Teen bullying, cyber-bullying, teen suicides....these topics have been all over the news lately and we can't avoid talking about it. I have posted three stories below. Please take a look at all of them, then respond to this post with a thoughtful response. Here are some suggestion questions:
- How did you feel when reading/watching these stories and why do you feel this way?
- Describe a time when you or someone you know has been bullied or affected by bullying.
- How do you think technology (ie. facebook, video chat, youtube, instant messaging, etc.) has changed or affected bullying? Has it made bullying easier or harder? Or not affected bullying at all? Explain your thoughts...
- What can be done to stop bullying, and cyber bullying in particular?
Video clip about Tyler Clementi, a college freshman who took his own life after being cyber bullied. You will not believe what his roommate and roommate's friend did to him:
Another story about a recent teen suicide due to bullying:
Video clip from Ellen Degeneres:
Well i think everyone says 'how stupid of them' but we have to understand (or try to) that these kids were frustrated and they didnt see another way out of their problems. Its easy to say 'how stupid, or how dumb' but you are not the one going through the situation. JUST IMAGINE if an intimate tape of you got leaked in the internet? How would you feel? Its not easy to handle a situation like this. I think people should wake up and realize that this is a free country and we are all different individuals. WHATS WRONG WITH BEING GAY? They are like you and me, they are humans, and thats what they believe in. People say that we have the freedom of speech but when we put our ideas out there they inmeadtly critize. The problem with this nation is that we always see the negative, always the bad things about people, and always looking for a flaw in you and when they find it they gossip about it, then rumors beging. This world is changing, nothing stays the same, we just have to make sure that those changes are GOOD FOR US and use them wisely. And killing the bully, that just makes it worst! you could go to jail, and that would just make you ONE OF THEM! I THINK PEOPLE ARE AFRAID OF CHANGE, PEOPLE NEED TO BE OPENED MINDED AND HEAR THE OPINIONS OF OTHERS, then decide if you agree or not!! IF YOU ARE BEING BULLIED SPEAK UP! TALK TO A FRIEND OR YOUR SCHOOL'S COUNSELOR. WE NEED TO GIVE PEOPLE LOVE!! BECAUSE YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT THEY ARE GOING THROUGH!! PEACE OUT!...!
ReplyDeleteThese are hair-raising stories. You can’t judge these kids for committing suicide. You don’t know what they were thinking or how they were feeling. I am not saying that committing suicide is okay. I am just saying that people shouldn’t judge them. What done is done and there is no turning back. I guess we can just take it as a form of a lesson and not make the same mistake. Everything has a way to be solved. Nothing is impossible. I have friends and I’ve too have been affected by bully, but this either brakes you or makes you. You have the choice to decide. You can listen to them and get offended or ignore them and stand up for yourself. Everyone is bullied even once, but they should have in mind that they are not alone and that there is a way to get over it. Technology definitely has made it easier because you can access internet anywhere, so people who are bullied have no escape. They will be tortured everywhere. I believed that “bullies” should just stop by seeing what they can do. They bully people because they are ignorant and I don’t believe there reason is to make someone commit suicide. It is just to bug. One way to stop it can be by publically announcing events like the ones mentioned and people to pay more attention to people that they think might be bullying others.
ReplyDeleteHow did you feel when reading/watching these stories and why do you feel this way?
ReplyDeleteWell I felt really, truly sad when I read/watched the stories. I can't believe that some people are capable of hurting others so much that they would prefer to die than to live another day being hurt. You should never hurt other people since you are not in their shoes to know how it feels. I think bullying is a horrible thing and we should do what we can to help stop it. If you know someone whose being bullied report it. If your the one bullying STOP cause you don't know how much your affecting that person's life.
I think that bullying is very cruel and should be stopped immidiately, it is just taking away lifes.i felt sad for these people that felt that they couldnt keep on living becasue of bullying. i think that with technology bullying is getting worse because since people arent face to facce they arent so afraid to say anything or do anything. i think it should already be stopped!
ReplyDeleteSuicide, it is a very emotional subject for me because when you stop and think, a person ended their life because he/she could not handle the grief and suffering they had inisde. Many people prefer to make fun of others and judge before admiting their faults and flaws. It is hard to hear that people get to the point of suicide and I believe that everyone no matter the situation should think before making hurtful comments because at the end of the day you end up hurting someone and hurting your own self.
ReplyDeleteLooks the only way to spread a message to get across the media to stop bullying is suicide. I mean seriously bullying has been around for long time and since no didn't commit suicide, no one cared about it. But now since some kid took his own life away because of bullying now they care. And now there laws about it. Wow.... Where were you when i needed that law....
ReplyDeletethis is wrong and even though people say to stop the same ones keep on doing it. it's embarrasing for all human kind. how we just act without thinking. i hope we dont keep going on the same steps cause if we do we wont be able to call ourself human. who cares if he's gay thats inner feelings and even worse they showed a streaming vid of him now thats just inhumaine.
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Well I felt bad for the kids that took their lives because suicide is not an answer to any problem whatsoever. I think that they should have looked for help and not take matters in their own hands. Bullying has never affected me, even though I sometimes mess with people but as away as showing brotherly love and not as an intention to hurt them. I think technology has made bullying worse and I believe that bullies shouldn’t be messing with people online because is not the right to say things to people. To stop bullying I believe that laws should take it more seriously and as soon someone is being harassed call the cops.
ReplyDeletehey its PAOLA B:
ReplyDeleteAfter watching these stories my first responsews WOW!! I particually liked Ellen's speech because i touched me to see her serious in this topic. I go frustrated with Rich Sanchez just bcause he thought cyber bulling wasn't real and thought, and i qoute, that its a "psycho, babble- media term", I mean don't you see that because of the internet and misusage of cruel people that someone just took their life.
My little brother used to be bullied by an 13 year old that was still in fourth grade. I used to get so mad with that punk and with the school also becuse what is a kid doing a that age in fourth grade and why is he still there when there has been previous compolaints about him? This year i thanked God that the school finally kicked him out and that my brother is no longer afraid to go to school. I also think that now with our social networks there will be more bullies and this problem is going to increase if it isn't fixed quick.
Well this is a very serious case all around the world.Each year more and more teenagers and college students kill them selfs because of the case of bullying.I really didn't now that many people took bullying very serious.I think that we can solve this case of bullying, we have just understand and now how poeple feel when their bullyed.I just think that people should just be mature and stop doing this things, they do this just because they are insacure with them selves.
ReplyDeleteHearing about all these stories of suicide caused by bullying really makes me feel mad, sad, and just in plain shock. It really makes me sad to just think about how bad that boy had to feel to the point that he thought it was better to kill himself than live. I really can't judge his actions because I don't know exactly how he felt and because what they did to him was a very cruel, heartless, ignorant, and evil thing to do. It also makes me mad to know that people like this exist in this world. I really don't understand how a person can be so mean to someone without feeling bad. It really shocked me to know that they even published it feeling like it's something funny and being kind of proud and accomplished of what they've done. That is pretty messed up and sick. It's so devastating to see so many young kids like 13 committing suicide and it really opens your eyes to being more careful about what you say and do to others. A way I think we could decrease cyber bullying is by making a law that doesn't allow videos, comments, and etc. that have too hard, cruel, or not appropriate stuff in it to be published. Like for instance I think that you-tube should have more restrictions to what types of videos are published. Another thing that really made me furious was to hear that those two people only got 5 years of prison for what they did. :O I think that a crime like that should have more consequences because their actions went to the point to cause a person's life. It's really not fair to his family and friends that suffered so much from this. I could really keep talking about this forever but I should probably stop already. x)
ReplyDeleteAs I watched these stories about bullying I was left speechless. I was sad and mad at the same time. I couldn't believe that people would perform such cruel actions. I felt ashamed that there are human beings who hurt others just for fun. I was mad that they would go to such magnitudes like publishing things in the internet. It is amazing how they,the bullies, can cause harm without placing themselves in the other person's shoes. How can they not feel how much it has to hurt. I was perplexed that they don't see the emotional damages that they can cause. Emotional damages that can deeply wound and make people take their own life so they don't have to stand the comments anymore. We should all do our best to be the best person we can be and help others. We should always focus on the positive and not the negative. We have to be a helping hand and if we know someone who is being bullied help them. Help them by giving them the strength and someone they can lean and count on, because I think that's one of the most important things they need at the moment.
ReplyDeleteIn a way, I feel angry, as to how people can be so careless about other's feelings. It's shocking how these people can be so ignorant and actually try hurting others, for what? Because they enjoy it? They enjoy to see other people, with feelings, suffer? What's the point in bullying? Right now, I am so speechless. There are seriously no words that can describe how I felt as I watched these stories about suicide due to bullying.
ReplyDeleteWOW... i was speechless as i watched Tyler's problem. I mean is there a problem on somebody being gay?! it can be..i don't know but that does not give us any right to do something like 'cyber bullying'. Anyways cyber bullying, bullying or whatever word you want to put it is wrong. It makes people feel bad. So this case is very devastating and to think that you are being watched by every single person in the internet after having a sexual encountered must be very depressing and not just depressing but that he must have felt alone like most gays. We have to think what we do first and as i'm always saying be careful with what we put in the internet. Its sad how he updates his facebook status with "jumping the gw bridge sorry" i'm sure his fb friends thought he was joking. But anyways we have to learn how to respect other and this problem is not from now but yes it is increasing every single day.Facebook,myspace,twitter etc.. does have to do a lot with the cyber bullying. It makes it much easier. It has affected the rate by increasing it and to summary internet is DANGEROUS...and it'll take a lot of time to decrease suicide and bullying or stop it at all....but nothing is impossible.
ReplyDeletei felt really sad. I mean I can believe how those people can do that to others. I think that cyber bullying makes bullying easier and more dangerous. People from the internet can change and put what he wants to everybody see. Also in eh internet you can control and change everything. Suicide is not a great choice. Is this happpen to you or even me I directly call the cops or make something to stop them doing that. I tink killing myself isn't a resolution for the problem. I mean you die and they still doing the samething to others and going and going on...
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ReplyDeleteI'm in shock about what can little comments turn into. This is a really interesting topic. I can say that these kids took all of these things very personal. I am not judging them, though. People should really think about what they do and say to other people because it can really affect them psychologically and physically. Anyone can make a mistake but at least say sorry to that person. Try to not make anyone feel bad. I think all the technology we have today has really helped cyber bullying grow and it is not good one bit. There are many examples of bullying in schools and other places. I could honestly say that I have been bullied before. Now I am strong and I wouldn't let anyone do it again but it has happened. When I was younger everyone called me fat and it really hurt my feelings. One thing I've learned is that nobody can hurt your feelings without out your permission. You have to be strong and not let anything get to you in a personal way.
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