Anil Dash, writing about the (old) media gnashing-of-teeth about “cyberbullying” in the aftermath of the suicide of Rutgers student Tyler Clementi:
It’s important to note that blaming technology for horrendous, violent displays of homophobia or racism or simple meanness lets adults like parents and teachers absolve themselves of the responsibility to raise kids free from these evils. By creating language like “cyberbullying”, they abdicate their own role in the hateful actions, and blame the (presumably mysterious and unknowable) new technologies that their kids use for these awful situations.
In this case, the crime wouldn’t have happened without the technology, so I think it’s important to keep the “cyber” in the equation. For poor Tyler, it went beyond bullying into the realm of hate crime, so I wouldn’t apply cyberbullying to this crime. “Cyber-hate” or “cyber-gay-bashing” would be more accurate, but they’re silly. I talked to my teens (I have two teenage sons) about our increasingly crude culture. After all, when I was a kid, no one even used the word “butt” in polite company, and now almost everything is acceptable. Only in a culture where crudity and blatant sexuality are an accepted norm do you end up with the sexual nature of the crimes at Abu Ghraib and the idea that it would be a fun thing to out your roommate online by showing his sex act. There’s no going back, but there is the ability to teach limits–theoretically, anyway. I have two good sons who aren’t racist nor homophobic, who are essentially kind, and who usually think before they act. But occasionally the possibly mythical teenage brain takes over. But we aren’t blaming technology–it’s the creeps who misuse it. I wonder about the two students who posted the video. Do they feel any remorse? Will they become better people now? Poor Tyler.
Actually the child suicide rate has fallen as internet social media has increased. There is probably less bullying to the point of suicide now (because there are fewer suicides) than there was before internet social media. It is just that internet social media leaves an electronic trail that can be looked at when a child kills themself.
Bullying certainly is a hate crime. A hate crime that bullies of all ages don’t want to recognize or acknowledge. A hate crime that some bullies still want to do, and that other bullies want to not recognize as a crime, or even as something that is bad.
One of the surest ways of recognizing a bully is their denial that what they are doing is bullying.
Excellent post. The other issue that I haven’t seen discussed much is that what his roommate did was bad, but clearly didn’t cause the suicide. It may have precipitated the suicide, but this is a person who has been told repeatedly by society in varying degrees that he is wrong, abhorrent, and an abomination.
As the post describes, this isn’t “cyberbullying” and I’m hesitant to even call what his roommate did a “hate crime”. If anything, the real crime, and cause of the suicide, is society telling people everyday that they aren’t welcome and that they should be ashamed and hide who they are. Society is guilty of this hate crime, and his roommate, who did something very wrong, is being used as scapegoat for all of us.