If the Sad Hulk song had a visual image
this would be it. When I first heard about this I didn't feel bad for
this kid Teddy Mazzini because they invited a bunch of kids from his
school to his 6th birthday party and no one showed up. I'm damn near
40 and have had only two in my life. I felt bad for him because one
of his parents was pretty shitty for taking this picture and posting
it online. I get it. People like to overshare their kids lives
online. A lot of times its shit that does not need to be documented
in photo form but it is, like the shame of having a party and no one
showing up. This is the kinda stuff that people can end up in therapy
over. Seriously. In the next twenty years there are gonna be a metric
shit ton of folks in their early 20's in therapy because their
parents posted some stuff of or about them online that comes back to
haunt them let alone the stuff they post themselves that'll keep them
from being employed because for some reason kids think its cute to be
racist online. They say that the Internet never forgets. It does.
Then it remembers again. Just ask James Gunn.
His dad said “I was bummed, I was
bummed out for sure. Teddy, the biggest thing for him was having his
classmates there, so not seeing them show up an hour into the party
was disappointing. He's 6, so he was distracted by the arcade games,
the pizza, he got over it quick. He's tough. But when Sil (the
mother) told me she was posting the photo, I told her not to do it,
but she did and it took off. It's pretty wild.” Teddy's mother said
“I was kind of shocked and then at the end when I had to pay for
it, I was upset” regarding the $130 bill for the pizza. “That's
why I wrote a message. But I never expected any of this, for this to
go so viral.” Ah. So she skipped right past petty which would have
been emails to every individual family she invited to messy by making
it public. That is the difference between the two by the way. Messy
is public. Petty is intimate.
She now regrets posting the image
saying “Honestly, I would love to go back in time and not have sent
that message. We don’t want all the attention. We didn't do this
for attention or for gifts or anything. I did it in the moment but I
wasn't smart. I was upset. That's it.” But...ya did. And you
are reaping the benefits of this attention in the form of gifts.
Like being invited to a Phoenix Suns
game and getting a jersey and VIP seats. The family is now defending
themselves because people think they are exploiting their kid. His
dad said “Believe what you want to believe, but the fact of the
matter is we really did throw a birthday party, did invite his
friends and they didn't show, and that's the truth of it.” I
believe him. I never thought that this was a publicity stunt to get
free things. I do think it was wrong to post the photo because as a
kid little things are embarrassing as fuck. I called a teacher “mama”
once and still think of that. Thankfully there was no a photo or
video to accompany that moment. Kids can be put online by their
parents and that is what they are now. You are the kid that was high
off their ass after the dentist and your dad filmed it and asked him
questions. You are now the kid that got his finger bit by a younger
brother.
His mom thinks some factors may have
come into play in terms of people not showing up like it being on a
damned Sunday. If you want to tell people “Fuck your life” set up
an event that involves children on a Sunday. The weather also stunk,
there was a carnival the day before, and the invites to the party
were sent out way too early. Does it suck that so many kids were
invited and none showed up? Yeah. But maybe you don't have the
friends you thought you had. I know parents have this “You come to
my kids shit and I'll go to yours” mentality and are shocked when
favors are not returned. Shit happens. I just wish parents were more
conscious of the things they posted online featuring their kids. Kids
will do what kids do these days. They will post personal stuff. They
will say racist shit. They will try to become “viral” by eating
Tide Pods. I'd rather my kid be known for getting an award for
getting straight A's than looking like a sad sack at a pizza joint.
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