Blog Scenario and Question:
In the novel, The Revealers, the students of Parkland Middle felt connected through SchoolStream or as the students called it KidNet where they were able to chat or instant message. Most of you do this nightly through MSN Messenger. With KidNet and MSN nobody could break into or eavesdrop on your conversation without it being known. Not anymore. Today’s technology allows you to assume the identity of another person. Do you really know whom you are talking to in the cyber world?
It is 10:00 pm on a Wednesday night; you have finished your homework and you are chatting on MSN with three other friends. After 10 minutes two more friends ask to join the chat. By 10:30 pm five more people have joined and it is fun; however, there is a joke said about one of the people, rapidly followed by an insult. At first, no one knows how to respond, then seconds later a message pops up stating, “I didn’t say that! It isn’t me saying these things. Someone is using my name. What is going on here?”
What is the issue involved in this scenario? Why is this serious?
What would be a responsible way to handle this situation?
How could a situation like this be resolved? How would one of the three main characters from The Revealers deal with this situation?
Blog Answer:
The safe thing about MSN is you have the choice of accepting or declining who you talk with, but even if you do know everyone you're talking to, there are softwares that enable you to hack other people's accounts, or to change your name into someone else's while you're in a group conversation and talk as if you are them, and no one apart from you will know who actually said it. This situation is serious because someone is taking over someone else's identity, and you might say something that may be harmful for the other person, or they might be doing it using your name. A responsible way to handle this situation is to first of all believe the person who said "I wasn't the one doing this", and try and figure out who it was that actually said those insults, but not to blame someone without knowing. This situation could be involved by talking it out, or if you yourself is the person, then say sorry (even if it is in that hidden identity), and say it wasn't the person that you are labeled as. The main characters from the Revealers would solve this by asking for an anonymous posting, or the person who was affected could send an email saying they weren't the one who said all this and that it was a huge misunderstanding.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Bullying: The Right of Passage?
Blog Assignment Question: Is bullying a rite of passage of childhood and adolescence? Is it apart of the maturation process one needs to go through to reach adulthood? Explain. Mrs. Hogeboom brings up this topic on page 108.
Bullying should not be a right of passage from childhood to adolescence, and it should not be part of the maturation process one needs to go through to reach adulthood, because it itself is not mature.
Bullies most probably become bullies because they feel they didn't have enough power or control over people, and after beating other people up, either physically or mentally, they finally feel like they have gained the power and respect that they "deserve". That is why Russell (from the Revealers) named them predators, because after some time, they basically live off of the "prey's" suffering.
Victims of the bullies, or the prey of the predator, mostly have done nothing to affect the bullies. Most of the time the ones that are attacked are the quietest ones, without any friends to stand up for them, or the ones that are just a little different from the ones they are bullied by, they're the ones that stand out just a little bit in the hazy, busy crowd of school life.
Bullying has nothing to do with maturation. It's just another way of passing time when you're busy with your school life, and that gets boring after some time. I can honestly say, every single person has been either a bystander, victim or bully, but that hasn't made them mature or feel like they know any more than they did before the incident. Maybe after reflecting over the matter, we could think about how such a petty incident made us be so cruel, but that's the only maturing bit in the whole process. But to make the person mature, they must understand and learn that bullying is not right, but it's not fully avoidable either.
Bullying should not be a right of passage from childhood to adolescence, and it should not be part of the maturation process one needs to go through to reach adulthood, because it itself is not mature.
Bullies most probably become bullies because they feel they didn't have enough power or control over people, and after beating other people up, either physically or mentally, they finally feel like they have gained the power and respect that they "deserve". That is why Russell (from the Revealers) named them predators, because after some time, they basically live off of the "prey's" suffering.
Victims of the bullies, or the prey of the predator, mostly have done nothing to affect the bullies. Most of the time the ones that are attacked are the quietest ones, without any friends to stand up for them, or the ones that are just a little different from the ones they are bullied by, they're the ones that stand out just a little bit in the hazy, busy crowd of school life.
Bullying has nothing to do with maturation. It's just another way of passing time when you're busy with your school life, and that gets boring after some time. I can honestly say, every single person has been either a bystander, victim or bully, but that hasn't made them mature or feel like they know any more than they did before the incident. Maybe after reflecting over the matter, we could think about how such a petty incident made us be so cruel, but that's the only maturing bit in the whole process. But to make the person mature, they must understand and learn that bullying is not right, but it's not fully avoidable either.
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