bignewscentral

    • BULLYING FOLLOW-UP

    As you all now know I am very aware of bullying and sickened by it. I am very disappointed to tell you there has been another bullycide in Florida. The girl was 12 and jumped to her death after being physically, verbally, and cyberbullied. One of the two girls accused of bullying said she was “saddened” by the death of Rebecca Ann Sedwick, the other couldn’t care less “I know Rebecca killed herself but I don’t give a ____.” Some say that it wasn’t just the bullying that got to her, it was her home life. She and her older sister didn’t have a room or even a bed to call their own. Her sister and her slept in the living room. The dad is out of the picture

    Examples of specific behaviour that constitutes bullying include:

    • Spreading rumours or posting degrading, harmful, or explicit pictures, messages, or information using social media or other forms of electronic communication.
    • Name-calling, joking or making offensive remarks about a person’s religion, gender, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status
    • Physical acts of bullying, such as punching, slapping, or tripping someone.

    Children and adults can be put in jail for bullying! Yes jail, so think before you say/type/post/text anything. The two girls in the Rebecca Ann Sedwick case are arrested. That, of course, is a worst-case scenario. But at our school alone depending on the seriousness and the urgency the punishments range from a student conference all the way up to expulsion.

    I asked 20 8th graders at our school and 14/20 of them said yes they have been bullied. Being able to choose more than one option, 11 out of those 14 said they have been verbally bullied, 7 said physically, 5 said emotionally, and 2 said cyberbullied. Out of 20 that is a lot!

    Here is the scenario: You’re in class and you hear someone whispering your name along with a bunch of mean things, what do you do?

    A) Turn around and tell them to stop

    B) Sit and say nothing and do nothing about it later

    C) Sit and say nothing till they leave the class and then tell the teacher

    Something is wrong with all of them except standing up to them. If you sit and say nothing then no one will know that you want them to stop and they won’t. If you tell the teacher when they are gone the teacher has nothing to do but wait till he/she can catch them doing it.

    Now if you are a bully think about that. If you talk about someone behind their back, why? Does it make you feel cool?

    “…do you feel like a man when you push her around…”-Face down-The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus (part of chorus)

    Kind of out of context but it still proves my point.

    As many of you football fans may know Richie Incognito (former Hillcrest/Mountain Ridge student.) has been suspended from playing on the Miami football team. Jonathan Martin left because of multiple cases of bullying, all of which are money-related. The reason for his suspension is quite simple. The Miami Dolphins say it is because of “Conduct detrimental to the team.” The Dolphins are working with the NFL on a full investigation.

    I’m going to try and put a bully into a bullied student’s shoes. Think really hard.

    How would you feel if people said mean things about you? What if someone hit you, not like ” Hey I love you man!” lite punch on the shoulder I mean a full-blown “I HATE YOU!” punch to the arm, chest, or even in the face? If you are a bully what do you do? Think about what you do and put yourself on the other side of it switch with the person you bully. Doesn’t feel too good does it, though not.