Another cyber-bullying suicide case

[manifold]

Immigrant Teen Taunted by Cyberbullies Hangs Herself
Massachusetts Girl, 15, Was Reportedly Bullied Online Before Taking Her life
By SUSAN DONALDSON JAMES
Jan. 26, 2010—


Even in death, Phoebe Prince was bullied. On a memorial page dedicated to the Massachusetts teen who had recently committed suicide, Facebook members left taunting comments that had to be removed.

The 15-year-old -- a recent immigrant from Ireland with a pretty face and a soft brogue -- was found dead in her South Hadley home Jan. 14, according to police.

Afterward, her fellow students came forward to tell school officials that Prince had been teased incessantly, taunted by text messages and harassed on social networking sites like Facebook.

"It's heart-wrenching," said South Hadley Police Chief David LaBrie. "She had only moved here last summer."

"We are looking at all factors," said LaBrie, who was assisting the Northwest District Attorney's office with an investigation into Prince's death.

LaBrie refused to discuss the details of Prince's suicide out of "respect for the family's privacy.

"It's tremendously emotionally draining on the family and the whole community right now," he told ABCNews.com. "It's such a sad thing."

Many in the suburban community of about 17,000 in western Massachusetts was in shock after learning that Prince had reportedly hung herself just days after accepting a date to a high school dance.

In a letter to parents, Principal Daniel Smith called Prince "smart, charming, and as is the case with many teenagers, complicated. ... We will never know the specific reasons why she chose to take her life.''

Prince is not the only case of apparent bullying that has sparked national headlines.

Cyberbullying Likely Factor in Suicide of Massachusetts Teenage Irish Immigrant - ABC News

 

[uscitizen]

Sad, She would not have made it as a liberal on here.

 

[manifold]

Apparently two of the alleged bullies have been "disiplined."

I wonder what that means?

Two South Hadley High School students have been disciplined following the suicide of a 15-year-old Irish girl who was bullied relentlessly at school and online.

“There are students who have been discliplined already in connection with the incident that did occur in our school last week, and there’s still an investigation going on, which may lead to disciplinary action against other students,” said School Superintendent Gus Sayer.

Sayer declined to comment on who the students were or how they had been disciplined, as police and the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office continued their own probes of Phoebe Prince’s Jan. 14 death.

Girl’s death prompts school to take action - BostonHerald.com

 

[manifold]

In a statement yesterday, Gov. Deval Patrick urged the Legislature to pass a bullying-prevention measure.

“We need anti-bullying legislation now,” Patrick said. “Our schools should be places where all children are safe. There are a number of bills before the Legislature that address bullying, and I urge action soon. I look forward to comprehensive legislation reaching my desk in short order so that we can promote safe learning environments in all of our schools.”

Any ideas about what a bullying-prevention measure would entail?

 

[AllieBaba]

This is why parents should closely, CLOSELY monitor their kids' internet use. If my kids had facebook, I'd be on it every day and if it was problem shut it down. After calling the parents of the assholes giving my kid a hard time, of course.

As far as that goes, my grown kids have facebook accounts, and I check them pretty regularly as well! Not because I have any control over their computer access, but believe me, if I saw questionable content on there I'd be supporting the hell out of my kids, even if they are in their 20s.

 

[bodecea]

Stories like this break my heart and make me fear for my daughter. It's a cruel world out there.

 

[Ravi]

I thought assisted suicide was already against the law.

 

[manifold]

I thought assisted suicide was already against the law.

So you think browbeating the shit out of someone to the point where they no longer want to live qualifies as "assistance?"

That's one messed up noggin you've got there Ravi.

 

[uscitizen]

Assisted suicide should only be illegal for minors as it was in this case.

teens are marginally sane anyway. I am suprised there are not more suicides among teens.

 

[TheSuaveOne]

Wow, parents really do need to monitor their kids online activity more. How the hell did it get to the point where she was willing to take her own life?

Teh internets...it's serious business.

-TSO

 

[AllieBaba]

Teens have zero impulse control.

Kids shouldn't be able to play on the internet during the week, and have all their activity very, very closely monitored.

When my boys were teens and started using my woefully inadequate computer for games and forays into porn (these were boys, the worst I saw were Britney Spears weird stuff..oh and the bizarro screen saver my eldest stuck on my computer as a joke) my computer went into the dumpster. This was 10 years ago.

My two younger kids are 7 and 6. They get to play carefully chosen flash games on the computer, and we'll look at youtube together...last night we were singing songs. But they don't get to play the games during the week at all, and I'm right on top of them the whole time, and I shut it down after a reasonable amount of time.

 

[MaggieMae]

There's a new book out "You Are Not a Gadget" which warns that with the advent of the Internet, instead of giving the potential for individual creativity, thus expansion of the brain's ability to rationalize, the web is devolving into an oppressive, conformist, hive mind. Here's a review by an Amazon contributor:

In his book You Are Not a Gadget: A Manifesto, Jaron Lanier becomes a solitary voice in the wilderness shouting as loudly as he can that all is not well with the virtual world nor with the tools that make the virtual world possible....software and computers. That this book was written by an insider from the world of the Internet should get everyone's attention.

Jaron Lanier is a household name for those who follow the world of computers and virtual reality and his book is nothing more than a manifesto warning us that there is a dark side to the Internet. Even innocuous websites such as Facebook and Google, "lords of the cloud" do not escape Lanier's expose. "Emphasizing the crowd means de-emphasizing individual humans" and that, in the end, leads to "mob" behavior. Utterly true.

Unfortunately, for adolescents whose brains aren't yet adult enough to understand that the Internet does NOT play fair, this situation will only get worse as technology moves along at light speed. Right now, the only solution IS parental control which means OTS monitoring, not the bypass gadgetry which kids today know how to, well, bypass.

 

[uscitizen]

The net is destined to become just another source of programming like the Vidiot tube.

Why would anyone expect any different result?

Most people seem to desire to be told what to think and what to do.

 

[Conspiracist]

I bet the discipline the two teens are getting now is nothing compared to when her family gets hold of them in whatever method they choose to do it. Starting with their parents may be a fantastic start.

 

[uscitizen]

The net is just another tool that can be used for bullying. albeit more public and embaressing.
A certain number of teens commit suicide every year from cruel bullying regardless of the source.

 

[Anguille]

I wonder if she was called a baby-killer?

 

[Conspiracist]

The net is destined to become just another source of programming like the Vidiot tube.

Why would anyone expect any different result?

Most people seem to desire to be told what to think and what to do.

I see it pointing in that direction. I enjoy the new found speed and endless info on the "interweb", but a part of me misses the days when it wasn't as corporate.

 

[MaggieMae]

The net is just another tool that can be used for bullying. albeit more public and embaressing.
A certain number of teens commit suicide every year from cruel bullying regardless of the source.

It's gotten far, far worse in the Generation X and Y worlds. The movies "Mean Girls" and "Cruel Intentions" were just the tip of the iceberg. Teenagers will always emulate their parents, and in today's world that means some think of themselves as "special" because they can afford all the material things they see around them, and anyone who can't is seen as beneath them.

 

[AllieBaba]

I wonder if she was called a baby-killer?

Where the hell did that come from? Is that all you think about?

 

[uscitizen]

The net is just another tool that can be used for bullying. albeit more public and embaressing.
A certain number of teens commit suicide every year from cruel bullying regardless of the source.

It's gotten far, far worse in the Generation X and Y worlds. The movies "Mean Girls" and "Cruel Intentions" were just the tip of the iceberg. Teenagers will always emulate their parents, and in today's world that means some think of themselves as "special" because they can afford all the material things they see around them, and anyone who can't is seen as beneath them.

Our sense of self esteem is mostly based on posessions now not on who and what YOU are.
That value system will naturally have problems.

this possession based value sytem is primarially caused by capitalism. And their programming of us thru the vidiot terminal.