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Cyber bullying is not new bullying, just change in venue

Children aged nine and 10 were bullying in schoolyards 60 years ago, as they do today.

Children aged nine and 10 were bullying in schoolyards 60 years ago, as they do today.

People of all ages have long gossipped — it seems to me that the Internet may make it easier to identify the source, not just easier to spread words.

I think your suggestion that cyber bullying is something different weakens action against it by inferring laws can’t handle it. I am not aware that laws against defamation have changed radically, but the legal system remains a barrier even after B.C.’s unjust fee was removed. Nor that the law against public mischief has gone away.

Keep in mind that “cyber bullying” is words, not sticks and stones, it is not assault.

Of course a fundamental question is why the school system has not been effective against bullying. I say that’s because it teaches collectivism rather than respect for individuals. Recall that some B.C. students assaulted redheads just because some jerk publicized the notion of Kick A Ginger Day. Why couldn’t those students understand that it is wrong to kick others? (Redheads hadn’t been protected by a rule against their group, as is the method of schools today after the fact. And individuals never will be.)

 

Keith Sketchley

Saanich