The Tragic Effects of Cyber Bullying

The following blog is in response to a posting by Christine, who talks about one girl's tragic story of cyber bullying.

Christine - I saw this story, but I think it was on 60 minutes. It was the exact same story though - and it was so sad. I couldn't get over the fact that it was a mom, someone who should 'know better' than to do such things to today's youth. I can only imagine the level of intelligence this mother had while she was doing these horrid things. I was always taught from a young age that if girls (and children in general) act like spoiled brats or get into trouble, etc., they most likely are learning this from the parents.

Unfortunately in many bullying and cyber-bullying situations, it is the parents who are encouraging and provoking bad behaviour. The reason I say it is unfortunate is because one would expect adults to have more sense than this; to realize the consequences to these actions, and hopefully think twice. I am not saying that it is excusable if the actual teenage daughter was behind the cyber-bullying, but I think adults are held to a higher standard than children. And therefore, this is inexcusable, unbelievable, and disgusting to say the least.

To lose a daughter to such cyber bullying would evoke the worst feelings in a mom or dad. I think I would feel such hatred toward the mom-bully since she was the one who pushed my daughter to the edge.

It's so tragic to think that there are no laws to protect other children from such horrific online behaviour. To say that this would be an infringement of one's right to free speech is ridiculous. There should definitely be laws and harsh punishments for this type of behaviour. What is needed is proactive discipline, and not reactive. It is unfortunate that something like this had to happen, but maybe it will take something so severe to actually get something done about cyber bullying.