Hyperbole And Hysterics…

Janet Street-Porter has identified a terrible new threat:

Bullying has been in the news lately, but the revelations about Gordon Brown's alleged shoving and swearing have diverted attention from another kind of aggressive behaviour which is on the increase and which seems to be going unchecked.

Oh, really? Such as..?

Internet bullying has seen very few prosecutions, but causes daily misery for victims and can end in suicide.

Note that: ‘Can’. So can a lot of things.

A quick trawl shows how gangs use these sites to post threatening material intended to impress rivals and scare off detractors.

Stuart Cunningham, from Warwickshire, posted a repulsive picture of himself in a mask brandishing a large knife on one site.

It’s a picture. It can’t hurt you, Janet. It can’t hurt anybody…

The internet allows young people to glorify violence, to pose as 'soldiers' in their version of urban warfare and intimidate whoever they please.

Well, anyone who visits their webpage, that is.

A rather strange sort of ‘harassment’, that requires the victim actively seek it out to be effective…

But of course, that’s not the worst thing in the world, oh no. There’s also…

Brandishing guns and knives is one form of aggression; sarcasm and innuendo is another.

*sigh*

Now we are supposed to sign up to the War on Sarcasm..?

If that’s going to become a ‘hate crime’ now, might as well get my cell prepared.

Last week, an inquest heard that 15-year-old Holly Grogan committed suicide by jumping off a bridge after being bullied on Facebook.

There are countless other examples of young people killing themselves because they could not deal with this modern form of torture.

And she goes on to name just three. Ran out of space?

Of course, freedom of expression is to be cherished, but allowing children unlimited access to social networking sites which have no way of controlling their material before it goes online is very disturbing.

So, don’t allow them to have unlimited access. Be the parent, not the friend.

And leave everyone else the hell alone.

Holly Grogan died because of freedom of expression. A high price to pay?

She didn’t die because of ‘freedom of expression’, though. That’s a patent nonsense.

And even if she had, she’d be but a drop in the ocean besides all the others who have died for that cause. Who felt that it was worth dying for.

You know, the people who used to believe that ‘sticks and stones can break my bones, but words will never hurt me’. A much stronger generation than it seems we are breeding these days…