Cyberbullying

There are several cases from all over the world which prove that cyberbullying is a dangerous phenomenon. The first case dates back to 2003 and concerns a Canadian boy Ghyslain Razu, 15 who shot himself when acting out one of his favourite characters from Star Wars. The overweight boy imitated a fight with laser sword and during this he also imitated battle cry. After some time, his fellow students found this video and they placed it on the Internet as a joke which became very popular soon. The boy just couldn’t psychically bear gained popularity and he spent the rest of the school in psychiatric care. The reaction of his fellow students was the positive aspect – they organized a petition calling for the producers of Star Wars to pay Ghyslain a minor role in the sequel. However, other four best-known cases of cyberbullying had a far more tragic outcome.

Anna, 14 from Poland was subjected to sexual bullying by her fellow students in front of the whole class. Firstly, they undressed her, groped her and finally they imitated rape. The whole incident was shot and they threatened her by publishing the video on YouTube if she wouldn’t go out with one of the boys. Anna couldn’t bear the trauma and committed suicide by hanging.

Patric Ryan Halligan, 13 was a victim of physical bullying and when he tried to oppose, his fellow students punished his gall through his favourite classmate. The girl had to find out as much intimate information about Patrick as possible. Bullies then published it on the school web site, spread gossips about his homosexuality and exhorted the rest of the students to put ridiculing photos on the special web site created just for this purpose. Patrick committed suicide.

Not only cyberbullying is painful for younger children but also for older teenagers. This was also the case of an American girl – Jessica Logan, 18. Her ex-boyfriend couldn’t bear their breakup and published her intimate photos on the Internet. This incident triggered a vicious circle of mockery, offense and humiliation from her fellow students. Logan even appealed to them in the television but they ignored her plea. The tragic result was again a suicide of a nice, friendly, reliable and responsible girl.

The last publicly known case is, for its trivial cause, involved people and consequence, probably the most deterrent one. During her transfer to a new school, Megan Meier, 13 from America virtually met Josh Evans, 16. Even though they never met personally, Megan fell in love with Josh and impatiently waited for each new love message from him. But the idyll didn’t last long. One day, instead of love declaration Josh wrote Megan a hate message that she was repulsive and the world would be better without her. Megan couldn’t bear a sudden turn and a few minutes after hanged herself in the bathroom. During the investigation, it was found out that there an unknown boy wasn’t hidden under the identity of Josh Evans but a mother of Megan’s friend. She said that the whole incident was provoked just as an innocent joke and at the same time as revenge for Megan had stopped being friends with her daughter. In this case, malice lies in the fact that the aggressor wasn’t a peer, as in previous incidents, but an adult who completely ignored, underestimated and misused feelings of an adolescent girl.

Links

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/29546030/#29546237
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtdaEggUDPI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZTgyFmTVdc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6HE-fihpjU