The Case of the "Inadvertent Bully"

At the seventh grade dance, Elizabeth and her two best friends, Reese and Becca, talked together and had a lot of fun. Much of their conversation was good-natured, but some of their talk was critical of their classmates, especially about the clothes they were wearing. Later that night, Elizabeth blogged about the dance, and she included insults about how her classmates were dressed. She asked Reese and Becca to add their comments to her blog post. "It's like we're fashion critics," Elizabeth had said when she invited them to read her post.

As days went by, the three friends continued to entertain themselves by talking about others on Elizabeth's blog. Elizabeth added a new blog post titled "In or Out" and listed the names of all their classmates. She invited Reese and Becca to visit the web page and rate their classmates based on their looks and how they dressed, according to whether they should be in the popular "in" crowd.

The friends did not realize that Elizabeth's blog was read by anybody else, but, in fact, a link to her "In or Out" list quickly spread around the school. It did not take long before one parent, whose son was repeatedly ridiculed on the blog, reported the blog to the school's principal.

Based on various details posted on the blog, it was easy to trace the blog back to the three friends. The principal called them to her office and confronted them about the gossip and insults posted on the Internet. "We weren't gossiping," said Elizabeth, trying to defend herself and her friends. "We were just expressing ourselves and our opinions. This is the country of free speech, isn't it?"

The principal gave each of the three girls the punishment of ten hours of janitorial duty. The principal also contacted Elizabeth's parents who made her delete the negative blog posts and then write an apology on her blog.

Discussion Questions

• If you came across a blog like Elizabeth's what would you do? Would you talk to others about it or keep it a secret? If you told someone about it, who would it be?
• Do you think it is ok to write negative comments about others on the Internet?
• What would have happened if Reese or Becca had declined Elizabeth's invitation to add opinions to the blog?
• What would have happened if the friends had pointed out to each other that what they were doing was hurtful to others?
• What is the difference between a real fashion critic and the type of commentary that the girls were publishing on the Internet?
• What are ways that gossip and rumors end up hurting others. How does the Internet make this worse?
• Is it possible that Elizabeth could express her opinions and exercise freedom of speech on her blog without being hurtful to another individual? How?
• Is it realistic that a classmate would post something like Elizabeth's "In or Out" list on the Internet? What would you do if you saw such a list?
• If a parent calls a school to report a malicious web page that involves some students, how should a school handle the situation?
• Should the school be stricter about such incidents? Was the girls' punishment appropriate? When would it be appropriate to suspend or expel a student for incidents related to cyberbullying?

Summary: While it is human nature to form opinions, the right to freedom of speech does not make it acceptable to use name-calling and finger-pointing. Lacking patience and better judgment, kids are especially quick to name individuals who have offended them and to form harsh opinions against others. When this happens, a person can be singled out and labeled as bad or wrong. However, it is best to express opinions without using the names of individuals or making accusations against others. Communication tools, such as blogs, are meant to help us learn from each other and improve each other's lives, instead of being destructive to someone's reputation or self-esteem. Parents and teachers are right to address situations where students are hurtful to one another, so students learn how to cooperate and get along with people who are different from them. When situations become intense, school officials should have the power to take steps to protect students against cyberbullying and set appropriate punishments for bullies.

A Real-Life Case of Cyberbullying

• What Consitutes Cyberbullying, A Case Study from the Trenches  (Ars Technica)

References

• Four Types of Online Bullies  (NetBullies.com)

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