Sure,
Facebook connects old friends and family and holds old memories forever in the form
of pictures and comments. Yeah, it helps boost your confidence when someone
“likes” a picture or comment you’ve posted. But Facebook is a wide-open
opportunity to tear someone down while hiding behind a computer screen. It
allows a person to make stupid, hurtful remarks whenever they feel like it.
That’s what bullies do.
Whether in
cyberspace or at a schoolyard, a bully is still a bully and bullies should be
stopped.
That
is proven true by a recent story about a fourteen-year-old girl in Georgia who
found a fake Facebook profile of herself (“Teen Sues Classmates for Libel Over
Facebook Page”, April 26, 2012). A fake Facebook profile page consists of false
information about an individual. The person who creates the fake profile only
has bad intentions. He or she does it to make a person feel bad and to bring
attention to themself for being “gutsy.” This particular fake profile made fun
of the Georgia teenager in very malicious ways. It made her face seem bloated
and enlarged. It posted that she smoked marijuana. It posted demeaning things
about her, and said she spoke in a “retardish” language. When the teen told
officials about what had happened, they said there was not much they could do. They
could not prosecute bullying off of school grounds.
That
is completely ridiculous. It is the responsibility of the school to keep kids
safe. Even though the bullying does not happen in the classroom, it still
involves classmates, and that is the school’s responsibility. Cyberbullying
causes kids to do horrible things such as cut themselves, and even commit
suicide. Not only does this case prove that the problem of cyberbullying is
being ignored, but not a lot of action is being taken to help prevent it from
happening. In fact, Alex Boston, the Georgia teen, has decided to take matters
into her own hands. She is suing the kids responsible.
Alex
is also raising awareness about cyberbullying. She may be interested in the
campaign against bullying called “Be More than a Bystander.” The campaign encourages
witnesses of bullying to help stop it. Another initiative Alex should check out
is the Foundation for a Better Life’s Pass It On campaign that promotes
positive values that one should find within him or herself. She could also log
on to a webpage (link webpage when post on blog) called “The Bully Project.”
She can order the film “Bully” available on the website and bring it to her
school to raise awareness.
Clearly,
bullying among teens and younger children has grown in the last decade. According to this website, about
42 percent of kids have been bullied online, while 35 percent have been
threatened online. 58 percent of kids and teens have reported that something
rude has been said about them online. 77 percent of kids reported that he or
she have been a victim of bullying.
In Massachusetts, there is now an
anti-bullying law that includes cyberbullying. The law prohibits bullying in
schools. It’s really great that Massachusetts is really taking a stand against
verbal and physical bullying. Georgia should follow along Massachusetts and do
the same thing, so Alex Boston can live a normal life. No child or teenager
should live their life in fear, and be afraid of simply living their life. A
kid does not need to be bullied to be stronger nor do they need to grow up with
it. A life without a bully is a healthier one.
No comments:
Post a Comment