Teens react to Cyber Bullying (Amanda Todd)

[Kinode 3,056]

 

Okay, I must admit; I never bothered much with Amanda Todd. I was so sad that people were so offensive about it, like it was all her fault, even though teens just make mistakes. These reactions really got to me though.

She was a teenager. Teenagers suffer and do stupid things out of despair. The whole situation of flashing her breasts could have happened to anyone, in fact, there are a whole lot of teenagers who nude themselves on Omegle and NOTHING HAPPENS. Although I admit she made some pretty stupid mistakes, specially for someone who had already made some, I don't really blame her for them.

Sure, she probably wouldn't have been able to fix her life the way that is was already. But if she had some more help, if she had more people there for her, maybe this could have all been avoided.

I don't care who it is, but when someone dies, they should be remembered, you know? For good reasons OR bad reasons, no one deserves to be forgotten or remembered only for what they did wrong... Because if it came to the point of killing herself, then it was bad. She was undeniably regretting her actions and lost.

While the solution seems simple for someone who isn't going through it, it can be maddening when something like this happens. Maybe her death was to call attention, to let people know just how much she was suffering, because honestly, what else could she do? She was being shamed for being a "whore", she had few to no friends, and she was confused with nowhere to go. To her, death was probably better than her living hell. That's what I think.

Sorry for bringing Amanda Todd back up, but I thought I should bring up the topic of bullying and cyber-bullying again.

 

So this is it: Why don't we just share our own experiences? Are you bullied? Do you think you might bully someone? What do you think you could do about it?

[Roxas Seeking Light 93]

I was bullied when I was in middle school and high school some. Nothing too horrible, but enough to slightly scar me. I feel bad for this girl and pray that nobody else will ever have to endure such a horrible thing as what happened to her.

[Kinode 3,056]

Also, I'll post these links here. If you face some kind of bullying, then I think you should check them out.

http://www.stopbullying.gov/

http://www.itgetsbetter.org/

[Smithee 327]

There's only one surefire way to deal with cyberbullies:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBs06ZXtMzo

Edited November 19, 2012 by Alan Smithee

[Col.Random 3,683]

I was bullied in mid-school, but then, i always used to fight back and kept it to myself, so it never really got to me. And y'know what? My life is way better now.

My advice to those who are bullied is this: Never back down.

 

Now on to the Amanda stuff ( i apologize if i sound like an ass, especially for starting this, but i think it's best to mention why there's so many people who don't feel bad for her.)

 

The reason i'm not feeling so sad for her, and believe me, a lot of others have the same reason, is that she made a whole youtube video about it to tell the world what depresses her. ( It doesn't really look like the aim of the video was to bring attention to all bully victims, but simply to bring it to one victim - her.)

 

Now i'm not saying she deserves to be insulted, but there's people who've been through so much worse and for shit that wasn't even their mistake.

But nobody gives two shits about them!

But you know what? A lot - well some-of those kids pull through because they choose to keep their problems to themselves.

 

Sure she made mistakes, but the mistake of making a youtube video just doesn't seem like a common error most people make, which is why so many people criticize it.

 

What irks me most is that people are giving her so much love and attention, when there's others who deserve it so much more and even now i don't see those people getting the attention they deserve.

[Queen Tery 4,591]

This seems like a good place to post this. This song is a metal/rock song by Five Finger Death Punch. Even if you don't like Metal/Rock, I suggest you at least turn down the volume and WATCH the video. The song and video are a stance against bullying/cyber-bullying and is an attempt to raise awareness to suicide prevention. One friend can save a life.

 

Warning: Some of the material in the video is a bit graphic to get the point across.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptzzU7jFQwo

Edited November 19, 2012 by Ertyx

[Kinode 3,056]

I was bullied in mid-school, but then, i always used to fight back and kept it to myself, so it never really got to me. And y'know what? My life is way better now.

My advice to those who are bullied is this: Never back down.

 

Now on to the Amanda stuff ( i apologize if i sound like an ass, especially for starting this, but i think it's best to mention why there's so many people who don't feel bad for her.)

 

The reason i'm not feeling so sad for her, and believe me, a lot of others have the same reason, is that she made a whole youtube video about it to tell the world what depresses her. ( It doesn't really look like the aim of the video was to bring attention to all bully victims, but simply to bring it to one victim - her.)

 

Now i'm not saying she deserves to be insulted, but there's people who've been through so much worse and for shit that wasn't even their mistake.

But nobody gives two shits about them!

But you know what? A lot - well some-of those kids pull through because they choose to keep their problems to themselves.

 

Sure she made mistakes, but the mistake of making a youtube video just doesn't seem like a common error most people make, which is why so many people criticize it.

 

What irks me most is that people are giving her so much love and attention, when there's others who deserve it so much more and even now i don't see those people getting the attention they deserve.

 

I think the fact is that most people just don't know there are many cases of suicide because the people who do it don't express themselves. She, Amanda, was feeling lonely, so sure, she wanted attention, but that doesn't mean she didn't care about anyone else and she never said that, but she just wanted to express her pain, so isn't that fine?

[Oishii 3,987]

Something a lot of people forget: Bullies were the first victims. They were once the victims of bullying and were neglected when they needed help. Whenever I see people say horrible things about Amanda, that she brought it to herself, she was just whining for attention, all I see are victims becoming the bullies. It's how we rationalize the bad things that happen to us; we blame ourselves. By blaming Amanda for what happened to her is just following the same logic. I find it very sad.

 

I don't fault her at all for what she did. I don't think it's right to blame someone for being susceptible to a trap. The person who manipulated her to flash the camera used the same techniques pedophiles use to trick children online to agreeing to meet them. There are some people that are very insecure and are susceptible to those tricks, and they may not realize they are being taken advantage of until it's too late. Do we consider it their fault or blame the person pulling the tricks to begin with?

 

So she made a youtube video and it got a lot of attention. Maybe she was doing to get attention, but how is that a bad thing? The situation needed attention and didn't come. She didn't get the support and attention she needed which is why she is no longer on this Earth anymore. Should we blame victims for reaching out or should they do nothing and endure it?

 

So victims end up going on three paths. If they reach out for help and people respond to it, they can receive the support they need to live a happier life. Or they don't get help, either because they are too scared to reach out, or no one gives a helping hand. Then there are two paths. They either lash out against the world and become the bully, or they internalize their pain and inflict damage onto themselves.

 

It's a cycle, one where you can't easily place a single blame. And what would placing the blame solve when everyone is a victim in some way? All we can do is support a solution; encourage people to reach out when there is something wrong and be there with a helping hand when they come.

[Amon 4,279]

Oh my God, when will people stop talking about this posthumous attention whore? I can understand if she made one mistake but for firetrucks sake she screwed up like 4 more times! Don't get me wrong, I'm against bullying but she practically is asking for it. How can one firetruck up accidentally so many times?

 

The only reason why people care is because she made a youtube video about it that got popular (and even that wasn't enough attention for her). This kind of thing happens all of the time to people who made honest mistakes or did nothing at all to begin with. The saint status people are giving to this attention hungry... I don't even know what... only de-legitimizes the cases of people you should actually feel sorry for.

 

There is a difference between getting bullied, and trying to get bullied. Amanda Todd was going for the latter.

 

Amanda Todd was a pretty white girl in an upper middle class neighborhood who's parents gave her almost everything she asked for. Everything she did is greed on an unimaginable level. In my eyes, the final outcome was retribution.

Edited November 19, 2012 by Amon

[Geralt 4,874]

Ahhh cyber bullying ._. Has been going on for many years. I remember almost every year in elementary (starting around 4th grade) and middle school they would have cops and stuff come in and talk of this stuff. Kinda got annoying being every year pretty much but it is a serious matter. Glad they got around about it.

[axele 151]

The thing about Amanda Todd is that she had no help. Her parents clearly did nothing and what friends could she turn to when it looked like from her POV that the whole world hated her ? When she drank Bleach to try and kill herself, her parents didn't really sit her down and try and get her help or really do anything and the school just teased and bullied her even more and made Bleach jokes towards her, which btw are still going on Tumblr. Though the annoying thing on the side is that people are killing themselves everyday because they to don't feel loved, have nobody and they too get no help. The media doesn't care about them. Also there is those brave and strong depression and Bi- Polar fighters out there on Youtube who want to fight the mental illness and get through to the light at the end of the tunnel. Though the media doesn't care.

 

I do feel sorry for Amanda though, and when people bully her I just feel like raging at them. Hopefully somebody puts Bleach down their mouths.

Edited November 20, 2012 by axele

[Chronic Tumor 149]

 

I have no sympathy