I have been nursing a pretty nasty stomach bug and haven't been able to blog much, but I saw this story, and I was really pretty outraged, to say the least.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1246284/Teenage-Irish-girl-emigrated-America-hanged-cyber-bullying-torment.html
This beautiful young girl with her whole future ahead of her immigrated to America from Ireland with her family only to be ridiculed and tormented by her classmates with all kinds of Internet and text threats, labeled all kinds of derogatory names, all out of cruelness, jealousy, and downright evilness. These taunts resulted in taking her own life.
I love facebook and the convenience of modern technology with texting and wireless email, but I don't think it was invented or intended to be used as a tool to promote harassment and verbal abuse. This is just heart breaking, and I can't imagine how her family must be feeling right now.
I don't understand how parents can let their children have such free reign over the Internet. They should be more aware of what websites and electronic gadgets their kids are using and just what they are using them for. Clearly, this girl was being bullied, and the school failed to recognize the signs and protect her. Even if she was too afraid to come forward to report these incidents, I have little doubt that the signs she was in trouble were there, and those in the system employed to protect her failed her. Thoughts?
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