2008 Woodie Awards
Please stop the beatings
Dr. Greg Rabidoux
Issue date: 4/16/08 Section: Perspectives
Back in the day being bullied seemed more simple, and less lethal than today. If the target of the bully was clever, a bit fast and could avoid the bathroom during school hours, he, and increasingly, she, could survive to face another bus ride to school.
Today's world for a teen is far more surreal, far less easy to confine to any one school hallway, locker or bathroom. No, the character of today's bullying is more calculated, lethal and "me" driven than in years past. And it all can be witnessed on the most dominant enabler of instant ego gratification and exhibitionism ever - YouTube. Or, as the mother of one of the latest victims of brutal bullying violence recently declared, "YouTube is the antichrist for children." But I do not come to bury YouTube or MySpace, nor to blithely sing their praises, so a little background is necessary.
A little over a week ago in the town of Lakeland, Fla., six teenage girls between the ages of 14-17 and two teenage boys, age 17 and 18, attacked and beat a 16-year-old girl for nearly 30 minutes. The victim, Victoria Lindsay, 16, suffered a severe concussion, serious injuries to her skull and eye sockets, numerous bruises and cuts and is still sporting deep, black eyes.
Apparently, Victoria, a cheerleader at Lakeland High School, made some remarks that her attackers took umbrage at, and apparently being unaware that the human race has actually developed more options than just physical violence as a way to handle, well, anything, beat her savagely.
At this point you may be thinking, okay, this is a nasty incident of bullying, and sadly, bullying has long been a staple in our society. What's new? True. However, the reason the beating took 30 minutes was that it seems the attackers actually paused during the beating to ensure proper camera angles. The reason? Well, it seems these eight teenage thugs were killing two birds with one high-tech stone. They were filming the entire beating so they could download it on YouTube.
Today's world for a teen is far more surreal, far less easy to confine to any one school hallway, locker or bathroom. No, the character of today's bullying is more calculated, lethal and "me" driven than in years past. And it all can be witnessed on the most dominant enabler of instant ego gratification and exhibitionism ever - YouTube. Or, as the mother of one of the latest victims of brutal bullying violence recently declared, "YouTube is the antichrist for children." But I do not come to bury YouTube or MySpace, nor to blithely sing their praises, so a little background is necessary.
A little over a week ago in the town of Lakeland, Fla., six teenage girls between the ages of 14-17 and two teenage boys, age 17 and 18, attacked and beat a 16-year-old girl for nearly 30 minutes. The victim, Victoria Lindsay, 16, suffered a severe concussion, serious injuries to her skull and eye sockets, numerous bruises and cuts and is still sporting deep, black eyes.
Apparently, Victoria, a cheerleader at Lakeland High School, made some remarks that her attackers took umbrage at, and apparently being unaware that the human race has actually developed more options than just physical violence as a way to handle, well, anything, beat her savagely.
At this point you may be thinking, okay, this is a nasty incident of bullying, and sadly, bullying has long been a staple in our society. What's new? True. However, the reason the beating took 30 minutes was that it seems the attackers actually paused during the beating to ensure proper camera angles. The reason? Well, it seems these eight teenage thugs were killing two birds with one high-tech stone. They were filming the entire beating so they could download it on YouTube.
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