Ethics - #2

Cyberbullying and cyberstalking/harrassing are two growing concerns in today's society.  Cyberbullying is between two minors using technology like the internet, cell phones, or other "interactive and digital technologies."  When an adult is on one side, and a minor on the other, that's when we come to cyberstalking/harrassing, and it "is NEVER called cyberbullying."

Adults choosing to cyberstalk/harrass a minor is different from exploiting a minor with sexual intentions, or the adult being a pedophile or sexual predator.  Unfortunately, though, consequences can be exactly the same for the one victimized.  Whether it be by adult or by another student, things can turn deadly for the victim.

Megan Meier is one such case.  Dubbed by cable networks as the "MySpace Suicide," it tells about Megan Meier, a 13 year old who suffered from depression and ADD, and how she began getting messages from someone named "Josh."  Things began innocently enough, but "Josh's" messages soon turned derogatory and cruel.  In truth, there was no Josh; it was a persona created by Lori Drew, the mother of a former friend of Megan's.  It's speculated, though not confirmed, that Lori Drew's original motive was to find out through MySpace why Megan had dumped her daughter as a friend.

Apparently, Lori Drew wasn't the only one writing on "Josh's" MySpace.  Other people were also posting comments and messages for Megan, as well as posting her private messages in public.

All of this culminated when an alleged final comment, that Megan's father says he saw when he logged onto her account: "The world would be a better place without you," resulted in Megan hanging herself from her bedroom closet.  ("Federal investigators, however, were unable to confirm that text, as the message was lost in the ether.")

There is a debate over whether Lori Drew actually did anything criminally wrong.  Yes, she acted irresponsibly and immaturely, but unfortunately, many officials do not believe she acted criminally.  My opinion?  She sure as Hell did!  If we took computers out of the equation and it was just a 13 year old walking home from school each day and a mother came up to her, demanding answers as to why this 13 year old dropped the woman's daughter as a friend, it would be unwanted and disturning attention at best, harrassment at worst.  And harrassment can get a restraining order put on a person, if not worse.  Take technology out of the equation, and no one would have any doubt as to whether this woman did something criminally wrong.

Cyberbullying amongst students is getting worse, as well.  Yet I do think schools are really cracking down on students they feel are cyberbullying others.  I can't source this, unfortunately, because all of it has been through my mom and my aunt, but I have two cousins, one 19 named Darnell, one 14 named James.  Darnell is doing well.  Puts in a great effort at school, wants to go into either the medical field as a nurse practitioner, or do something with law enforcement, and he volunteers his time as an EMT.  James, on the other hand, wrote on Facebook a couple months ago that he wouldn't be going back to school for awhile.  I talked to him later and asked why, what was up?  It turns out that he made three different YouTube videos, one of which targeted another student.  I don't know what the content of the video was, I never personally saw it, but professionals at the school did.  He was suspended and was unable to go back until James underwent a psychological evaluation.  I don't have much more information on what went down, because James obviously hasn't been on Facebook since that initial message I saw, but I do know that he isn't allowed to return to school until September.

In all honesty, I don't feel my cousin is a violent sort.  I don't think that he would instigate a physical confrontation between himself and another student.  Yet I also admit I don't know.  I couldn't say with one hundred percent confidence that that would never happen, so despite him being my cousin, I feel that the school was right to punish him this way.  Yes, it was through technology, but he, and whichever friends of his were involved in this, did the equivalent of harrassing a student, right in front of a teacher, as soon as they walk in a room.

People are responsible for what they do to others.  Thirteen Reasons Why is an incredible book by Jay Asher that deals with the subject of bullying and answering for your actions.  It doesn't deal with technology, unless you want to get technical.  Hannah Baker has committed suicide because of the snowball effect in her life that all started her freshman year because of one person's need to brag about what had, in fact, been nothing more than a simple kiss.  But of course, the guy wanted to make like he was a 'big man' and claimed he'd gotten under her shirt.  After dealing with the undeserved repercussions from his bragging, she makes the decision to end her life, and sends out cassette tapes.  These tapes tell the story and feature the main people who helped her decide to end her life.

This book can potentially do what no amount of hours of detention, or suspensions, or even expulsions can do: teach someone the consequences of their actions.  When someone decides to bully someone else over a computer, the victim doesn't seem real to them.  They forget that they're writing these cruel, sometimes disgusting, things to another real human being who has feelings and can be made to feel absolutely miserable simply because of words.  We're all familiar with "sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me."  How many people never realize how untrue that is?

How many people don't realize until it's too late that words can kill?