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Thoughts of November 2010
CYBER BULLYING
Cyber bullying and its affects have been all over the news lately. CNN, MSNBC, NEW YORK TIMES, you name it, the media is filled with stories of cyber bullying and its consequences, so when I was invited on Facebook to join an event honoring the boys who committed suicide as a result of cyber bullying I wasn’t too surprised. As soon as I received the invite, I read through the event’s information and joined the page. The invite was for the, now famous, “Wear purple to honor those who committed suicide” event and as I read through the information (just days before the national scandal which would soon surround this Facebook event) I found this written:
“Many people have committed suicide for one reason or another. Wear purple in memory of those who committed suicide. You can upload pictures of you wearing purple!!
Rules
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No insensitive posting;
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No spam;
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Use common sense!
I remember looking at the rules and thinking, “well obviously”, who would use an event about honoring lives to post insensitive comments and opinions. A few days later CNN made it clear that those “rules” were not so obvious to everyone. I realize that I am fortunate to live in a very liberal environment where I feel comfortable showing support for whomever I want, but after reading some of the comments made on this event regarding views on homosexuality, I was more than shocked. To later learn that school board officials made some of those comments was devastating to me. Not only were lives lost because of cyber bullying, but now families of cyber bullying victims have been disrespected, hurt, and it was all completely unnecessary. What’s the point? You may have differing views about sexual orientation, religion, ect., and the freedom to have those views is what makes our nation thrive, but why express those views in inappropriate places and ways? Yes, under the first amendment, we have the right to say it, but that does not give us the right to not think about what we are saying, where we are saying it, and who we are saying it to.
So for November, this is my monthly reason for why we should speak up and stop the hate.
For more information on the cyber bullying in this blog, visit The New York Times “Profiles”
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