How NOT To Start a Life Together

Want to better the odds of a happy life together? Here's now not to start a relationship:

• Lie to your parents
• Run away from home (extra demerits if involves a foreign country; treason if it involves a city or country that supports terrorists)
  
• Drop out of high school and work delivering for your dad's convenience store
  
• Spend five hours a day looking for an American wife on the Internet (be sure to use "psycho" in your screen name!)
  
• Base your choice of a spouse on that person's taste in music

Sound familiar? The more I read about Katherine Lester and Abdullah Jimzawi, the more amazed I am at their stupidity.

The latest news is that he's heartbroken (Palestinian Anguishes Over MySpace Romance) and she could be charged as a runaway (Teen involved in Web romance charged with being a runaway).

The sad part is that they probably really are surprised by the ramifications of their actions. And why isn't anyone concerned that naive American girls are targets for men who want to enter the US by marrying a citizen? Debbie Schlussel thinks so: read her blog entry on Muslim marriage scams. (Thank you dr/tbb who posted this in the comments section of my first post on this story.)

Disclaimer: I know that not all Muslims are terrorists seeking entrance to the US, so don't bother lecturing me in political correctness. I'm concerned about the radical minority who are terrorists. Remember September 11, 2001?

MySpace or Bad Parenting?

I'm sure that by now you've heard about Katherine Lester, the 16-year-old who lied to her parents about needing a passport for a trip to Canada, then hopped on a plane for Jordan to meet and marry 20-year-old Abdulla Jinzawi, some guy she met on MySpace.com. If you don't already know, MySpace is popular on-line social network for teenagers.

I don't know who is more stupid here, Katherine or her parents. I know teenagers think they know everything while being amazingly naive, but this takes the cake. According to the latest news on this story, Family of Mideast Man Upset By MySpace Teen Bride's No-Show, she was supposed to sign a marriage contract as soon as she got off the plane, convert to Islam (wear a head covering, etc.), and live with Abdulla and his family in Jericho. This girl clearly has no idea of the cultural and religious mores that she would be expected to live by, or the danger of simply being an American in the Middle East. (Disclaimer: I know not all Muslims are terrorists; I know that not all Muslim/Middle Eastern cultures treat women as property/second class citizens; however, life in Jericho would be very different than life in Michigan and Katherine probably doesn't realize how difficult returning to the US might be if she changes her mind later).

Katherine's parents and family are stunned. They had no idea what she was planning, or how she could simply get on a plane and end up in the Middle East. Duh. Flying doesn't have an age requirement. Aren't they more concerned about where she got the money for the ticket and hotels? Didn't they know what she was doing on the Internet and who she was talking to? I know that since I'm not a parent some people will say I don't have right to criticize, that parents can't watch their kids every minute, etc. Based on observations of my friends with children, I beg to differ. Parents can and should know what web sites their kids are visiting and who they are talking to.

Katherine's parents obviously didn't do that. They must have also missed the April 9 episode of Dateline: MySpace Invader: A police detective shows teens and their parents that they're not as safe on MySpace as they think. They also clearly never visited MySpace, nor read its Safety Tips for users or Tips for Parents (which includes a link to remove their child's profile from MySpace).

If Katherine's stupidity was unbelievable, her parents' was even worse. No wonder the family is hiding from the media! All I know is this: if she belonged to one of my friends (or my brother!) she'd never be allowed to use the Internet again.