Cyber bullying led to greater consequences than what Katelyn Smith* originally assumed. Receiving multiple threats over MySpace, she decided her life could possibly be at risk.
Lucy Jones* which was one of Smith’s friends, lied to her cousin Chelsea Johnson* about her current boyfriend Mark Wallace*. Jones accused Smith of flirting with Wallace many times. Once Johnson was informed of Smith’s encounters with her boyfriend, she decided to send crude messages to Smith on the Internet. (*names have been changed)
“It was the most frightening thing I have ever been through. It’s pathetic girls would fight over a boy,” Smith said.
Smith decided ignoring the messages would solve the problem, but after a disturbing image was sent to Smith of her own picture on fire with the words “Burn in hell, I will kill you if I ever see you in public” written above the photo Smith decided to inform the police of the threat.
“Once the police were contacted, they fixed everything; I have not seen her since. I think the thought of police getting involved scared her,” Smith said.
Thinking Johnson would not have said these remarks to her in person, Smith doesn’t stress about the threats.
“People think they are invincible and have the courage to say whatever they want as long as it’s not to your face. As far as I’m concerned, I don’t stress about what other people say behind your back,” Smith said.
According to the National Crime Prevention Council nearly 35% of kids have been threatened online and almost one in five have had it happen more than once and about 75% of teens have visited a Web site bashing another student.
Freshman Ali Butcher, who doesn’t use Facebook, was informed by a friend of a false statement on a “Mansfield Rue Mores” page. After she saw the false accusations on the page Ali’s mother Jody Butcher got involved.
“The page was meant to hurt. I’m convinced the girls were jealous and would never say these things to her in person because they can hide behind Mansfield Rue Mores where there is no accountability for their actions,” Jody Butcher said.
The girls who started the site told people to add Mansfield Rue Mores as a friend on Facebook and leave any rumors they have heard throughout Legacy and Mansfield.
“As a parent it’s heartbreaking to have lies out there like that. It’s very frustrating because it’s so easy for kids to do this,” Jody Butcher said.
Out of the 100 friends who added Mansfield Rue Mores, most comments left on the page stated the site created was overdramatic and stupid and insisted the girls who started the page should grow up.
“After this happened to my child, I found as a parent you don’t have any recourse. The only avenue is to find out who started the rumors and have them apologize. We knew who the girls were. It was just the stress of dealing with it,” Jody Butcher said.
Four other girls were also bullied on the site and one of their mothers decided to get an interview with CBS news and asked Jody and Ali if they would like to be interviewed.
“At first I didn’t want to take it any further, but then I thought I don’t care. This is not right,” Jody Butcher said.
[CYBERBULLYING FACTS & STATS ]
Ali Butcher feels the girls who started the rumors will eventually regret it. She thinks all mistakes can be forgiven. She thinks personal confrontation is better than hurting someone’s feelings behind their back and making up complete lies.
“If I had the chance to say something to them it would be that they should come to me and my friends and tell us how they feel instead of making a Facebook page and being sneaky,” Ali said.
Although the lies have already been posted online, Butcher realizes the rumors have already been put out there and all she can do is tell others of the effects of cyber bullying.
“It’s not true, that page was full of lies and the girls who made the page were immature,” Ali Butcher said.
Through all of the threats and images Smith witnessed, she feels she’s learned a valuable lesson and she can warn others of the dangers of cyber bullying.
“Ignore those types of people. If they can’t say those things to your face because they feel so insecure, then consider them ridiculous. I don’t believe there is any reason to sweat it if they have to say bad things about you online,” Smith said.
Even though Smith experienced cyber bullying she doesn’t hate Johnson for what she did and continues thinking highly of her.
“I pray she has peace in her heart and doesn’t regret what she did,” Smith said. “What she did made me grow as a person.”
Here is some helpful information from Net Cetera: Chatting with Kids About Being Online (pg. 20 of PDF):
