A few days ago, I told you about Kathleen Carpenter, who writes as Katie Vyktoriah on her blog A Mother Thing. Carpenter came to the attention of many after sharing her story of how her 2-year-old son, Dexter, was allegedly harassed for wearing a pink headband by a man at a Walmart. The piece received an overwhelming response, much of it positive and supportive, but apparently a significant portion of it was threatening. The attention and negative feedback affected Carpenter so much that she told a Polk's County Sherrif's deputy that she was thinking of killing herself.
Readmore ¿Qué más?: Little boy wearing pink headband smacked by a total stranger & you won't believe what his mom did
Carpenter wrote about a trip she took to Walmart with her 2-year-old son Dexter and her 5-month-old baby boy a few weeks ago. Dexter was wearing one of her pink headbands to Walmart because he likes it. While shopping at the store, a man allegedly approached little Dexter, removed his headband and lightly smacked him on the side of the head while telling him, "You'll thank me later, little man!"
Enraged that a stranger touched her child, Carpenter told the man that if he put his hands on her child again, she would cut them off. The man responded by saying, "Your son is a f*cking fa**got. He'll get shot for it one day." Carpenter did not immediately report the incident to store management or to police, instead she comforted her child as she held back sobs and then she wrote about it and shared it on the internet.
Some people think she made the whole thing up and have left negative comments on her blog post, others have made harassing and obscene phone calls. Listen, I get it that people are entitled to doubt her story, but how does that translate into being entitled to harass her and her family? Doubt all you want, but act civilized for crying out loud!
Carpenter's blog has now been shut down, originally due to a huge surge in traffic and now because she is retreating from her online presence. Her piece on Huffington Post has been taken down at her request and Huffington Post confirms that investigators are in contact with Carpenter.
A Lake County Sherrif's deputy has stated,
"Based on the continuing media response through Facebook and generated response to the incident by online subscribers, possible video of the incident may be obtained and viewed to in fact verify that the incident actually did occur or if it was all made up."
Officials are investigating. Now let's all behave like decent human beings and not terrorize a person to the point of making them want to kill themselves.
Image via Twitter
