When Did Rape Become Cool?

This morning I was watching a story on CNN about a 15 year old girl being brutally raped and beaten by her peers in California. My first thoughts were of my own daughter and what I would do about the situation. I would not sit on my hands waiting for someone else to make it all right. While the rape and beating was going on at least 20 people were coming and going freely, and took pictures of the brutal attack. My first thought was the bystanders that did nothing were just as guilty as the people who attacked the girl. All they had to do is call 911.

I can only imagine the horror the girl was feeling while her peers attacked her and no one tried to even call 911. What has our world come to when we stand back and allow things like this to happen? Now, Imagine it's your own child being attacked wouldn't you want someone to call for help. I think we all need to educate our children about reporting such things to the proper authorities. Too often children go along with what their peers do and say and don't think about consequences of the situation.

My thoughts and prayers are with the young girl that will live a life full of shame from being attack like this by her peers. I don't know if I'd ever be able to face my peers after such an attack. It was bad enough the girl was raped and attacked without her peers standing around taking pictures and laughing. Parents need to teach their children to do the right thing by doing the right thing ourselves. Obviously the situation isn't an open and closed case, but we all need to do the correct thing not the popular thing, even if it's uncool.

So far, five people have been arrested for the rape, but a California Law that made it illegal not to report a crime doesn't apply to anyone under the age of 14 reporting the crime. So the bystanders 14 and under won't get the book thrown at them because of the age restrictions. When should our children be responsible for their actions?

What can we do to help our children do the right thing about the situation?