Tuesday, February 8, 2011

'Wolf Pack' Teen Bullying Case--Is America Getting Meaner?

Nadin Khoury was brought to the United States ten years ago by his mother to escape the cruelty that accompanied teh Liberian Civil War. Last month he was left suspended by his coat from a seven-foot-high fence after being punched, dragged, kicked and beaten in a Philadelphia suburb. His shocked mother said, "One of the reasons I came to the U.S. was (so) that these horrible things wouldn't happen to us."

Here we go again. Sadly, it seems every time we turn around there's a new case of bullying in the news. Back when I was growing up, bullying seemed to be almost a rite of passage for every new kids at school, a type of hazing to validate your acceptance. Of course, the big difference in those days was that the bullying was usually only at the schoolyard an dtypically petered out quickly. Now, in the cyber world there is no respite and bullying has taken on a much more sinister tone.

Today kids have to deal with not only physical confrontations, but are also virtually pounded 24/7 via Facebook, Twitter and cell phone by text, calls and voicemails. In some cases (think Tyler Clementi) personal situations are videotaped and posted on teh internet for all to see. In others (Phoebe Prince) the bullying lasts for months on end. In addition, as in these two caes, suicide is being seen more and more an an end result with these kids.

Read entire article here.

by: Dr. Dale Archer, FoxNews.com

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