The big topic that I have heard nonstop
about on the news and through social media these past few weeks is the story
about Amanda Todd. The young fifteen year old committed suicide after being constantly
bullied for posting an exposed photo of herself on a web chat. She posted a
youtube video that recreated her story in a series of written cards, with sad
music playing in the background one month before ending her own life.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2012/10/23/bc-amanda-todd-mother-interview.html
This news story became one of the most heated topics between kids, teenagers and adults everywhere. Weeks later as more
information about the situation has been released, viewers have become very
real in stating their opinions, both positive and negative about the whole
ordeal. At first, many viewers of the video were sympathetic and kind towards the young girl:
This comment was posted on the youtube video posted by Amanda Todd. At first when I heard this story I became very curious as to what the video was about, and after watching the entire 8 minute video, I was shocked to see that the amount of negative comments from people outweighed the positive comments.
I decided to check out some blogs about Amanda Todd to see what the main debate between commentors seemed to be. I discovered that the positive comments came mostly from people that could relate to the bullying Amanda faced, in support for the struggle she had about feelings of being isolated from her peers in school and without support from anyone. The negative comments started when information about Amanda being more promiscuous then she led on to be in her video began making its way into news stories, and people began to dislike the fact that she gained popularity just because she posted a video. The argument seems to be that many innocent kids die every year and go unnoticed, so why should Amanda Todd be in the spotlight? From what I have noticed many people have attacked others opinions on the topic where as others support one another depending on the opposing viewpoints. There are many cruel words and arguments brought up in comments on this blog site, which caught my attention:
This news story has created a huge debate between people on blog sites all over the place, but at the end of the day the video achieved what it was intended to create: Awareness for bullying, and getting people talking about serious issues.
Great post. Bullying is a big problem in society. Even with stories like Amanda's and the on going bullying campaigns, bullying is still a constant thing. I never read the comments from her video, but its sad that this girl pretty much told people what she was going to do and so many people were and still are rude and disrespectful.
ReplyDeleteI cant imagine a subject of greater debate on the Internet as of lately. People are all over the board when it comes to whether or not we should make a big deal of her death. Lots of great info, good post.
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