Colegio Nuestra Señora de la Altagracia

CAN CYBERBULLYING OR
BULLYING IN GENRAL BE
CONSIDERED A GENOCIDE?

Melanie Osorio Burgos

Twelve Grade
English Class
Ms. Paola Perez
Introduction:

In this essay well investigate if cyberbullying or just bullying in general con be considered a genocide. In
my opinion y think it could probably be considered the modern form of genocide. Now a days, people
hurt each other for the pleasure of feeling better that the other person. Thetas why I think this
investigation-comparison could turn out ok. Thetas what basically genocide is, destroying the other
person just because you can, cause there different.

In this world we cannot live with that mentally. Every day, teens and young adults suffer in silence
because there are just scared of what might happen. Some levels of their depression can leave to greater
problems, such as: self-harm, addictions and suicide. The term genocide is used when a group of people
want to make serious harm to other that don’t think the same way. Does this sound a little to the kind of
bullying we see today.

I’ll explain in great detail what cyberbullying and bullying in general is. The effects and the suicide rate
and the long-term effects that causes this. Then I’ll explain what genocide is, where did this word come.
In the end ill compare the two of them and I’ll see if my hypothesis is true or not.

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What is Cyberbullying?
Cyberbullying is bullying that takes place using electronic technology. Electronic technology includes
devices and equipment such as cell phones, computers, and tablets as well as communication tools
including social media sites, text messages, chat, and websites. Examples of cyberbullying include mean
text messages or emails, rumors sent by email or posted on social networking sites, and embarrassing
pictures, videos, websites, or fake profiles.

Why Cyberbullying is Different?

Kids who are being cyberbullied are often bullied in person as well. Additionally, kids who are
cyberbullied have a harder time getting away from the behavior. Cyberbullying can happen 24 hours a
day, 7 days a week, and reach a kid even when he or she is alone. It can happen any time of the day or
night. Cyberbullying messages and images can be posted anonymously and distributed quickly to a very
wide audience. It can be difficult and sometimes impossible to trace the source.
Deleting inappropriate or harassing messages, texts, and pictures is extremely difficult after they have
been posted or sent.

Effects of Cyberbullying
Illustration of two teens texting. Cell phones and computers themselves are not to blame for
cyberbullying. Social media sites can be used for positive activities, like connecting kids with friends and
family, helping students with school, and for entertainment. But these tools can also be used to hurt other
people. Whether done in person or through technology, the effects of bullying are similar.

Kids who are cyberbullied are more likely to:

 Use alcohol and drugs

 Skip school
 Experience in-person bullying
 Be unwilling to attend school
 Receive poor grades
 Have lower self-esteem
 Have more health problems

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Frequency of Cyberbullying

 The 2010-2011 School Crime Supplement (National Center for Education Statistics and Bureau
of Justice Statistics) indicates that 9% of students in grades 6–12 experienced cyberbullying.
 The 2013 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey finds that 15% of high school students
(grades 9-12) were electronically bullied in the past year.
 Research on cyberbullying is growing. However, because kids’ technology use changes rapidly, it
is difficult to design surveys that accurately capture trends.

How Bullying Affects Children

Nearly one in five students in an average classroom is experiencing bullying in some way. The rest of the
students, called bystanders, are also affected by the bullying.

The Impact of Bullying

A single student who bullies can have a wide-ranging impact on the students they bully, students who
observe bullying, and the overall climate of the school and community.

Students who are bullied:

Students deserve to feel safe at school. But when they experience bullying, these types of effects can last
long into their future:

 Depression
 Low self-esteem
 Health problems
 Poor grades
 Suicidal thoughts

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Observers of Bullying
Students who see bullying happen also may feel that they are in an unsafe environment. Effects may
include feeling:

 Fearful
 Powerless to act
 Guilty for not acting
 Tempted to participate

Students Who Bully Others

Students who intentionally bully others should be held accountable for their actions. Those who bully
their peers are also more likely than those students who do not bully others to:

 Get into frequent fights

 Steal and vandalize property
 Drink alcohol and smoke
 Report poor grades
 Perceive a negative climate at school
 Carry a weapon

Schools with Bullying Issues

When bullying continues and a school does not take action, the entire school climate can be affected in
the following ways:

 The school develops an environment of fear and disrespect

 Students have difficulty learning
 Students feel insecure
 Students dislike school
 Students perceive that teachers and staff have little control and don't care about them

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Not all students who bully others have obvious behavior problems or are engaged in rule-breaking
activities, however. Some of them are highly skilled socially and good at ingratiating themselves with
their teacher and other adults. This is true of some boys who bully but is perhaps even more common
among bullying girls. For this reason it is often difficult for adults to discover or even imagine that these
students engage in bullying behavior.

The Bullying Circle

The Olweus Bullying Prevention Program describes students involved or witnessing a bullying situation
as having roles in the Bullying Circle.

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The Relationship between Bullying and Suicide

There is a strong link between bullying and suicide, as suggested by recent bullying-related suicides in the
US and other countries. Parents, teachers, and students learn the dangers of bullying and help students
who may be at risk of committing suicide. Media reports often link bullying with suicide. However, most
youth who are bullied do not have thoughts of suicide or engage in suicidal behaviors. Although kids who
are bullied are at risk of suicide, bullying alone is not the cause. Many issues contribute to suicide risk,
including depression, problems at home, and trauma history. Additionally, specific groups have an
increased risk of suicide, including American Indian and Alaskan Native, Asian American, lesbian, gay,
bisexual, and transgender youth. This risk can be increased further when these kids are not supported by
parents, peers, and schools. Bullying can make an unsupportive situation worse.

In recent years, a series of bullying-related suicides in the US and across the globe have drawn attention
to the connection between bullying and suicide. Though too many adults still see bullying as "just part of
being a kid," it is a serious problem that leads to many negative effects for victims, including suicide.
Many people may not realize that there is also a link between being a bully and committing suicide.

The statistics on bullying and suicide are alarming

 Suicide is the third leading cause of death among young people, resulting in about 4,400 deaths
per year, according to the CDC. For every suicide among young people, there are at least 100
suicide attempts. Over 14 percent of high school students have considered suicide, and almost 7
percent have attempted it.
 Bully victims are between 2 to 9 times more likely to consider suicide than non-victims,
according to studies by Yale University
 A study in Britain found that at least half of suicides among young people are related to bullying
 10 to 14 year old girls may be at even higher risk for suicide, according to the study above
 According to statistics reported by ABC News, nearly 30 percent of students are either bullies or
victims of bullying, and 160,000 kids stay home from school every day because of fear of
bullying

Bully-related suicide can be connected to any type of bullying, including physical bullying, emotional
bullying, cyberbullying, and sexting, or circulating suggestive or nude photos or messages about a person.

Some schools or regions have more serious problems with bullying and suicide related to bullying. This
may be due to an excessive problem with bullying at the school. It could also be related to the tendency of
students who are exposed to suicide to consider suicide themselves.

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Some of the warning signs of suicide can include:

 Showing signs of depression, like ongoing sadness, withdrawal from others, losing interest in
favorite activities, or trouble sleeping or eating
 Talking about or showing an interest in death or dying
 Engaging in dangerous or harmful activities, including reckless behavior, substance abuse, or
self-injury
 Giving away favorite possessions and saying goodbye to people
 Saying or expressing that they can't handle things anymore
 Making comments that things would be better without them

In some cases, it may not be obvious that a teen is thinking about suicide, such as when the suicide seems
to be triggered by a particularly bad episode of bullying. In several cases where bullying victims killed
themselves, bullies had told the teen that he or she should kill him or herself or that the world would be
better without them. Others who hear these types of statements should be quick to stop them and explain
to the victim that the bully is wrong.

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What Is Genocide?

The term “genocide” did not exist prior to 1944. It is a very specific term, referring to violent crimes
committed against a group with the intent to destroy the existence of the group. Human rights, as laid out
in the US Bill of Rights or the 1948 United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, concern the
rights of individuals.

The crime of genocide

On December 9, 1948, in the shadow of the Holocaust and in no small part due to the tireless efforts of
Lemkin himself, the United Nations approved the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the
Crime of Genocide. This convention establishes genocide as an international crime, which signatory
nations “undertake to prevent and punish.” It defines genocide as:

Any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial
or religious group, as such:

 Killing members of the group

 Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group
 Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical
destruction in whole or in part
 Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group
 Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group
 The specific “intent to destroy” particular groups is unique to genocide. A closely related
category of international law, crimes against humanity, is defined as widespread or systematic
attacks against civilians

While many cases of group-targeted violence have occurred throughout history and even since the
convention came into effect, the legal and international development of the term genocide is concentrated
into two distinct historical periods: the time from its coining until its acceptance as international law
(1944–48) and the time of its activation with the establishment of international criminal tribunals to
prosecute persons responsible for committing it (1991–98). Preventing genocide, the other major
obligation of the convention, remains a challenge that nations and individuals continue to face.

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Conclusion

Bullying can be classified as genocide because it involves:

 The person bullying

 The bully's supporters
 The bystanders

Bullying and Genocide have many things in common; “It is a short walk from bullying to hate crimes to
genocide”, and “Genocide is the most extreme form of bullying.” In both situations of bullying and
genocide, there is a bully and at least one victim, the bully picks a trait that they feel that they can get a
reaction from, the bully gets a group of followers or bystanders, starts the altercation, and eventually the
more that people start to hurt others more often, the more that it starts to become normal. People from
North America and other rich continents are turning a blind eye to what is going on in the world, because
it seems to them, like there are so many more important things than thousands of lives lost over higher
level bullying.

Every person has been born with evil inside of them. In some people, this presents itself many times,
which can lead to bullying. In some occasions, a person’s evil can even take over their morals, resulting
in, and leading this to genocide. We now have to apprehend the fact that no, we cannot go back to the past
to change the future, but we can change the present to create a better future.

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Reference
1. http://www.violencepreventionworks.org/public/bullying_effects.page
2. http://www.stopbullying.gov/at-risk/effects/
3. http://www.ushmm.org/confront-genocide/defining-genocide
4. http://www.stopbullying.gov/cyberbullying/what-is-it/
5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkG0nssouFg

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