Response from Gossip

Last week, many of you may have seen my rampage about a video circulating on Facebook in which a father beats his young child. I went on and on about how Facebook needed to  remove the video based on the abusive and graphic content displayed, and they would not budge. They’re unwillingness to see that publishing a video like this is glorifying a horrific act, and is not actually an act of public service, has led to an influx of negative responses on the page responsible for posting said content.

Here’s the email I received from Gossip, in response to my begging them to remove the video, when Facebook would not:

Dear Stephanie,

We are truly and deeply sorry that the video upsets not only you, our fans, but all of us also at Gossip. We have found that this video was recorded in Malaysia in 2012 and the. Man in video abusing the little boy is currently in Jail, including the woman filming it. It is indeed a sad thing to watch a grown man do this to child that is so little, completely innocent and helpless. Once again, please accept our apologies for the distress caused. And thank you for your concerns and support. We are obliged to show this clip with a heavy heart, just to highlight that Child Abuse still continues to thrive in our society today.

Gossip Team

Now, I could take this email in several ways;

1. Total cop out. They’re just trying to validate what they’ve posted and are fighting the public’s negativity towards it by trying to offer some sentiment of having a social cause.

2. They actually posted this because they were shocked by it and didn’t know how else to react, but are now “back pedaling” in order to make it seem like there was a purpose.

3. They really do have a heart for the child and want to educate the public about abuse (even though posting an 8 minute video of child abuse is just dumb).

Either way, this is the same response that everyone’s gotten and though mine was in email form, they’ve posted the same thing several times on their Facebook page as a response to their commenters as well.

The bottom line is this; the act happened long ago and the child in the video will grow up to be able to see this video of himself, and will quite possibly have to relive his torture for years to come, however, I cannot change this. His parents are serving jail time, and that is good. Hopefully, he and the baby also in the video are safe and in the arms of foster parents who treasure (or at least care for) them.

I’m  sad that we live in a time where tragedies can be exploited so easily and with such distance. It’s not fair to those who are living through the abuse. Abuse however, is the primary problem here. All I can do is send love and hope not only to this one child, but to all the kiddos out there in the world who weren’t given protective or loving arms to help them grow.