Guys, remember the time a bunch of supremacist a-holes left me nearly 200 notes calling me everything from a misfit toy to a race traitor to a buck-toothed whore? Something similar recently happened to 11-year-old vlogger Jessi Slaughter, only on a much grander scale.
Slaughter talked about being cyberstalked by anonymous Internet users on Good Morning America yesterday, declaring that despite receiving death threats, she has no plans to stop engaging with the technology that recently brought her to tears.
If you're one to make light of situations like these, understanding this particular incident to be the case of a young girl who was made fun of by a few mean-spirited kids on YouTube, think again. The type of torment being propagated here goes well beyond poorly spelled comments reading "ur videoz suck."
Gawker's Adrian Chen has been covering Slaughter's drama since it began unfolding last week. He himself became the subject of a smear campaign after criticizing those who attacked her.
While there is reason for concern over the treatment Chen received, the protagonist in this story remains to be Slaughter. Some might call her an antagonist as well, given that her profane taunting of her "haters" is what got her into this mess. What is most worrisome is that Slaughter, the daughter of working-class parents who are clearly not tech-savvy (as of Monday Slaughter's mother had still not seen any of her daughter's videos), is dependent upon the relationship she has built with people she does not know online.
She says of her ordeal, "I just want it to kind of like turn positive," referring to all of the attention she's gotten, adding, "I kind of do like the attention but I don't like so much negative attention."
Poor, poor girl.
Slaughter told GMA, "I don't really get along with people from school that much. They don't like me because they see me and they think I'm weird." And there's the sad irony of it all. A young girl looking for refuge from the awkward glances she gets at school is singled-out in a much more disastrous way on the web.
GMA reports that "a detective will come by Slaughter's house next week to sit with her and explain how to use the Internet safely and responsibly." Marion County detectives are "investigating the entire situation to look for evidence of cyberbulling and cyber-stalking." Slaughter was sent to a mental health facility on a suicide watch, but insisted "she wouldn't kill herself," yet she "could understand how someone could be pushed over the edge."
"I think that's completely wrong that people would taunt people to some degree that they would actually kill themselves over it," she said. "And that's actually completely wrong and whoever is doing it should be locked away for a really long time." Slate’s Emily Bazelon recently suggested that the suicide of Phoebe Prince was not the fault of those that relentlessly teased her, but rather her troubled mental state.
I have only two words for you, Emily: Come. On.
Are we going to continue to let bullies off the hook for preying on the weak? I mean, God damn it for realz. What is wrong with people? I applaud Chen for being brave enough to report on this issue. If there's a child in your life and you're worried about their online safety, visit stopcyberbullying.org. And if you are a parent who hasn't yet educated themselves on Internet culture and has no idea what your kidz are doing on the web, figure that shit out now. Finally, everyone: hug someone today. Seriously. If you need a hug, go get one. Hugs, not Internet thugs, guys. Teddy bears and double rainbows for everyone - on the house.
Slaughter talked about being cyberstalked by anonymous Internet users on Good Morning America yesterday, declaring that despite receiving death threats, she has no plans to stop engaging with the technology that recently brought her to tears.
If you're one to make light of situations like these, understanding this particular incident to be the case of a young girl who was made fun of by a few mean-spirited kids on YouTube, think again. The type of torment being propagated here goes well beyond poorly spelled comments reading "ur videoz suck."
Gawker's Adrian Chen has been covering Slaughter's drama since it began unfolding last week. He himself became the subject of a smear campaign after criticizing those who attacked her.
While there is reason for concern over the treatment Chen received, the protagonist in this story remains to be Slaughter. Some might call her an antagonist as well, given that her profane taunting of her "haters" is what got her into this mess. What is most worrisome is that Slaughter, the daughter of working-class parents who are clearly not tech-savvy (as of Monday Slaughter's mother had still not seen any of her daughter's videos), is dependent upon the relationship she has built with people she does not know online.
She says of her ordeal, "I just want it to kind of like turn positive," referring to all of the attention she's gotten, adding, "I kind of do like the attention but I don't like so much negative attention."
Poor, poor girl.
Slaughter told GMA, "I don't really get along with people from school that much. They don't like me because they see me and they think I'm weird." And there's the sad irony of it all. A young girl looking for refuge from the awkward glances she gets at school is singled-out in a much more disastrous way on the web.
GMA reports that "a detective will come by Slaughter's house next week to sit with her and explain how to use the Internet safely and responsibly." Marion County detectives are "investigating the entire situation to look for evidence of cyberbulling and cyber-stalking." Slaughter was sent to a mental health facility on a suicide watch, but insisted "she wouldn't kill herself," yet she "could understand how someone could be pushed over the edge."
"I think that's completely wrong that people would taunt people to some degree that they would actually kill themselves over it," she said. "And that's actually completely wrong and whoever is doing it should be locked away for a really long time." Slate’s Emily Bazelon recently suggested that the suicide of Phoebe Prince was not the fault of those that relentlessly teased her, but rather her troubled mental state.
I have only two words for you, Emily: Come. On.
Are we going to continue to let bullies off the hook for preying on the weak? I mean, God damn it for realz. What is wrong with people? I applaud Chen for being brave enough to report on this issue. If there's a child in your life and you're worried about their online safety, visit stopcyberbullying.org. And if you are a parent who hasn't yet educated themselves on Internet culture and has no idea what your kidz are doing on the web, figure that shit out now. Finally, everyone: hug someone today. Seriously. If you need a hug, go get one. Hugs, not Internet thugs, guys. Teddy bears and double rainbows for everyone - on the house.
1 comments:
God. I hadn't heard about this--thanks for posting.
Beyond sad...
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