Musings...

It has been give or take 11 months since I last made a post on this blog of mine. I really do not remember how many followers I had when I began invisible to all and sundry in the blogging world, and it matters not. Life is not about followers and in many respects it was not about blogposts either.

I have thought about blogging a number of times in the intervening period between the then and the now. It was not writer's block, it was not a lack of material, it was not even an ever-increasing workload at work, rather it was more about focusing on those things closer to home and trying to stay on top of things at home and at work.

Life is an interesting ride and one that I have thought greatly about over recent months. It is about perspective and losing perspective. I find that I lose perspective a lot more now than I did in the past. I guess there are arguments to be made for an against the relativity of perspective, but for me I find that I question a lot more why I do what I do and whether I am really happy doing what I do where I am doing it. Perhaps it is not a loss of perspective but a realisation that there is more than one way to go about achieving the outcome one so desperately desires.

This is not a particularly happy post, in fact it is way too dark and morbid for the first post back but, it is what it is, what is on my mind.

I have read a lot lately about bullying and cyber bullying, particularly the trauma that our youngsters suffer at the hands of others. However, it is not only children that suffer, there are plenty of adults that suffer too. I have found myself wondering what it must be like to be at the mercy of these monsters, some who hide behind the cloak of anonymity on the internet.

Yet, some bullies are much more overt than they ever are covert as there is no fear of repercussions. The whispers as one walks down the street in a small town, the rocking of one's roof, the constant rattling of windows, the scratching of cars, the throwing of rubbish into a backyard, throwing rocks at pets, and then the name up in lights on the internet. All these things no doubt culminate in high levels of stress and thoughts of escape from the constant barrage of hate and vitriol designed to wound to the core.

It is a hardy soul that can resist for an extended period of constant psychological, physical, emotional, and mental abuse at the hands of the bullies.

There are plenty of things to read on what is a tragic and disturbing trend of people, particularly young people, opting for the ultimate "out" of suicide as a means of ending their misery. This is a worldwide tale of tragedy that knows no borders or boundaries. It is also one that is not new, Megan Meier found herself in the tragic position of seeing no other alternative than to take the ultimate action to thwart the bullies. The beauty of the internet is that it makes the world a smaller place and allows us to learn of things more quickly and to communicate more freely. However, it also allows crazed stalkers and bullies the ability to harass and harangue one no matter where you move. The recent suicide of Amanda Todd is testament to this.

I always thought that suicide was a coward's way out. When times are good it is easy to get caught up in this self-belief that you are invincible and that no matter how hard it gets that you will always be a little bit stronger than the bullies who target you. However, I am much older and wiser now; I no longer believe that it is the coward's way. To the contrary, I feel that many, if not all, of those who take that ultimate and forever final step have thought long and hard about the decision they are making and make. The reality is more likely one that says the pain that I leave behind for my loved ones will never be as bad as the pain that I must endure every single day and that will cease when I cease to be.

This is the real tragedy. Victims, whether they be younger or older, reach a point where they feel not only worthless but they also reach a place where they feel they are doing more harm than good by staying, enduring, and fighting each and every day. It is at this point victims make a judgment call that the pain they are ending is far greater than any pain that they can ever possibly leave behind.

I just cannot understand the mindset of a bully, particularly a bully who drives others to self-harm.

Anti-Bullying Campaigns and Homophobia...

Bullying is a serious problem in schools. Bullying happened when I was in high school, but when I think about bullying in 2010 then it becomes pretty obvious that school life for me was a breeze. Simply, in this age of technology bullying has become a 24/7 problem. In my day bullying sort of started when one got to school and ended at the end of the school day.

However, what I have noticed in my practicums to date is that mobile technology is so prevalent amongst our youth that problems like cyber-bullying are increasingly prevalent. It is not uncommon to see children with a happy disposition at the beginning of the day deteriorate throughout the day as a result of 'stuff' being posted about them on Facebook and Twitter and other social networking and media sites.

What used to be one-on-one or small groups-on-one has now morphed into something where "X is doing the deed with Y" is posted to 100s of people in an instant and then forwarded or retweeted into other social networks. It really is scary. And, in a lot of ways I am very glad to no longer be a child myself. But, I am a teacher, and a parent, and these are issues that I will have to deal with throughout my professional and personal life.

This post came about because of an interesting discussion I watched on Anderson Cooper 360 (and I embed it here courtesy of CNN) that was discussing bullying and the incorporation of material to address increasing homophobia in schools as part of an anti-bullying program. It was interesting to hear that children are coming out at ever-younger ages. This is interesting to me because I do not think that as a community we are ready for this. I do not think that we have universal and uniform mechanisms in place to deal with it. I think that in the school situation we are not prepared to address the gaps between policy and practice.

It amazes me that there are still those that want to stick their collective heads in the sand and continue to debate nature vs. nurture couched in terms of some sort of liberal conspiracy to promote a homosexual agenda. If people want to debate whether gay and lesbians are born or created then they should go for it on their own time. On my time I want constructive debate and discussion about how I can create and maintain a safe learning environment where children can get the education that I believe they have a right to receive. I am not going to get this by sticking my head in the sand and pretending that the children who are coming out proud about their sexual preferences are confused adolescent victims of a liberal homosexual conspiracy.

Bullying, and particularly cyber-bullying, is going to be one of the biggest challenges I face as a teacher / educator. I really hope I am up to the challenge.

How Anonymous Are You Really When You Blog?

Here is some food for thought for those of you out there, me included, who blog and say things that may or may not be considered defamatory.

A model, Liskula Cohen, has successfully sued Google for the name of an anonymous blogger who she alleges defamed her on a blog hosted by Google. The blog was called Skanks in NYC. The essence of the defamation case is that the anonymous blogger called Cohen a "skank" and an "old hag".

The anonymous blogger identified Cohen as the "skankiest in NYC". This was then followed with, "How old is this skank? 40 something? She's a psychotic, lying, whoring, still going to clubs at her age, skank." I am guessing that this does not leave much to one's imagination. Is it defamatory? On face value, probably.

However, there are defenses to defamation that if the decision survives appeal, assuming there is one, then the anonymous blogger would likely be arguing an extension of what the blogger's lawyer has put forward so far, namely: this was mere opinion and "trash talk" rather than any intent to defame. The extension here would be to argue that, in essence, what has been said is in fact true.

Judge Joan Madden has ruled in favour of Cohen and has ordered that Google must provide the name of the anonymous blogger. It is expected that the name of the anonymous blogger is to be revealed in court as a means of allowing Cohen to proceed with her defamation action against the currently anonymous blogger. According to Judge Madden the assertions made were that Cohen was sexually promiscuous and the accompanying photos on the blog bore this intent out sufficiently well.

Cohen's modelling career was seemingly cut short when she was glassed in 2007. The resulting injuries required 46 stitches to close the wounds. Cohen was glassed when she objected to some drunk bloke stealing a bottle of vodka off her table. The bloke decided his best course of action in response to this objection was to glass Cohen in the face. The bloke was sent to jail, and deservedly so.

The case is interesting because of the potential implications. These implications are that anyone who thinks they are blogging anonymously may not be so anonymous after all. There are undoubtedly many techno savvy individuals out there with the knowledge and means of ratcheting up their anonymity to make discovery of their true identities even more difficult or impossible.

I am not one of them. I have enough trouble just using the features of blogger to be worried about whether I am anonymous or not. That said, I am using my real name to blog. So, if I have defamed you then you know where I reside in cyberspace.

There is a belief that this decision will open the floodgates to litigation and defamation claims based on comments written online that people do not agree with. This would seemingly be the case.

It is worth noting that the blog in question was shut down in March of this year. The blog contained only five entries and all of them related to Cohen. My guess is that the anonymous blogger is likely someone she knows or someone she has had some acquaintance with. Alternatively, it is, or was, a cyber-stalker which is a scary thought.

Something for all you anonymous bloggers out there to consider is this statement from Google:

"We sympathise with anyone who may be the victim of cyber bullying. We also take great care to respect privacy concerns and will only provide information about a user in response to a subpoena or other court order." So, make sure you re-read the privacy statement from Google again if you thought what you clicked guaranteed your absolute privacy.

Food for thought.