15yo Kills Herself After Being Bullied

[Gordon Nore]

Stalking can most definitely be a part of this. It is a negative action done with evil intent. Stalking can be a form of bullying.


Imo anyway.

I think the problem here is the very reason why the story is hot. It's got the word, "bully," in the title, which brings eyeballs to print. Put "bully" and "death" or "suicide" together, and you've got a story with legs.

As I said somewhere above, if the charges are supported by the evidence, the line between schoolyard bully and criminal predator was crossed quite aways back. You give bullies detentions and supensions and remediation; they don't go to prison.

 

[harlan]

Bump

Posted this elswhere, but wanted to be sure it was read.

http://onlyintherepublicofamherst.blogspot.com/2010/04/gus-sayer-just-go-i-dont-care-how-just.html

 

[MJS]

Something else that's occurred to me on this issue...

I wonder how much of people's opinions and views on this are shaped by their age, or more specifically by when they grew up? And I'm not trying to suggest that younger people are softer, or that bullying was less intense at different points... but times were different. Behaviors and attitudes that were accepted in the late 70s and 80s when I was growing aren't acceptable today... (Some of that's for the better; some of it I'm not so sure about, and some of it's definitely for the worse.)

IMO, I'd find it hard to believe that if this incident happened in the 70s, that it would be viewed as an "Oh well, she was bullied, and ended up killing herself. Kids'll be kids." attitude. Again, I may be wrong, but IMO, it'd take a pretty cold hearted person to view death as a casual thing.

 

[BlueDragon1981]

I know this happened a little while back and I haven't really read through all the posts on here. Here is my 2 cents worth.

From what I have heard from previous generations is that there has always been bullies. The degree is very arguable. I don't there is more today but a change in the reaction to it. In some ways the bullies have to "top" what they have heard of being done in the past. Sounds malicious and it is. So with those two changes the bulling has changed its face. The number of instances may not have changed. Also the reaction from the media in the past was probably very much different than today. In the end it comes down to some societal changes rather than if it has increased or decreased through the years.

Another item surfacing is the use of technology to bully someone. This is a rather new phenomenon as far as cell phones and social networks (one could always argue those with tech have bullied others when it comes to Politics/war type situations but that is not the tech I'm talking about). With the addition to this the bullies can now bully them after they leave school. There is one big difference. The people getting bullied just can't get away from it.

Now if kids are losing morals or not is a question I can't answer. I see many who are good kids. However with media coverage increasing I also hear of more cases of problems. One example was the school shootings there were some before Colinbine but they weren't as televised. Then it seemed as though they were always televised after that. Sometime putting information out there is not all that helpful.

All I can do is teach my kids that they don't have to put up with bullies but also that they don't have to let them ruin their lives. I often tell them a bully is just looking for help in some way too.

This kind of thing does make me discussed but life has many disgusting things. Maybe my small town life has paid dividends on the moral end.

 

[jks9199]

IMO, I'd find it hard to believe that if this incident happened in the 70s, that it would be viewed as an "Oh well, she was bullied, and ended up killing herself. Kids'll be kids." attitude. Again, I may be wrong, but IMO, it'd take a pretty cold hearted person to view death as a casual thing.

I wasn't clear; I wasn't at all suggesting that the girl's death was anything but a tragedy. I was looking more at the general issue of bullying, and what constitutes bullying and how to respond to it.

 

[MJS]

I wasn't clear; I wasn't at all suggesting that the girl's death was anything but a tragedy. I was looking more at the general issue of bullying, and what constitutes bullying and how to respond to it.

I'm wondering if perhaps, a) the school needs training on how to recognize signs of bullying, b) parents need training on how to recognize signs of bullying and c) the child thats being bullied, needs to understand that its ok to talk to an adult about the situation. Its possible that some kids may feel intimidated to talk to anyone, out of fear that if they do, there will be more hell to pay, from the bully.

 

[MJS]

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20361466,00.html

Guess that old saying, "What goes around, comes around." really is true. Now, I know, I'm sure some people may be thinking, "Well, the people that're making these threats, are no better than the kids." and ya know what, thats correct. If we get technical about it, in some form, that is bullying too. Of course, on the flip side, sometimes that wake up call, comes in the form of getting a taste of your own medicine.

Perhaps now, these kids and others that can't go a day without bullying someone, will wake up, and realize that their actions are wrong.

 

[Drac]

Its possible that some kids may feel intimidated to talk to anyone, out of fear that if they do, there will be more hell to pay, from the bully.

Yes, when I reported it to a teacher the bully was spoken to and I got it worst the next time..

 

[MJS]

http://www.middletownpress.com/articles/2010/04/23/news/doc4bd105b084eeb714648504.txt

This happened in the city that I work in. Its a shame that the school system, doens't have the balls to step and do their job....provide a safe environment in which to learn in!!! Of course, I'm not saying the kid was right in bringing the knife, but again, damned if ya do, damned if ya dont. And whats worse, is no doubt, the punks are laughing all the way to the bank on this one. Not only did they torment this kid, but he ended up suspended.

This is why I always say to my wife and family, that if we ever decided to have kids, not only would I have their back 110%, providing they were not in the wrong, but if they're going to run the risk of getting in trouble, may as well go out with a bang. Someone picks on you, you address it with the teacher, the principal, nothing gets done, then fight back. If it means beating the **** out of the person thats bullying you, then so be it. The school was given fair warning to do something.

 

[eggg1994]

well that just ticks me off when a 15 year old girl kills herself because of bullying and what i don't like is that teachers turn a blind eye on bullying and just say the old saying kids will be kids. they also say just ignore it or you need to toughen up. now bullying has gotten worse because of technology and texting which they can even torment their victums at home. i think the victim should be placed in martial arts to combat bullying and to learn how to deal with it. you know too many people say well martial arts is just going to make my kid more aggressive well it does the oppisite you know. the problem is now there are zero tolarance policys that prevent them from defending themselves which i am really against. i just think kids should be in more martial arts then that team sports crap which does not prepare them for self defence.