Shortly after finishing my last post (the one on bullying), I made a trip to the library, where I checked out Jay Asher's novel Thirteen Reasons Why. Now, I know the purpose of this blog isn't to review books, but this story emphasizes the points I made on how much simple words and actions affect the lives of others. Basically, the book tells about a high school girl and the little things that ended up leading to her suicide. It's a great read, and I highly recommend it.
Today, I would like to dive deeper into the bullying theme and focus on a more specific breed of cruelty -- cyberbullying, something that is way too prevalent these days.
In March, a fourteen-year-old boy in Jersey City was finally arrested for harassing two-twelve-year-olds on Facebook because he thought they liked his girlfriend. In addition to childishly calling them names, the bully talked about killing one of the boys in an incredibly violent manner. Now, I'm not sure what exactly the relationship between these boys was, but nothing the younger boys did could possibly make them deserve such sickeningly graphic death threats.
A more famous example of cyberbullying is the case of musician Rebecca Black. Don't misunderstand; I'm not telling people to stop saying that her song 'Friday' is terrible because it totally is. Besides, it was Rebecca's choice to go into show business, and any entertainer should be prepared for negative feedback. However, some online commenters have gone beyond criticizing Rebecca's music and begun to target the singer herself, saying things like, "I hope you cut yourself," and "I hope you get an eating disorder so you'll look pretty." This behavior is completely unacceptable. Nobody should ever fall victim to words like these.
The problem with cyberbullying is that nobody's a winner. Even if the bully doesn't get punished for his actions, he still doesn't benefit from making others miserable. Being a jerk doesn't make a person look 'cool.' Honestly, that's just common sense. But, to quote Yggdrasill from Tales of Symphonia (seriously the best video game EVER), "That is merely logic. People are not moved by logic." (And yes, that is where I got this blog's title.)
Pictures are from the University of Alabama website and Chris Kasurak, respectively.
Check out the following wesites:
http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Teen-Accused-of-Cyber-Bullying-.html
http://thetartan.org/2011/3/28/forum/rebecca_black
Mel your right nobody is a winner, everyone just ends up hurt somehow to any extreme. Cyberbullying is wrong no matter how it is said or posted or any other kind of way.
ReplyDelete-Sarah
I completely agree with you Sarah that cyberbullying is wrong no matter what. My daughter was a victim of cyberbullying by a fellow classmate and it has a horrible psychological effect on the person being bullied. My daughter was able to deal with the situation and thankfully she is no longer bullied. For teens or parents of teens who are being cyberbullied, a really good resource is http://onlineceucredit.com/edu/social-work-ceus-ib. I hope that this is helpful!
Delete-Pamela