(no subject)
"Soon, "bulletins" were going out, broadcasting over MySpace that Megan Meier was fat, that Megan Meier was a slut, that no one should be friends with Megan Meier."
LP blogged about this case of cyber-bullying that resulted in the suicide of a girl named Megan Meier. It involved a very detailed hoax, creating a fake person to harass Megan, sending anonymous hate messages to her, and recruiting other people to get them in on the "joke." A week before her fourteenth birthday, after a particularly vicious barrage of messages, Megan hung herself.
Unlike Megan, I was able to confide in my parents about the abuse I received online. I had enough support to not let it completely destroy me. Even when it seemed like everyone I knew my freshman and sophomore year was in on the joke, even when just turning on the computer ended in tears, I clung to anyone who might have a kind word for me, no matter how insincere, and I got through it. By the time I got to be a freshman in college (yes, these episodes continued into college), I'd been tempered by the fires of the past enough to laugh it off and take comfort in the first real friends I'd made. I still don't know who instigated all the messages I received, or even why I was targeted. But I have forgiven those I knew were involved, though it has taken some time.
I'm usually not one to get involved in causes or take up a standard to bear for change. However, after reading this and learning that there is no legislation against cyber-bullying, and (even more frightening) so little knowledge about it, I'm inspired to action. No one should ever be exposed to the cruelty I dealt with for years.
LP blogged about this case of cyber-bullying that resulted in the suicide of a girl named Megan Meier. It involved a very detailed hoax, creating a fake person to harass Megan, sending anonymous hate messages to her, and recruiting other people to get them in on the "joke." A week before her fourteenth birthday, after a particularly vicious barrage of messages, Megan hung herself.
Unlike Megan, I was able to confide in my parents about the abuse I received online. I had enough support to not let it completely destroy me. Even when it seemed like everyone I knew my freshman and sophomore year was in on the joke, even when just turning on the computer ended in tears, I clung to anyone who might have a kind word for me, no matter how insincere, and I got through it. By the time I got to be a freshman in college (yes, these episodes continued into college), I'd been tempered by the fires of the past enough to laugh it off and take comfort in the first real friends I'd made. I still don't know who instigated all the messages I received, or even why I was targeted. But I have forgiven those I knew were involved, though it has taken some time.
I'm usually not one to get involved in causes or take up a standard to bear for change. However, after reading this and learning that there is no legislation against cyber-bullying, and (even more frightening) so little knowledge about it, I'm inspired to action. No one should ever be exposed to the cruelty I dealt with for years.