This whole thing has me furious. Yep, I’m wearing my feminist/socialist panties again…
Bottom line, is that we need to CHANGE our PASSIVE BYSTANDER mentality. All these beautiful people coming out of the woodwork now. Where in HELL were they when they were needed? Where was the peer interventions when it could have made a difference. Not just for Amanda Todd but for the whole schwack of others who are committing suicide because of bullying.
The schools/society-at-large are too frightened to stop the bully. Why? to oversimplify, it’s because it’s the bullies who run the place. (Funny watching Christy Clark speak on bullying!) From politicians to banks to pharmaceuticals, we’re a worn down group of people.We need to teach INTERVENTION to our kids. How? By becoming interveners ourselves. We do this by VOTING. We do this by consciously speaking out against abuse/bullying/rape when we KNOW that friends of ours are doing it. We practice using our VOICES.
I remember watching a kid getting bullied at a bus stop, after work, when there were HUNDREDS of adults around. This one kid with a skateboard was being harassed by two older bigger kids. All I had to do was offer to wait for the buss with this kid. No one else had the balls. The bullying stopped, at least in that moment. And those three kids knew someone was watching AND willing to act. STEP UP folks. Ain’t no time like the fucking present.
Ten things I want to say:
- She died too young.
- She is one of about 300 Canadians teens each year.
- There is very little difference between Amanda and Reena Virk EXCEPT:
– Their last five minutes
– Their cover appeal - The public reaction couldn’t be more different. What does this say about US?
- Some dick on one of her FB memorial sites says it’s her fault for flashing. I can’t believe parents are still raising dicks like this.
- Every time a government legislates Back To Work without just cause, someone is being bullied.
- Every time a bank charges 29% for credit, someone is being bullied (it used to be considered extortion, but now it’s just the cost of business).
- Every time Monsanto dictates to a country that heritage crops become criminalized (because it interferes with their profit), someone is being bullied. (I dread the future of water…)
- Everytime an election comes and goes and you DON’T VOTE, you’re indirectly telling your kids that bullies always win, so there’s no point in standing up for your views.
- She died too fuckin young. Maybe we should be looking at ourselves to see what kind of society WE are propagating.
Recent studies show that there’s an equal split between bully, bullied and bystander. Holding one-third of the power, the bystander can make a world of difference. Isn’t it time we started acting accordingly?