# Local idiot reports assault on Facebook, but not to police **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 30, 2010, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-idiot-reports-assault-on-facebook-but-not-to-police/555567 "2010-09-30T04:12:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2010, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-idiot-reports-assault-on-facebook-but-not-to-police/555567/21 "2010-09-30T15:40:19Z")
They DO have the defense of being 10 and 12 years old, but jeez… It’s hard to say who failed these kids. The parents? The school system? Did a cop once get in their face so they didn’t trust police? Already in the running for Darwin awards at age 12. That is a real bummer. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2010, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-idiot-reports-assault-on-facebook-but-not-to-police/555567/22 "2010-09-30T16:52:45Z")
I understand that a victim may not wish to subject herself to the potential problems that she _might_ face for reporting, but doesn’t this victim have an obligation to society to come forward and report the incident if for no other reason than to protect (warn) others from a similar fate? ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2010, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-idiot-reports-assault-on-facebook-but-not-to-police/555567/23 "2010-09-30T20:54:10Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > I was thinking about this as I wrote the OP. Given how women who’ve been raped have been treated by police and the court system, I wouldn’t call them stupid. Considering how gays have historically been treated by the police, I’m a bit surprised you don’t give the girl in the OP the same consideration. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2010, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-idiot-reports-assault-on-facebook-but-not-to-police/555567/24 "2010-09-30T22:22:09Z")
From the article > [@](#): > > Junior Taylor Schwandt says, “I just feel like it is so wrong to judge because we have no idea where that person is coming from and what they’ve been through.” What does that even mean? This story is so secondhand I doubt there’s 1/10 of the story there. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2010, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-idiot-reports-assault-on-facebook-but-not-to-police/555567/25 "2010-09-30T23:20:33Z")
> [@Morgenstern](#): > > I understand that a victim may not wish to subject herself to the potential problems that she _might_ face for reporting, but doesn’t this victim have an obligation to society to come forward and report the incident if for no other reason than to protect (warn) others from a similar fate? Well you could ask Rand Rover about the difference between an obligation and a responsibility. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2010, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-idiot-reports-assault-on-facebook-but-not-to-police/555567/26 "2010-10-05T03:37:40Z")
> [@CaveMike](#): > > FWIW: I got punched in the face once while in college and I didn’t report it…We didn’t have FB back then, but if we did I am sure someone would have posted about it. My friends certainly joked and emailed about it. Dadgummit, ya pecksky young’uns! Back in my day we din’t even have the facebook. You got punched in the face, you had to run home, get out your shoebox full of stationery, pick out some nice greeting cards (maybe a basket of kittens), fill yer fountain pen an’ practice your cursive as you told your friends. Then lick a big Bicentennial commemorative stamp, slap it on and walk down to the mailbox … where you’d probably get tripped by some big jock. Then you could go home and write a new set of cards about that. But yeh din’t hear us whinin’ about not havin’ an iPhone to blog about it on. Dadburn rapscallions these days! ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2010, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-idiot-reports-assault-on-facebook-but-not-to-police/555567/27 "2010-10-05T04:05:21Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > I don’t think so. Can you think of any good reason not to report a violent assault to the police – assuming you didn’t start it. Didn’t your parents teach you to call the police? > > Perhaps she’s embarrassed that her family would find out she was wearing such a t-shirt. So she’s willing to let these guys walk to spare herself some embarrassment. Which maybe isn’t stupid, but is craven. > > Perhaps she actually is a closeted lesbian. She didn’t have to come out in order to report this. You just reeled off several answers to your own question. Miller added another one: > [@](#): > > Considering how gays have historically been treated by the police, I’m a bit surprised you don’t give the girl in the OP the same consideration. There are a lot of people who, for various reasons in their experience, don’t trust the police, particularly on issues of oppression. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-idiot-reports-assault-on-facebook-but-not-to-police/555567.md?page=1)