She's all over cyberspace, so I'm sure you've already heard her story, if not, here's a video she made one month before her suicide. You should really watch it in its entirety. It's a tragic and haunting look at how bullying can destroy a life. She was only fifteen.
I don't even care what she did. People make mistakes. We all have. It doesn't give anyone the right to humiliate, stalk, and terrorize someone to the point that they become depressed, harm themselves and think their only way out of it is to die.
Perhaps the most troubling thing about this, she's continuing to be bullied in death. People are posting horrible memes. They calling her names, even on the dedication pages made in her honor. They're making fun of her tragic situation. It's cruel and inhuman.
We need to do whatever we can to put an end to this. Bullying is a pandemic and as it did with Amanda it can have a deadly effect.
What can we do? Make bullying illegal. Other than that, I don't know. Here's a start: the Stop Bullying Website. Also, here's a petition to arrest the cyberstalker. Officials have received an anonymous tip about his whereabouts and the fact that he's a 30 year old, which makes him a pedophile as well.
Let's not let Amanda die in vain. Make a stand. Do something.
If I get any negative or nasty remarks on this post, I will delete them and perhaps even report them.
This is so sad. my heart breaks for Amanda, and all the other girls and guys like her. I just posted about this on my blog; it really cut me a lot deeper than most other cyber bullying stories. Things like this (and the Kara Alongi incident I posted about earlier) are made so much worse by the internet, because these mean, hateful attacks aren't just contained to one school or one town. They go online, and it's all over the world forever. How do you deal with that? I can't imagine. If I could, I'd probably volunteer as a counselor or something.
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting some more info about this. I'll definitely look into it and do what I can. Keep spreading the word and fighting the good fight! :)
Thanks Chris. This one really resonated with me too. And the fact that the girl moved schools and cities and this psycho kept stalking her, making her life hell, it's just sick. We need to protect our children. I think this is a good lesson to teach them.
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