It saddens me when I hear about bullying. I don’t know why but lately there have been a lot of suicides due to gay activities being exposed. Even though everybody should have their own right of privacy, it seems almost impossible with the internet. Everybody is spending more and more time online which makes them more open to the public to see their lives take place. With everybody using technology now, gossip travels much quicker. In the passage I agreed with Professor John Suler quote; “people say and do things in cyberspace that they wouldn’t ordinarily say or do in the face-to-face world”.
In this passage it talks about a guy named Dharun from Rutgers University betraying his roommate. He basically set up his webcam to watch what his roommate does when he asked Dharun for the room until midnight. It turns out that Dharun’s roommate had a guy in there and were making out. Not only did Dharun think it was a good idea to expose him about the incident on twitter, but he also put up images. When Dharun’s roommate found out that there were images of him and another guy he jumped off the George Washington Bridge three days later. The passage then talks about how the net can be somewhat the real world in the sense of bullying. It explains how cyber bullying can do, in some cases, more damage than real life bullying. The author gives an example by saying that in a school brawl a bully can see how much he is hurting the victim and will know his limits, but a cyber bully cannot and will never know the right time to stop.
One reason why I agree with the Professor is because people make fun of other people’s lifestyles online but cannot in their face. As the passage shows, Dahrun did all of the bullying online. There was no way he would have gone from person to person showing the images. Therefore, he posted them online and actually said it through his twitter. He wouldn’t have announced it in the hallways what he wrote on twitter because I don’t think he would have the heart to. Based on his actions, he will now have to face the consequences he has brought upon himself.
Another reason why I believe this is because of the critics that give their opinions on sports players. I remember when Mike Tyson was giving crazy interviews everybody thought he was a crazy man. Critics would say so many bad things about him, his family, and his lifestyle. I know deep down inside the words of the people hurt him more than any boxing fight he has ever encountered. No critic in their right mind however, would say these things to his Tyson’s face. They are too scared to do so. Mike is the type to just snap and take action to something he would probably regret later. So, all the critics can do is sit behind their desk and write all these bad things about him.
Another reason why I agree with that quote is because of Prank Callers. They are the worst type of cowards. They call you in the middle of the night to just stay quiet or say something they think would be funny. The bad thing about this is there is no way to stop the caller from calling unless you change your number or not answer blocked calls. On the internet at least you can block people online on programs such as Facebook, MySpace, and even aim. In a face-to-face world however, a person would never do that. It’s like a person would never knock on your door and not say anything or make up funny noises and voices.
Another reason would be fake identities. On Facebook, many disguised people create fake pages of other people. These people mostly use girl’s pictures to create these fake pages. On these pages they always make the girl seem like a slut because of so many different ways. Sometimes they make it seem that way because of the conversations through messages between the fake girl and a lot of guys. With so many conversations happening, more and more guys will believe the girl is that way and more will talk. I witnessed this happen in my high school to a girl. The fake page about her was going on for months without her knowing. Everybody talked bad about her until she found out and started telling everybody it was a fake page. The rumors eventually stopped but the image stood with her until she graduated.
It is amazing what the internet has the power to do in the society we live in today. It is really pathetic what people can do for some laughs or attention. With more and more people using internet nowadays we should consider the privacy and secrets of others.
What i like about your essay is how you use examples to demonstrate what the passage describes. You used Mike Tyson as an example indicating that critic's would criticise him due to his faults or error's, but they wouldn't report it to his face due to the severe consequence's they would face. It demonstrates the cowardness people can have. Thats a very great strategy to use in a writing to relate to a writing. The professor actually said i would have to write what i would recommend, and what you must do, but this is a very well spoken essay and dont think there's really anything you missed out on. So in that case all i could recommend you to do is keep up the good work chris, your a great writer.
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