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Phoebe Prince, Cyber Bullied To Death

Whisper

Whisper

#byefelicia
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Mass. Teen Takes Own Life After Alleged Cyber Bullying
While police in South Hadley, Mass., investigate whether cyber bullying was to blame for the suicide last week of 15-year-old Phoebe Prince, the teenager who had recently emigrated from Ireland suffered a final indignity - disparaging remarks believed to be posted by classmates to a Facebook page created in her memory.
Prince died on Jan. 14 after a rough freshman year. Friends and school officials told MyFoxBoston.com that Prince had been picked on and taunted since moving to Massachusetts last fall.

South Hadley High Principal Daniel Smith sent out a letter to parents of students at the high school. In the letter, he 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," Boston.com reported.

School bullies taunted Phoebe Prince through text messages, the computer and on Facebook and other social networking sites, Smith told the Boston Herald.

Smith said the bullying often surrounded arguments about teen dating, Boston.com reported.

In the letter to parents, dated Jan. 20, Smith addressed the disagreements: "These disagreements centered on relationship/dating issues. School personnel immediately intervened . . . and both counseled and provided consequences as the situations required. It is what happened after those incidents were over that is cause for significant concern.''

Even after her death, bullies posted disparaging messages on her Facebook memorial page. The comments had to be removed from the page.

A makeshift memorial was held for Phoebe Prince over the weekend.

Messages left by FoxNews.com for South Hadley High School's media spokesman and the South Hadley Police Department were not returned.

Local police and the Northwestern District Attorney are investigating.
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http://foxnews.mobi/quickPage.html?page=22720&content=31995392&pageNum=-1
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This is fucking garbage. Shit like this makes me embarassed to be an American. Fucking stupid cliques and popularity, blah, blah, blah. Problem, is, someone fights back in our culture, and they get come down on hard. This shit has to be fixed, it's been going for way too long...
 
No one gets cyber bullied to death. YOU choose to read text messages. YOU choose to check your FB page, or your e-mail, or whathaveyou. Of course that doesn't make it right, and it's hard to turn a blind eye, but cyber bullying isn't like the kid being forced into the corner in the lunch room. The cyber bully victim has the option of avoiding the internet altogether.
 
Athena said:
No one gets cyber bullied to death. YOU choose to read text messages. YOU choose to check your FB page, or your e-mail, or whathaveyou. Of course that doesn't make it right, and it's hard to turn a blind eye, but cyber bullying isn't like the kid being forced into the corner in the lunch room. The cyber bully victim has the option of avoiding the internet altogether.
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Of course as adults that is what we know. This is how we feel because we are wiser. However for kids... the internet and the social stigma and everything associated with that - is real.

Definition for Cyberbullying:

* Sending someone mean or threatening emails, instant messages, or text messages
* Excluding someone from an instant messenger buddy list or blocking their email for no reason
* Tricking someone into revealing personal or embarrassing information and sending it to others
* Breaking into someone's email or instant message account to send cruel or untrue messages while posing as that person
* Creating websites to make fun of another person such as a classmate or teacher
* Using websites to rate peers as prettiest, ugliest, etc.

These are things that can target self esteem. It is the same in many ways of someone telling that person they are ugly, or whispering someone is a whore through school, etc. In the end, the depressive state that can result in this is the dangerous thing.

http://www.ncpc.org/topics/cyberbullying
 
There's a few people here I have been trying to cyber bully to death but I guess I don't have that kind of far-reaching ability. I will try harder. On a side note, she looks irish.
 
i love the internet. love it. have withdraws without it. get angry and antsy. will my kid? hells to the fuckin no. i went without it for years, and now get to have fun. in the days of iphones and ect. do we need them? no. do we want them? yes. do our kids need them. NO! they really don't. i just..just shaking my head. lets put filters on the cable but give the kid the fucking internet?

it was very easy for this to never happen.
:(
 
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ImmortalOne said:
Of course as adults that is what we know. This is how we feel because we are wiser. However for kids... the internet and the social stigma and everything associated with that - is real.

Definition for Cyberbullying:

* Sending someone mean or threatening emails, instant messages, or text messages
* Excluding someone from an instant messenger buddy list or blocking their email for no reason
* Tricking someone into revealing personal or embarrassing information and sending it to others
* Breaking into someone's email or instant message account to send cruel or untrue messages while posing as that person
* Creating websites to make fun of another person such as a classmate or teacher
* Using websites to rate peers as prettiest, ugliest, etc.

These are things that can target self esteem. It is the same in many ways of someone telling that person they are ugly, or whispering someone is a whore through school, etc. In the end, the depressive state that can result in this is the dangerous thing.
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It's not an adult vs. teen thing. Teens aren't retarded. And LOTS of them get "cyber bullied" based on this criteria, with very few of them committing suicide over it. These kids are depressed kids who would likely commit suicide at some point anyway.

My sister lived with me as a teen. I was only 21 myself. Myspace existed back then, and I've witnessed first hand the heinousness that goes back and forth between drama queens. It's not unlike the drama we all dealt with in high school. Does it attack self-esteem? Sure. But very rarely does that drive any of us to suicide.

I just think that, in order for our fight against something like cyber bullying to be effective, the victim must take responsibility for their hand in the situation. Often times, this vitriol is flung both ways, with the one who got it the worst being the one labeled the victim, when he or she could have walked away in the beginning.
 
If you kill yourself over the internet you don't deserve to live anyway. I mean for fuck's sake people-- it's entertainment!! Turn that shit the fuck off!

I actually picture you people in my head as your fabulous avatars. Do I like you? Sure I do. Do some of you really piss me off? Oh yeah. Am I awake at night thinking about it. No. Well a few of you I am up at night thinking about but it's not in any negative sort of way. More in an ooey gooey sorta way....
 
The definition posted for Cyberbullying reminds me of stalking. Thats not something you can just walk away from most of the time.
 
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And this is what's important.

Back in my day, if you were bullied, you just went home and let your mom answer the phone.

These days, it seems that too many people are interested in what's said in a message, email, etc.

Block and don't read.

It ain't that hard.
 
Athena said:
No one gets cyber bullied to death. YOU choose to read text messages. YOU choose to check your FB page, or your e-mail, or whathaveyou. Of course that doesn't make it right, and it's hard to turn a blind eye, but cyber bullying isn't like the kid being forced into the corner in the lunch room. The cyber bully victim has the option of avoiding the internet altogether.
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What teenager is going to realistically avoid Facebook or the internet altogether? Its never going to happen. This is the way that teenagers literally socialize in this day and age. Bullying is bullying whether it is in person or on the internet. Actually its worse because now the bullying is two fold.....at school and on social networking pages. I personally don't think this issue should be ignored. Its a real problem.

And what the fuck is wrong with our society that these same bullies would continue to make disparaging remarks on her memorial page?

Disgusting and Heartless is what it is. OMG.
 
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I'm not saying a teen is realistically going to avoid the internet, but if there are people out there threatening you, BLOCK THEM. Unless you're so insecure that you can't bear to shut them out, and then there's another real problem.

If you don't want to be hurt, DON'T READ IT.
 
I was fairly tormented in high school. Before that, too. At some point you have to learn to separate yourself and avoid the situations that hurt you.


Apathy is worse than hate.
 
Yeah, both junior high and high school for me. Gotta love to bully the redhaird kid with freckles. In junior high it was mexicans and blacks. In high school it was black guys.

In junior high it was a mostly a black girl with a metal pick in her hair to use as a weapon. She outweighed me by like 100 pounds and was like 6 inches taller than me and guess what? When I went home she couldn't get to me. Her name was Wedia. Wedia Shell.
 
I don't think teenagers are equipped to deal with the technology advanced forms of bullying that go on in todays world. Their brains are still growing and not fully developed. It is not so easy for them to just shut the computer off, ignore texts, etc. It bothers me that adults expect teenagers to handle this type of bullying as if it is not a big deal and is something they should just deal with and move on. I think it is to much for many teens to have to deal with.
 
Chaindrive said:
I'm not saying a teen is realistically going to avoid the internet, but if there are people out there threatening you, BLOCK THEM. Unless you're so insecure that you can't bear to shut them out, and then there's another real problem.

If you don't want to be hurt, DON'T READ IT.
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True. But don't you think they are going to bully her at school as well?
 
I'm pretty sure that if I was 15 in this day and age and someone was hurting me via whatever methods I'd remove myself from the situation.

I mean, the situation doesn't change between methods of hurting...it's still hurting. So why not get gone from it?
 
Echo said:
True. But don't you think they are going to bully her at school as well?
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Sure they will, if they think they have the clout. But school is what? 6-8 hours a day? That means if you can get out of school alive you go home.
 
Chaindrive said:
Sure they will, if they think they have the clout. But school is what? 6-8 hours a day? That means if you can get out of school alive you go home.
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Or you shoot everyone in sight a la Columbine. I just think teenagers are in a place in their lives where they live and die to be popular and or accepted. I think FB and My space compound these insecurities and up the ante on the bullying.

I can empathize with it. I dont think its realistic to expect that they would just turn it off or not read it like an adult would. High School can be such a horrible place for an unlucky few.
 
I'm with Echo. Now as adults we have the life experience to remove ourselves from certain situations. As a teenager though, often your peers are your whole world. That's all you know. High School is like some weird kingdom and who doesn't want to belong?
All the other kids are texting, using FB etc.
You do whatever you can to fit in. More importantly to not stand out.
It's easy to apply adult wisdom to someone who is 15.
For that 15 year old it certainly is not easy to meet those standards (or life experiences)
 
That's a great point ever (out of thanks, I'm sorry)
Just moved from everything and everyone she knows to a different country.
I'm positive you're right
 
im sure the bullying went much further than the computer....

they probably harrassed her all day at school too.
 
I guarantee the bullying was all encompassing.

It's funny, in my school an emigrant from the United Kingdom no matter which part would have been the COOLEST kid in school. The popular kids would have licked dog shit off their shoes just to be seen with them. Weird.
 
http://thephoenix.com/BLOGS/dontquo...ore-about-what-happened-to-phoebe-prince.aspx

Given the loss Prince's family has suffered, this delicacy is understandable--but I wonder if it's the best approach. Here's the problem: unless the nastiness of the girls who made Prince's life hell is revealed in all its grim detail, a certain segment of the public will continue to miss the point.

Take, for example, the musings of assorted commenters who've weighed in on Eagan's piece. Yes, there's sympathy for Prince. But there's also crap like this:

I feel bad for the girl, but, other people are not responsible for her committing suicide. Its the same old victim game. She may have been egged on, but clearly the girl had problems to begin with and would have killed herself at some point. It's always someone elses fault....

Granted, a fuller look at Prince's suffering might not change that commenter's mind. But if it made even a handful of people more enlightened on the subject, wouldn't it be worth it?
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http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/01/24/the_untouchable_mean_girls/
She was a freshman and she had a brief fling with a senior, a football player, and for this she became the target of the Mean Girls, who decided then and there that Phoebe didn’t know her place and that Phoebe would pay.

Kids can be mean, but the Mean Girls took it to another level, according to students and parents. They followed Phoebe around, calling her a slut. When they wanted to be more specific, they called her an Irish slut.

The name-calling, the stalking, the intimidation was relentless.
Ten days ago, Phoebe was walking home from school when one of the Mean Girls drove by in a car. An insult and an energy drink can came flying out the car window in Phoebe’s direction.
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I think this will turn into more than just cyberbullying. Sounds like she was stalked and searched out while trying to avoid some of these kids. I don't believe that depression always is the underlying cause of teens committing suicide over these types of bullying. I think the psychological impact and being tormented relentlessly by these kids doing the bullying and stalking are reason enough to bring a young immature teen to kill them selves. The bigger problem I feel is the little fuckers who do this to other kids without any remorse or guilt at all. There is something wrong with them all. They are all in need of psychological treatment if they see nothing wrong with the way they are acting. They lack empathy and their parents should realize this and get them help.
 
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