In high school I witnessed online violence that was targeted towards a kid who came out. He posted a status on Facebook that declared he was coming out as homosexual and then all this drama and online bullying started. People were posting statuses about him that were bringing him down. But, there were people defending him. On the night this happened, every time I would refresh my Facebook feed there were statuses defending him and statuses that were against him.
Even though there were people defending him, there were people that were bullying him and posting mean comments. The people who posted statuses defending him even got bullied because they were defending him. In this instance, it wasn't just him getting bullied.
The next day at school everyone was talking about it, The person who started the bullying got in huge trouble and was suspended from school for what he did. He was the main source of the bullying and he got in trouble for it. When word got out that he got suspended, people were then taking sides about that: whether or not he should have been suspended or not and if it was right for the school to intervene.
Based on my story and this article, people should stand up for people online and offline. But since we are talking specifically online, I think it is crucial that people stand up for each other online. It is easier to stand up for people online because you can see if and actually do something about it. Defending someone offline, you have to actually be there to do so.
If people are being bullied online and you become aware of it, it is a shame if you don't step in and say something. In extreme cases, it is important to stand up for people. Yes, I understand there are dumb Facebook fights that don't need more attention. But is someone is being bullied, you should for sure step in.
There are way too many victims to online violence and if there is something we can do about it, we should.
ReplyDeleteAshlee, I defiantly agree with you that people should stand up for others whether it is offline or online. It is a very sad story that someone in your high school had to experience those kinds of harsh comments due to his sexuality. I feel like young adults in high school have very one sided mind sets and to hear that someone is homosexual causes them to act out in ways that are inappropriate and uncivil. I am happy to hear that people were sticking up for him, but it breaks my heart that even those people were getting bullied for it as well. I think that we need to have more school meetings in school so young adults know how to react in those situations so others are not getting hurt for their own preferences.
It was very sad, the whole school was in a frenzy over it. A lot of people go involved but it was great to see people standing up for him. But I agree, meetings and seminars about behavior and how to act on social media should be implemented. Young kids need to see the consequences of that and see that words hurt people.
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