A Louisville high school student, 16, committed suicide, and it breaks our hearts knowing that the pain will never be something that truly goes away for his loved ones.
He left a suicide note in the form of a three-minute YouTube video, then killed himself right after. It was about 6pm on Monday when the video was posted. By the next day it had about 10,000 views.
When officials at the school found out about the video they quickly shut down access to Twitter and YouTube.
As if that’d stop students who have cellphones. Which is all of them.
When asked about the questionable move, a spokesperson said:
“The safety and security of our students is our No. 1 priority. Jefferson County Public Schools is doing everything possible to support students who are grieving at this time. We temporarily removed access to Twitter and YouTube this morning. This was an effort to ensure that students who are emotionally impacted could get the help they needed as we worked with officials to address the situation through the most appropriate and efficient channels.”
We understand trying to handle things appropriately and making sure the students are okay, but it really doesn’t seem like censorship was the right move when all they had to do was call a school assembly.
There’s no stopping the internet, and once you make something harder to find… well, it becomes an even stronger curiosity.
We’re so sorry for the loss of that young man. May he rest in peace.