Bullied Canadian teen leaves behind chilling YouTube video

Bullied Canadian teen leaves behind chilling YouTube video

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CNN) -- Her YouTube video started out innocently enough. The Canadian teen, her face obscured from the camera, held a stack of cards each filled with messages in black marker.

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At this point the viewer may have no idea that they are about to be led on the most agonizing journey, one that pushed the premier of British Columbia to issue a stern warning against bullying,
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The last cards say simply: "I have nobody. I need someone. My name is Amanda Todd."

The video has garnered the attention of many including the premier of British Columbia, Christy Clark.

"No one deserves to be bullied. No one earns it. No one asks for it. It is not a rite of passage. Bullying has to stop. Every child has to feel safe at school," Clark said in a You Tube video posted Thursday.

One day earlier, Amanda Todd's body was found in her home, police in the Vancouver-area city of Coquitlam said. She took her own life.

Amanda was 15.

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Already posted, but very sad indeed.

this is so sad, woah..I actually was just looking at this on FB, some friends posting stuff about her.

it's so sad , shes a pretty teen. Fkin bulling. I'll admit I was bullied when I was in grade 7, but I stood up fought back, and surprisingly became friends. I was lucky, I know what it feels like, my advise. Stick up for your self, stand your ground!!!! Don't be afraid to get hurt.

reply to post by thePharaoh

I pulled my kids out of public school in the 6th and 8th grade because of bullying. It wasn't so much the bullying as the fact that the schools would not let my girls defend themselves and would actually try to tell me to have compassion for the bully, because he/she came from a damaged home, and we have to have compassion. Well I call BS loud and clear. I had one kid cutting themselves and another threatening suicide at 11 and 13 yrs of age and I didn't know what to do.

Now they are 22-24 and are two of the best spoken, well rounded young women you would want to talk to. The youngest makes money as a graphic artist and the oldest is making money from doll clothes if you can wrap your head around that lol.

Glad I pulled them out of school and kept them with us so they could survive that awkward age when you are trying to find yourself and maybe don't quite fit in. A bully can break your spirit if nobody is paying attention.

Peace...

Bullying isn't the issue...lack of support from friends and family is apparently the bigger issue..."I have no one"..."I need someone"??? where are the loving parents? family? siblings? zero friends?

I'll say again the key to "defeating bullies" is to ignore them...and focus on the victim...instead of outlawing words and forcing kids to be nice and making political correctness a law...

we should be focusing on the victims and praising them building them up and showing them that they are valued, appreciated, and accepted...the people who love them and care for them seem to be outnumbered by "bullies" in these cases and that is truly sad...not that people would bully her....but that there apparently aren't any other people in her life willing to build her up and support her...

THAT is where the focus needs to be...befriend someone who is being bullied...its much more effective than giving bullies any sort of attention at all...

reply to post by Sly1one


Nope...it's standing your ground! Trust me I've learned from Experience

Originally posted by live2beknown
reply to post by Sly1one

 

Nope...it's standing your ground! Trust me I've learned from Experience

for SOME people that is effective...but others lose their will to fight...the will of any human being can be broken with enough abuse and force...and I have learned that from experience...

standing your ground is important but you also need support so you don't feel alone and just like giving up...

sadly in cases like hers...the "you suck" far outnumber the "you're awesome!!" and that is part of the biggest problem. People need to feel validated, accepted and appreciated...if they are getting NONE of that and nothing but the opposite...criticism, ridicule, rejection, and cast aside...people will break...especially children who are going through the adolescence and are hyper self critical and insecure...

I've worked with bullied kids and simply telling them "stand your ground" is ineffective...that requires confidence they don't have because they either don't have support from loved ones or are neglected, and ridiculed more often than praised...

Ignoring bullies is much easier said than done, particularly when it’s as vicious and as on going as in this situation. It’s incredibly sad. But what is perhaps just as sad is that it takes something like this to garner public outrage and attention. It’s the same in the Australia. Bullying is often only discussed in public forums when something like the happens, but then it dies down (no pun intended) after a week or two until another victim takes their life. I feel the schools must be held accountable. In the vast majority of cases the school knows what’s going on. They know whose being bullied and by who, yet they rarely do anything about it. Melbourne schoolgirl Olivia Penpraze made her school well aware of what was happening, yet the school did nothing and allowed it to happen. She did a similar thing in May, holding up placards with her words and thoughts on them in a video that is on youtube. It’s terrible, really. It’s hard to put words on this issue. It won’t stop until the schools get their act together.

I feel a good start would be to make the school principal criminally liable if such a thing occurs, as it’s ultimately his responsibility for the student, and even teacher, safety and wellbeing. Set up criminal charges with long jail time for principals and even teachers, not civil proceedings but criminal, and perhaps with the threat of jail time and a criminal record they may actually pull their heads in and work to end bullying at school, and amongst school students online and away from school grounds. Work place bullying is a different matter and here in Victoria bosses and others found guilty of such acts of bullying can face up to ten years jail. Bring that in for principals and teachers and watch the bully/suicide rate fall.

i was bullied pretty bad as a kid and i know how it feels to want to die. i always ended up fighting back though, and eventually they got tired of fighting and arguing with me and moved on. but that was back in the 90s. i think theres more dangers in the year 2012. kids now are not like the kids i fought in school. they have weapons now. or gangs, and can use their numbers against you. when i was kid, fighting was one on one. now? it can be a whole group of kids jumping one kid. or kids with knives and guns. its just a different time now. its not as easy to fight back and put the bully in their place.

reply to post by thePharaoh


I was on the fence about this bullying issue. But this video has changed my mind. I really feel bad for her family this kid who did this should face charges and have to go to jail.


That was the saddest video I have ever seen I am not what you would call a cry baby I can count on my fingers how many times I have cried in the last 20 years and this one made me cry......

i had my own problems with bullying. first i was told to fight back, even to the point of being yelled at by teachers because my elder sister was getting upset at it. so i got in trouble for NOT fighting back. it was kinda hard to "just ignore the bullies" as they would hunt me down. i became a fast runner and good tree climber to try to avoid the bullies (most of my male class mates).

then i started to try to fight back, of course then got in trouble for fighting. and since i was in so many fights I WAS THE PROBLEM, and was the one getting in trouble over it, the bullies got away scott free.

that wasn't even the worst of it. once i started to get on the winning side of things, something interesting happened. INSTEAD of the bullies leaving me alone, like i was told would happen, it just got WORSE. OTHER KIDS would join in to help their fellow out, so that i was facing MULTIPLE ATTACKERS at once. yet i was STILL THE ONE that got in TROUBLE over the fights. also the fights were getting more and more serious to the point I WAS in FEAR OF MY LIFE. but yet teachers would do NOTHING TO HELP, and i just spent MORE time being yelled at in the office. obviously it HAD to be MY FAULT that most of the my class and other classes were attacking me.

of course i then learned about using ANYTHING i could get my hands on as a weapon, a branch, belt, book bag or even a chain became my tools to defend myself. of course i got in yet MORE trouble over this but i had learned my lesson that i NEEDED to PROTECT myself, the bullies DESERVED what they got, after all I STILL DID NOT WANT TO FIGHT, but i HAD to defend myself. i know many kids got injured but that as far as i could see was their problem.

one instance that stands out clearly in my mind was the day THE ENTIRE CLASS (of something like 32 boys), one grade below me decided to have fun. four or five of them started in on me while the rest locked arms forming a barrier so i could not escape. well i just happened to have a railway spike in my hand at the time as i had been trying to help a younger kid dig a piece of clothing out of the ice. i was terrified, i figured i had just one chance to escape with my life. i formed my fist around the spike and chose what seemed to be a weak spot in the ring. i took off with as much speed as i could get up, charged the "weak link" and gave the hardest punch i could to his face, and made my escape to the culvert that was my sanctuary since the others could not get to me in there. well of course i got called into the office and yelled at once again. it seemed that i had broken the kids jaw and fractured his skull. it also seemed that this kid who had been locking me into the fight became an "INNOCENT BYSTANDER", of course over 30 witnesses against one of me THEIR word was taken on that. no one realized what i had in my fist or i would have gotten in yet more trouble, but you know what I FELT NO REMORSE AT ALL over it. that kid got what he fully deserved, and at least THAT class left me alone from that point on.

what did i do to deserve this treatment? i was poor and not good in school as well as being smaller than everyone else. so i guess i DID deserve to have the crap kicked out of me on a daily basis didn't i?

sadly if TEACHERS actually STOPPED the fights and instead of giving all the crap to the defender went after the bullies maybe that kid and several others would not have been injured. and he as well as a few others would not have needed to go to the hospital.

it all finally ended when i got into high school, started wearing cammo and steel toe boots etc. basically i had to BECOME the SCARY DUDE, known for things like body checking assailants into lockers with enough force to severely damage the lockers. and to literally keep on beating my assailants to the point they could not get back up, using any weapon i could grab. after that the attacks FINALLY stopped. i was just to dangerous to attack at that point i guess. rather sad that to be safe i had to abandon my peaceful ways and become very much the KILLER type just to survive.

i can't even remember all the times i was ready to end it all and give up on life. i even tried to hang myself a couple times. all because the school system REFUSED to protect me and actually DEAL with the problem. instead insisting that it WAS ALL MY FAULT.

I totally blame all the adults in this story and for any one of them or even Amanda to be calling this bullying, I find that totally ridiculous!! At 15yrs of age you know the difference between right and wrong. A girl of 12 knows not to flash her boobies on-line.

If these pics were on-line and Amanda was constantly being bullied then the police and parents should have taken care of the black-mail and harassment. Someone seems to be pulling someone's leg here in my opinion. The police stopped by her house to tell her that her pics were sent to " everyone " did the police go to the guy that posted it to everyone and arrest him on child porn???

No?

The parents moved but some how children were able to act like the best of detectives and track her down?? Sounds like Amanda or someone left a lot of info out.

This isn't a case of bullying...it's a case of Amanda constantly making horrible immoral choices, a lack of parental supervision. A lack of teachers supervision, police supervision.

The term bullying is being thrown around like the 2nd coming and turning a whole lotta people into victims where they should be taking responsibility for thier actions!!!

Sticks and stones...keep your cloths on!!!

I babysat at 15 yrs old for my neighbor...her husband raped me. See the difference!!!!!!!!! Again...sounds like the girls parents and teachers failed her as mine did...but I knew of the same choices we both had and I made mine and she made hers.

www.abovetopsecret.com...
already up

This is just sort of a weird idea that came to mind....

You know in the time our parents, grandparents and GGP were in school bullying was around then too. I'm sure it was just as violent as now. But the victims didn't go kill themselves.

Why? I believe because people were tougher in general back then. The age old adage of "when I was your age we had to walk 20 miles in threw waist deep snow to get to school etc etc".

I think as time has gone on people and kids have gotten weaker and weaker. Our modern society has made life so easy for kids and people. It's all about fun, entertainment, dreams, optimism etc etc. So often in life now a days we see that when someone gets stressed, whether it be from bullying, job loss, divorce, loss of loved one, or some major trauma, well the victim has zero coping skills.

They've always been brought up that life is easy, so when actual pain hits they're not stronge enough to handle the stress and trauma. So they off themselves.

I don't know, it's just one way to look at it but, most people are "the trendies". And you can't blame them, everything in society is geared toward making life easy for them (in north america I mean). So again they encounter a problem and they can't deal with it. They snap as there is no mechanisms inside to cope. The parents had spared the rod and spoiled the child. And they were too naive themselves or too busy to teach them anything about dealing with difficult circumstances.

Like where as say our ggparents, they parents beat them if they didn't behave. They had to milk 50 cows starting at 4 am before school at 8am which they had to walk 20 miles threw the snow to get to. So when a bully started on them they either hit back, or they shrugged it off like it was nothing. They were tough! That's one thing we've lost in our society.

Anyway I'm just pointing out one angle that I think is overlooked.

One less pathetic human being...I say.

Who here has not dealt with jerks at one point in their lives...you made it...we all did.

It takes a really weak individual and coward to take their life instead of dealing with it and becoming stronger in the process.

reply to post by generik


My daughter went through much of what you had happened. And the vice principle always said stupid things like she deserved it and brought it on herself. I asked for what? He said she preferred herself to be a loner and not get involved in the school so she brought it on herself. WTF?????

I called child services and an crisis counselor and they came to my next meeting with the vice principle. They nailed him to the point he actually threw up his hands and threw his pen down, he was a real A hole.

Much of the problem is the teachers and principles condoning this behavior and protecting the bully. They blame the victim so they don't have to do anything/more work, and their bullies too. It's pathetic.

This is such a sad story.

I must also ask, where on earth were her parents?

This video was a clear cry for help, why wasn't it given to her?

Poor thing

reply to post by kerazeesicko


Everyone is different.

I'm sorry that we all can't live up to your standards.

Your post makes you sound like a jerk.

There's nothing chilling about this, it's pathetic that a young girl had to put up with crap from other kids with no moral values whatsoever. Failure on school staff, parents and people in general.

Bullying is pathetic and I feel bad for someone who didn't have the strength to deal with something they should never have had to put up with.

The bullies should be dead, not her