Bullying victim hangs herself.

Post Reply New Topic

I was almost going to post a link to an article about this tragedy......just so sorry for Phoebe. This story hit me hard and surely many Aspies (although Phoebe was not an Aspie) - so many of us endure that bullying. At life-altering levels........tears

At my University I took a bullying incident really hard and no one to tell and no one to help. This incident, with two individuals (one a professor) went on for weeks/months until the torture I silently endured was nearly too much. These were adults in a professional advanced graduate program. Bullying is not just for school-kids. Then, when I did tell I was actually told to "take it" and given the run-around which made the situation worse! And that I did not matter enough. They never said they were sorry - no accountability.

Since I've taken bullying (too much) over time I know how much it hurts. There's often no recourse (just ask Phoebe).

I'm so sorry Phoebe, and that no one listened

CockneyRebel, Thank you for posting the lyrics - you're so kind! That's what I like about Aspies.

It isn't exactly rocket science.

In the 19th century novel "Tom Brown's Schooldays" the new headmaster whipped and expelled every bully until the problem stopped.

A generation or two ago America had "Reform Schools". In England they were called "Borstals"

I am not saying they were great ideas but at least they kept the worst thugs from making life a misery for other kids.

I was reading a bunch of articles from Boston.com and BostonHerald.com that stated that Phoebe Prince was bullied back in her home country Ireland, before being bullied in South Hadley, Mass. Phoebe's aunt warned the South Hadley HS officials that she was highly prone to bullying or torment, and urged them to be vigilante and protect her during the school hours.

It was NEVER revealed why Phoebe was picked on by kids back in Ireland. Maybe she might have had a mental condition or something.

Do a search and you'll find her blog for some english class she took last semester. The girl was a deep thinker, eloquent writer, and very pretty. Sometimes, that's all a bully needs to pick a target.
It's because it was a pretty, cheery(by many accounts) model student(who was even a tutor), and, hate to say it, not "one of us" that has everyone up in arms. I don't think they'd care if it was someone with a developmental issue, or a personality disorder.
In the Hampshire County area, where she lived, the newspapers and local news stations are covering the case EVERY DAY. You can't avoid it here.

Her death was a tragedy, and nobody deserves to be bullied. However, she did act slightly foolishly (IMO) before the bullying campaign started.

I don't mean that as a new girl she should have kept her head down and said and done nothing all year, or that she wasn't entitled to date the first guy (the footballer and ex of one of the bullies), but then sleeping with another guy afterwards (an on-off boyfriend of another one of the bullies) could have been seen as asking for trouble. If you're a new girl to a school and sleep with two guys in a couple of months, then you will probably get a reputation and most likely a few names called (not my own value judgement, but what still happens in society).

If those two guys are exes/current flings of popular girls, then it's going to be even worse. It doesn't matter that they were 'exes' or 'on-off'- at that age, all relationships are seen as much more serious than they really are ('true wuv' and all that). The comments directed at Phoebe were basically to do with her actions. They weren't nice, and the level of hatred was despicable, but I can unfortunately see at least some of the teenagers involved getting away scot free because of the circumstances and emotions involved.

Hopefully I'm wrong . I don't think there should be any excuse for those that assisted them and just followed pack mentality, even if their level abuse was less.