Preventing Cyber Bullying?

Really?

I think the idea of legislating away bullying is ridiculous. The existence of the disease is doubtful, and the cure is far, far worse. Everyone has at some time been the victim of a bully, nearly everyone has been a bully, and with no criminal sanctions to mar our records, we all ended up fine. It’s just a lousy part of being a kid, not something we need state laws about.

Today, of course, we also have “cyber bullying.” Kids using the internet to bother other kids. The horrors. Why little Billy sending little Johnny a text message saying he’s going to get him after schools is somehow worse than telling him face to face, as was the case in my day, I don’t know. Why little Johnny can’t delete messages from the bully, I don’t know either. Why we can’t solve this ‘problem’ the same way we’ve solved bully problems for centuries (attentive parents and teachers and perhaps fists), I don’t know. Really, what I don’t know is why this is a big deal. To me, anyone who gets worked up about this is just as goofy as anyone who gets worked up over bad language on television. In either case, if you are offended, turn the media off.

Of course, as local attorney M. Samantha McCallister points out, we do have a terrible example of cyber bullying to use as emotional justification for all kinds of over-reaching and unnecessary laws:

The 2006 death of 13-year-old Megan Meier prompted Missouri lawmakers to update a state harassment law so that it now covers bullying and stalking done through electronic media, like e-mails or text messages. If you are not familiar with Megan’s story, a former friend (along with help from other classmates) of Megan Meier created a fake Myspace page for a boy named “Josh” and began messaging Megan regularly, with the intentions of beginning a relationship with her. One day, “Josh” wrote to Megan that “the world would be a better place without you” and other mean-spirited messages. Megan’s mother discovered Megan hanging in the closet with a belt around her neck.

Tragic case, no doubt. But Megan Meier had a lot of problems in addition to the cyber bullying. Also, there’s nothing that occurred over the internet that the same a**holes could not have done using pens and paper or the telephone. In other words, this could have happened even without those wicked old interwebs.

It’s also one case. A horrible situation, but still only one. Yet look at what this one terrible combination of unique events has led to:

Missouri’s law prompted several other states to create laws and policies against “cyber bullying.” In 2007, the Arkansas legislation passed a law allowing school officials to take action against cyber bullies even if the bullying did not originate or take place on school property. The law gave school administrators much more freedom to punish those individuals who sought to harass their fellow students.

The progressive state of Oregon really delves into the details of cyber bullying. The laws passed in recent years in Oregon expand the boundaries of what constitutes cyber bullying to include those actions which “substantially interfere” with the education of the young person.

Vermont has added a $500 fine for cyber bullying offenses to their already stringent laws on the matter. There is currently a bill being discussed that would increase the reach of the school’s powers regarding cyber bullying when the action puts the individual’s ability to learn (or health and safety) at risk.

Other states with new policies for cyber bullying include New York, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Iowa and Idaho.

Do you really want some principal to have the authority to fine you or your kid if that principal thinks your kid is somehow interfering with the education of another student. Even if it occurs competely off the school campus? Think about it for a second. Think about how kids talk to each other, even to their friends. Consider how you acted in school.

Then consider what a reasonable, calm, and rational person the average school administrator is. We’re about to entrust the War on Bullying to school administrators. Think about how well they’ve handled the War on Drugs:

A 13-year-old Arizona girl who was strip-searched by school officials looking for ibuprofen pain reliever will have her case heard at the Supreme Court. . . .

The case involves Savana Redding, who in 2003 was an eighth-grade honor student at Safford Middle School, about 127 miles from Tucson, Arizona. Earlier that day the vice principal had discovered prescription-strength ibuprofen pills in the possession of one of Redding’s classmates. That student, facing punishment, accused Redding of providing her with the 400-milligram pills.

The school has a zero-tolerance policy for all prescription and over-the-counter medication, including the ibuprofen, without prior written permission.

Redding was pulled from class by a male vice principal, Kerry Wilson, escorted to an office and confronted with the evidence. She denied the accusations.

A search of Redding’s backpack found nothing. Then, although she had never had prior disciplinary problems, a strip-search was conducted with the help of a school nurse and Wilson’s assistant, both females. According to court records, she was ordered to strip to her underwear and her bra was pulled out. Again, no drugs were found.

In an affidavit, Redding said, “The strip-search was the most humiliating experience I have ever had. I held my head down so that they could not see that I was about to cry.”

Anti-bullying laws, especially those attempting to prevent the cyber variety, may or may not prevent another case like Megan Meier’s. They will certainly lead to dumba** busybody administrators doing the equivalent of strip-searching 13 year old honor students looking for an aspirin. Given the choice between handling a bully and dealing with an overreaching principal on a righteous power trip, I’ll take the bully every time.

Preventing bullying isn’t that hard. Certainly nothing requiring government intervention. All you have to do to solve the cyber bullying is turn off the computer. As for real bullying, well we could all take a lesson from Ralphie . . .

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