Stephanie Soo released a harrowing new episode of her podcast Rotten Mango detailing a plot by two teenage girls who planned to slit a classmate's throat and drink his blood to resurrect a mass killer.
On the show, Stephanie Soo examined how the public and the "Zero Day" community reacted to the girls' severe mental health issues. She highlighted a comment lamenting that "She suffered from extreme mental illnesses. All the adults in her life failed her." Other comments she shared showed users saying they were sad that these girls needed help so badly, while a different faction of the community remained on the complete opposite side.
This divide highlights the struggle within the true-crime community to balance empathy for mentally ill perpetrators with the horror of their planned actions. As Rotten Mango continues to tackle these sensitive online subcultures, the debate over how we dissect teenage violence online is only going to intensify.