You're a douche ass-hat!

I don't recall the article mentioning how long this bullying (cyber or in school) was going on, but it likely became something of a self-fulfilling prophecy. What the article doesn't mention is the language that was used by the bullies. It's one thing to be called a fag and that's that. It's another thing -- and this is something that 13 year olds don't truly understand yet -- to use the full power of words.

"Hey man, you're a fag and you should die." That's the kind of shit that'll make someone commit suicide. Hear that enough times, and kids going through that time in their lives will start to believe it. Also regarding the power of words and language, the Internet seems to be a far greater tool for retaining negative stimuli as opposed to the actual spoken word.

That old adage "get it in writing" applies nicely. To request something in writing means to have it permenantly engraved as fact. You write up a contract, those conditions are for all intents and purposes categorized into a "do it" or "don't do it" dichotomy. In the boy's case, having to see these words repeatedly (lest he closed the chat windows, but then they'd obviously just pop back up) reinforced what may have been written. In the most extreme case, which may very well be true, "fags should die" was probably the one recurring thought he could never banish.

Whether or not he was actually gay made little difference. It goes back to the self-fulfilling prophecy and the labeling theory. He was labeled as a fag for whatever reason, and after enough repetition from his classmates he began to believe it. Step one. His classmates, ignorant to how strong their words can be to someone who's insecure and already broken in, continually hound him with "fags should die" or something akin to that. Step two. The last step is simple and sequential -- he was labeled, reinforced, self-fulfilled and executed. The fag died.

As for what should be done? What can be done, really? When Jack Thompson hears about this, he'll be all over Rockstar's Bully saying that it caused the behavior of these children and made poor Ryan Halligan kill himself.

The article is correct about a couple things, namely the topic about norms. You can't really legislate these kinds of norms -- norms of politeness, courtesy, and nonjudgment. You certainly can't legislate them over the anonymous sector known as the Internet.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I don't get it, Shiny. Do you think that just because you can close a chat window you can end all insults coming at you on a daily routine?

In fact, it seems kinda backwards to say that. I'm calling bullshit to your argument entirely. For one, physical pain can be overcome. No big deal, right? Get a black eye? Just wait a few days and it'll be good as new. Broke a leg? S'cool, just get a cast and you'll be fine.

What seems to be misunderstood is the whole "fag" issue. Regardless of what the bullies called him, the kid was still being hit multiple times on a near-daily basis with negative reinforcement. If you go in to school and everyday someone punches you in the arm, you'll eventually not feel it anymore. Doesn't work the same way with verbal insults, at least not for all teenagers. Some have emotional wells that run infinitely deep, but hear this -- they're in the minority.

I don't know how well this example'll work, but here goes. When I was 13, which was 11 years ago, my parents divorced and my mom and I moved from the north part of the U.S. to the southern part. I started 6th grade in a brand new part of the nation (to me) with brand new people in an environment I was wholly unfamiliar with.

For me, 6th sucked ass. I was constantly hounded about being from the North, so much so that the mere location of my birth became an object for insulting me and it wasn't very fun. Granted, I didn't threaten to nor kill myself, but still the fact remains that for no other reason besides my place of birth, I was made fun of immensely. To the same degree, I think they were jealous because I still had all my teeth intact, and still do. Ftw.

Times have changed dramatically. Boys, especially teenage ones, don't have the same size emotional well as teenage boys did back in the 70s or 80s, or hell even early 90s. Whether or not this kid was in fact homosexual is not the issue -- reinforcing a negative stereotype on someone is damaging.

There's nowhere I can't reach.