You're a douche ass-hat!

Bullying Physically and Bullying on the internet are COMPLETELY different. Physical Bullying can only go so far, but come on, if you get agitated easily over bullying online through IM or MySpace, you already have problems to begin with. First of all, you're taking the world online WAY too seriously. What

Sounds like the kid took it into his own hands anyway since nobody else seemed to be aware. The most logical thing to do would be to talk to somebody about it. I assume this kid had some friends or something. Talk to them, parents, teachers, counselors, whatever. I'm sure it would have avoided suicide.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Yeah... I'm not gonna say that cyberbullying and physical bullying are the same, it's just... hard to say which is worse. It really depends on the individual.

For me I'd personally find physical abuse to be worse, because I've learned not to care about what some asshat says to me. But I can easily see where it can be the other way around, especially if all one wants is acceptance.

Logic... if only more people had some of that. Lawl.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

I just want to say that if I got a lot of shit IRL from people and then came to, for example, Gamingforce just to have some more shit happen it would get to me. Me, personally now, I'd just leave if it was that bad and not take it too much to heart. But I can't expect everyone, especially a 13 year old, to think like me and it does become more of an issue then just "leave the places they are bothering you at or change your name." At some point people in those positions begin to question why the fuck it is they have to be the one to get fucked with so much and they either do nothing, they kill themselves because maybe the world is right and the world doesn't need them, or they lash out.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Leknaat

Really? How about a few examples?

http://www.bullyonline.org/schoolbully/cases.htm

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articl...28/ai_17382263

I've said this more than once: yes, bullying makes things harder for kids. Most kids get bullied at some point in their lives, and VERY few kids known to be bullied kill themselves. My point, again, is that bullying is not the sole reason for their suicide. It is absolutely a problem, but if a child is mentally unstable enough to commit suicide then it is not their biggest problem.

Every kid gets bullied, and every kid needs a support system (their family) to help them deal with that. The children that kill themselves either lack that support system or have some serious mental health problems that go unnoticed or untreated.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by Shiny McShine

The point I'm trying to make is, no matter which way you slice it, bottom line is this kid killed himself because he was being bullied. Whether he was being bullied a little or a lot is irrelevant.

ô_ô

No, I think that's the whole point, here. He felt like nothing he did made a difference in how people were going to treat him. Otherwise he wouldn't have committed suicide. Obviously I can't tell you why he wasn't able to get away from them online, but it seems clear that he wasn't. His body in his grave is proof positive.

If someone calls you a failure/fag/etc occasionally during your developmental years, you might shrug it off. If someone (or in this case, many people) do it constantly, it starts to seep in where it might not have bothered you before.

Bottom line: I don't think any one of us takes suicide lightly under normal conditions. It's much easier to underestimate him in this case than to question why he might have thought it necessary to end his whole existence.

FELIPE NO

I hate when some jerk gets new screen names just to see if anyone blocked them.

Maybe this poor kid tried changing his screen name, but had crappy friends who ratted him out? Who knows, it's possible. Sometimes people who you think you can trust have no respect for privacy.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Originally Posted by Devoxycontin

I think it's obvious by now the kid had multiple name changes, and it didn't matter. It's not like it was just cyber-bullying. As many have said, imagine getting shit at school, then come home and chillax on the internet, only you can't chillax because the same assholes are hounding you. And for every time you block someone, they register a new name. Or for every new name you register they find out about it.

Those who proclaim he could have just ignored it are probably ignorant to his age, the amount of harrassment and the degree. It's so easy to sit here on GFF of all places (the bastion of negativity) and say "oh just ignore it." Anyone who is going to sit here and tell me that they were secure in their identity as a person at 13, is frankly full of shit.

That may be so, but still, to contemplate suicide because of it is definitely not natural. Maybe I too, don't understand the degree to which this kid was harassed and bullied, but still, suicide is not a common solution among 13-year olds. There was certainly something else that also contributed. Most kids by this time have usually fit into a group of friends somewhere at school, which, personally, for me, was refuge from wherever bullies may have struck. And if nothing else, the parents should have been there or, if it struck at school, the staff surely would have done something about it.

This is assuming that the kid had the courage to talk to somebody about his problem. Now if he didn't, then I don't know. I also have to wonder how long he put up with the shit thrown at him already before he finally snapped.

As for being secure in my identity at a young age, I'll admit I wasn't, but I was still able to shrug off verbal punishment thrown my way by bullies. If you just ignore them, bullies lose interest and find another victim. To be bullied for an extended period of time means they got a kick out of it and continue to do it, which usually boils down to the kid attempting to argue with the bully.

Whether or not that's played a part in my current state of introversion, I don't know, but still, bullies bully others because they find enjoyment in doing it, or they're getting something out of it.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Devoxycontin

They aren't faceless, they're his classmates. Seriously, do people just skip over the article or what? They're getting away with abuse they can't get away with in class.

I was talking about the general idea of internet bullying; I did read the article otherwise I wouldn'tve bothered making a post. Also, I'm talking as someone who has never had any experience of cyber bullying. No one every specified what it is.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

.............................

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Kids are weak these days. And it just seems to get worse and worse. Even though back in the day it wasn't any better, kids wouldn't commit suicide but rather grow up to become serial killers or rapists.

I hate going into the suicide argument because people always say "It's depression! He was unstable and he had no choice. Family problems, bullying, personal problems. It's a chemical unbalance, it wasn't his fault!" Fuck you with your bi-polar bullshit, that's no excuse. I've been through all of that and back, I'm not 6 feet under am I? I'm just afraid for the next generation of children because suicide rates seem to be soaring, not only in America and not only due to bullying, but all over the world. It seems to be the "new escape".

And bullying doesn't only happen in elementary school. It happens constantly and kids need to learn to deal with it properly. What good does it do to make it against the law in school? It's just sheltering kids from the real world and what will happen when they get bullied when they're adults? Walk into work with a sawed-off? Or "oh no!" maybe he'll commit suicide later when he has a family.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by splur

Kids are weak these days. And it just seems to get worse and worse. Even though back in the day it wasn't any better, kids wouldn't commit suicide but rather grow up to become serial killers or rapists.

Right, because we need more serial killers and rapists in our society!

Quote:

I hate going into the suicide argument because people always say "It's depression! He was unstable and he had no choice. Family problems, bullying, personal problems. It's a chemical unbalance, it wasn't his fault!" Fuck you with your bi-polar bullshit, that's no excuse. I've been through all of that and back, I'm not 6 feet under am I? I'm just afraid for the next generation of children because suicide rates seem to be soaring, not only in America and not only due to bullying, but all over the world. It seems to be the "new escape"

You do not possess the authority to speak for another person's emotions; your triumph over your own emotional issues does not permit you to show disdain for those who are, for whatever reason, unable to do the same. In the boy's mind, that "bi-polar bullshit" was sufficient cause to kill himself. Again, one cannot know or explain the emotions of another unless it becomes possible to become a perfect copy of that person.

Quote:

And bullying doesn't only happen in elementary school. It happens constantly and kids need to learn to deal with it properly. What good does it do to make it against the law in school? It's just sheltering kids from the real world and what will happen when they get bullied when they're adults? Walk into work with a sawed-off? Or "oh no!" maybe he'll commit suicide later when he has a family.

I agree that children need to learn to cope with bullying after a certain point, but I fear that you are overlooking the age of the student in this case: this could've been the result of bullying over all of his past education--"something's gotta' give" eventually: one can only ignore something like that for so long at the age of thirteen. Does that mean that I feel suicide is justified? No, but the "suck it up" argument does not work.
Furthermore, plenty of people that have "walked into work with a sawed-off." For the third time, you cannot control the emotions of others.

I was speaking idiomatically.

What ARE the rates for suicide these days are compared to the days of other generations? I'd like to see the research on that just to see if it is/how drastically different it is now.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by splur

...people always say "It's depression! He was unstable and he had no choice. Family problems, bullying, personal problems. It's a chemical unbalance, it wasn't his fault!" Fuck you with your bi-polar bullshit, that's no excuse. I've been through all of that and back, I'm not 6 feet under am I?

Bi-polar bullshit? Go educate yourself. If you'd really been through "all of that and back" you'd know better.

FELIPE NO

Actually Snowknight, you're right. I was out of place.

Originally Posted by Hydra

Bi-polar bullshit? Go educate yourself. If you'd really been through "all of that and back" you'd know better.

Yes, I do know better. And people use being bi-polar and/or depressed as an excuse to other things more than just suicide. It's gotten to the point where people find reasons to BECOME depressed or BECOME bi-polar. So not only suicide, but being classed as depressed seems to be an escape as well. "He became extremely violent towards family and tried to kill himself. But he's depressed so it's OKAY." No, it really isn't okay. I'm just sick of people using it as a scapegoat in arguments. I won't go into personal examples because you'll just bash it down like you so swiftly did with my previous one.

How ya doing, buddy?

It seems like an ok thing in theory, but I don't see it working out. It infringes on freedom of speech.
Sites like myspace and that could be made to 18+ sites, but then kids would just lie about their age to get on to it. Sure there are ways round it, monitoring their age etc but would a company go along with it?

It is wrong that cyberbullying occurs and it is sad that the boy killed himself over hurtful taunts by fellow classmates. Wonder how they feel about it.

However I don't think cyberbullying should be on top of the list when it comes to sorting out internet problems, child porn etc should be delt with first. In my opinion anyway.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

The father's actions were heart-warming but honestly, cyber-bullies? Who the hell came up with that? Sounds like something from Arthur or like...Magic School Bus.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Lol on the Magic School Bus. Anyway, yeah... I understand his pain, but guess what, it just another thing that life throws you. People seemed to have gotten so used to being protected that when something bad happens, they look for anything to blame. Its kinda sad. Life is a hard thing and can be very unfair. I think his child had more problems than just internet bullies. If he didn't like the bullies, he didn't have to use the net, or he could just clean his old identity and start over...

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.