Cyberbullying

TAKE THE PLEDGE: Everyone deserves to be respected for who they are. I pledge to spread this message to my friends, family and neighbors. I'll speak up against hate and intolerance whenever I see it, at school and at work. I'll provide hope for lesbian, gay, bi, trans and other bullied teens by letting them know that "It Gets Better."

Cyber Bullying has become a worldwide problem because of the difficulty to track its occurrences. In some cases it has been accepted as humor, but when is it taken to far? When a child has taken his or her own life?

The boy you punched in the hall today, committed suicide a few minutes ago.  The girl you pushed down the other day, is already being abused at home.  The boy you called lame, has to work every night to support his family.  That girl you called fat, she's starving herself.  The man you made fun of because of his scars, fought for our country.  The boy you made fun of for crying, his mother is dying. "

-Lady Gaga

Attitudes are not something you have when you are born; they are learned through experiences and contact with others and even through distinct instructions from parents, teachers, and other important people in a person’s life.  For instance if a child grows up around their parents having a negative attitude toward gays or a certain race they likely will have that same attitude.  Just like the Jamey Rodemeyer, and Ryan Halligan case, where both boys were oppressed for being gay.

Harvey S. Firestone

This theory relates to the case of Ryan Halligan where the group of girls teased Ryan.  There was one girl who led the humiliating actions toward Ryan; she most likely used social influence to get her friends to join in on the taunting.  Also relating to social influence, in the Megan Meier case, the adult involved in the bullying tried to get another adult to join in on the victimization; though in this case the other adult did not conform.

Megan Meier is a horrifying case of cyber-bullying that was very unusual because unlike most cases of youth on youth victimization, adults were involved in the bullying against the victim who was only 13.  Megan Meier struck up an online friendship on the popular social networking site MySpace with a person she believed was a new boy in her hometown.  In actuality, the “friend” was a group of individuals, including adults, who were intent on humiliating the Megan because of a friendship with another child that had gone awry.  Megan was very upset when she found out the truth, then later committed suicide once the friendship had terminated.

(Red) No statewide law that specifically prohibits bullying in schools

compared with students reporting neither form of victimization (2.0%).