Anyone following the case of Amanda Todd? She was driven to suicide by an internet bully. She was 15 and her bully was an adult. You have to watch her video to really understand. Very powerful and sad. Video she made before her death: [YOUTUBE]vOHXGNx-E7E[/YOUTUBE] Story about website trying to out the man who allegedly drove her to suicide. http://jezebel.com/5952080/anonymou...aign=6aaa06c2cf-UA-142218-20&utm_medium=email Anonymous is claiming that Kody Maxson, a 30-year-old (former?) Facebook employee living in New Westminster, British Columbia, is the man who allegedly harassed Vancouver-area 15-year-old Amanda Todd so relentlessly that she took her own life on Oct. 10. In their YouTube video, a Guy Fawkes-outfitted anonybro with an auto-tuned voice reports that Anonymous has discovered a connection between Maxson and Todd, and it looks pretty damning. Linking to a Pastebin page with Maxson's personal information, Anonymous lays out pretty specific personal information. Vice takes it a step further by publishing information that allegedly connects the two — including screenshots of Google Maps near Maxson's house, more of Maxson's personal info, and screenshots of jailbait websites accounts that appear to link Maxson and Todd. Even though they've blurred out some of the names, you can see the disturbing association painted pretty clearly. If Maxson is the creep who Anonymous alleges him to be, he's in for a world of pain, as Facebook groups have already popped up with names like, "Kody maxson WILL die," and "Kody Maxson Better Sleep With 1 Eye Open." After all, he would be the principal orchestrator of Todd's misery — the one who originally asked her to flash him, and then proceeded to hunt her down online a year later, demanding (according to the notes in her heartbreaking video) that she put on a show for him or he'd expose her. She didn't, and what happened next is truly awful: That's when Amanda got "really sick" — she was diagnosed with depression and started drinking and doing drugs to get rid of the anxiety. It didn't help, and the bullying, which grew more intense as more and more people found out about the naked photos, didn't stop. The man created a Facebook page with a list of her friends and school, using Amanda's naked chest as his profile photo. She changed schools, but the bullying followed her there, too. (That's the thing about the internet.) As we know, the harassment continued, and eventually culminated in Todd committing suicide. The story blew up but, as usual in cases like this, it was too late to help the actual victim. As Katie rightfully points out: But the power of internet anonymity - the sense that you can say whatever you want online, that it doesn't matter - exacerbates the issue, as does a culture that sends young women (and everyone else) mixed messages by teaching them that the only way they'll be loved is if they show off their bodies, unless they do it too often/the wrong way/to the wrong people, in which case, they're sluts. In light of Gawker's exposure of notorious troll Violentacrez, and Katie's article about CreepShot-posting creeps being called out, it feels like there's steady momentum in the direction of increased intolerance of this specific brand of internet bullshit. Maybe taking away the anonymity of these people won't completely solve the problem, but perhaps it'll slow things down, allowing would-be harassers to think twice. It likely won't stop the real psychopaths, those hell-bent on being creeps, but it'll probably encourage people who aren't 100 percent devoted to being gross to put the brakes on. Plus, there is so much power in peers telling peers: "Hey, what you're doing isn't cool, so knock it the fuck off." I'm guessing that's our most effective weapon in bully culture, the ability of everyone on the sidelines to say, "Shut it down, weirdo!" Threatening to expose their asses is the internet equivalent of a badge of shame, but perhaps worse; trite as it is, you can't take the internet off at the end of the day. Your name will always be out there, forever branded. Don't believe me? Just Google "Michael Brutsch."
I've heard about that. I think we've all got bullied in at least one point in our lives, in person and online.
To be Devils Advocate... There has ALWAYS been bullying...in every social interaction, there's a damn bully, from when we were kids to probably still now in the workplace, friends, whatever. It's part of growing up. I'm sorry, but really, how is bullying this fucking big of a deal? Fifteen year olds with clinical depression, anxiety and everything else? Where the FUCK are parents? And how much are they to blame? It's sad, it truly is, but wtf ever. I don't give a damn. It's hard for me to believe a damn 15 year old, who doesn't have to worry about putting a roof over their families head, put food on the table, work 3 jobs, is suffering from anxiety and clinical depression.
Clearly this is a young woman that needed help to deal with this situation she was facing. At such an age where teenagers are in a flux emotionally, easily succumbed to peer pressure and social influences, i.e. vulnerable, they can be driven to or resort to irreparable actions that cannot be undone. Where was this young girl's parents in all of this and was she able to address these issues that she faced personally in her life. I wholly comprehend kids are easily impressionable at these ages and want to be liked by their peers and seen as popular and cool. So when things occur that alter that perception they lack the maturity often to rise above it. I can never fathom what would make an adult sit there and engage in such behavior towards a teenager. Some screws have to be loose to engage in such degenerate behavior. It is incumbent that things like these are dealt with firmly and in no uncertain terms, because clearly lines were crossed if this individual did engage in the behaviors he is alleged to have done.
Three small points: 1. A question: Do you have any idea about the physiological make-up of a 15-year old? I am not judging. I'm just asking. Maybe you don't. Maybe you don't remember what it's like being a teenager. Teenagers are malleable blobs of hormones and emotions with which they don't have the experience or wisdom to deal. It's easy for us to look at people that age and vicariously make wise decisions for them. 2. It appears that the parents were very involved, including to the point of putting her in therapy. Hell, they moved her at least twice to different schools. Sometimes these tragedies happen regardless of what parents do. It's hard for many teens to see any kind of light at the end of the tunnel when they feel that tunnel is trapping them. 3. The difference between the bullying that has "ALWAYS been" and the bullying today is not so much in type as it is in medium. Twenty years ago, changing schools and moving away may have fixed the problem. Today, the Internet makes bullying nearly inescapable. Even if Amanda had stopped using the Internet, a difficult thing to do in this day, her stalker had access to former and new friends, old and new addresses, etc. The Internet allows bullying to be relentless and borderless.
It is a tragedy. So much pressure put on teenagers now to both be grown up and responsible and deal with all of the high school bs as well. Parents should be more aware of what their kids are watching on the internet. Just a thought. However, I do not blame the parents or the dumbass that encouraged her to do this. Sometimes the teen needs more help than they are given. They need more therapy, medication, etc. I do believe that mentally unstable teenagers should have their internet monitored to keep them safe..
