It is time to Speak Up

October is National Bully Prevention Month and during this month, CNN pointed out just how bad it can be for a person who is bullied. Bullying does not just take place in person anymore, it has, like so many other things, moved to the internet. Internet bullying is called cyber bullying. The various social media outlets such as Facebook and College ACB, have made it even easier for kids to bully each other. The risk of this new cyber bullying, however, is that the bullying can go global with just a click of the button.  

The humiliation that is brought on by cyber bullying can be life changing. A few weeks ago, a student from a New Jersey College committed suicide after he was the victim of being cyber bullied. His roommate took video tape of him having a sexual encounter with another male student and then posted it on the internet. The student was so humiliated by the event, he jumped off a bridge. The student was later arrested and regretted the joke he played, but the harm was already done. A life was lost. The interesting part of the situation with the student in New Jersey, is there was another student in the room with the individual who was doing the bullying. If she had just spoken up and stopped the attack, she could have changed the outcome.

I believe that today’s society encourages cyber bullying. Everyone in our society is competitive and superficial. They are only looking out for themselves. Everyone is willing to pick on someone else who does not fit the definition of “normal”, but a lot of times this is to hide their own insecurities with the issue of whether they are “normal”.  Bullying, many times, happens because a person does not like him or herself, so the person makes fun of others to help that person feel better about his or her own weaknesses. It takes a strong person to stand up to bullies, because they know if they say too much, the bully will turn on them next, but standing up to a bully will eventually cause the bully to break. If the girl in the dorm room had told the bully it was wrong to videotape his roommate, she may have broken the bully cycle and she could have saved a life.