May 20, 2008
Student pranks, earthquakes and internet manhunts
Via a new blog called Speak4China which comes with the hearty recommendation of the China Law Blog: On the day the Wenchuan earthquake struck, these students from a Sichuan high school were evacuated from their building and to while away their time, they took this video of themselves pretending to do an earthquake interview on live television. One girl said she didn't care about her parents and only for the pop duo Twins, another said she hoped there was an earthquake everyday and a third said she hoped the school building would collapse soon so they didn't have to go to school ever again. This soon unleashed yet another powerful "human flesh search engine" (not unsimilar to the one experienced by Duke university student Grace Wang) in which enraged netizens tracked down the students and harrassed them in every way possible (no details on how they were harrassed though).
It didn't take long for these students to issue this tearful apology with the following video description:
请大家相信我们,我们真的没有恶意。因为我们真的很爱国家,真的很为灾区人民着想。我 们当时也并不知情,给家长摸黑,给学校也带来了很多麻烦。
I hope everybody can believe us: we really didn’t have harm in our hearts. We really do love our country, and we really have the victims of the earthquake on our minds. At the time we didn’t understand the situation, as a result we really humiliated our parents, and created a lot of trouble for our university.
感谢各位网上的朋友给我们提醒,给我们批评。请大家给我们改正的机会。
Thanks to our Internet friends for clearing our minds, for criticizing us. Please, everyone, give us a chance to rectify our behavior.愿所有灾区人民早日走出灾难。废墟中的人民能重建家园。
再次,请求大家原谅。原谅无知的我们。加油!中国!
We hope that all of the disaster victims can leave their difficulties as soon as possible, and that the people trapped in the rubble will soon be able to rebuild their homes. Again, please forgive us. Please forgive our ignorant selves. Go China!一个无知学生
- An ignorant student


All kids say stupid things, they shouldn't be harassed for this, ignorants will be too the ones who by themselves cannot see this at the first glance at the situation.
the online lynch mob is even more guilty and far more blacker for hunting down these kids who are full of frustration, anger, sadness, depression, anxiety etc, etc after their world was torn apart. Kids are kids, those internet losers should choke and die on their cheap boxes of flied lice.
Another example of how the Internet and humor don't mix. Don't try to be funny on the www!
Lightness, anyone?
Breathe, people, breathe!