“Cyber-bullying” is a term that, surprisingly, doesn’t carry very much gravity when mentioned in the news or in public discussions.
While it has been a sinister mechanism resulting in fatal, tragic consequences numerous times, it’s still being confronted with a subdued and ineffective response.
Defined by Bell Belsley, the founder of stopbullying.org, “cyber-bullying” is the use of “information and communication technologies to support deliberate, repeated and hostile behavior by an individual or group that is intended to harm others.”
Not exclusive to the public schools people often associate any form of bullying with, the medium of communication technologies has given a new dynamic to the perpetrators of this harmful, invasive attack; it has given them a comfortable forum to do things their conscience wouldn’t permit in a more tangible social setting.
Take, for example, the tragedy of Megan Meier. After creating a profile on the popular social networking site Myspace, the 13-year-old was befriended by a teenage boy named Josh Evans.
Unbeknownst to Meier, who had a history of manic depression and suicidal impulses, “Josh Evans” was a fabrication by Lori Drew, a 49-year-old mother of one of Meiers’ former friends, and an employee at Drew’s small company.
Meier frequently exchanged messages with Drew’s fake profile, and she quickly found herself attracted to this disarming stranger.
Quickly as it started, the tone of their conversations took a foul turn, culminating in a message as cold as it was effortlessly simple: “Everybody in O’Fallon knows how you are. You are a bad person and everybody hates you. Have a shitty rest of your life. The world would be a better place without you.”
Meier was then found hanging in her closet the same day that message was sent.
Drew was convicted on the matter in 2008, but the ruling was reversed and appealed in 2009 because the preceding judge ruled the government’s theory to be unconstitutional.
Also take into account the suicide of Ryan Halligan, a 13-year-old boy that committed suicide after being bombarded with derogatory homosexual accusations.
Other than some minor changes to Vermont’s legislation, no one was held accountable for their part in Halligan’s suicide.
More recently, the suicide of Tyler Clementi, 18, a freshman at Rutger’s University that jumped off the Washington Bridge after someone in his dorm filmed a sexual encounter between Celmenti and another man and posted it online.
Though there are amendments being made to suit societies rapidly evolving technological communication mediums, it’s clear that other measures need to be taken to control this epidemic.
This is an issue that isn’t federal or state responsibility; it is a matter of discipline, humanity and personal responsibility.
This is something we need to instill in our children and maintain in our personal affairs. This is something we need to diffuse if we are able to do so.
It is a disservice to these deceased, young individuals to continue looking for a federal or state solution to a problem that should end precisely where it started.
