The internet has certainly changed our world. This story was all over headline news yesterday, apparently some elementary school girls decided to make a youtube video about how to "kill" one of their classmates. This video was obviously done as a form of cyberbullying.
Unfortunately, bullying has been around since the dawn of time. When I was in elementary school we had a "slam book" made of construction paper, where kids wrote something to slam another person. Cruel, yes. Childish yes, but was it too much different than what these girls did? With one exception, we didnt have a tool to communicate our feelings to the entire world like they do now.... (and I dont really remember anything about wanting someone dead, but I dont really think these girls want this person dead)
I am not sure this is a huge deal, especially since the girls have now apologized and are obviously in big trouble at school. What do you think?
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Taking it to a whole new level..
Posted by Tonjia at 12:08 AM
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8 comments:
It's a fact of life, there are bullies everywhere...even in adult life. But, it doesn't make it right. Apologies should be made along with some sort of consequence for wrong actions. YouTube and the internet are this generation's 'pen and paper'. Being the mom of four(now adults, thank goodness), I have been on both sides...as parents, it is our job to teach our children respect for others and to teach our children how to cope with ugliness which simply exists.
Excellent post!
~AM
I think, a lot of the time, the internet just makes it possible to everyone to see things that have always been there. Unfortunately, with some of the things that have happened in the last several years, I'm not sure you can ignore it. Kids of 11 or 12 are a lot scarier than they used to be.
Kids do stupid things. A cartoon to music. What is next? What if these same girls brought this girl to a house and beat her up (this happened here in Florida)? What if because of this cartoon the girl became so distraught that she killed herself or them. I have always taught Shay that we do not tease other kids. It is ok not to like someone. We don't have to. But we do have to treat them with respect. I listened to this today and it shames me that it is from my home state. But what really got me was the response from some of the parents. One dad says "I'm fixing dinner right now". If that had been my daughter she would hav ebeen marched over to the girls house to apologize in person and then she would be on restriction for so long that she would have forgotton why she was on restriction to begin with. Just my opinion.
I'm with Michelle. David would have apologized and not seen daylight for awhile. The response from the Dad? I encountered a few parents when he was younger that were the same way. The good old days...you got yelled at by the kid's Mom and then went home to face your parents. Outrage.
OMG my kids would not have seen the light of day for many moons, if then.
I remember slam books...the ones I encountered were nice things...
I don't go looking for stuff on the Internet or news because Hallie usually provides enough weird stuff for my daily quota. Thoughtful post. Thanks for posting.
Interesting comments! I would like to think it's no big deal but unfortunately we have found out that it can be. That's the problem, at least in my eyes, we don't know when the threat is real or just some insecure girls looking for attention. Scary. It has been around forever though and I don't think we can solve much either way.
jj
Incredible, just incredible. What I don't get any more is how kids can feel that strong of an emotion and feel it is ok to express it. Cartoon? So what. I may have wanted to do some awful things to my ex-husband when we divorced but I NEVER would dry it out, plan it out and post something like that on the internet. The difference? I understand the consequences of my actions and thoughts. These girls have not learned how their actions not only hurt others but that video will affect them for the rest of their lives. How sad, that parents have not taught sympathy and empathy for others. That really hurts my heart. And how sad for that girl and her schooling AND HER self esteem. Wow.
We covered this story and I was sorry to hear that those girls hardly got any punishment at all. What sort of example is that? And they are the future of our country. Scares me.
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