Final Blog

Have you heard the echo? Harassment, abuse, and discrimination are several words that can be used to describe the echo that has existed for centuries. It’s chime can be easily heard among adults, teenagers, and even children. This constant recurrence effect’s everyone and anyone at least one time or another in their life and is not to be taken lightly. The consequences of this echo can be low self-esteem, physical abuse, or even death. Whether, it would be at school, through texting, facebook, or even the everyday workplace, everyone is affected by bullying!   

I began writing this blog nearly over six weeks ago for my English 112 class. Throughout my blog I discussed the different types of bullying, who bullying can affect and how, how to recognize the signs of bullying, personal stories, helpful tips for parents, shared articles on laws, personal stories and shared any interesting thoughts about bullying along the way. Overall I hope I educated anyone who read this blog just as much as I did myself , I thought this was a great opportunity to be creative using a variety of stories, articles and facts to raise awareness. Throughout this process I was amazed how technology can affect children in such as negitive way through cyber bullying. And it made me realize even more how dependent people on are technology.  I now have a better understanding to recognize the signs of bullying for the future whether I have children of my own or family members. And lastly, I was inspired by the personal stories of Megan and Brodie’s families. Even though both these families have been through soooo much, each turned their  difficult times into away to fight for their daughters by helping other victims and creating oppurtunties to speak with parents, teachers, and children about preventing bullying.

Remember if you hear this echo that chimes so frequently even under the watchful eye of parents, teachers, and classmates, make the difference and stand up against Bullying.  

BULLYING STOPS HERE!!!

Bullying PSA

                PSA’s or Public Service Announcements serve as a great way to promote bullying, raise awareness, and share personal stories. I discovered one of these PSA’s on youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wY7Gvq0P4hc) that I would like to share with you and give my rhetorical Analysis of it.

            The video is called, “ The Price of Silence”. This video was approximately 2 minutes long. PSA are normally under a minute. I understand they wanted to point out the fact that no one was helping this young man in anyway at first. But instead of standing up to this bully they were just going along with whatever he was doing. However, I felt this part of the video could have been a little more short and to the point.

            The use of quotes in this video was very inspiring as they used a quote from Albert Einstein, “The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.” I thought this was a very clever quote that coordinated well with their title as well as their story line. At first the other children won’t speak out or go up against the other bully as they fear him. However, it only took one person to break the silence. One person to motivate others to step up and make a difference. That is the message of this PSA. This PSA wants to motivate others to break the silence and be the first in their community or school to make the difference.

            At the end of the PSA it says, “Stand up for a vitum, they will remember you forever”. I thought they could have come up with a little more catchy saying at the end to really put that final thought in peoples head to motivate them to really get out there and make a difference by standing up to bullying.

Stop Bullying.

Brodie's Law

In previously blogs I have discussed personal stories, problems in the workplace, and how bullying can impact childern's futures. You could be asking yourself during all of these discussions what is the government doing about this? Aren’t there laws against bullying? Are there punishments for these criminal like actions?

On May 30, 2011 Brodie’s Law against bullying was passed in the Upper House. This law states that if a person is convicted of bullying they could be sent to prison up to 10 years.

The changes made to stalking laws will change workplace and cyber bullying punishment to Crimes Act provisions already governing stalking. However, children who use social networks like Facebook, Myspace and MSN to threaten or harass could be caught up in this change, although any children under the age of 10 cannot be brought before a criminal court.

Nineteen year old, Brodie Panlock was a waitress at the local Hawthorn café. In September of 2006, she jumped to her death from a building after being bullied at her workplace. If was later discovered that  co-workers abused her, spat on her, poured beer over her and held her down while she was doused in cooking oil. Brodie first attempted suicide by taking rat poison after being rejected by Smallwood whom she’d had a intimate relationship with.  

Damian and Rae have been trying for several years to change this law. "It's a good day but it's not the end it's the beginning," Damian said after seeing Brodie’s law passed. He commented that this was a good day but there is still much more to be done.

I have been reading several of these inspiring stories and I just praise God that he has created such strong willed people like Brodie’s family as well as Megan’s. These families have lost so much but at the same time are slowly but steadily over coming mountains.  

Adult Bullying: Is bullying in the workplace creating problems for future generations?

                The American economy has been in a downward slide for nearly a decade. Our future generations are now facing problems like soaring gas prices, budget cuts in school programs like Physical Education and music, along with budget and job cuts in the workplace. These problems are escalading out of control and could be linked to increasing bullying problems in the workplace. I recently discovered several articles that discussed studies showing a drastic increase in the percentage of workers bullied, not only here in American but around the world.

             The article,“Coalition cuts spark rise in work bullying” by Mark Ellis was posted on May 5, 2011 in England. This article discussed that one in three workers three have complained of bullying, nearly doubleing under the Tory-led Coalition government. And this problem is said to only get worse. However, many workers that are being bullied are afraid to complain as they are fearful of losing their jobs. A recent survey conducted by the largest public service union revealed how bullying causes stress, anxiety, anger, and low motivation to nearly 6,000 workers. Nearly half said they were too scared to complain as it could make them redundancy targets while one in four blamed cutbacks. And eight out of ten workers claimed they doubled their amount of work but still were receiving the same amount of pay due to budget cuts. This survey group expressed a great amount of concerned that bullying cases explode and multiple if these cuts continue.

            Another article I read over was post by Sandra Bookman from ABC news called, “The Bully-filled workplace”. This article discussed a studied that revealed that 35% of American workers claimed to have been bullied or are currently being bullied at work. That is approximately 53 million people! A young man shared with ABC how his first job out of college was a nightmare, claiming that he was belittled everyday by a co-worker that was verbally abusive. Many have linked this terrible behavior to the downward plunge of the economy. Many American are highly stressed with money issues due to the rising gas prices, etc. However, many will not voice their complainants for fear of losing their jobs. Though, not only is this growing problem creating health risks like depression and low self-esteem but, it can also hurt the company as well. Bullying can distract workers therefore causing a loss of productivity.

            How can we expect our children and future generations to stop bullying if adults are setting the example that bullying is okay? How can we expect to fix this problem without first fixing the problem that may be causing this? American needs to take responsibility for the problems it is creating for our future generation such as bullying. And I think that would start by setting a better example for our children, teens, and young adults.

Helpful tips for parents: Cyber Bullying

In the previous blog I shared the sad story of Megan Meier as an example of cyber bullying.  Although, parents can take many precautions, social networks like myspace can still be a very dangerous for teens and young adults like Megan. Below I have listed 10 helpful tips for parents and adults based off of personal knowledge and research in order to advise parents how to avoid another case like Megan’s.  

1.      Always know who your he or she are talking to online or on their phones.

2. Be able to access and see all information he or she is talking about or posting online. The chances are if they think that it’s something you shouldn’t see, that means it probley shouldn’t be said.
3. Make sure you’re his or her privacy settings are set on their accounts. Only sharing information with people you know and trust.( Megan did not know Josh personally but, only through myspace) Parents need to be aware of notices from social networks, because sometimes privacy settings change.
4. Make sure all profile information and pictures are appropriate. Therefore, not sending the wrong type of message to viewers.
5. Encourage him or her  not respond to cyberbullying. Many people post ,text ,or use name-calling to get a reaction. If someone has posted or sent a message that could be hurtful to others, encourage them to be the more mature person and refuse to pass it along or respond to it.
6. Parents should keep evidence of cyberbullying. Keep records of dates, times and descriptions of instances when cyberbullying has occurred. Save and print screenshots, e-mails, and text messages.
7. Block the person who is cyberbullying. Many websites and phone companies let you block people. Also, cyberbullying may violate the “Terms and Conditions” of these services. Consider contacting the service provider to file a complaint.
8. Parents and teachers need to report any incidents to school administrators. They may be able to help you resolve the cyberbullying or be watchful for face-to-face bullying. All incidents need to be reported no matter how minor the case.
9. Encourage he or she to Ask for help. Sometimes, talking to a counselor or health professional can help them get through the emotional effects of bullying. If they don’t want to talk to a health care professional encourage them to talk to someone they trust and can open up too.
10. Be aware . Today’s generation of children are extremely exposed to many situations that a parent or teacher cannot always prepare a person for, yes children and students need to learn on their own. However, parents and teachers need to always be aware of what is going on in case they need to intervene because the problem is becoming a life threatening situation.

The Megan Meier Foundation

14The cyber bullying case of Megan Meier was a tragic story that sadly ended with Megan taking her own life.  “The difference between stumbling blocks and stepping stones is how you use them”, I think this fits the Meier family’s story very well. When you think about the worst thing that could possibly happen to your child or friend, death is the worst. However, the Meier family chose to use their daughter’s story as a way to help others by creating the Megan Meier Foundation. Their mission statement is, “Bringing awareness, education and promote positive change to children, parents and educators in response to the ongoing bullying and cyber bullying in our children’s daily environment."

This foundation offers a website that share’s Megan’s story. This story offers step by step details of how this vicious mother gained Megan’s trust and confidence to convince Megan that she was a 16 year old boy named Josh. It also share’s personal conversations between Megan and her parents as well as “Josh”.

Megan’s mother, Tina began a personal blog on this website to update people on cyber bullying laws in progress, share personal events, interesting articles, and give personal advice. This blog also is serving as a great way for other victims or parents to share their stories and gain advice from Tina.

This website also offers events to raise bullying awareness in honor of Megan. Such as golf tournaments and silent auctions. The golf tournaments allow communities’ members as well as the general public to sponsor these events to support bullying awareness.

Overall, I think Megan’s parents are very inspiring! Even in the worst of times they got back up and chose to make a difference not only in their community but they shared their story across the nation.       

Cyber Bullying: Megan's Story

In previous blogs I have explained how important it is for to parents be aware of who their teens and young adults are associating with online, having access to those social accounts at all times and allowing only family, friends, or people you trust to see that information.

The Megan Meier story is an example of a young girl that had befriended a 16 year old boy named Josh Evans on her my space account. Although, Megan’s mother knew about and gave permission to Megan to add Josh on her myspace, Megan’s mother Tina kept a very close eye on them for the next 6 weeks. During this time Tina learned a great deal about the world of myspace including the 9 pages of term and conditions users are supposed to follow which included an age limit to be able to open a myspace account. The age limit was 14 years of age however, Tina claimed the only thing the account asks you to do is check mark a box telling your age. Although, Megan was under aged Tina made sure she set the privacy setting on her daughters account as well as knowing the password to the account therefore being able to access the account at any given time. During these six weeks Megan became very fond of Josh however, on October 15, 2006 Megan began receiving very disturbing from Josh that said, “I don't know if I want to be friends with you anymore because I've heard that you are not very nice to your friends.” On October 16, 2006 Megan became very upset after discovering that people that been posting mean things about her," They are posting bulletins about me." A bulletin is like a survey. "Megan Meier is a slut. Megan Meier is fat." Tina however, had to take her other daughter to the orthodontist and was running late but told Megan to log off before she left. After Tina came home she went downstairs only to discover Megan had not listened to her at all. Tina then became very anger with Megan. Megan then ran from the computer up stairs yelling, “You’re supposed to be my mom! You're supposed to be on my side!".  Tina then ran upstairs only 20 minutes later only to discover Megan hanging in her closest. Megan died the next day just before her 14^th birthday. Later that day Megan’s parents opened Megan’s myspace account to find the last message that Josh sent to her which was, "Everybody in O'Fallon knows how you are. You are a bad person and everybody hates you. Have a shitty rest of your life. The world would be a better place without you.” Later, authorities discovered that Josh Evans was actually a former friends mother that had created a fake myspace account to find out if Megan was talking about her daughter.

Megan’s story is a sad example of how even though parents can take many precautions technology can still be a very dangerous place for innocent teens and young adults like Megan to be bullied. This is why it is so important for account users to know ALL of their friends and have met them face to face.

STOP BULLYING.