Bullying is utterly out of control, I don't know how it is in other parts of the world but in North America, every couple of months some kid commits suicide because of severe bullying.
This is getting very disconcerting, the 1980's teen flick bully has evolved, social media is now the tool of choice for bullies. It's no longer wedgies, spit balls or the typical slapping of books out of the hand of some unsuspecting teenager. No, it has become more than that, it has become something dark and disparaging. The term, "sticks and stone . . ." has in this day and age become completely false. I mean, for some the things these teens say one would have to go to boot camp or a psychiatric ward. Not even Gunnery Sergeant Ronald Lee Ermey could toughen up kids for what's being posted on Facebook and Twitter. I swear it's worse than a rendition from any scene from the 1987 movie "Full Metal Jacket," and Sergeant Hartman did Private Gomer Pyle real bad.
Has our society become so superficial that one must insult another human being to a state of depression? For me, I believe parents now play a role, well they always have but when should parents be held liable for their children's crimes.
Yes, many may say argue the nature vs. nurture theory but there has to be something done that accounts for or makes parent pay more attention to what their children are doing in regards to bullying. More importantly something has to be put in place which now scrutinizes the ethics and values that parents feed to their children, knowingly or not. I have seen how some adults conduct themselves and just wonder if they have children and if that same behavior is passed on to them. Watching the news as I usually do, I saw something that disgusted me over the weekend. Two girls in Florida, 14 and 12, have been arrested and charged with aggravated stalking or to make it more clear cyber bullying.
The girls allegedly tormented a 12-year-old girl named Rebecca so badly in September that the 12-year-old leapt to her death from a tower in an abandoned concrete plant.
This is already a sad story but there's more, that will put you even further over the fence. The girls' arrest came after a post was made on the 14-year-old' Facebook account. It read, "Yes IK I bullied REBECCA nd she killed herself but IDGAF."
According to the Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd, he would charge the parents if he could, but said there were no "obvious charges" against them. I'm sure you know what the acronym "IDGAF" means, if not Google it.
The parents were asked by the sheriff to bring the girls in for questioning before charges were filed but in a CNN report Judd said the parents refused.
In an interview with CNN 's Chris Cuomo, the father of the 14-year-old girl said he regularly checks his daughter's Facebook account.He explained that his daughterwas asleep when the Facebook post was made, and he suspects the account was hacked. But the irony of all this was when he was asked about other online services used by the daughter, Kik and Ask.fm, the parents indicated they had not heard of them.
So do we really know the powers our children hold in their hands, maybe it's difficult to keep up with I admit. But I've heard of cases where teens have two Facebook accounts, one as a decoy which their parents follow and the other as their fully functional account.
As adults we need to analyze ourselves and determine when our ethical boundaries have been pushed to an illogical state. And how much of this is being fed to our children, in the U.S. laws are now being discussed regarding the possibility of charging parents when their children bully other kids. What do you think, should parents be held accountable in some way shape or form? Clearly guidelines and other details would have to be ironed out but I believe it's something that could be entertained. A little farfetched some would say but it's something that could maybe help with those who may not take parenting as serious as they should.
