What I Think About the Legal System

What I think of the legal system is that it is the basic structure of what this society can and cannot do. I see it as a collar on a dog’s neck. The collar is used as a training tool that is used to keep the dog in line. You get a new dog and at first, he does not quite understand the rules of your house so naturally he just runs around doing whatever he wants until you establish what he can do and where he can go. He does not take you seriously until you get that collar out and once you do, the dog understands that you mean business. He has established that you are the alpha and when he gets out of line and you pull that collar, he sees and understands that he did wrong and will never do it again. It is the same with our society, the legal system sets up laws and if you break them you suffer the consequences. I feel that it offers a balance in the society. It has its fingers in everything that we do. “Accountants, for example, need to know that if they do their work carelessly, and cause someone to sustain loss, they could be sued. Just as important as a person who is planning to rent an apartment or buy a home needs to know his or her legal rights as they relate to property.” (Essentials of Business Law page 3, Luizzo ) It may not seem as fast paced and exciting as it is portrayed in the media but they play an extremely important part in our lives and it shows that we cannot just run around doing any and everything we want to do. As long as we familiar ourselves with the proper information, we can all live our lives normally without any complications.

Myspace Hoax

Headliner: “MySpace Hoax Leads to 13-year-old Girl’s Suicide” We all know how hard it can be to be a teenager. Some have lived it and gotten over it, some haven’t. Megan Meier was a 13-year-old who had battled attention deficit disorder, depression and a weight problem for much of her young life. She meets a guy on the ever popular MySpace website and is all caught up in the mad rush of physical and mental emotions. Little did she know that her next-door neighbors were behind a cruel prank to humiliate and embarrass this teenager. Lori Drew was the 49-year-old woman who thought up the whole idea with her daughter and personal assistant. What was the reason? The two young girls were friends who had a falling out so Lori invented a 16-year-old boy, “Josh Evans,” and created a MySpace account for him, and made Megan believe he was new in town and thought she was cool. And then the boy turned on Megan, saying that the world would be better off without her and in the end, Megan took her own life. The whole point was to start a fake account and flirt with Megan then dump her. And then they would post bulletins so that her classmates would see and make fun of her for it. When Tina Meier, Megan’s mother, found out this information, they immediately wanted to press charges. I think that if an adult who personally knew the girl and knew she had problems and still proceeded with the taunting, needs to be punished. The trial had to be taken to California since the network was based in that state. Prosecutors argued that Drew violated the MySpace laws of starting a fake account along with other charges. But since there is no real criminal charge for Megan’s death, the case was dismissed. One of the problems was that FBI was unable to retrieve the messages from the day of Megan’s death including the message that only her father saw. I agree with the Meiers when they say that a law should be changed, state or federal, so that what happened to Megan - at the hands of an adult - is a crime.

What I think about lawyers

What do I think about lawyers? Unfortunately, it is very difficult to distinguish an honest and trustworthy lawyer to the sharks that people seem to pick up on in the media. You have got to be a good judge of character and also prepare yourself to be manipulated at the same time and it can be quite frustrating. Me personally, I have never really dealt with lawyers so I do not think I am really qualified to give my opinion on them on a personal matter. But they are pretty hard to ignore when you see their faces smeared on billboards and when you hear their silly catch phrases on their commercials. I can say that I have met Glen Learner, also known as “The Heavy Hitter”. To put it frankly, he had his nickname on his license plate and he was driving a Mercedes-Benz. Now, here is someone who built his career to the point where he is being recognized by the locals who have seen his commercials but not really by how well he does his job. Like I said earlier, I have never had to deal with lawyers on legal matters it has always been how they are portrayed in the media. I have had my share of traffic violations to which I would fight them myself and pay the price but that does not mean that I have not had the lawyers experience from some sort of stand point. For example, I have an older sister who has had two speeding tickets in three months. She had heard that a lawyer by the name of Craig P. Kenny would take your ticket to a judge who would then drop the price of the ticket to a mere fifty dollars. This is not the first time I have heard this lawyer’s name because when I was dealing with my tickets my oldest sister said to take it to this particular lawyer and he would lower it to a reasonable price. Unfortunately, my dad had other plans for me and I had to pay fully. In the end, my view on lawyers is that I think they are superficial and gaudy and it is only because I have based my opinion on how they are portrayed in the media.