*This is based on a true story; all names have been changed to protect those involved.
In Fall 2009, Claire was a very intelligent high school freshman. She was president of the Junior National Honor Society. Also, she was very popular. Popular enough to make the homecoming court. She was very outgoing and was involved in numerous school activities.
During one summer, she met a young man, Roger. They discovered they had a lot in common. A young budding romance began. Because they were only 15 years old, they were only allowed to 'date' over the phone. They talked a lot during the summer, strengthening their bond. Soon summer was over and they both had to return to school.
When school began, Claire was unable to spend as much time with Roger as he liked. He became extremely possessive and jealous. Roger's new behavior scared Claire and she began to pull away. This enraged Roger and he began a technological assault on Claire and her reputation.
Roger began his assault by making numerous Facebook pages under the guise of being Claire. He stole pictures and information from Claire's page and put them on the nefarious pages he created. On these pages Roger would post as if he was Claire. He would say Claire had sexually transmitted diseases, she was pregnant, and she was a lesbian. Utilizing the messaging feature he would call out individuals and groups of upperclassmen in Claire's name and try to pick fights with them. Roger set up MySpace pages for the same purpose.
At school, Claire was living a nightmare. Students would physically confront her and try to fight her. Because of the lies Roger posted on these pages, Claire's classmates and friends began to distance themselves from her. When her closest friends tried to defend her, Roger made false Facebook and MySpace pages about them to discredit them.
The physical and emotional toll on Claire was devastating. Claire was a petite young lady to begin with, but the trauma of the technological assault caused her to lose precious weight she could not afford to lose. The young extroverted Claire began to retreat inward. The once confident, outgoing young lady was slowly being replaced by a more demure and insecure shell of a young woman.
Her mother noticed the changes in her daughter and when questioned Claire told her mother about how she was being bullied over Facebook and MySpace by Roger. Claire's mother met with school administrators regarding the bullying and they were not willing to address the problem. Instead, the told her to change schools or to home school Claire. Claire's mother even met with the superintendent of the school system. He too told her to change schools. The legal system would not address Claire's cyber bullying either. When Claire's mother had Roger arrested for threatening texts, the judge refused to even consider the more vicious attacks that took place on Facebook and MySpace. There was not place for Claire and her mother to turn.
As a result, Claire's mother moved her, at great cost to herself and her family, to another school district.
There is no question the school district failed Claire and her mother. Had they intervened, Claire would not have had to change school systems, nor would she still carry the lingering effects of being cyber bullied. The problem is in 2009, laws against cyber bullying were just being drawn up and enacted. Alabama's Student Harassment Prevention Act was signed into law on May 29, 2009 by then Governor Bob Riley. This law resulted in the development of the Alabama Department of Education's Model Anti-Harassment Policy which was disseminated to city and county school districts across Alabama by memorandum on October 20, 2009. Both the act and the policy laid out procedures for dealing with and definitive consequences for cyber bullying. So why were Claire and her mother not provided help? Why was their situation not remedied? Why was there no justice?
After examining this case, it seems ignorance of the new law and of cyber bullying in general is the culprit. Neither is an acceptable excuse for Claire and her mother. Neither is an acceptable excuse for others who have had to endure the emotional and physical torment of this new age of bullying.
Hi Robert,
ReplyDeleteA truly heartbreaking post and I do hope that 'Claire' recovered back to who she was before the bullying started once she changed schools. Thank God her mother was paying attention and Thank God Claire confided in her honestly.
The problem is that many people with the power to be agents of change and to create legislation do not understand what 'social media' really can do when harnessed as a vehicle for bullying. The term cyber-bullying is used often and I actually think that the term does more harm than good. 'Cyber' is usually associated with being a virtual or digital environment and while it is that; the harm that results is very much centered in the real brick and mortar, flesh and blood world. Cyber-bullying is just bullying. Plain and simple.
Even in your example, the legal system would only address the most physically obvious aspects of the bullying and not the majority of the bullying that was causing the harm and inflicting the most damage.
I think one thing that has to happen is for everyone to realize that behind every cyber-bully is a real, living, breathing human being and that the human being is absolutely culpable and responsible for their actions and behavior no matter the vehicle or arena used to deliver the bullying.
If this situation happened today, what would be the process under the legislation from 2009?
Thanks,
Pat
Pat,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your reply.
First of all, Claire still has lingering effects of her cyber bullying incident. She was harassed for almost a year and it even persisted for a while after she changed school systems. She continues to have trust issues, has trouble making friends, and feels alone and isolated. Truly a sad situation.
Secondly, it is unclear what effects the Student Harassment Prevention Act has on today's schools and harassment that occurs there. If, as you say, it is truly just bullying regardless of the system of delivery then I imagine the effects are minimal. I recall being bullied in school because I was not a jock and because I was different. I am sure 'traditional' bullying still persists.
I think the crux of the issue of cyber bullying is that it is faceless. Usually, bullying occurs face-to-face. However, Facebook, twitter, snapchat, kik, tumblr, etc is not face-to-face. A bully can say 'almost' anything with little to no ramifications. And the audience to which those things are presented is literally limitless. With nearly every teenager possessing some sort of electronic device with access to these social sites and apps, this makes cyber bullying that much more heinous.
Robert
Well said, Robert. Claire's case is symptomatic of our failure as society to teach our kids how to (1) appreciate who they are, and (2) how to avoid issues like she faced. And the system totally let her down. Internet bullying is not a victimless crime...but too many school systems refuse to take responsibility.
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