I'm sure some of you may remember a piece I did on this blog back in February titled: Just A Thought. If you don't here's a link- link. Back then it was in reaction to the suicide attempt of 11 year old Michael Morones, who tried to take his own life because he was bullied because he was a fan of My Little Pony. Well, it is with a heavy heart that I once again have to dust off the soapbox, because the world just doesn't get the message.
This morning, I was doing my rounds of checking all my usual internet haunts (deviantart, the forums etc.) and this is the second story down on the MLP community website (for those of you who don't know, I am a very avid Brony, and I really don't care if you like it or not)- http://www.equestriadaily.com/2014/12/brony-takes-his-own-life-due-to-online.html
The page has a link to the original article as reported in the British tabloid press and the story goes something like this. 19 year old Brony, Adam Smith, was bullied online by internet trolls because of his fandom of MLP, the fan fiction he wrote of the show and his learning disability. He was accused of plagiarism for his story (I do not know if these claimed had any foundation, I haven't read his story nor seen the comments thread of it on the website it was posted on). He later made a youtube video apologising to the people who accused him of plagiarism for any misunderstanding (again, I haven't seen the video). He was then attacked in the comments section of the video by people laughing at his speech problems. A few days later, Adam Smith walked in front of a moving train.
Now we come to the point of todays missive, much like my Just A Thought had a point to it. When it comes to criticism, some people take it better than others, but verbally attacking someone and mocking them because of something completely out of their control, such as a disability, is not even justifiable. It is one of the lowest things a person can do. So never laugh at a person less fortunate than yourself, just think how that would feel. And when it comes to dealing with people who think that the best form of entertainment is making someone else feel like dirt, ignore them. Trolls like this thrive on attention, so starve them of it. Most, if not all, internet sites allow you to block users, that feature is there for a reason. Of course, if this is happening in real life, then you don't have a block button, so tell someone, a teacher, a parent, a team manager if its happening at work. You have a right to feel comfortable with who you are and it is wrong for someone to try and make you feel uncomfortable with being yourself.
Criticism is welcome in this community, it's an artistic community, it's actively encouraged. But destructive criticism ("this sucks" and any variation there-in) is not welcome and will get you hit with sanctions as quickly as a moderator notices your comments. So if you are going to criticise, make sure its constructive. Tell the person how the can improve their work, what they could do differently, be encouraging, it feels so much better for all involved. Because trolling will get you shown the exit door, it's that way and it only opens from the inside. Once you're out, you're out.
And as a final thought; really, it doesn't matter what other people think in the end. Yeah bad comments and criticism can hurt at first, but they don't really matter. As long as you enjoy what you're doing, that is good enough. Be you, because you are awesome.
JR out.
Thank you, JR.
If only I’d been a little more like you at a younger age, maybe I’d be a better man today.
“verbally attacking someone and mocking them because of something completely out of their control, such as a disability, is not even justifiable.”
Amen, brother! I have a son with down syndrome, and a lot of people try to say hurt full things to him. He takes it all in stride, with a huge smile. That boy has a special view of the world that makes you want to be more like him. It’s truly something special and you walk away from him feeling better about yourself just for being part of his life.
I tell all my kids the world is full of @$$ holes, and your gonna be dealing with them all of your life. I encourage them to pay no mind to these people… I know a lot of times it easier said then done, especially when you’re stuck with them. But to let the words of the simple minded hurt you is pointless. Now days you got “cyber bullying”… How in the hell kids let silly stuff like that get to em is beyond me, but apparently its a serious issue.
To the bullies: Grow the (expletive deleted) up and learn to deal with your own insecurities instead of making others lives miserable too.
Agreed. Bro hoof.
@KatmirStone- Bro hoof dude. 🙂
I respect that JR, and it really sucks that people with nothing better to do just troll other people for mental or physical disabilities. And like Nug said, grow the *woot* up and deal with your own problems instead of making other people feel like feces. I would say more, but I get very high-flown. Again, respect for JR. (High-flown… Pegasus pun!)
Cyber bullies are a special kind of coward–no one can tell them IRL how much the world deserves better than that sort of treatment.
Cyber bullying is low, that’s true, but the thing is, people with disabilities, or any people that don’t look like all the others were always mocked and will always be. I’m not saying that it’s good – it’s awful, actually. But it’s the problem that isn’t solved that easily. It’s a rotten gift from the animal world. Do you know that when white raven is born (albino sort) it is almost instantly killed by its relatives? Because it’s white. With disabled people and healthy guys mocking them in real life and in internet. The best way to eliminate this is by ignoring the trolling and mockery. If the person goes and kills himself just because he has read something offensive in the internet – that means he was weak. He let the trolls and bigots win.
If you edit my comment you could at least re-phrase it so that it would not look like I just missed an entire sentence and smacked the next one without any ties to the text before it.
@Malfar- I edited it because what you said could quite easily be construed as racist, so I was not going re-phrase it because if you weren’t trying to be racist I couldn’t tell what you were trying to say otherwise.
@Malfar (and anyone else who cares to listen): The natural world may be a wealth of examples for us to learn where our instincts come from, but if we, as rational beings, cannot rise abose those base instincts, then we deserve to be thrown back to the jungle. Citing that as reason to mistreat another human being is no justification at all, and people who do so, deserve the most stupid fate to befall them. Evolution is true, no doubt, but I have absolutelly no desire to live in a world ruled by its relentless laws, and I will fight for a better world whenever I can. Hatred has no place in a rational world and the “us vs. them” mentality belongs solely in the wild.
@Worf- It’s such a shame that a large amount of the human population of this small rock in a small corner of an almost infinitely large universe can’t just recognise that simple fact isn’t it. We’re still too stuck in outdated dogmas to realise that being human doesn’t mean you get a few pass to lash out at your fellows for such petty reasons.
@JR19759 Yep, my bad, it definitely did sound racist although I didn’t mean anything offensive and didn’t try to sound like that. I meant that people will always find some trait to hate, be it religion, race, gender, health or favorite food. Heck, I personally know a guy who seriously thinks that only a complete imbecile would like Marvel comics, no exceptions. He didn’t believe it when I said that I like them, too. It may sound pessimistic, but I don’t think that fighting this will change anything. It just changes the object of hate. Some guys will stop hating, for example, christians (no religion offense intended) and start hating bigots.
@Worf >and people who do so, deserve the most stupid fate to befall them
>Hatred has no place in a rational world
Do I see hatred in your message? Yes, I do. If you want to eliminate hatred it’s a good idea to start with yourself.
I do not approve cyber bullying or any other type of bullying at all. But I do believe that only time will eliminate it. Comparable to the age of our Earth, the humans are actually pretty young species. It took millions of years for some unimportant little scaly things from the ocean to leave the water, grow some horns, wings or fur. You can’t expect animal nature to disappear from humans in a course of several years.
@Malfar: It may be so, and I’ll be the first to admit to my failings, but hatred may be a little harsh. In my case it’s more of a “this really gets me riled up” kinda thing. It was more an example of the feeling you get when you see bad things happen to bad people and, even though there is no such thing as karma, you feel as if they had it coming. I know communications between two people suffer from a lot of hurdles as you yourself just suffered a pretty big one with your original statement. Either way, let’s let bygones be bygones, shall we? 😉
ps: Something to think about…..
Between what I think,
What I want to say,
What I believe I say,
What I say,
What you want to hear,
What you hear,
What you believe you understand,
What you want to understand,
What you understand,
There are nine probabilities,
That we don’t understand each other….