Last week millions of citizens half a world apart paused to reflect on their current state of affairs as two young girls became victims of malicious events.
We didn't know 15-year-old Amanda Todd, but we grieve for her and her family. A victim of cyber bullying, Amanda took her own life after suffering too long.
On the other side of the world, 14-year-old Malala Yousafzai took a bullet to the head and another one in the neck, because she wanted to go to school. She's still alive, but barely, and we pray for her and salute her bravery.
We're not going to attempt to link these two events into one neat package, but we do feel compelled to pass along some commentary regarding the events that led Amanda to take the ultimate drastic step to end her pain.
Her loss has sent up a rallying cry for someone, somewhere to please do something about the unguarded practice of cyber bullying. There are pleas for the federal government to get involved to establish a national bullying prevention strategy.
This could be a non-partisan effort, but we're afraid any effort to criminalize cyber bullying would end up as being a legal and political mess. Online misadventures are personalized events, and there is no one law that fits all remedy.
But it's getting worse and the freedoms found in models such as Facebook, we have learned time and time again, can come back to bite the unsuspecting users. Anonymity can be evil and the Internet universe can be twisted and perverse.
Amanda's tribute page has been compromised by negative responses ... that's how bad it can get.
The supposed perpetrator of the bullying tactics against her, a 32-year-old B.C. man, has apparently been exposed by other online hackers and users. So now he is being threatened by them.
So here we have a situation where a supposed bully is being bullied by other bullies and the Internet is providing the weapons where vigilante groups can run rampant. They become the justice system. No police involvement required, no charges need to be laid, no court system needs to be included. The public cyber forum will serve all these purposes, including the penalty ... whether the man is guilty or not, he's now the target and online justice must be done.
There is no safe place on the Internet once the cyber trolls start marching, protected by Internet anonymity.
Bad deeds or silly deeds are done through the Internet to incite attention and worlds of evil are allowed to descend and inflict their damage on their victims with intended and unintended results, and no one is really ever truly responsible. And that's what is so dangerous about this whole mess.
We mourn the loss of Amanda and others who have seen no other way out.
We pray for the survival of Malala who was bravely trying to gain an education, something our kids simply take for granted as they hop on bikes and buses to travel to safe schools where they receive the finest in learning techniques delivered by caring educators. Malala knew none of that world. She had to risk her life every day in an attempt to get educated. She wanted other girls to have that opportunity.
No, we won't try to link Amanda and Malala with a common message, but we can care about the two systems and situations that led them into harm's way with hopes that someday, somewhere, somehow there will be answers to ease the pain.
