I haven't seen anything about this on the board, but this is a troubling story, and really, IMHO a sign of the times. Basically a pack of little punks, bully this poor woman to tears.
There is a nice end to this story in the fact that a online fundraiser has now raised over $365,000 to send her on a vacation:
http://www.indiegogo.com/loveforkarenhklein?c=home
And the woman had declined to press charges, which says a lot more about her character, than these horribly raised kids.
What is troubling about this to me, is this, and the older school guys on this board can attest to this. Are we letting kids off too easy nowadays? Do we need to find a happy medium between beating the snot out of kids, and finding some sort of punishment that actually makes them afraid to do things like this? Has anonymous online flaming of people, made it acceptable in real life in their minds? The insults slung at this poor woman, are the types of insults that you see in the youtube comments section, or 4chan. I don't blame these kids, as much as the people that raised them. What kind of household do you grow up in, where this is acceptable behaviour?
Not in a million years in my youth, or even today, could I fathom, talking to an elder like that. And even the worst kids I grew up with, wouldn't stoop so low as to pick on a senior. Not that it is right, but if I was caught doing something like that, there would have been hell to pay when I got home. I would have to answer to the old man, and by answer, I mean get my ass kicked. If anything, fear of physical punishment, kept me from doing something so cruel.