Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been tagged as “bullying”
RIP Olivia Mae Scott – 9 October 2013 a victim of bullycide. Bristol, Vermont lost a beautiful young lady on October 9, 2013. Olivia Mae Scott, 16, a Junior at Mount Abraham Union High School passed away unexpectedly. “Passed away unexpectedly” is a euphemism for many things, in Olivia’s obituary it is a euphemism for committing suicide, she ended her …
Rehtaeh Parsons was 17 years old when she took her life. She had been shamed and humiliated following the sexual victimization by a group of boys two years prior. The Nova Scotia prosecutor claimed insufficient evidence to prosecute. Now we have a child gone, due to bullycide. Sadly, the Nova Scotia government has gone into damage control mode, which may be too little too late.
Bailey O’Neill, passed away, the day after his 12th birthday. Bailey had been injured in January 2013 during an incident which occurred at Darby Township (PA) School, in which he had his nose broken and suffered a concussion; over the course of the ensuing weeks he began suffering seizures. Bailey’s parents brought him to hospital, where Bailey was placed into a medically induced coma so as to allow medical personnel the opportunity to diagnose the cause of his seizures.
According to Bailey’s family, he was “jumped” by two students during recess at the school; the two students who attacked Bailey received two day suspensions from school following the January incident.
It was a sad day in La Grande, Oregon on 28 January. The family of Jadin Bell, took him off life-support and he passed. Who is Jadin Bell? Jadin was a 15-year old high-school sophomore who had tried to commit suicide on 19 January by hanging himself in the playground of Central Elementary school. What may have driven Jadin to take his life?
The stalker, may he burn in hell, a male predator on-line convinced a 12-yr-old Amanda whom he befriended in a chat room to flash her breasts over an internet connect and did a screen grab of the event. For the next few years, he continually threatened and then followed up those threats with action sharing the photos of Amanda within her peer population when she declined to do whatever he was demanding of her – via Facebook where he had set up alias accounts and assimilated himself into Amanda’s new circle of friends.
Where could Amanda and her mother taken some direct action?
The suicide death of 15 year-old Amanda Todd was a preventable and tragic event. Her mother, Carol Todd, has asked that her daughter’s death be used as a means to prevent the death of another child. Our children need to understand that suicide is not the coping option. That one can survive being bullied. That we all make mistakes, that we all are stronger when we have a support system to lean on.
Chris Pirillo, a man who I admire very much, has a suggestion – a one-day conference for children to learn that bully victims can and do survive and most importantly for them to know that life is worth living. I am supporting Chris in his effort to put such a conference together. I solicit your support, spiritual, fiscal, and participatory.
Kameron Jacobsen – Age 14, four months into his Freshman-year of high school, Kameron took his own life in January 2011. According to his parents, he had been the target of bullying both at Monroe Woodbury High School and away from school within the online communities he frequented, Facebook and Formspring.
On January 13, 2011 – Kiefer Allan, age 14, was the first of many children who took their own life during 2011 as a result of not being able to cope with the onslaught of bullying.
On 2 November, I gave a talk, “Unintended Consequences” at Gnomedex. I spoke to the need to recognize that “always-on” isn’t necessarily always good. I went on to describe the train-wrecks which occur when technology which is created for good, is used in a manner, unintended. I then shared the stories of 36 young people who we lost in 2010 due to being overwhelmed, both online and off.
I had the pleasure of speaking with Chris Pirillo pre-Gnomedex about a variety of subjects, some light, some humorous and one very serious – the topic of bullying and the attendant suicides. During this discussion, I also shared my thoughts on how we as a collective society need to step up and accomplish in the immediate future. I do hope you will come and listen to my talk on the Gnomedex stage at Seattle Interactive conference on 2 November 2011 at 1400 hours (2:00pm).
The presentation is titled: “Unintended Consequences”
In David Schwimmer’s TRUST, the teenage character Annie finds herself the subject of great deal of unwanted and undeserved attention by her high school classmates in a manner in which constituted to all would be unacceptable and falls within the realm of cyberbullying (as the bullying occurred using online media). We all have encountered instances where those who did not conform or who had experienced something not of the ordinary come under undo scrutiny and are isolated for the experience by their peers. The scrutiny often times manifests itself into ridicule, sarcasm or insults as those who are observing from afar attempt to differentiate and exclude themselves from the experience.
Bully Bullying Cyberbullying Bullycide – These four words continue to appear with ever greater frequency in the lexicon of the modern American family. We hear these words on the evening news, in our newspapers, and online in all forums. We live in 2011, but to see how we treat one and other from afar, you’d think perhaps the calendar had rolled back a few centuries. You see – individuals be they young or not-so-young are bullied both at school and at work. The tragedy is, our youth of today, by and large are not prepared for today’s always-on world, even though they live it 24/7. The fact that in 2010 we lost 34 children where bullying was a principal issue in their decision to end their lives speaks volumes. There were 33 who committed suicide. Then there was one young man who was killed while trying to extricate his sibling from two bullies who were pummeling his sibling, he was shot and killed. Each of them has a story, I share these…
Kudos to the American Bar Association (ABA) for amending and adopting their resolution 107A which urges “… federal, state, tribal, territorial, and local officials, to prevent and remediate the existence and dangers of bullying, including cyberbullying and youth-to-youth sexual and physical harassment.” In my view this is very much a step in the right direction…
Exposed is a 10 minute drama about a 15 year old girl called Dee, who makes a very common mistake of sending via (SMS – text messaging) five photos of herself to her boyfriend, nude photos. This is called “Sexting”
If we are able to collectively work together, we can save a life, we can save many lives and in doing so we will demonstrate to the children, every day is worth living.
… in 2010, by my count, 30 children ranging in age from 9-19 took their own lives as they were unable to cope with the bullying which they were being subjected. These families who lost their child …
Brendan James Clarke was 14-years-old when he took his life on November 11, 2010. Brendan lived in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania and was a freshman at Stroudsburg Jr. High School.
Samantha Kelly a 15-year-old hung herself on November 8, 2010 following months of harassment and taunting following her making rape allegations against a senior at her highschool.
Brandon Bitner was a 14-year-old straight-A freshman student at Midd West High School in Middleburg, Pennsylvania. He wrote a suicide note to his family “I’m sure that when I’m gone, you’ find the strength not to let this happen to anyone else.”
Cassidy Andel was a 16-year-old from Cooperstown, North Dakota who hung herself at her home on November 4, 2010.