind on my diversity acronyms. What is this?

[–] dutchkimble@lemy.lol 6 points 8 months ago

It explains it in the sentence right after it's written

[–] the_crotch@sh.itjust.works 2 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

2S - Two-spirit, a form of trans in indigenous tribes

L - Lesbian

G - Gay

B - Bi

T - Trans

Q - Queer

    • others who aren't covered by the letters
[–] Drivebyhaiku@lemmy.world 3 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Point of clarification. 2S is "Two Spirit" not "two soul" I think your autocorrect got away from you.

[–] the_crotch@sh.itjust.works 2 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Fixed. Thanks!