After reading the article on “The Rise of Cyber Bullying”, I felt both sad and pitiful for the victims. There has been a rising in the number of victims being cyber bullied and I think there must be a stop to it. However the number of victims has yet decreased. Worst still, many people, involving students, have done something similar to what a cyber bully might have done and they did not seem to have realized. This is terrible. This shows that many people do not know what cyber bullying is.
Firstly, what exactly is cyber bullying? I think cyber bullying happens when a child, preteen or teen is tormented, threatened, harassed, humiliated, embarrassed or otherwise targeted by another child, preteen or teen using the Internet, or mobile phones but it is usually from emails, chat rooms and even other websites from Internet. Cyber bullying is usually not a one time communication, unless it involves a death threat or a credible threat of serious bodily harm. When schools try and get involved by disciplining the student for cyber bullying actions, they often lose. Teachers just teach the students during assembly and just leave the case. They did not get opinions from students or check if they know and understand what cyber bullying is.
Secondly, how does cyber bullying works? There are two kinds of cyber bullying: direct attacks and cyber bullying by proxy. Direct attacks means messages sent to your kids directly and attack people, students. Cyber bullying by proxy means using others to help cyber bully the victim, either with or without the accomplice's knowledge. Direct attacks involves instant messaging or text messaging harassment, stealing passwords, blogs, impersonation, web sites, and sending pictures through E-mail and cell phones. They may send hateful or threatening messages to other people, without realizing that while not said in real life, unkind or threatening messages are hurtful and very serious. Blogs are online journals. They are a fun way for kids and teens to messages for all of their friends to see. However, kids sometimes use these blogs to damage other kids' reputations or invade their privacy.
For example, in one case, a boy posted a bunch of blogs about his breakup with his ex-girlfriend, explaining how she destroyed his life, calling her degrading names. Their mutual friends read about this and criticized her. She was embarrassed and hurt all because another kid posted mean, private, and false information about her. Sometimes kids set up a blog or profile page pretending to be their victim and saying things designed to humiliate them. Cyber bullying by proxy is when a cyber bully gets someone else to do their dirty work. Most of the time they are unwitting accomplices and don't know that they are being used by the cyber bully. Cyber bullying by proxy is the most dangerous kind of cyber bullying because it often gets adults involve in the harassment and people who don't know they are dealing with a kid or someone they know.
Why do people cyber bullies? I think there are many reasons to it. The first reason is perhaps because when it comes to cyber bullying, they are often motivated by anger, revenge or frustration. Sometimes they do it for entertainment or because they are bored and have too much time on their hands and too many tech toys available to them. Many do it for laughs or to get a reaction. Some do it by accident, and either sends a message to the wrong recipient or didn't think before they did something. The most dangerous reason is the bullies they themselves do not know that they are in the wrong.
The types and methods of cyber bully differ and their motives differ too, the solutions and responses to each type of cyber bullying incident has to differ too. Nonetheless, educating the kids about the consequences helps. Teaching them to respect others and to take a stand against bullying of all kinds helps too. Parents need to be the one trusted place cyber bullies can go when things go wrong online and offline. Yet they often are the one place cyber bullies avoid when things go wrong online. Why? Parents tend to overreact. Most children will avoid telling their parents about a cyber bullying incident fearing they will only make things worse. However, some parents are kept unknown about their child’s acts as most parents are working parents, which means they work and the time spend with their children is getting lesser and lesser.
It is more and more difficult to prevent cyber bullying as the internet is getting more and more important to people regardless working adults or students. Many bullies tend to think it is funny to bully people but I do not think so.
As referred in the article, Ryan Halligan was taunted for months. His classmates spread rumours via instant messaging that he is a gay. A popular female classmates pretended to like him and chatted with him online. Being unable to cope, he killed himself. I think it is foolish of him to commit suicide. There are many victims like him, who cannot cope the taunts from cyber bullies and also nobody to confide in and eventually commit suicide. I think parents plays an important job in helping their children. Besides, victims of cyber bully must also confide their problems to someone who they can trust like teachers, friends and their parents. After reading this article, it was then I knew that there are cyber bullying going on. I reckon that no one should trust anyone in the internet and more time should be spend on ones studies and not on the internet.
Together, I think we can decrease the number of cyber bullying.
*o* Heng Hui Zhi (8) ~o~
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Searching for Marita
"A mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie." I am very certain that this quote is implying about our mothers and all the mothers in the world whose love is so sacrificial and divine. Upon looking at this article, a guilty feeling suddenly ran through me, i mean, how many of us really appreciate all our great mothers had done for us and ever whispered a word of thanks to them to remind them that they are not forgotten by us? Being adolescents, we are usually involved our own busy lives, tremendous pressure from school work which seems to pile up daily and our own hectic lifestyle which cause us to forget our mothers' warmly embraces and say a word of thanks to them which will bring them transcendent joy. In this article, Susana Trimarco's divine love for her daughter, Marita, is expressed eloquently through her continuous and indefatigable search for Marita.
Determined to search her daughter, Susana tried to search Marita at dangerous locations such as bars and red-like districts where prostitutes carried out their undignified jobs. " Why these locations?", one might wondered. This would even led to another shocking revelation that in Argentina, young adolescents, even children, are exploited sexually and most of them have never been found since the day they are kidnapped by human triffickers.
Susana even dressed up as a prostitute herself in order to get involved in the shadowy and illegal network and attain as much information about Marita.This deed is indeed very sacrificial as she is risking her own life by getting involved in the dirty world of sex trade, in which, she stumbled upon young girls are victims of sexual exploitation. As a result, her compassionate personality give her even more drive to help these young victims of sex trafficking and as she continued her search untiringly, she has a even larger goal in mind, that is to bring hope and come into aid to young victims, each of them reminding her about Marita. Despite numerous futile attempts, she did not give up any hope but become more determined than ever.
Andrea, a victim of sexual exploitation, whom Susana stumbled upon while searching for Marita also recounts to her about even more gruesome and harrowing stories about other young victims. Out of compassion and sympathy, Susana let her stay in her house and even sent her for physcological counselling. This brings out Susana's generous personality and her heart that is sure to be made of gold. Her strong personality is also displayed when she overcame much of adversity, first having to sell her house and exhaust her savings and having to endure heartbreaking divorce with her husband in the midst of the search for Marita and having to recover from the nearly successful attempts to find her before hope came crashing down upon her again. No doubt, she really deserved the Woman of Courage award and also returned the much deserved respect to women in Latin America who are sexually exploited which was stolen once. Deep down in my heart, i am really touched by her actions and strong personality and admire her as a role model of all mothers and women.
The fact that sex trafficking has been facilitated by official corruption and authorities who totally ignored the heart-wrenching tales of many young girls will surely ignite sparks of anger in the hearts of many people and sparked off much controversy in the society. Even so, the country is still lacking enough provincial authorities to monitor sex trafficking and also to rescue sexually exploited victims. Thus, i would advocate the government to start off from educating parents of young girls of such existing and pressing issues of sexual exploitation nad to protect their girlos from such potential danger. Futhermore, programmes can also be organised in schools to strenghten the ability of young girls to recognise situations where they are at risk of commercial sexual exploitation. Most importantly, unions and organisations take up the action of training sex exploitation monitors to monitor and prevent more issues of sex trafficking. In conclusion, i sincerely hope that susana can eventually be reunted with her beloved daughter and for young victims of sexual exploitation to be given a new lease of life.
.
Determined to search her daughter, Susana tried to search Marita at dangerous locations such as bars and red-like districts where prostitutes carried out their undignified jobs. " Why these locations?", one might wondered. This would even led to another shocking revelation that in Argentina, young adolescents, even children, are exploited sexually and most of them have never been found since the day they are kidnapped by human triffickers.
Susana even dressed up as a prostitute herself in order to get involved in the shadowy and illegal network and attain as much information about Marita.This deed is indeed very sacrificial as she is risking her own life by getting involved in the dirty world of sex trade, in which, she stumbled upon young girls are victims of sexual exploitation. As a result, her compassionate personality give her even more drive to help these young victims of sex trafficking and as she continued her search untiringly, she has a even larger goal in mind, that is to bring hope and come into aid to young victims, each of them reminding her about Marita. Despite numerous futile attempts, she did not give up any hope but become more determined than ever.
Andrea, a victim of sexual exploitation, whom Susana stumbled upon while searching for Marita also recounts to her about even more gruesome and harrowing stories about other young victims. Out of compassion and sympathy, Susana let her stay in her house and even sent her for physcological counselling. This brings out Susana's generous personality and her heart that is sure to be made of gold. Her strong personality is also displayed when she overcame much of adversity, first having to sell her house and exhaust her savings and having to endure heartbreaking divorce with her husband in the midst of the search for Marita and having to recover from the nearly successful attempts to find her before hope came crashing down upon her again. No doubt, she really deserved the Woman of Courage award and also returned the much deserved respect to women in Latin America who are sexually exploited which was stolen once. Deep down in my heart, i am really touched by her actions and strong personality and admire her as a role model of all mothers and women.
The fact that sex trafficking has been facilitated by official corruption and authorities who totally ignored the heart-wrenching tales of many young girls will surely ignite sparks of anger in the hearts of many people and sparked off much controversy in the society. Even so, the country is still lacking enough provincial authorities to monitor sex trafficking and also to rescue sexually exploited victims. Thus, i would advocate the government to start off from educating parents of young girls of such existing and pressing issues of sexual exploitation nad to protect their girlos from such potential danger. Futhermore, programmes can also be organised in schools to strenghten the ability of young girls to recognise situations where they are at risk of commercial sexual exploitation. Most importantly, unions and organisations take up the action of training sex exploitation monitors to monitor and prevent more issues of sex trafficking. In conclusion, i sincerely hope that susana can eventually be reunted with her beloved daughter and for young victims of sexual exploitation to be given a new lease of life.
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RD reflection -- the rise of cyber bullying
Since 2000, cyber bullying which includes sending threatening messages, displaying private messages, and posting embarrassing video footage and photos on the internet, has been increasing at an alarming rate. As online communication evolves from chatrooms and istant messaging to social networking, the venues where bullying occurs are becoming more central to young people's lives and more public. It is becoming clear that aspects of online communication encourage people to act aggressively, prompting then to do things they would not dare to try in real life. Many children thinks the cyberworld is a place that adults would not enter, so it is harder to get caught cyber bullying. The ability to reach out to more people, and the always-on culture of the internet, means cyber bullying can have an even more detrimental effect on the victim than the conventional variety. A research found that for one in eight young people, cyber bullying is even worse than physical bullying.The reason for this is the sheer number of people who can view anything posted online. It would be bad enough to be cyber bullied by one person when no one else knew about it. However, a video seen by hundreds of others would be devastating.
Another reason why cyber bullying is so harmful is its sheer relentlessness. The internet does not just amlify the effect of bullying. The option to stay anonymous when online means people can write things they would not dare to if their identity were known. Anonymity can also amplify bullying's negative effect on the victim. The psychological ramifications of not knowing who is attacking you can be maddening. A suvey carried out showed that nearly half of the children interviewed did not know the identity of their cyber-bully.
After reading this article, I feel that cyber-bullying is getting more and more serious. I feel cyber bullying should be eradicated as cyber bullying will affect the victim emotionally and physically. The devastation wrought by cyber bullying have caused suicides and even depression.
Hence, I advise parents to take note of their child's behaviour. If they find that they are reacting in a very different way like getting upset or angry after using the mobile phone or computer,they should take action iommediately and send them for counsuelling. The government should also take legislative action like making it a federal crime to annoy, abuse, threaten or harass any person on the internet. The government should also introduce the " internet real-name-system", which forces the portals and news websites to record the identities of people who post content and to disclose their contact details if someone wants to sue them for libel or infringement of privacy. In such ways, I think that we are able to control cyber bullying.
Ziji
Since 2000, cyber bullying which includes sending threatening messages, displaying private messages, and posting embarrassing video footage and photos on the internet, has been increasing at an alarming rate. As online communication evolves from chatrooms and istant messaging to social networking, the venues where bullying occurs are becoming more central to young people's lives and more public. It is becoming clear that aspects of online communication encourage people to act aggressively, prompting then to do things they would not dare to try in real life. Many children thinks the cyberworld is a place that adults would not enter, so it is harder to get caught cyber bullying. The ability to reach out to more people, and the always-on culture of the internet, means cyber bullying can have an even more detrimental effect on the victim than the conventional variety. A research found that for one in eight young people, cyber bullying is even worse than physical bullying.The reason for this is the sheer number of people who can view anything posted online. It would be bad enough to be cyber bullied by one person when no one else knew about it. However, a video seen by hundreds of others would be devastating.
Another reason why cyber bullying is so harmful is its sheer relentlessness. The internet does not just amlify the effect of bullying. The option to stay anonymous when online means people can write things they would not dare to if their identity were known. Anonymity can also amplify bullying's negative effect on the victim. The psychological ramifications of not knowing who is attacking you can be maddening. A suvey carried out showed that nearly half of the children interviewed did not know the identity of their cyber-bully.
After reading this article, I feel that cyber-bullying is getting more and more serious. I feel cyber bullying should be eradicated as cyber bullying will affect the victim emotionally and physically. The devastation wrought by cyber bullying have caused suicides and even depression.
Hence, I advise parents to take note of their child's behaviour. If they find that they are reacting in a very different way like getting upset or angry after using the mobile phone or computer,they should take action iommediately and send them for counsuelling. The government should also take legislative action like making it a federal crime to annoy, abuse, threaten or harass any person on the internet. The government should also introduce the " internet real-name-system", which forces the portals and news websites to record the identities of people who post content and to disclose their contact details if someone wants to sue them for libel or infringement of privacy. In such ways, I think that we are able to control cyber bullying.
Ziji
Rise of Cyber Bullying -pg 115- RD may 2008
From the article i feel strongly that ,bullying is no longer child's play anymore. Cyber-bully can cause more harm then physical bully in this case however, it even causes death.Due to the improvement and advancment in technology, bullies tend to bully many others through the net. Cyber-bullying by definition means a deliberate, repeated, and hostile act by an individual or group, that is intended to harm others.In short ,a cowardy act, many tend to pose themselves as anonymous people,prank calling the victims continuosly, disturbing the victim's private life. Some chose to send threatful messages, post embrassing photos of victims on the net, or sexual remarks that hurt the victim psychologically. The bully may prank the victim for pure fun , posing as someone else and engaging in conversation with the victims through the net with the ultimate goal to embarrass the victim. The act of the bullies will cause the victims to be scarred for life. Maybe for primary reasons,it is for pure fun. But when things go overboard, no one can undo what is done. Everyone deserved to be loved and cared for, such act could be deemed cruel and unfair. Defaming others, spreading untruth personal secrets, not only will hurt the victims,it could cause them to lose their friends and family due to the untruth secrets. Parents knowing that their child is bullied, they might feel that it is their fault that result in the hurt of their children. The victims will feel even helpless , knowing that the ones destroying his life are the people they love and cared for and keep the problem they are facing to themselves. However, i feel that these cases could be avoided or prevented by doing some measures. Examples are, not
expose too much personal information to others through the net. Nobody should trust anyone through the net. Nobody should think that they can meet close friends through the net, in the end they might hurt themselves. Nobody should believe anonymous news. If anyone feels pressurized from what anyone have done to he/she, he/she should report or share with their close ones. These might prevent some cases of cyber-bullying from taking place easily. The all-convenient computer that most of us posses could be a ferocious weapon if used in a wrong way, therefore, people should learn the right way to use a computer and people should stop using the computer to harm people.
expose too much personal information to others through the net. Nobody should trust anyone through the net. Nobody should think that they can meet close friends through the net, in the end they might hurt themselves. Nobody should believe anonymous news. If anyone feels pressurized from what anyone have done to he/she, he/she should report or share with their close ones. These might prevent some cases of cyber-bullying from taking place easily. The all-convenient computer that most of us posses could be a ferocious weapon if used in a wrong way, therefore, people should learn the right way to use a computer and people should stop using the computer to harm people.
Saturday, June 14, 2008
RD May Issue: ' Carbon Offsetting-The Myths, The Truth '
Yelloe! Goodness gracious, what exactly in the world is Mother Earth 'evolving' into? Really, a whale more of sedulousness(& of course much more)has to be put in, aside from all the 'Saving Gaia' efforts and organisations, to save our lovely planet from utter destruction; causé if all of us still were to remain adamant with regards to this 'impending' problem, we will only be digging our own graves! Look at the recent spate of natural catastrophes- reasons for their occurrences can all be traced back to the issue of global warming and climate change! Anyway, let's steer away from digressing and discuss about the issue of carbon offsetting.
So, the question of the day is: Can giving money to plant trees far away really make up for our lifestyles' environmental impact? And, is the concept of 'carbon offsetting' itself feasible? Basically, the idea behind carbon offsetting is that you do something to remove the equivalent amount of carbon from the atmosphere by making whatever it was that you did "carbon neutral" - as if it had never happened in the first place. This is usually achieved by paying a company a fee based on the amount of carbon dioxide you have released or caused to be released.
Carbon offsetting is a relatively new concept for most people and, as such, has generated a good amount of debate. While simple at first glance, the market mechanisms supporting the generation and sale of offsets, as well as the way in which this activity results in actual emission reductions, is somewhat complicated. For this reason, a certain level of skepticism has been aroused. As for me, I do agree with what the article has justified, that is, there are no widely accepted standards as to what qualifies as an offset. Moreover, many retail offset marketers provide bantam information about where the money is being spent or what criteria are used to select the reductions they sell. True, this market in environmental absolution is remarkable unregulated and secretive. Also, the lack of transparency simply connotes that it is often impossible to be sure that money invested in carbon offsetting makes the difference that is claimed for it. I also agree that efforts to portray offsets as simple, quick fixes pose serious incertitudes of both commercial and ecological legitimacy. It is mentioned that skeptics argue that there is no substitute for cutting emissions. Furthermore, I too think that buying an offset implies a degree of certainty that we simply do not have here. and at the very least, there should be an urgent need for regulation so people can be sure that the way they offset is actually making a difference and not just some phony implementations.
Therefore, with regards to the second question, I would say that, in my opinion, this carbon offsetting project is not that feasible. Why? The problem of global warming is due to there being too much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. This carbon dioxide has largely come from the burning of fossil fuels starting with the industrial revolution about 150 years ago. This carbon was safely locked up in a "carbon sink" but was released back into the atmosphere. as such, the only way that any act of releasing carbon dioxide can be fully "neutralised" is by locking that carbon equivalent up again in another carbon sink, not to be released again. And in view of this, none of the ways of carbon-offsetting I have heard of have yet devised do that.
Perhaps the greatest criticism of carbon offsetting is that it lulls people, individuals and businesses, into a false sense of security in thinking that they can carry on acting exactly as they always have and as long as they pay some money, it's all made better, when in reality it isn't. In addition, certain news sources have also quoted that " it may be often be cheaper to purchase offsets than to eliminate or reduce emissions, so big polluters just carry on as usual while paying some conscience-money. It may even encourage people to make unnecessary journeys that otherwise they wouldn't consider." As such, some companies have been accused of causing damage in the developing world while making no difference to curbing climate change. So, having said all these, I'm sure that there will definitely be queries such as, "Doesn't it even work a little bit?", so on and so forth. Hmm, I am glad to inform that, it does do good as things happen that would otherwise not have happened and those things are positive in terms of global warming. And in the grand scheme of things, it is claimed that carbon offsetting schemes help to raise awareness and reduce the impact of carbon emitting actions. But however, a point that must be accentuated is that, carbon offsetting is not the end-solution to global warming. Yeap, so to all those companies or organisations which have already signed a contract(s) to so-called 'neutralise' the amount of carbon and other maleficent, pernicious or pestilent greenhouse gases through this carbon offsetting efforts, try as you might, but it seems that is too late for salvage now!
Alright, anyway, let's now gain deeper understanding on some of the epistles and animadversion that have been tagged to some of the schemes that claim to "offset" the carbon dioxide we produce. First, for tree planting and reforestation, comments that have put buyers in a quandary are that, to be a real solution, the forests created would need to be there untouched forever. It can cause more harm than good in Northern countries. Finally, inappropriate species can (and have been) planted and workers in the developing world can be exploited. Wait a minute, I know some of you are already summing up more questions...... Next, in terms of Renewable Energy Investment, some drawbacks are: Nothing happens about the carbon dioxide you emitted, it is still in the atmosphere. Not sustainable as a solution to continuing to emit carbon dioxide. But then, as we all know, or probably most of us are aware of, there may still be certain benefits and one of these is that, investment can lead to technology and uses that continue to be effective potentially indefinitely, so the benefits can really be long-term. Lastly, in terms of Promoting Energy Efficiency, some of the impedimenta includes the smoky and traditional open wood fires which cause illnesses for millions of people. More efficient fires will reduce this problem though. As for the perquisites, more efficient light bulbs reduce the further production of carbon dioxide (which is still produced) rather than deal with any already produced; and more efficient wood stoves lead to better usage of renewable natural resources - trees that provide fuel.
So, is it all worth our time, effort and money? If carried out correctly - these methods are "worth doing" - but NOT for the purpose of ameliorating the effects of profligate carbon dioxide production, because they are simply NOT a cure. (Oops, did I seem a little agitated? ) Anyway, of these methods, rather surprisingly, I think that reforestation is the most controversial. It is the one that seems the easiest, straightforward and should be the most effective, but it is also the one that can be carried out in such a way as to actually be harmful rather than useful.
Deforestation has been a feature of human civilization from the earliest days when we first realised there were benefits from cutting down trees - wood to use as fuel, as a building material and for a million and one other uses. Open land rather than forest was good for hunting some animals and then later on it was a way of getting more land for farming. Planting trees is a good and useful thing to do almost anywhere in the world. It helps stop soil erosion, has an effect on climate stabilisation on a local and global scale, provides wood for fuel and building , and a habitat for wildlife. So, appropriate tree planting is always a good thing. But, to be useful, trees planted would have to be maintained in perpetuity (forever), if they were felled and used at any time, the carbon dioxide they have sequestered would simply be released back into the atmosphere and it may as well never have happened in the first place. In the worst cases, tree planting carbon-offset schemes are just ways of getting some subsidised forestry planting for future use, they can be a way of getting someone else to pay to plant trees that would have been planted anyway. Therefore, helping to fund these schemes may not necessarily deal with any carbon dioxide you have already emitted. However, it can be of increasing value for the future as such schemes can potentially last indefinitely and they result in NO further carbon dioxide being emitted over what is sustainable (such as biomass energy where the emitted carbon dioxide is used by the next crop).
The thing with a lot of this stuff is that we just don't really know where it's all going and investing in renewable energy is the place where it can possibly make the biggest difference in the longer term, don't you think? Still,I would like to mention that, even though energy efficiency does not help in any reduction of carbon dioxide, it helps other people (in developing countries) to act to reduce their carbon dioxide output. Energy efficient light bulbs are cheaper in the long run however and so are efficient wood burning stoves, so it's more to do with poverty than global warming.
Therefore, even though carbon offsetting projects are not likely to stop global warming, and are currently unsustainable as a long term approach, they still help to expostulate and inspire people all over the world to reduce their carbon emissions and assist in tackling climate change.
The Rise Of Cyber Bullying
The act of cyber bullying is increasing with the ascending usage of the internet by the children of today's generation. The US-based Pew Internet & America Life project have studied that one-third of American teen internet users have become targets of cyber bullies. Cyber bullying often occur in many online communication sites such as chatrooms. These young teens are the main, and eas,y targets of such undesirable acts. According to a research firm, cyber bullying is even worse than physical bullying due to the fact that there is a sheer number of people who are able to view whatever that is posted online. The victim would usually feel distressed and devasted because of the embarassment that was showered upon him. With cyber bullying occuring 24/7, it is hard for one to overcome the stress.
There has been many cases of children as young as 13 years of age commiting suicide as they were unable to cope with the pressure, such as the incident that happened to Gail Jones. The 15 year old Briton commited suicide after recieving 20 phone calls on her mobile every 30 minutes. The calls had driven her over the edge, leading to suicide. At one point, cyber bullying may also lead to paranoia. Anonymity is an advantage to the bully as they are able to stay unknown and taunt one at the same time. So the victim will never know who is the one bullying him/her. It could be their bestfriend, a sibling and etc. Plus, bullying online means that there is no visual contact, thus more extreme behaviour are able to be done. No one will know that you have caused a life. You will not be caught or charged for the act of crime you have cimmited.
In my opinion, cyber bullying that goes as bad as one commiting suicide is equals to one literally stabbing another to death. Extreme cyber bullying is also a crime and I believe that police must take action. When death caused by another's reckless act occurs, in my opinion it is a major crime. If the police choose not to take them seriously just because this problem occurs online, then it reflects alot about the country and how careless they are about their own community.
Many articles and sites have been brought up in attempt to stop cyber bullying. Many have helped by simply putting up articles to remind internet users to be safe when online and take precautions when communicating with strangers through chatrooms, etc. Websites such as www.stopcyberbullying.org are also great as they explain alot about cyber bullying and the many actions we can take to stop cyber bullying from happening to ourselves.
Name: Nur Syazana (16)
Class: 3F
Date: 14 June 2008
There has been many cases of children as young as 13 years of age commiting suicide as they were unable to cope with the pressure, such as the incident that happened to Gail Jones. The 15 year old Briton commited suicide after recieving 20 phone calls on her mobile every 30 minutes. The calls had driven her over the edge, leading to suicide. At one point, cyber bullying may also lead to paranoia. Anonymity is an advantage to the bully as they are able to stay unknown and taunt one at the same time. So the victim will never know who is the one bullying him/her. It could be their bestfriend, a sibling and etc. Plus, bullying online means that there is no visual contact, thus more extreme behaviour are able to be done. No one will know that you have caused a life. You will not be caught or charged for the act of crime you have cimmited.
In my opinion, cyber bullying that goes as bad as one commiting suicide is equals to one literally stabbing another to death. Extreme cyber bullying is also a crime and I believe that police must take action. When death caused by another's reckless act occurs, in my opinion it is a major crime. If the police choose not to take them seriously just because this problem occurs online, then it reflects alot about the country and how careless they are about their own community.
Many articles and sites have been brought up in attempt to stop cyber bullying. Many have helped by simply putting up articles to remind internet users to be safe when online and take precautions when communicating with strangers through chatrooms, etc. Websites such as www.stopcyberbullying.org are also great as they explain alot about cyber bullying and the many actions we can take to stop cyber bullying from happening to ourselves.
Name: Nur Syazana (16)
Class: 3F
Date: 14 June 2008
Running for his Life
June 2008 .
Summary:
This is a real life story of a victim of dystonia, a rare condition similar to Parkinson’s disease. Ryan Farrington contracted dystonia since he was five or six but was later confirm when he was seven. Ryan would occasionally fall to the floor and scream, terrifying his mother, Lisa Farrington. Ryan would be sent to hospital and would then be put on a morphine drip to make him unconscious and deaden the pain.
When he was seven, another attack came but was different from the past attacks. Ryan was laying face down on the ground, violent spasms wrenching his back. The doctors could only help him by putting him on a morphine drip. A specialist then confirmed him of having dystonia, a disease which its symptoms are still unknown. Ryan’s dystonia worsen as he grew older and falling became so frequent that he had his own permanent bed in Walsall’s Manor hospital.
One autumn, the doctor explained their options after showing them pictures of patients with severe “torsion” dystonia who had symptoms similar to cerebral palsy and suggested Ryan to go for an operation to remove his legs. It would mean that Ryan would be confined to a wheelchair. But he refused.
During the summer of 2002, when Ryan was 13, due to a bad attack he stayed in the hospital for two months. Everyday he has worked with Samantha Butts, a physiotherapist in the hospital. He then discovered his ability to run. He felt no pain while he was running. He joined the famed Birmingham athletics club Birch field Harriers. Frank Gardner became Ryan’s coach. Even though he suffered dystonia, he won several races and is now preparing for the London summer Olympics.
Reflection:
Ryan is very courageous. I find that his determination is very amazing. In spite of the fact that the dystonia is causing a lot of pain, he refuses to remove his legs. He had cause a lot of troubles to people and himself but he never once thought about giving up. He set a good example to patients who are suffering from diseases and those who are bedridden. I learn that we should not give up on ourselves when we have difficulties and we should try to solve it. Friends and family members should encourage and support each other in such times. There are no problems that could not be solved; therefore we must not try to escape from the problem as escaping would not change the fact of the existence of the problem. Ryan found a solution to his problem, so can we.
Summary:
This is a real life story of a victim of dystonia, a rare condition similar to Parkinson’s disease. Ryan Farrington contracted dystonia since he was five or six but was later confirm when he was seven. Ryan would occasionally fall to the floor and scream, terrifying his mother, Lisa Farrington. Ryan would be sent to hospital and would then be put on a morphine drip to make him unconscious and deaden the pain.
When he was seven, another attack came but was different from the past attacks. Ryan was laying face down on the ground, violent spasms wrenching his back. The doctors could only help him by putting him on a morphine drip. A specialist then confirmed him of having dystonia, a disease which its symptoms are still unknown. Ryan’s dystonia worsen as he grew older and falling became so frequent that he had his own permanent bed in Walsall’s Manor hospital.
One autumn, the doctor explained their options after showing them pictures of patients with severe “torsion” dystonia who had symptoms similar to cerebral palsy and suggested Ryan to go for an operation to remove his legs. It would mean that Ryan would be confined to a wheelchair. But he refused.
During the summer of 2002, when Ryan was 13, due to a bad attack he stayed in the hospital for two months. Everyday he has worked with Samantha Butts, a physiotherapist in the hospital. He then discovered his ability to run. He felt no pain while he was running. He joined the famed Birmingham athletics club Birch field Harriers. Frank Gardner became Ryan’s coach. Even though he suffered dystonia, he won several races and is now preparing for the London summer Olympics.
Reflection:
Ryan is very courageous. I find that his determination is very amazing. In spite of the fact that the dystonia is causing a lot of pain, he refuses to remove his legs. He had cause a lot of troubles to people and himself but he never once thought about giving up. He set a good example to patients who are suffering from diseases and those who are bedridden. I learn that we should not give up on ourselves when we have difficulties and we should try to solve it. Friends and family members should encourage and support each other in such times. There are no problems that could not be solved; therefore we must not try to escape from the problem as escaping would not change the fact of the existence of the problem. Ryan found a solution to his problem, so can we.
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