♪ (jimmy eat world, "hear you me") ♪ oh, my gosh. i saw this video. oh, amanda todd. i heard about her. oh, no. she flashed them. watch out. okay, that's pretty-- not right.that's pretty creepy. okay, that's really creepy. see, now this is cyberbullying. what a jerk.
♪ i never said thank you for that ♪ ♪ i thought i might get one more chance ♪ dude, this is serious. oh, this is just taking itto a whole new level. then those aren't true friends, girl. yeah, the video itselfwasn't what got to me. what got to me wasthe people in the comments. that really pissed me off. ♪ now i'll never have a chance ♪
♪ may angels... ♪ ♪ (sia furler, "breathe me") ♪ dude, that is really (bleep) up. i would try to helpif i had the chance to. people are cruel, man. people are disgusting. i'm sorry. (finebros) no, don't apologize. so, had you heard aboutamanda todd before watching this?
- yes, i've seen that video.- mm-hmm. i had heard about amanda todd. no. (finebros) do you knowwhat happened to her after this was posted? she killed herself, didn't she? - yeah, she committed suicide.- no. (finebros) she actually killed herself about a month after this video went up.
are you serious? (finebros) she ended upcommitting suicide. and how does it makeyou feel hearing this story and knowing that that happened? it's kind of speechless shocked. i feel like she made two littlemistakes, and that's not fair. that type of stuff gets to me, and i'm not a veryemotional person at all. she felt like her life wasthat bad to where she killed herself.
you know, and... i wish i could just talk to her. it makes me feel like crap. like... everything bad i've ever done to people, like, everything badi've ever said to somebody, it makes me feel likethat really had a bad effect. she's so internet-famous now and whatever, yet other kids who have killed themselves for better reasons than that. like...
like no one gives a (bleep)about them, you know? (finebros) and what do you think of the guy that blackmailed her? i think he should go to jail.that's, like, child pornography. he's a grown man. he shouldn'tbe picking on some teenage girl. that's pretty (bleep) up,knowing that you killed some girl. how could you deal with that? he should be arrestedfor the rest of his life. (finebros) and how do you thinkpeople that were tormenting her
- feel now that she's done this?- i don't know. because i never understood, why would they treat herlike that in the first place? i hope they feel really horrible. i hope they feel like thisfor the rest of their lives. "man, why did i do that to her?why did i hurt her like that? she's gone now. what have i done?" if they don't feel that way, then that means they don't have a heart.
it just depends on the person,how big their pride is. it's like if they letthemselves feel guilty. i don't think they're goingto entirely stop doing it. people still bully evenafter terrible things happen. (finebros) there's still peopleleaving comments like, "i'm glad she's dead and she deserved it." - why are people doing that?- i don't know. when is she gonna see this? are you just doing itfor your own pleasure?
they just want a reaction, and that's what they really feed off of. people like to talk big on the internet. well, i mean, i've seen comments like that just on youtube comments for the videos, like, "oh, yeah, this guyshould kill himself." it's another form of cyberbullying that needs to be monitored by parents, and it's the parents' fault.
they have no repercussionsfor what they do on the internet. they can say anything, and that's why people leavehorrible comments on these videos. they feel like nothing badis gonna happen to them. it's 'cause it doesn't. (finebros) what do you thinkshould happen to the people that would leave commentslike this on people's pages? there's not much to do, you know? they should have their accounts revoked.
they should just havetheir comment box removed. something should happen to them, like some form of punishment, but the reality isnothing is gonna happen. how are they gonna catch all those people? kids find a way around everything. i think that these websitesshould be shut down. you can't blame themthat this is happening. they have no control over it,
but they're providingthe resources to let it happen. (finebros) and what about the restof what she went through, how she had to keep transferring schools, but the bullying followed her everywhere? man, people are cruel. i feel so bad for her. i can't even imagine the feeling of not being about to escape something. high school students,you know, they feel weak,
so they pick on people weaker than them so they can at least have some power, and they find an easy target like someone who alreadyhas past problems, and they make it worsewithout realizing that that has very bad consequences. (finebros) some people have said that she deserves someof what happened to her because of the choices that she made.
- what do you think about that?- well, everyone makes mistakes. all these mean-heartedpeople are over here like, "she deserved it." no, she didn't. you can justify what they're saying, but, at the same time,it's like, calm down. just give the girl a little bitof respect and decency. she's just a kid. she doesn'treally know any better. the whole point in life isyou're gonna learn by messing up, and if she keeps messing upand you keep telling her,
"oh, you're never gonna get better," she's gonna start to thinkthat life's never gonna get better. (finebros) at any point during hergoing through all of this, what do you think could havebeen done to help her? she just really needed a friend. somebody could've stood up for her. i would've stood up for her. her friends could not have abandoned her. just accept the fact that they did itand be their friend again.
in school, they want youto talk to your teachers, the principal, your parents, but it's tough finding someonewho can actually understand, because they're notgoing through it. you are. (finebros) do you haveany personal experience - with being bullied or teased?- yeah. in middle school, i was in theater.i was a theater kid. people would call it "gay." even if i was gay, which i'm not,but it's like, even if i was,
how would my sexual orientationaffect you in the slightest? now that "gay" has become a slur,it's just another hateful thing that people can say to hurt a person, even though it really shouldn't be. i've been made fun ofin school for a lot of things, called "gay," "short," "stupid," "ugly." racist remarks sometimes. i used to be kinda overweight back then, and people used tocall me "fat" and stuff.
as a kid, i was really-- i was just trying to fit in so hard, because i didn't really have any friends. they saw that i was trying hard,and they just kinda... like, dismissed me. and then, because they did that, i started getting really mean to everyone. it was around seventh and eighth grade. none of the boys would date me
because they said i had the bodyof an eight-year-old little boy. and i laugh about it now because-- i also cry about it too. i couldn't help it, you know? it's just... it's just mean howthey would even say that. when i got to high school,stuff about boys didn't really matter. but stuff online got a little bit worse. you're gonna have it your whole life no matter what shape or form it is.
i don't get picked on anymore, but then i see peoplewho pick on other people, and at one point in my life, i also went throughan amount of depression, and i managed to get through it. seeing stuff like that, knowing that i've been throughit at one point in my life, it really pisses me off. karma will bite them in the ass one day,
and it'll be awesome. (chuckles) (finebros) what do you doto keep yourself going - and not let it get you down?- well, i mean, it hurts, but i don't make a big deal about it. i just kind of keep it inside, and then write about itso i can get out my emotions. i mean, writing is a great tool. you just talk abouthow you feel to yourself. i'm glad i have my mom and my dad,because they help me a lot.
as much as a lot of kidshate to go to their parents, your parents knowwhat they're talking about. i just kind of ignored it.like, i know life's gonna get better. four years is justa tiny percent of your life. i usually just make a joke out of it. i don't need to fit in, you know?i don't care about you guys. i'm gonna go off on my own and do my own thing that makes me happy. high school is awful,
and i'm always goingto remember it as awful, but it's something i'm goingto get past, and i'm fine with that. (finebros) and why do some teensend up considering suicide as the answer whenthis bullying happens to them? they feel like they haveno hope left. no friends. nothing else to live for, i guess. as opposed to letting yourself cry and letting yourself feelthose emotions, it's just done. you can just end it yourself.
this is the biggestmajority of their life, it's all they remember, and they think their lifeis never gonna get better, 'cause this is allthey know, so they end it. with the internet posts onfacebook, twitter, anything, it gets around. it will start at the school,it will spread through the school, then it will go to the internetand it will spread to everybody. when people say things just out loud,
people will eventually forget about it, but if it's on the internet,so many people see it so fast. it just stacks on top of each other,and it doesn't go away. and then they tryto talk to adults about it, and then the adultsjust try to brush it off like nothing's really wrong,so they feel like there's no hope. (finebros) some adults saythat bullying has always been there and it's just kids being kids.what do you think about that? i mean, i kinda thinkbullying has gotten overrated.
what are they thinking? oh, my god. they shouldn't be telling their kids that. it's not like a rite of passagethat you pass through, 'cause, like amanda todd,you can take your own life. it's a serious topic.it's not kids being kids. bullying should be somethingpresented in congress. if we treated it likewe treat drugs or alcohol, it would be so much different. (finebros) when it comesto the internet, how can kids
and parents help each othermake the situation better? i think the most important thing is that kids and teens need to telltheir parents when they get bullied, because the parentscan do something about it. parents could get more involvedand actually make facebooks and friend their kids or something, so that they know what isgoing on with their kids. i think it's better just to startwhen they're younger and train them to always be open with you
and just always talk to youso you always know what's going on. no matter how mucha parent's gonna tell their kid, "oh, be careful of this,be careful of that," they're just gonna go and do it anyway,because they wanna see-- you know, they're just curious. it's like an iceberg, what parents know. they see this part of the internet, and this involves myspace and facebookand youtube and google+, but then once you actually breach
this little wall of the internet, it's this huge thing thatinvolves sites like 4chan, which are these insaneplaces that are really-- they can be hilariously funny, seriously just completely (bleep) up. parents think they knowwhat it is about the internet. they think they know aboutthe internet. they have no idea. (finebros) and what kindsof things has your school specifically done to educatethe students about bullying?
we actually havea lot of stuff in my school. we have an anti-bully club. they actually have a little club, and they try to stop people from bullying. there will be people out there, and if they see some type of bullying, they'll go up to him and be like,"hey, was that necessary?" (finebros) do you think it's working? not really, 'cause i'm gettingmade fun of till this day.
at the beginning of the year,they kind of talk about it, and when there's big stuff like this that's going around and that'spretty viral, they talk about it, but other than that, it's notreally brought up in schools, which sucks, because everybody thinks that there's so muchthat gets done for it, and there really isn't. it really feels like you're aloneand nobody cares. (finebros) do you thinkthat bullying can ever truly stop?
- is there a full answer?- possibly. if they were just startto notice the bullies, take them, and blow them up,then it would stop. (finebros) and if anyonewas watching that was a bully and was someonethat torments people online, - what would you say to them?- you're a dick. it doesn't make you look cool. you just look like a douche-licker. you guys are the people that i hate.
i try to be a peaceful person, but those are the people that i hate. end the chain with you. if you're a bully and you stop being mean and you try to be nice to people, you can be the examplethat others live by. (finebros) and what would you sayto someone who is being bullied or considering suicideand might be watching this? this is so cliche,but it does really get better.
tupac said a great thing. he said, "you got to keep your head up." stay strong. it's okay. i know it seems like the end of the world. katy perry says in that song, "after a hurricane,there's always a rainbow." honestly, you can get through it. when it comes down to it, you're in charge of who you areand what you do, not them.
you need to tell someoneif you are feeling that way. everyone goes through this. and i mean everyone goes through bullies, so don't feel like you'rethe only one out there. set a goal and make it a long-term goal or something that you look forward to. there's so many beautiful moments in life. this is just a tiny period of your life, and you have so muchto live for. it's amazing.
if i let that bully get ahold of me, then i wouldn't be 3,000 milesacross the country filming with the fine brotherson "teens react"! believe in yourselfand everything will go fine. suicide is not the answer,'cause even if you feel like there's nothing for youto live for anymore, there always is. it'll be okay.