e-Bullies

I got an interesting email yesterday. I mean, I didn't receive it yesterday, but it really affected me. As you will notice the name of this blog is A Slice of Life. So when I was looking for a site to host this, the name Slice of Life was taken by someone else. But when I visited their page, it was empty and I could only think of the things that I wanted to be doing with it. So I made a comment to the person responsible, and yes, I am ashamed to admit, it was not the nicest thing to say in the world. I believe the word pathetic might have made an appearance, I?m not certain.

The email that I recieved yesterday was from the person who's title I had coveted! She admitted that yes the account was pathetic, and yes, she would have gladly handed it over, but because of how rude I had been, she was not going to give me the account.

As you can imagine- or maybe you can?t- I felt horrible. More than horrible. I felt embarrassed, ashamed, and regretful that I had left such a rude comment. I began to think about the reasons why I had decided to do something that was so not like me. Because really, I don?t write hate mail, or subscribe to the whole cyber bullying issue. But for the first time, I could actually see what effects I had on another human being, someone who I didn?t even expect to read the comment, let alone actually answer it.

So that led me to my next revelation. Why do people go online? We do it to interact with others without speaking or physically being close to them. Yes, I think that was the whole idea behind the invention of the internet, a series of computers that are all connected. Ok. People go online to communicate, to find answers, and to entertain themselves. But what motivates anyone to say mean and nasty things - usually about the most obscure of topics- use curse words and basically berate everything and everyone in sight?

I think that that is the problem with the anonymity of the internet. I think that is the reason that I made my particularly insensitive comment. People are much more likely to say mean things if no one knows who said them. Maybe people who would never say things like that in a million years want to break out and do something they wouldn't normally do; it would almost be like stepping outside themselves for a while, like putting on an alternate identity. Under the mask of the World Wide Web, people will do things that are unimaginable. When I sat there and wrote the comment, sure it said name and email address, but who in their right mind would commit a bloody murder and then knowingly leave their fingerprints behind?

It basically comes down to this. What did I do in response to this person who clearly wasn?t happy with the words I had said? I wrote them a letter of apology and I thanked them for standing up to me ? dare I say it ? the cyber bully. I thanked her for sending me this email, and standing up to me, because I realized that this is something everyone should do if they get a chance. People who use sites like facebook and myspace to be cruel to others should be punished. So stand up, and don't let those people get away with it.