Suicide and Bullying: Amanda Todd

While I edit my picture for a taiwan post, this topic deserves to be talked about. At the end of reading this, I might get support from some and hate/being ridiculed by others but I've thought long and hard and decided to write something about this.

For those of you who have followed my twitter would have read about this last night.

To be honest, I am not the most knowledgeable human being, and neither am I always up-to-date with news because I am absorbed in my own work but sometimes, i do look at trending topics and decide to find out more for myself.

This topic was sparked mainly by this page.

R.I.P Amanda Todd

At first I thought it was just a page for commemorating the loss of another girl to some incident of some sort, so I did not bother to give it a second look (like i say, i am not up-to-date with news.) After a few days, I started to find it ridiculous that so many people on my facebook friend list are liking this page, so I went ahead to read what has happened.

It was a page about a girl who lost to bullying and suicide. I was curious, I am always curious about 100 over things, so I went to google it.
I am not going to put any of her pictures here, you can google it, but I m not leaving a pictorial memory of her here.

Amanda Michelle Todd, canadian teenager, committed suicide October 10, 2012 before her 16th birthday(she looks older than 20 to me, to be honest.) due to cyber bullying on facebook.

Suicide due to cyber bullying? That is worthy of pity but let's move on to more issues.

At seventh grade[approx 14-15?], she bared her breasts to a stranger on webcam...

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! You, being a way off from legal age girl, bared your boobs to someone you don't know? That is as good as sleeping with a stranger. Putting yourself at a disadvantage, Todd said she was CONVINCED to do so. What in the world has the power to convince you to do that when you are so young? I wouldnt even show myself wearing undergarments to someone I know easily over a webcam much least my bare body to someone I don't know.

So she was young and ignorant, all's forgiven. Her past came to haunt her, she deserves the pity.

She turned to drugs and alcohols.

Seriously, drugs? I drink a little when I am depressed but drugs should be last thing to turn to unless they are prescription from doctors taken in the appropriate amount. I lost pity for her. I am really not supportive of people who take out on drugs.

A year later, she started talking to a guy friend. They made out, while his girlfriend was away.

This part really made me cringe. Todd wasn't legal[legal age in canada was 18-19] but had sex with someoneelse's boyfriend? I lost all the initial pity AND respect I had for this girl.At such a young age, you should not be thinking of such activities. Apparently, everyone thinks they are lucky enough. What if you weren't and ended up with a child?

He told Todd, HIS GIRLFRIEND wasn't in town and to come over. Doesn't that already sounded a red alarm? If he really liked you, why wasn't it lets go out and play? You should have a lesser chance of enjoying dates right? If he really liked you, he would have broke up with his girlfriend right?

I don't blame the girlfriend getting all violent on Todd, you shagged her boy. What I am truly disgusted with is all the friends who were helping in the violence and those bystanders who were fliming. Todd did something she shouldn't have, but you "friends" and "bystanders" are the lowest of all creatures.

She was down, she needed physical comfort. She wasn't legal and she picked the wrong guy.

==

You all call it death by cyber-bullying. I call it payment for her karma. She has put a lot of stress on her AND her parents by every single stupid mistake that she had made.

Some of you might be screaming at me, saying that I do not know how she felt and I've not been through what she had. True. Do you?

I've been on the giving and receiving end of both cyber-bullying and bullying before. I know how it feels to be bullied and I know how it feels to bully people.

Let me touch on me being the bad guy first.

I am ashamed to confess that I am a bully but at the same time, I am going to share.
How does it feel like to bully people? AWESOME. I am sure most of the bullies feel the same. It feels like you have control everything and nothing can stop you.
At the end of the day, what do you get? Nothing. Cos deep down inside, you are still a nobody, bullying people is nothing to be proud of.

Being bullied, was something that happened after I've learnt that nothing comes out of bullying people. I've been subjected to two years of physical abuse by a friend, constant merciless smacking on the head. I mentioned nothing of it, and tried my best to be tolerant. We smack our friends on the heads, but when you do that, do you control your strength?
Being cyber-bullied is nothing new to everyone on the internet, especially to bloggers and youtubers. We are constantly insulted and ridiculed by the same few right in the face. Does it feel good? No.

Everyone jumps at the chance to become bullies. Take a look at the Amy Cheong case that happened recently in Singapore. Reprimanding is fine, but among those, more than a handful had also hurled insults at her. From a critic to being a bully, it is just a few vulgar words short.

==

Amanda Todd was one of the few who spoke up before surrounding herself to suicide to make a statement. A statement to STOP cyber-bullying.

I do not pity her life, but I feel for her parents who have lost a beautiful child.

The friends who said in videos that they did not expect her to leave like this, they did not think it was that serious. THINK AGAIN. What might seem little to you can be big to others. Lots of people think that I am ridiculous when I am emotional on my twitter, but it was a release platform for me. Imagine what would happen if I've kept it all in? I would probably be another Amanda, but I am not that weak now.

People who said that they would have helped etc etc. BULLSHIT. Look at yourself. You've probably saw the video she upload on September 7, she died on October 10. IT WAS A WHOLE FUCKING FULL MONTH. Did anyone of you message her? Did anyone of you take the initiative to BE her friend? If somebody did, she would not have suicide, society left her to die.

I do not feel sorry that Amanda Todd died due to her own weakness/being bullied, but neither am I joyous about it. She is just one of the unfortunates that made a lot of stupid mistakes and made one final huge dumb mistake of committing suicide BUT has brought attention and awareness to everybody about choices and cyber-bullying.

http://www.tylershields.com [youdontsay.jpg]

DOZENS of people around the world commit suicides everyday due to bully and stress. It would not be like that if people spend a little more time to care for the ones around them. I am not telling you to care for EVERY SINGLE PEOPLE in the world. Just the ones closer to you, your family, friends in your circle.

It does not take you more than a minute to text/type a " *hug* be strong" and neither does it kill you to listen to someone/ tell someone to talk to you about their problems when they are close to you.

I hope after this whole fiasco, everyone had learn something. The next time you type an insult/offending message directed obviously at an individual / do something offending to an individual, think again, it doesn't hurt to SHUT UP once in awhile. Neither does it hurt to care for someone close to you/around you.