Flame Wars

I don't get it. The internet is such a strange place to communicate to begin with, then we create inflections and attitude in our minds about the way something is being said that perhaps we take it the wrong way and get pissed off.

Don't get me wrong, I've been in a flame war before, of course that person was vile and called people wife beaters, and ugly, and other horrible things.

But why to people have to air their dirty laundry on blogs and Facebook and Twitter? I mean, is public humiliation the only way to go these days? What happened to good old discretion? If you have a gripe with someone, send them a message, get their side of the story. Why do you have to plaster your personal crap where everyone can see it?

Do some people just live for that kind of drama?

Maybe when you get pissed at someone over the internet, you should wait 24 hours before doing anything about it. Don't act on emotion, act on rationality.

What do you think about people calling people out on blogs and other social media outlets? Do you think people deserve it or that these matters should be taken care of privately?

Flame photo credit:   Patrick Hoesly / Foter.com / CC BY
Crazy Kitten? photo credit: Merlijn Hoek / Foter.com / CC BY-NC-ND

Bully Prevention Month: Amanda Todd

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.