Cyber-bullying

Cyber-bullying: an epidemic facing today's youth.

The internet has, since the mid-1990's, revolutionized the way we communicate, do business, and receive national information. Thanks to the internet, the human race has been thrust into a golden age of technological advancement. With the click of a button, data can be sent around the world in the blink of an eye. This pinnacle of communication; this epic feat of engineering; it would not go uncorrupted for long.

Today, youths are faced with the ever-present threat of CYBER-BULLYING. This most heinous form of mental torture has been studied since the Great Troll Flood of 1997, and has been estimated to be at least twenty-six times as damaging as regular bullying. While top scientists are still unsure as to the cause of its power, they have theorized that cyber-bullying's profound effectiveness could be linked to the same mysterious powers that caused WWII, 9/11, and Whitney Houston.

Quite often, the issue is dismissed when brought into the political spotlight. Phrases such as, "it's really not that big a deal" and, "kids will be kids" are thrown out carelessly. What most Americans fail to recognize is that cyber bullying is SERIOUS BUSINESS. Every eleven seconds another life is ruined by cyber-bullying. Take, for instance, the case of youngster David Knight:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/bullying/cyber_bullying.html

Knight wasn't very popular at his school. He was so unpopular that his classmates created a webpage, for the purpose of allowing others to mock him in the public arena. At the tenth hit on the page, David's cat shat on his rug. After twenty visitors to the page, one left a hateful comment; Knight's mother beat him in a drunken rage. By the time the website had finally been taken down, Knight's father was in rehab, his mother in a psychiatric ward, and his one month-old sister had turned to prostitution.

As you can see, cyber-bullying ruins lives, right? Oh wait... None of that actually happened. He opted for home-schooling and felt shitty for a couple months, but he lived. In fact, he's training to become a pilot.

How did he survive those verbal bullet wounds? It wasn't a kevlar noun-vest. As luck would have it, words are only words. The simple fact is that the internet makes it easier to do EVERYTHING. Whether you use it to trade stocks or to mock feminine douchebags like David Knight, it is EASIER. It isn't really that big a deal, and making fun of one another is what kids do. Pansy can't handle it? Tough shit. In the end you can deal with your problems like an adult, or you can be the ever-whining, ever-victimized scum of the Earth.

Choose wisely.

Yours,
Douche²