THE STORY OF AMANDA TODD
A young woman is a victim of cyberbullying: she is taunted and humiliated online.
When she goes to school, people whisper about her, refuse to be friends with her, and move away from her when she is eating in the cafeteria. She tries to make a new start a couple of times — changing schools in an attempt to leave her past behind and begin again.
Unfortunately, in the world of online bullying, it does not matter where you live because information travels everywhere. Students from the previous school tell students at the new school horrible things about her, and the bullying continues. She is continuously bullied for three years. She becomes depressed and suffers from anxiety and panic attacks.
On one occasion, she tries to kill herself by drinking bleach. Her parents are loving and supportive, and they do everything they can to help her. They put her in counselling, move houses to get her away from local kids who are teasing her, help her to move to new schools, and at one point even move cities to help her get free of the bullying. But all these efforts fail to stop the abuse. In the end, the parents contact the police for help in identifying her cyber attackers, but this action comes too late. The young woman – Amanda Todd – has given up all hope of anything improving, and she commits suicide. She was 15.
Amanda Todd’s suicide on October 10, 2012 started a debate. Not only because it was another tragic case of a life cut short as a result of cruel and perverse bullying, but also because before her suicide, Amanda had posted a nine-minute YouTube video in which she used a series of flash cards to tell her experience of being bullied. After her suicide, the video post went viral, receiving over 1.5 million views by October 13, 2012. The video itself generated discussion and debate, as did the posts that appeared on YouTube. Some people posted comments making fun of Amanda for her feelings, and calling her ugly and stupid. Some people even made fun of her for killing herself. Some people also left horrible comments on her Facebook page following her death.
8 Go to YouTube and type in: “Amanda Todd My Story”. Go to the first video (about 8:55 min.), watch it and answer the following questions.
1. What was the “Amanda Todd My Story” video about?
2. What disturbing things happened to her Facebook page after her death?
3. Who was Amanda Todd cyberbullied by?
4. What do you think about Amanda Todd’s online behaviour?
5. How do you think the man she ‘flashed’ was able to locate her?
6. Why do you think the man decided to harass and victimise Amanda?
7. Was she physically attacked?
8. Why do you think Amanda’s friends and other kids at the schools she attended joined in the bullying?
9 Unfortunately, Amanda Todd is not the only young person who has been bullied and has committed suicide.
Use the Internet to find information about the two cases below. Identify the similarities and differences between these and Amanda’s case.
CASE 1: Jenna Bowers-Bryanton
CASE 2: Mitchell Wilson
GLOSSARY
bleach: candeggina
to cut short: interrompere (bruscamente)
to give up: arrendersi
to taunt: deridere
to tease: prendere in giro
to whisper: sussurrare (qui: cattiverie)