12 May
Brandon DeMarco is an average teenager in an ordinary High School that becomes the target of relentless harassment and vindictive cyberbullying. His story’s been seen by thousands of students all over the globe.
30 Mar
Alex Libby (center) in Bully
The Weinstein Company
Alex will break your heart. The Iowa middle schooler so aches to be liked that when an older boy on the school bus threatens to kill him, he doesn’t appreciate the danger. As he puts it to his mother, Jackie, “If you say these people aren’t my friends, then what friends do I have?”
By the time the documentarians shadowing Alex alert his parents the threats on the bus have escalated to physical violence, it’s clear just how powerful Bully is – and how flawed.
The intensely painful film (being released unrated after initially receiving a controversial, ridiculous R rating) focuses on Alex, Kelby and Ja’Meya, all victims of bullying, as well as Ty and Tyler, who committed suicide after being targeted.
Alex, though, is the central figure and the only one assaulted onscreen, in a scene that raises serious questions: Why didn’t the filmmakers stop the attack? How do we know the presumed bullies weren’t acting out for the cameras? Is Alex okay with this footage going public? According to director Lee Hirsch, he is: “Alex wanted the world to know what happens to kids who are bullied,” Hirsch has said.
While the film fails to explore why kids behave so monstrously to each other, it does capture the terror and isolation of victims. It also exposes the flaws in schools ill-equipped to handle the problem, particularly in scenes with Alex’s assistant principal Kim Lockwood, who fumbles chances to help tortured kids. (I do, however, understand her frustration when she all but begs, “Tell me how to fix this.”)
Bully may be overambitious and naive, but by turning its cameras on a shameful issue, it just might help all of us Alexes.
18 Feb
cyberbullying, cyber-bully, suicide, internet, bullying, sexting, texting, internet, child, children, parents, harmful, parenting,
17 Jan
Poll finds social networks the place where Australian kids are most likely to be bullied online. Picture: Getty Images
Source: Getty Images
AUSTRALIA rates number one in the world for bullying on social networks like Facebook, according to a global poll.
While Australia ranked fifth for cyber-bullying overall, nine out of ten parents said when the harassment occurred it was on these types of sites – much higher than the global average of six in 10.
The Ipsos Social Research Institute survey of 24 countries ranked Australia worse for bullying than all of the European countries, along with the US, Britain and China.
The four countries ranking higher than us, in order, were India, Indonesia, Sweden and Canada.
The research comes just a week after Victorian schoolgirl Sheniz Erkan took her own life after being tormented by Facebook bullies.
Start of sidebar. Skip to end of sidebar.
End of sidebar. Return to start of sidebar.
Ispsos director Ryan Williams said the goal was to find out how prevalent cyber-bullying was and to find out where it was taking place.
“According to parents, Australian children were less likely to experience bullying in an online chat room, via email, or on their mobile phone, compared to global averages – but were more likely than any other nation to experience bullying via social networking sites, such as Facebook,” Mr Williams said.
Australia ranked 15th for mobile devices, 22nd for online chat, 17th for emails, 20th for instant messages, 21st for general websites and 18th for other forms of technology.
No Australian parent reported bullying was a persistent issue with their children.
Kids Helpline manager of strategy and research John Dalgleish said the rise of cyber bullying was a massive concern as it took it harassment from the playground directly into victim’s bedrooms.
Mr Dalgleish said the rise of social networking sites meant bullying was no longer limited to the classroom and teenagers faced further exposure to harassment thanks to the rise of social networking sites such as Facebook.
“Cyber bullying has a profound impact as it widens the audience (from school) and means it can be seen by anyone,” he said.
“It can be used as an extension of face-to-face bullying and takes it from the classroom and into a child’s own bedroom undermining their sense of safety and security.”
KidsHelpline, which offers hundreds of counselling services to bullying victims a year, urged young people affected by the harassment to come forward and speak out.
Mr Dalgleish said victims should tell a trusted adult or parent who can take action on their behalf, and in extreme cases take it to the police.
He added previous studies on the long-term effects of bullying had showed positive outcomes and an end to the behaviour after victims had told someone about it.
“The first thing victims need to know is it’s not their fault,” he said.
“Action can be taken and it can be stopped.”
Bullying can result in chronic anxiety, depression, fear, anxiety, withdrawal from school and in the worst cases, self-harm.
Parents are urged to monitor their children’s social networking use and speak to them about appropriate behaviour on the internet.
Anyone experiencing bullying or harassment is urged to visit KidsHelpline.
30 Dec
Online spats between school children are spiralling out of control, leading to hate messages, violence and death threats. Picture: The Daily Telegraph
Source: The Advertiser
ONLINE spats between school children are spiralling out of control, leading to hate messages, violence and even death threats.
Experts say 10 per cent of all children now claim to have been cyber-bullied, The Daily Telegraph reported.
The enraged father of one teenage schoolgirl became so incensed by comments he believed a boy had made about his daughter on a social networking site that he accosted him in the street and threatened to “slit his throat”.
The man approached the Year 8 boy as he walked to a bus stop on the state’s mid-north coast and pushed and threatened him before boarding the bus, where he issued further death threats to the boy and other students.
In another disturbing case, a mum went to a school in western NSW and urged her Year 10 daughter to assault another girl after an exchange on a social networking site.
Both girls were suspended, police were called and the mum was banned from entering the school under the Inclosed Lands Act.
In the Tuggerah Lakes area on the NSW central coast, comments on a social networking site led to a Year 8 female being assaulted by another Year 8 girl.
One of the students, who sustained swelling to her forehead and complained of feeling dizzy and nauseous, was taken to hospital. The other girl injured her hand.
Schools increasingly are asking police to investigate serious student online bullying and have shored up cyber safety programs in a bid to head off more trouble.
The NSW Department of Education and Communities has enlisted international expert Professor Donna Cross to help advise students and families about online behaviour.
Professor Cross, from Edith Cowan University in Western Australia, specialises in preventing and responding to aggression. She said about 10 per cent of children now reported being cyber-bullied.
Children who cyber-bullied also were 18 times more likely to bully others in the real world, Professor Cross said.
She said bullies often had higher levels of depression than the victims: “They’re also more likely to be engaging in problem behaviour – unsafe sexual behaviours, smoking, using drugs, graffiti, stealing and truanting.”
Bullying peaks in children at about Year 5 and again at about Year 7 or Year 8.
The first peak coincides with children discovering the power of the peer group and creating their own social pecking order. The second peak occurs when children move from primary school to secondary school.
Researchers have found cyber-bullied kids suffer poor academic achievement, anxiety, depression, poorer physical health, higher school absenteeism, increased loneliness and low self-esteem.
The Department of Education said Facebook could not be accessed on school computers. Its Digital Citizenship website, which deals with bullying and other issues, has received thousands of hits from all over the world.
28 Oct
Earlier in the week, I posted about Jim Whitney, a teacher at Joplin High School in Missouri, whose anti-gay remarks on Facebook were brought to light. Whitney was commenting on a former student’s link to an article about gay teen bullying victim JAmie Hubley, who committed suicide earlier this month.
Said Whitney: “Moral of the story: Don’t be gay.”
When another commenter asked, “How many more kids have to kill themselves before everyone realizes that this is an actual issue?,” Whitney responded, “11-13 ought to do it. Somewhere in that vicinity.”
The school now says Whitney has been cleared, and claims his Facebook was hacked:
“We’ve investigated and found no wrong-doing on the part of the teacher.”
Joplin Superintendent Doctor CJ Huff tells News Talk KZRG complaints were made about things high school math teacher Jim Whitney allegedly posted on Facebook. But apparently Whitney’s Facebook account was hacked.
“It’s unfortunate when you’re dealing with social media and dealing with technology and the potential for people to get on to other people’s accounts and say things that shouldn’t be said.”
Huff says the Joplin School Board was made aware of the situation at Tuesday’s board meeting and no action was taken.
Do you believe them?
If you thought your account was hacked, wouldn’t you say so right from the start?
Whitney’s original statement to the press didn’t: “I do not condone bullying or harassment of any kind and I am very aware and saddened by the negative impact this type of behavior creates. I regret that the posts appeared on Facebook. They do not reflect my personal views and I apologize for any and all offenses caused by the comment.”
Posted 9:12 AM EST by Andy Towle in Bullying, Facebook, News |
Permalink
<!–
googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-3′); });
–>
23 Aug
Picture this: You get an email from the photographer you’ve hired to take a portrait of your high school senior. The photographer attaches a screenshot of a Facebook page on which your daughter is saying mean things (of the “she is a slut” variety) about another girl. The photographer cancels the photo session, saying she won’t take pictures of people who do ugly things.
What do you do?
That’s the situation that faced four sets of parents in Pennsylvania. Photographer Jennifer McKendrick says she was told about the page by a friend, and when she looked at it she saw the names of four clients for upcoming shoots. She posted a Facebook note asking for feedback on her dilemma (without identifying the girls), then sent the emails to parents. Then she wrote a blog about it. The story has spread all over the Internet, and McKendrick’s Facebook page has been deluged with praise and “you go, girl!” comments.
This is the kind of seemingly clear-cut story (“Bullies get their comeuppance!”) that invariably gets clouded as more details surface. But let’s take it at face value for now.
As a businessperson, she has a right to deny service to people she finds distasteful–as long as they are not in a protected class which, so far, bullies are not. It took guts to take a stand on a moral issue that involved losing bookings.
Especially on the topic of bullying. We all love to wring our hands about mean behavior in kids, but few of us really do anything about it. And the fact is that grownups too often are setting the standard for dissing other people. That includes, for example, parents gossiping about neighbors in front of their kids. It also includes politicians. Our state legislators were extremely quick to pass the nation’s sternest anti-bullying law for schools. But just listen to the language they use when talking to and about each other. It’s easier to prescribe for others than to take responsibility for our own actions.
Which leads us back to the parents in this story. In her blog post, McKendrick said she had so far received two responses from parents, expressing dismay about their daughter’s actions and saying they would deal with it. The other two families had not yet responded.
If I saw that my child had written mean comments about a peer on Facebook, you better believe there would be consequences. I would thank the photographer for bringing it to my attention, then deal with it privately.
But I would really, really wish McKendrick had also handled the matter privately, without Facebook postings and blogs about it. Even if she didn’t name the girls, there’s no doubt–given the light-speed at which teens spread information–that the people in their town now know exactly who was involved, the bullying girls as well as the bullied one.
What do you think? As a parent, if you got that email from a photographer, what would your reaction be?
13 Jul
12 July 2011
Last updated at 10:31 ET
Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.
Robert and Tracy Mullaney want new legislation brought in to protect children from bullying.
The parents of a 15-year-old boy who hanged himself after being threatened online have called for a new law to specifically target bullying.
Thomas Mullaney, from Bournville, in Birmingham, died in May 2010 after being threatened on Facebook.
His parents Robert and Tracy say sites like Facebook need to do more to protect young people.
But a spokeswoman for Facebook said the site already had safety measures and strong links to anti-bullying groups.
Robert Mullaney said he would always be haunted by the memory of finding his son’s body in their garden.
He said although Thomas had been in trouble with police in the past, he had been working hard to turn his life around and had a lot to live for.
“Thomas was a bright lad. They called him a loveable rogue. He wasn’t all sweetness and light,” he said.
“He did get into a lot of trouble but he was coming out of it.”
Tom Mullaney, 15, hanged himself after being threatened by bullies
He said Thomas had joined the Sea Cadets and had bought a season ticket to watch Birmingham City after saving up money from his paper round.
He was also looking forward to doing a work experience placement and going on holiday.
But Thomas was sent home from school following an altercation with another pupil and it was while he was at home later that day that the online abuse began.
Robert said what had started out as comments sent via a one-to-one chat spilled over on to Thomas’s Facebook wall, and then other young people had begun “chipping in”.
Illegal act
He said he did not believe the young people who bullied his son had meant to drive him to his death.
But he said parents, teachers and the police needed to do more to communicate to children what the consequences of bullying could be.
Robert said: “We need a starting block. A piece of legislation saying cyber bullying is an illegal act.
“Kids don’t understand what they do on Facebook has consequences. In our case I lost my son.
Continue reading the main story
We don’t have cast iron laws that take on bullying in itself”
End Quote
Claude Knights
Director of Kidscape
“I found my son hanging at the bottom of the garden.
“I’ll never get that out of my brain, all because somebody said something to him and didn’t understand the consequences.”
Claude Knights, director of the children’s charity Kidscape, said she also wanted to see a change in the law.
She said: “This is such a harrowing case and it shows how horrendous these situations can get.
“One in four children are bullied online.
“I agree with the parents, we don’t have cast iron laws that take on bullying in itself.”
She said the charity had to rely on laws around harassment and malicious communication which were not designed specifically to address bullying.
She added children also needed more support around accessing social networking sites safely and encouragement to confide in a peer if they felt they were being bullied.
But Nick Gibb, the schools minister, has previously said there are drawbacks with the idea.
He said he believed there was a danger in passing a law that criminalises a 12 or 13-year-old for bullying another child.
He added he thought taking a zero tolerance approach to bullying in schools was key to tackling the problem.
A spokeswoman for Facebook said anyone joining the site had to agree to its terms and conditions which included rules against bullying and harassment.
She said they also provided links across every page of the site to report abuse and that people and comments could be removed.
She added they also prevented anonymous bullying because every user has to give their full name.
14 Jun
The Australia Communications and Media Authority has launched an out of home campaign – a first for the government body – as it looks to raise awareness about digital reputation, sexting, geolocation and cyberbullying among teenagers in Sydney. The posters contain QR codes that enable teens to directly access the cybersmart website by using their cameraphones. Creative and media were devised by Mediabrands.
ACMA is using outdoor following research from the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, which suggested that teenagers pay attention to ads on street fixtures.
“The key message is presented in a strong bold typeface, in a tone of voice that aims to speak with the target rather than at them,’ explained ACMA chairman, Chris Chapman.
The campaign runs until June 19.
The cybersmart website hosts a video targeted at parents that helps them understand the online space in which their children exist.
June 13th, 2011 at 5:11 pm
http://mumbrella.com.au/acma-tries-outdoor-to-reach-teens-on-cyberbullying-48922
1 Jun
Updated
Brodie Panlock killed herself after extreme bullying by workmates in 2006. (www.facebook.com)
The parents of a teenage waitress who killed herself after relentless taunting by workmates at a Melbourne cafe are taking their anti-bullying campaign to Canberra.
Workplace bullies in Victoria now face up to 10 years in jail after a new law was passed in State Parliament on Tuesday, but Damian and Rae Panlock want the legislation to go national.
The legislation, known as Brodie’s Law, was prompted by the death of 19-year-old Brodie Panlock, who killed herself after extreme bullying by workmates in 2006.
The new bill amends the stalking provisions of the Crimes Act to include cyber and workplace bullying, such as threats, abusive language and performing offensive acts.
Mr and Mrs Panlock were in the public gallery to watch Upper House MPs pass the bill.
Mr Panlock says the laws will not bring back his daughter, but will send a message to the community about the dangers of bullying.
“Any loss is disgusting and these people that we have gone through and seen in court and faced [are] just scum,” he said.
“They’re just low, low, low. Why do they do it? Why did they do it? We lost our daughter, people lose their children.
“It’s not just the person that they do it to – which is the worst thing – it’s the families … the whole gamut; they all feel it in different ways of course.”
Mrs Panlock says she hopes the new laws will draw attention to the damage caused by bullying.
“I think it sends a clear message that bullying is a cowardly act and it won’t be tolerated,” she said.
“If you’re going to engage in this sort of behaviour, you’ve got the consequence of ending up in jail.”
And Mr Panlock says the family was talking to federal MPs to see what could be done nationally to stamp out bullying.
The couple hailed the passage of the bill as a victory but said they would like to see other Australian states follow Victoria’s example.
Ms Panlock says the bill sent a clear message that those engaging in bullying now faced jail.
“Instead of investigators from WorkSafe coming out to your workplace, now you’ll have police officers,” Ms Panlock told reporters.
“I just hope no family ever have to go through anything like this again.
“People have got to realise that when they engage in this sort of bullying they really are … they drive them (victims) to the edge and they push them over.”
Brodie Panlock jumped to her death after she was abused by colleagues who poured beer and oil on her, spat on her and offered her rat poison after an earlier failed suicide attempt.
Brodie’s three tormenters, Nicholas Smallwood, Rhys MacAlpine and Gabriel Toomey, were convicted under occupational health and safety laws and fined a total of $85,000, while cafe owner Marc Luis Da Cruz and his company were ordered to pay $250,000.
But, in accordance with the law at the time, none were jailed.
- ABC/AAP
First posted
MORE stories from Victoria
28 Apr
SALEM — A cyber bullying bill passed the Oregon Senate Tuesday. If signed into law, the bill would require schools to report cases of cyber bullying to district leaders.
“There are many children who don’t want to go to school because of the devastation of being cyber bullied from their friends,” said Senator Laurie Monnes Anderson, one of the bill’s co-sponsors.
As it stands right now it is not mandatory for schools to report harassment.
“School districts have to be mandatory reporters,” said Monnes Anderson. “Set up a system that would require volunteers and teachers to report any cyber bullying.”
“I’m glad to see the Senate doing something about it,” added Jim Hanson, a psychologist at Lincoln High School in SW Portland.
For several years now students at Lincoln have stood up against bullying with an anti-bullying program. Hanson believes Senate bill 240 would help with that.
“I think a lot of our students are dealing with Facebook bullying, text bullying,” said Hanson.
Senate bill 240 now goes to the House. If passed there, it will go to the Governor’s desk for his signature.
http://www.kgw.com/news/local/Cyber-bullying-bill-passes-state-senate-120753734.html
7 Apr
By
Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 4:54 PM on 7th April 2011
A concerned father has developed the world’s first bullying alert system for Facebook which scans text and flags up abusive behaviour.
NHS consultant Paddy Clarke’s software scans walls and inboxes for trigger words and phrases such as ‘gay’ and ‘fat’ and alerts parents when they appear.
The father-of-four came up with the idea after reading a string of cyber-bullying horror stories.
Concerned: Father-of-four Paddy Clarke came up with the idea after reading a string of cyber-bullying horror stories
Mr Clarke, 48, said he hoped his system – called ‘Know Diss’ – will keep children safe from online bullies.
He said: ‘Bullying has now gone from the playground into children’s homes.
‘Kids feel safe sending an abusive message in their rooms. It is pretty awful.
‘Cyber-bullying is very topical at the moment, particularly following some tragic cases where young people have taken their lives because of it.
‘It is hard to believe but this software is the only one in the world to search through text on social networking sites to protect children.
‘Know Diss is a very simple concept. It is also a partnership between parent and child because one cannot sign up without the other.’
Mr Clarke, a consultant in pain relief at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital in Gloucester, joined forces with friend Alan Saul to design and implement Know Diss, which costs £12 for a yearly subscription.
Safety: Mr Clarke hopes his computer program, ‘Know Diss’, will keep children safe from online bullies
Together they trawled through sites such as Urban Dictionary and watched the television series Skins to build their comprehensive database of insults.
Mr Clarke’s program continuously searches through all text on Facebook accounts signed up to the service, including messages, picture comments and posts.
It uses a database of several thousands of words to identify bullying trigger words in a number of spelling variations.
Parents and their children must both sign up by email for the software to work. The child is then sent a link for them to click in order to download Know Diss.
When a bullying phrase is detected, it is copied and immediately emailed to the child’s parent or ‘Facebook guardian’ who can decide whether further action is needed.
An example of a ‘bullying’ phrase which would be picked up by the system is: ‘Go slash your wrists, fat boy’ or words such as ‘gay boy’.
Protection: Facebook said there were a ‘number’ of different ways users could protect themselves from cyber bullies
When triggered, Know Diss automatically sends an email to the
parent which reads: ‘The following text has been picked up on your
child’s Facebook account.
‘Go and have a look at it.’
Mr
Clarke of Winchcombe, Gloucestershire – who used his own savings to
fund the project – added: ‘We have an absolutely huge database which
includes spelling variations to make Know Diss as accurate as possible.
‘Children
may initially feel it is being invasive but it does not give the parent
the power to read everything on their profile, just the words which are
picked up by the software.
‘It is very simple. The parent can
read through the text which the software finds ‘bullying’ and decide
whether it really is, or just a joke.
‘They can also keep track of
whether messages come in a series. Bullying tends to operate in a pack
mentality online, one person posts and is followed by 50 others.’
Research
shows up to half of children have experienced cyber-bullying in the
past 12 months – half of those do not report it to an adult.
Mr Clarke, whose has three sons and a daughter aged between ten and 20, has already showcased Know Diss at local schools.
And exclusive Cheltenham College is already considering using it to tackle cyber-bullying among pupils.
Alert: When a bullying phrase is detected, it is copied and immediately emailed to the child’s parent. (Picture posed by model)
When a child is registered with Know Diss, a small logo will appear
on their Facebook wall warning posters they are signed up to the
service.
Mr Clarke added: ‘With me being a doctor I am always interested in prevention rather than cure.
‘Having
the logo on the site may prevent young people from cyber bullying
someone if they know the message will be picked up by a parent or
teacher.’
Currently Know Diss only works on Facebook, but Mr
Clarke hopes to hold talks with Twitter and other social networking
sites in the future.
A spokesman for Facebook said there were a ‘number’ of different ways users could protect themselves from cyber bullies.
He said: ‘One person determined to harass another will unfortunately find ways to do so, both online and offline.
‘On Facebook there are a number of measures people can use to stay safe.
‘We encourage people to use our reporting tools, accessible across the entire site, use our blocking tools to prevent unwanted contact, and visit our Safety Centre, which contains tips for young people and parents about how to use Facebook as safely as possible.’
Parents and children can register their email addresses at www.knowdiss.co.uk. The programme also works via smartphones.
Last year, Facebook bowed to pressure and provided a new application which allows young users to report suspicious behaviour.
It was announced in July that all users of the social networking site were to be able to access an advice centre from their home page to report suspected grooming or inappropriate sexual behaviour.
It was the result of Facebook and the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre joining forces.
In the past, Facebook had been accused of arrogant complacency in the face of soaring complaints about online paedophiles.
Print this article
Read later
Email to a friend
Another student is quoted is stating that these remarks were out-of-character from this teacher. I’d be more inclined to believe it if there was a confirmation from FaceBook, but I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt. Let’s see what happens from here on and if there are other incidents involving this teacher.
Posted by: Alex Parrish | Oct 28, 2011 9:18:12 AM
Situations like this are always hard to judge. He could be just covering his tracks, but then again, Facebook isn’t exactly known for its security.
Posted by: LiamB | Oct 28, 2011 9:29:10 AM
Didn’t Weiner say his account was hacked too?
Posted by: Brian G | Oct 28, 2011 9:29:43 AM
So somebody just happened to “hack” his Facebook account, happened to find one post about teen suicide, then “happened” to have a “reasonably adult” (if disgusting) back and forth with another poster…and then just left? So this will be the new defense. Someone hacked my Facebook account. Pathetic.
Posted by: Michaelandfred | Oct 28, 2011 9:34:30 AM
Hmm. I wonder if maybe his wife or kid said it and he was shielding them?
Posted by: enough already | Oct 28, 2011 9:35:14 AM
Sorry, doesn’t pass the smell test. Let’s see if there are any further developments. I’d like proof the account was hacked, a statement from Facebook or cyber-investigator.
Posted by: Bob R | Oct 28, 2011 9:47:02 AM
It doesn’t really matter whether he’s lying or not, does it? In either case, public homophobia has been shown to have consequences, and that’s clearly a message this teacher has absorbed.
Posted by: Keppler | Oct 28, 2011 10:03:08 AM
I guess that will be the blanket excuse now, “my account was hacked”! If I was an intellenget teacher, I think that I could come up with something better. Although, a lot of teacher’s don’t have to think for themselves anymore, that have the state and federal government to tell them what to think, so originality is not in there job description. To bad in the 21st century, that we still have this backwoods mentality. So Sad!
Posted by: Randy | Oct 28, 2011 10:03:25 AM
@Randy:
Not sure where your assault on teachers is coming from, but the amount of spelling and grammatical mistakes in your post tells me that your animosity toward them is not a recent thing.
Posted by: Zell | Oct 28, 2011 10:12:35 AM
Hacked, you say? So you received an email/text message from Facebook clearly stating “(name of machine)” logged in to your Facebook account at (time). If this was not authorized, check your email for instructions.” right? Right?
I didn’t think so. The “hacked” defense doesn’t apply here.
Posted by: Shullbit | Oct 28, 2011 10:14:47 AM
I’d trust the people who know him to say whether it passes the smell test. I’ll say this though: I know people who inadvertantly leave themselves logged into facebook on shared work computers. My younger brother and friends of his often post things on each others’ accounts (though they are invariably funny, not offensive). I could easily imagine a student who found a teachers he or she didn’t like logged into their facebook account on a computer in school and doing this, especially given the headlines from teachers in Florida and NJ who did just this. If the people who know him say that this is completely out of character, I’d say that’s a reasonable explanation for what happened.
Posted by: Dan E | Oct 28, 2011 10:42:08 AM
Typical liberals. Whitney doesn’t receive his “innocent until proven guilty” rights? Nice double standard. How about you wait until the truth is known (if ever) before you pass your self-righteous judgement. You claim to promote equality for all, but deny it to him? Please explain that.
Posted by: David | Oct 28, 2011 10:52:15 AM