A Very Disturbing Trend

   It's cyber-bullying, and it's seen several teens kill themselves because of the relentless on-line attacks. Just recently in Canada, a 17 year old young woman, Rehtaeh Parsons committed suicide after being raped and then having images of the assault put on line.
   Then there was the case of 15 year old Amanda Todd, who put a heart-wrenching cry for help on You Tube after she was tricked into posting a topless photo of herself and was mercilessly bullied on line about that. She also killed herself. If you want to know what real pain is, take a look at that video and see the look of abject despair, hopelessness and helplessness in her posture, and the look on her face. If you're human, you'll have a tear in your eye after watching it.
   In the States, there's the case of Audrey Potts who was sexually assaulted, with photos of the attack posted on-line. The 15 year old recently committed suicide. At least in this case, lawyers are going to press to have the 3 16 year old boys alleged to have raped her tired as adults.
   But there doesn't need to be anything like pictures of a rape posted on line to constitute bullying. It can be any number of things that lead to victimization, whether it starts in school or not. For that matter, office bullying is also on the rise in a number of areas in the country.
   To his credit, our Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, says such incidents like the Rehtaeh Parsons case should not be called bullying. He says it's a criminal act, and people charged should have their case prosecuted as such.
   The only problem in Canada is the Youth Justice Act, which basically prevents little criminal fucks from being tried and sentenced as adults. At least till their 18. And anyone under 13 (I think) can't be charged at all. I feel the government needs to scrap that act, and start charging these teens as adults. Depending on the crime. And sentence them to a lot more than what currently amounts to a slap on the wrist.
   Social media is a wonderful tool, there's no doubt. Plus, it's also quite easy, in most cases, to track who posts what. So maybe police agencies (if they haven't already) should set up a cyber-bullying force to investigate complaints, lay charges, and try to make sure cases like Rehtaeh, Audry and Amanda's never happen again. And parents: You should also take a more pro-active response and, if possible, monitor what little Johnny and Janey are up to on line.
   As for the bastards responsible for the ultimate deaths of these 3 young women, rot in hell you assholes!
   'Nuff said