I am troubled by the news reports, well, troubled is an understatement. The suicide death of Nova Scotian teen Rehtaeh Parsons is a tragedy. She was apparently overwhelmed with months of humiliating bullying. When it seemed that nothing could, or would, be done to lessen the pain of her situation she took matters into her own hands by ending her life.
I find this situation impossible to comprehend. That four young men would get so caught up in the fever pitch of, what, drunkenness? Lust? Sexual desire? More likely bravado and power and a need to prove oneself, that they would justify the animal behaviour of sexual assault. It sickens me to think of teenagers carrying out this behaviour but even worse is that they recorded it all and then circulated it to friends. How could any one think that was okay? Hiding behind social media they got their kicks by showing their sexual prowess. It was a sexual assault. It disgusts me.
But I am equally troubled by the group calling themselves Anonymous who are now carrying out their own social media campaign by threatening a vigilante justice by outing the boys if the police don’t act immediately. While I think their motives are positive they are really just carrying out another form of bullying.
Wouldn’t it be staggering if instead of carrying forth bullying the public rose up with a commitment to teaching and living empathy, kindness and respect?
How can we turn this around? I don’t think that criminalizing such behaviour is the answer, even though there must be consequences for such wrong-headed action, but there has to be a way to address this at its root cause.
What do you think? Can you rise above the horror of such action to see a way to conquer the injustice and aggression?
Nancy, I feel the same as you in many respects however I’m not sure what justice is anymore. I don’t trust our judicial system to make things right. Too often we read about criminals going free or only having their hand slapped because of legal technicalities and judicial finagling. I don’t think we’ll ever rid the world of bullying and I can’t help but put myself in the shoes of the parents of these young girls and wonder how they can contain their anger. I, for one, will go on record by saying that if I ever faced such a situation I would definitely take matters into my own hands and then undertake my own finagling with the legal system. Teaching empathy will certainly go a long way in curtailing the bullying mentality but until there is a fitting punishment for the wrongdoings of those who have no empathy I think vigilante justice is a very effective way of dealing with those who have no heart. Not very Christian thinking I’m afraid, but I think there must be room for punishment in our world for those who turn their back on the golden rule.