What's The Goal Of Anti-Cyberbullying Moves?

from the treating-the-symptoms dept

The WSJ has a column talking about some changes sites like YouTube and MySpace are making to make it easier to flag abusive content. The sites are reacting to the growing storm about cyberbullying, and are perhaps attempting to head off legislation that could inflict onerous regulations on them. The column focuses on the speed with which sites -- often hampered by sheer volume, as well as the number of unfounded reports -- can react to the flags and take down offending content. But should removing content that depicts or constitutes bullying or harassment be the ultimate goal? Like other reporting systems, it's a little hard to tell if these will actually do anything to get to the root of the problem: the bullying itself. Treating cyberbullying as separate and distinct from bullying or other abusive behavior that happens offline just masks the underlying issue. Without addressing that, the real problems for the victims will continue, regardless of whether their tormentors' activities get displayed online or not.
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Filed Under: bullying, cyberbullying


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  • identicon
    Pussy McAching, 19 Dec 2008 @ 9:08pm

    Bullying is a good thing. I mean, it was good for us in middle school right? The teachers didnt care about it then why should anyone care about it now?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    trollificus, 20 Dec 2008 @ 10:07am

    What's at work there...

    ...is a flaw in the dynamic of 21st century democracy. What will "sell", or what can be sold, is what gets done.

    Whatever can be reduced to a sound bite or a slogan (ex: forcing lenders to make bad loans in exchange for the political capital gained by characterizing it as "affordable housing") gets priority in DC, whether it's a "War on Drugs" (often persecuting constituents whose behavior, absent the illegality of drugs, would be otherwise unobjectionable), or paying off Archer Daniels Midland under a big American Gothic print and calling it "saving the family farm", whatever sells the candidate* gets legislated.

    Add this to the numerous stupidities done for the purpose, not of "protecting our children", but of SELLING A CANDIDATE AS HAVING MADE AN EFFORT TO "protect our children". Of course, it's unsurprising that such efforts, made for ulterior and selfish motives, never achieve any such thing.

    *-that is, "sells to the credulous, the naive, and the uninformed".

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    gripper jenkins, 20 Dec 2008 @ 12:37pm

    Less whingeing and hand over your lunch money Carlo

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Mark Regan, 20 Dec 2008 @ 6:27pm

    Pass Another Law

    Why not just pass another law that REQUIRES all people to be NICE to each other?

    If Barack Obama, George Bush, and John McCain can be nice to each other, then why should we lowly citizens be held to any lesser standard?

    Forget "Freedom of Speech." Our nation is in crisis. We should declare Martial Law and use the National Guard to enforce the "Be Nice" laws using instant execution if necessary.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 20 Dec 2008 @ 8:59pm

      Re: Pass Another Law

      While I agree with the notion of treating others the way you want to be treated, and respect our country's leaders for setting a standard which we all can aspire to, I have to fully put my foot down and disagree with the idea of making it martial law and using the national guard for enforce behaviorism.

      Obviously if people are whining, they have some inward or external need/condition they probably need to address before they can be fully content with themselves. Remember that the inward condition drives daily thoughts, and action.

      But legislating it or creating an environment where enforced behaviorism is the ideal just makes the enforced non-enforced behavior fester in a way, until..

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    sensitive, 20 Dec 2008 @ 6:57pm

    butthurt

    Banning cyberbullying is like banning internet porn.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 21 Dec 2008 @ 12:04am

    What's the goal of anti-cyberbullying moves?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 21 Dec 2008 @ 12:05am

    To fail for the lulz

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    William, 21 Dec 2008 @ 6:14am

    Government shouldn't be involved in private, family-level affairs. Neither should corporations. Period.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Charles (profile), 21 Dec 2008 @ 9:10am

    Ya...

    As I saw in a show in SAP class, blame the baby-boomers for our bad manners. So now, they're trying to fck us teens over because of stuff they taught us while bringing us up?

    Maybe put the money into more Barney shows. At least those teach us manners and respect.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 21 Dec 2008 @ 2:52pm

    I'll bet it's the corporations....

    Trying to prevent us from telling each other how they are screwing us...

    "Let's face it; most of the large corporations are using very aggressive reverse SEO methods to bury the opinion of bloggers and others they fear. Why doesn't congress just let the corporations send squads of goons over to shut down any newspaper that dares to speak the truth? They are doing the same thing online right now, so why aren't they allowed to blockade the delivery gates at publishers and newspapers and be done with it??"

    http://blogs.computerworld.com/node/5770

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Mike, 21 Dec 2008 @ 9:41pm

    Grow some.

    I'm sorry, but if online insults and such are too much for you too handle, YOU have the problem. Maybe you should stop using the internet.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    plastic molding, 16 May 2009 @ 3:03am

    www

    How's China printing industry developed this years, who can tell us? China based plastic injection molding services with low costs and supeior quality Steel and aluminum scaffolding for construction is a very useful tool.

    link to this | view in chronology ]


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