RIP Amanda Todd

[Red Light Racicot]

You will never end bullying, it's human nature........sorry. Not to say we shouldn't try, but there needs to be more focus oin empowering victims and helping them recover.

[Red Light Racicot]

The Amazing Atheist's video is garbage. He is guilty of the exact same thing that those he accuses are. He accuses people of just writing heartfelt messages, or just posting things on social media and not actually caring. And what of him? What does his video accomplish? Nothing at all.

And while most people reading about the story and posting about it on social media sites will most likely do nothing, awareness is never a bad thing, at the very least. If just a handful of people, because of this story, actually do something and contribute to the solution I'd say it was a success.

[Gally]

Personally I think we need to try to find out what's wrong with the bullies and fix that first which I would think would be more productive than constantly trying to fix the victim and have the bullies continue what thy are doing, I'm not saying don't worry about he victims, but if we figured out why the bullies are doing what they are doing and try and fix that it might prevent the bullying. Ultimately, I think the kids need to stop laughing with the bullies and just have them ignore them. Bullies feed off the laughter they get and if they don't have any the bullying would stop.

[Jai604]

Hes got some messed up opinions, and he just doesnt seem to get it.

Why did Rodney King get so much publicity? Terry Fox? Why do any of these cases get attention? Its the media, and its a very important thing that creates actual change. This is not about ignoring these other people who share similar problems, it helps to shed light on their problems.

His take on the subject is very difficult for me to understand, but this is a pretty cynical guy (at least his pensona) and he seems to have problems understanding things like empathy.

[-Vintage Canuck-]

White Rock mom angry that school punished son for fighting back against bully:

When it comes to bullying, Lara Fominoff has always preached the same message to her young son: Never bully or be mean to the other kids. And never start a fight. But if someone starts a fight with you, you have the right to defend yourself.

It was this right that Fominoff says her six-year-old son exercised last week when he was confronted by a bully in the schoolyard of White Rock Elementary. After words failed, she says her son responded to the physical aggression he faced by striking back.

His decision to do so earned him a punishment equal to the other boy’s, something that has ignited a local debate over one’s right to self-defend when confronted by bullying versus the local school district’s zero tolerance policy on violence.

Doug Strachan, communications manager for the Surrey School District, which covers White Rock schools, says violence of any sort is unacceptable within district schools. That includes students striking back against someone who has hit them.

“If someone was pushed or even hit, that individual can get up and report that or they can kick and hit back,” says Strachan. “And we are saying they should be reporting it and not escalating it.”

But Fominoff can’t understand why her son received equal punishment to his tormentor, who was three years her son’s senior, when he didn’t initiate the confrontation and he had only been trying to defend himself.

She disagrees with the district’s blanket policy on violence because it colours the complicated debate of bullying black and white. Within such a framework, a student who defends themselves from a bully’s attack is punished rather than supported.

“I’m never going to punish my son for defending himself in a fight,” Fominoff says. “I’m not say that every time someone does that [gets physical] that you should hit back. But if someone is hurting you, you have a choice to do a number of things. And fighting back is one.”

It’s a position likely shared by many parents at a time of intense public debate on bullying sparked by the recent suicide of 15-year-old Amanda Todd, the Port Coquitlam girl who killed herself after enduring years of online and face to face bullying.

Fominoff said she was initially accepting of her son’s punishment — he was reprimanded by the school’s principal and made to apologize — but later changed her mind when she learned the full story and the extent of her son’s injuries (swollen knee, limping).

She was told during a later meeting with school district officials that the policy on violence was not going to change. But they did tell her they would look into the issue of schoolyard supervision, another point Fominoff took issue with.

While she described the meeting as productive, she maintains her view that the district’s policy is wrong.

“He got thrown to the ground, how do you walk away from that?” she says. “It not right [for the policy] to be applied without discretion. They can’t just have a blanket policy and apply it everywhere.”

http://www.theprovince.com/news/White+Rock+angry+that+school+punished+fighting+back+against+bully/7418876/story.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

[Primus099]

This whole thing is just a mess now. From her loser friends using her name to be popular on facebook and youtube, to the lynch mob patrolling the internet for evil doers

[Wetcoaster]

On Sunday November 18 a memorial and tribute is planned in the memory of Amanda Todd just 2 days after what would have been her 16th birthday.

On Friday, Amanda Todd would have turned 16. But as people around the world have come to know, the Port Coquitlam teen never lived to see that day.

Instead, her family and friends will pay tribute to her on Sunday (Nov. 18) through a celebration of life and happy birthday memorial at the Red Robinson Show Theatre in Coquitlam.

Todd, who was a Grade 10 student at Coquitlam Alternate Basic Education (CABE) Secondary in Coquitlam, committed suicide on Oct. 10, a month after posting a YouTube video about her experiences battling bullies over an incident that occurred a few years ago.

Her story caught the world's attention, bringing a renewed focus on the issue of bullying in the province.

Sunday's memorial is meant as an opportunity for friends, family and the public to pay tribute to the teen.

Due to the limited number of seats, attendees are asked to RSVP to www.xoxoent.com/ amandarsvp.

The doors are set to open at 12: 30 p.m., with the memorial running from 1: 30 to 3: 30 p.m.

People are also being asked to bring an unwrapped toy, which will be donated to the SHARE Family & Community Services Society for Christmas.

The family has also established the Amanda Todd Legacy.

The initiative is intended to raise money for anti-bullying education and for support programs to help young people with mental health problems and educational initiatives. Donations can be made online to the Vancouver Foundation or any RBC Canada branch under Amanda Todd's Trust Fund.

http://www.vancouversun.com/life/Amanda+Todd+tribute+planned+Sunday/7547941/story.html#ixzz2CEKtEqPv

[Wetcoaster]

The BC government has announced a new website that will allow B.C. students to make anonymous reports about bullying by peers or by adults.

Efforts to stop bullying require a culture change in schools and communities, Premier Christy Clark told an anti-bullying conference Tuesday.

“Kids are swimming in a culture of mean all the time and we have to address that,” she said during the Vancouver forum, organized after the suicide last month of Port Coquitlam teenager Amanda Todd. The meeting opened with a government announcement of a new website that will allow B.C. students to make anonymous reports about bullying by peers or by adults.

Their reports will trigger an alert to a safe school coordinator, who will determine the best course of action and contact the police, if necessary, the forum was told. Every school district in the province has a safe-school coordinator, and they will also be responsible for identifying trends and hot spots in schools.

Bullying can no longer be dismissed as simply a part of growing up, Clark said. “Bullying is not a rite of passage; bullying does not build character for children.”

The conference, which brought together educators, students and experts, was organized as part of the province’s Erase Bullying strategy, announced in June. Clark said it was also in response to the suicide of 15-year-old Amanda, who was sexually exploited online and then relentlessly bullied by her peers.

“We lost Amanda and it was a tragedy,” Clark told reporters. “But we should learn from that. She would want that from us.”

Carol Todd, Amanda’s mother, told The Vancouver Sun she had hoped to attend the conference but wasn’t invited. She said she asked if she could attend, but the Education Ministry turned her down, saying her presence might upset young people who would be attending the all-day event and discussing their experiences with bullies.

“I didn’t want to speak, I just wanted to listen,” she said. No one from the ministry was immediately available for an interview Tuesday.

Clark said adults have to change the culture of public schools so that students feel safe to report bullying and to intervene while it’s happening. “The commitment coming out of today’s meeting is to build on our momentum and work together to build a culture of kindness, caring and respect where no child has to wake up in the morning and go to school worrying about what will happen to them that day,” she said in a release.

The Erase Bullying program includes stronger codes of conduct for schools and a five-year training program that will eventually see 15,000 educators learn about creating inclusive schools and how to conduct threat assessments in their buildings.

One of the lead trainers, Theresa Campbell, said the training will dispel the myth that any abusive behaviour should be called bullying.

Slamming a student’s head against the wall of the school? That’s assault, said Campbell. Threatening text messages? There’s a law against that, too. Relentless cyberbullying? Campbell called that “social assassination.”

“There has been a blatant under-reaction to behaviours in our schools because everything has been lumped into bullying,” she told the conference.

“We have to be more mindful and start calling these behaviours what they are.”

Independent schools have been invited to use the ERASE Bullying strategy but are not compelled to do so.

Jay Luty, a recent high school graduate who told the conference about the years he spent ostracized and bullied by his peers, called on teachers and parents to make sure children know they can come forward.

Luty said he spent much of his time in high school feeling alone and unable to connect with his peers. When he wasn’t spending lunch hours hiding from other students in the library, he was forced to endure teasing, amplifying his social anxiety.

He spiralled into suicidal thoughts, he recalled, which didn’t abate until he finally worked up the courage to tell his parents what was happening.

“I told them I was having thoughts of suicide and I detailed everything that was bothering me, every insecurity that was eating me,” he said.

“Once I stated all my problems out loud to someone who was hearing me out, I felt some of the stress become instantly alleviated .... I realized I didn’t have so much to be worried about.”

Luty said adults need to encourage more students to take that step.

“Show empathy and extend your support to your students, children or friends in need, and encourage them to say what they feel,” he said.

The issue of bullying has gained renewed prominence in B.C. and across the country in the month since Amanda Todd’s suicide.

Several weeks before her death, the 15-year-old posted a video to YouTube in which she flipped through dozens of cards that told her story in short, black sentences.

She said she was in Grade 7 when she was lured by an unidentified male to expose her breasts on a webcam, and a year later someone on Facebook threatened to distribute a photo from the video chat. She said the police later told her someone did, indeed, distribute the photo.

The RCMP continue to investigate her death.

In addition to the debate the case has generated in B.C., justice and public safety ministers from across Canada agreed two weeks ago to create a national working group to discuss the issue of cyberbullying, suggesting the issue could even be addressed by changes to the Criminal Code.

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/unveils+website+report+bullying+month+after+Amanda+Todd/7540654/story.html#ixzz2CELuuriJ

[NucksPatsFan]

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Its what people on cell phones post so it automatically takes them to the last page of the thread, it means last page