Nice hair, cancer girl. Need a light?

[Otto]

It seems a 14 year-old boy in Wales has set fire (http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0200wales/tm_objectid=14939232&method=full&siteid=50082&headline=cancer-girl--11--has-her-hair-set-on-fire-at-school-name_page.html) to the hair of an 11 year-old girl who had just grown it back following a four year battle with cancer.

Yeah, I'd like to resign from the human race now please?

[The Devil's Grandmother]

No, Otto you may not. If people like you stop being human, we’ll only have losers like this kid.

[Lord Ashtar]

Somebody should light that 14 year old boy on fire. Not enough to kill him, just enough to cinge off all his hair and the top layer of his skin.

What a fucked up thing to do!

[ivylass]

He didn't burn off all her hair, did he?

Maybe some salon will step up and give her a nice new style.

As for the 14-year-old...I hope they throw the book at him.

[gigi]

It's not clear that this was intentional, from the little detail provided in the article.

"He had a cigarette lighter and was messing around with it. But Bianca didn't even know he was there until she smelt the smoke." So she was walking by between classes as he was playing with fire. Could have been accidental.

[Indygrrl]

"Bianca is already blind in her left eye and the left side of her face is paralysed.

This part made me the saddest. Poor thing. :(

[Captain Amazing]

I lit somebody's hair on fire once. It was at a "Take Back the Night" rally against rape and sexual assault. The rally had just ended, and, during it, she had told her story about being sexually assaulted. So, I hugged her, and forgot that I was holding a lit candle, and that she was wearing hairspray. (After that, we went out to a club, and her car broke down on the way back, leaving us stuck on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere while we waited for Triple A. All in all, it was probably a pretty emotional night for her, all things considered.)

[D.E.S.K.Top668]

From the linked article;

"She's told us she was waiting to go into her history lesson when this boy attacked her.

"He had a cigarette lighter and was messing around with it.

"But Bianca didn't even know he was there until she smelt the smoke."
Hmm, somewhat contradictory. Was she attacked, or did she not even know he was there? As something similar happened to me once, the wording makes me believe he was messing around with the lighter and caught her hair on fire (possibly by accident). Still a really jerkish thing to do, and deserving of expulsion, but I really can't agree with the suggestion of retribution by fire that was suggested.

Peace - DESk

[Kimstu]

It is a stupid, dangerous, asshole prank to set anybody's hair on fire, but I saw nothing in the OP's linked article that indicated that it had anything to do with the victim's having had cancer, or having grown back her hair after it fell out due to chemotherapy, or any other factor in her (unquestionably very lamentable) personal misfortunes.


"She's told us she was waiting to go into her history lesson when this boy attacked her.

"He had a cigarette lighter and was messing around with it.

"But Bianca didn't even know he was there until she smelt the smoke."


It is especially mean to pull a stupid dangerous asshole prank like this on somebody who's already had so much to endure. But it is also nasty and exploitative for a newspaper to use her unfortunate history to sensationalize its story (especially with a phrase like "cancer girl" in its title) when there is no evidence that her history had anything to do with the attack.

[Maus Magill]

I wonder what it says about me that my first reaction was relief that (for once, it seems) it wasn't an American kid doing something stupid.

Maybe I should stop watching the local news in the morning.

[Malthus]

It is a stupid, dangerous, asshole prank to set anybody's hair on fire, but I saw nothing in the OP's linked article that indicated that it had anything to do with the victim's having had cancer, or having grown back her hair after it fell out due to chemotherapy, or any other factor in her (unquestionably very lamentable) personal misfortunes.



It is especially mean to pull a stupid dangerous asshole prank like this on somebody who's already had so much to endure. But it is also nasty and exploitative for a newspaper to use her unfortunate history to sensationalize its story (especially with a phrase like "cancer girl" in its title) when there is no evidence that her history had anything to do with the attack.

As D.E.S.K.Top668 has pointed out, there is not enough detail to know if it was an "attack".

Deliberately setting a girl's hair on fire = attack.

Screwing around with a lighter, girl's hair catches on fire = stupid kid accident. Not an attack.

I can't tell whether it was one or the other.

Mostly, I think this is a silly and sensationalist article, designed deliberately to inflame emotions (pardon the pun! ;) ). "Cancer girl" indeed. The innuendo is that the "attacker" deliberately set this girl's hair on fire *because* she had been treated for cancer. Sounds unlikely to me.

[Kimstu]

Malthus: As D.E.S.K.Top668 has pointed out, there is not enough detail to know if it was an "attack".

True.

If it was a deliberate attack, then this article is a nasty, exploitative story about a stupid, dangerous, asshole prank.

If it wasn't, then the article is a nasty, exploitative, dishonest story about a stupid, dangerous, asshole accident. (I mean really, playing with lighters close to somebody's hair is just dumb.)

If it was a deliberate attack related to the victim's having had cancer, then the article's presentation of the story is justified, but so far there's no reason to believe that.

Them's my sentiments.

[D.E.S.K.Top668]

As you can tell by the simul-post, Kimstu, we're pretty much in agreement ;). While I agree that the headline was exploitative, I think that her cancer is an important part of the story, attack or accident. As bad as getting your hair burned is, the fact that she had just grown it back after chemo just raises the bar of of the incident. I'm assuming that that's what you're saying, but, of course, YMMV.

Peace - DESK

[Green_Means_Go]

It's probably a little sensationalized, but the cancer definitely does tie right in with her growing back her hair, and it being basically gone again.

A women here at work went through chemo a few years ago, and the loss of her hair was extremely painful for her. Growing it back was something the was very happy about and proud of.

To lose it again after going through that.....

[Eats_Crayons]

It could also have been somethig as stupid as playing with a lighter, pretending he's going to light someone's hair on fire, like holding it close thinking "wouldn't if be funny if..." and then "Oh, shit! Shit-shit-shit!"

You think: "Preposterous, Crayons!"

However.... A very good friend of mine was lying on his back on his living room floor, having just done a set of ab excerises. His roomate walked by and jumped in the air -- "RAAAHHR!" -- to do a FAKE stomping à la WWF wrestling schtick, where you miss by a few good centimetres.

He connected. Busted my friend's nose.

So basically, he attacked my friend and stomped on his face. But it wasn't supposed to happen that way!

[Rilchiam]

Once when I was 14, some guy was "messing around with a lighter" in a very aggressive way. I asked him to please stop, and his response was, "Well, what are you gonna do about it?" And held the flame so that it engulfed my nose. I stepped back and he stepped forward. Then his girlfriend asked him to cut it out.

And there really was nothing I could have done about it. Might has right.

[jsgoddess]

I was in the choir when I was about eight and we all lined up in the vestibule of the church for midnight mass. We were given candles and were going to enter the church singing.

Until my friend Jane set our friend Nancy's hair on fire.

Fear not! No one was hurt, though the vestibule stank for quite some time.

The next year? They gave us flashlights to shine up at our faces, axe-murderer style.

[Otto]

You should have kicked him in the balls.

[Eats_Crayons]

You should have kicked him in the balls.
Man, they were just flashlights. You don't have to hit the choir director in the 'nads.

[Jackmannii]

Not that I disagree in the slightest that this was a sad and ugly incident, but there is an uncontrollable urge to quote the appropriate stanza from Tom Lehrer's "The Irish Ballad":

She set her sister's hair on fire
Rickety-tickety-tin
She set her sister's hair on fire
And as the smoke and flame rose high'r
Danced around the funeral pyre
Playin' a violin, -olin
Playin' a violin




Oh all right, just a couple more:

One morning in a fit of pique
Sing rickety-tickety-tin
One morning in a fit of pique
She drowned her father in the creek
The water tasted bad for a week
And we had to make do with gin, with gin
We had to make do with gin

She weighted her brother down with stones
Rickety-tickety-tin
She weighted her brother down with stones
And sent him off to Davy Jones
All they ever found were some bones
And occasional pieces of skin, of skin
Occasional pieces of skin

And when at last the police came by
Rickety-tickety-tin
And when at last the police came by
Her little pranks she did not deny
To do so she would have had to lie
And lying, she knew, was a sin, a sin
Lying, she knew, was a sin

[omni-not]

I'd set that little prick's ASS alight. Just so he could experience the feeling himself.

[mhendo]

Here's (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/south_west/4062895.stm) a BCC article on the incident . The Beeb tends not to be sensationalist about stuff like this.

[Otto]

You should have kicked him in the balls. Meaning of course Rilch should've kicked her tormentor in the balls. I even thought about specifying in the event of a simulpost but then thought "naaaaah!"

[jsgoddess]

Man, they were just flashlights. You don't have to hit the choir director in the 'nads.

I was trying to work out a joke involving Nancy, but alas, I was too slow.

[Rilchiam]

Meaning of course Rilch should've kicked her tormentor in the balls. I even thought about specifying in the event of a simulpost but then thought "naaaaah!"

I could have, but...If I'd done it while he was brandishing the lighter, I might have gotten burned further as he was falling to the floor. If I'd done it afterwards, he might have retaliated against my retaliation. This was not a "kid"; he was 18 and had been in juvi. Who knows what more he was capable of.

As it was, I didn't get burned physically, just my ego. No one else approved of his behavior, and shortly afterwards, his friend apologized to me on his behalf. He's
probably been in and out of jail a few more times by now. What can you do.

[t-bonham@scc.net]

"He had a cigarette lighter and was messing around with it. So how did a 14-year-old have a cigarette lighter in school?

Her parents should find out who provided that lighter to him, and sue the hell out of them. Real good case for adding emotional distress, disfigurement, & similar damage claims. Get her whole life story before the jury, and they should get more than enough to keep her in nice wigs for the rest of her life.

That's how a real American would do it! :)

[Eats_Crayons]

My best friend in highschool set her own hair on fire once. We must've been only about 15 or 16. She was leaning in a doorway at a party flicking her lighter absent-mindedly while we were chatting.

This was the 80s so she had super-ultra-poofy bangs -- the kind requiring half a can of hairspray each morning. Hair ignited, I raised my hand to slap out the flames... I had a beer bottle in my hand (yes, underage drinking at a party -- deal with it!) she ducked thinking I had lost my mind and was about to bludgeon her to death with a bottle... then she smelled the whole "burning hair thing" and was able to slap her self in the head repeatedly and put out the flames.

Strangely, we didn't really notice a change in her hair style.

Later in the evening, she almost ate a mothball thinking it was gum, the drunken host fell down the stairs, and we had to run away from the police...





Sorry, what was this thread about again? I was happily reminiscing....

[jjimm]

This has been all over the UK TV news. It's being presented everywhere as a case of bullying, and the school isn't denying it.

The girl's face is slightly odd-looking due to her cancer, and I'm fairly sure this was a case of singling her out for victimisation due to her 'otherness'. I can believe it. My school in England housed an autistic unit, with the (IMO) misguided intention of integrating autistic kids with 'normal' kids, and the cruelty expressed towards them was horrendous.

If this is true, I hope the boy is severely punished, in a manner that makes him realise the gravity of what he did. Setting someone's hair on fire is shitty, but for someone who has been undergoing chemo it's pretty much the most vicious thing you can do. His punishment will not be worth it if he feels victimised, because he will blame the system and lose empathy with his victim. He really needs to learn just how much of a fucking wanker he was. Perhaps a few months' community service on a juvenile cancer ward. That should do it. :mad:

[Derleth]

Perhaps a few months' community service on a juvenile cancer ward. That should do it. :mad:So... put someone who abuses cancer victims in a juvenile cancer ward?

Am I the only one who sees the fundamental disconnect here?

[Guinastasia]

Am I the only one who thinks that, even with her facial scars, she's still a pretty girl? Such lovely blue eyes.

[Avenger]

So how did a 14-year-old have a cigarette lighter in school?


How else is he supposed to light his fags??

You've never been to Swansea, have you?

[Boggette]

This kind of stuff happens all the time. When I was a teen, I was the last one to get on the bus each morning. Nobody ever moved over enough to give you more than an inch or two on the seat. So, with my ass hanging off the seat, it was a perfect target for the little f-er behind me to burn a hole in my pants and my ass with his lighter. All the while I got to listen to them saying things like "Doesn't she feel that?" And I knew that if I said or did anything about it then and there, it would just get worse. And these kids "ruled" our neighborhood so you didn't want them "upset" with you.

Problem was, reporting it did nothing. The school knew these kids were jerks, but didn't know what to do. I went to the principals office and was told to change into my gym clothes. Yeah! That's a great idea. Walk around in gym clothes all day while the whispers circulate. Instead, I tied my sweatshirt around my waist and continued about my business.

*sigh* Those were the days alright! Last I knew, though, they ended up in jail for theft.

[jjimm]

So... put someone who abuses cancer victims in a juvenile cancer ward?

Am I the only one who sees the fundamental disconnect here?You might not be the only one, but don't you see the reasoning? It's not like he's going to be a serial cancer patient abuser. He's likely a nasty little bully who picks on those less fortunate than himself. Supervised work looking after victims, and watching them die, would kick his arse into empathy mode. Rehabilitate as well as punish.

[Zabali_Clawbane]

Only if he were given "gory" details of just how the patient was ill/dying, what the various diagnoses meant practically in layman's terms, what the side effects of the medicines were, and was basically given the same knowledge of the patient as a family member would have. Maybe make him take care of one or two very sick children, strictly supervised, (never allowed to be alone with them) and let him see what it really means. Then let him make the connection. Depending on what kind of soul he's got beneath his "fourteen-ness" it might work.

[Derleth]

You might not be the only one, but don't you see the reasoning? It's not like he's going to be a serial cancer patient abuser. He's likely a nasty little bully who picks on those less fortunate than himself. Supervised work looking after victims, and watching them die, would kick his arse into empathy mode. Rehabilitate as well as punish.I don't think he cares, quite honestly. I think he'd see it as an unconscionable waste of his free time and would see himself as the victim in the whole situation.