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The Internet Is To Blame For The Bus Monitor Bullying
The bus monitor bullying is one of the worst things I've ever seen on the internet. Over $100,000 has since been donated to the victim Karen Huff Klein, but money alone will not mend this abhorrent behavior. It's the internet that has caused this real life "trolling"...
I’ve seen some pretty horrendous things, thanks to my old pal the internet. I’ve watched that disturbing footage of a guy being hit by a train that he didn’t see coming. And I’ve witnessed two girls demonstrating the kind of behaviour that would get them kicked out of the crockery department of John Lewis. The fact is, there’s no shortage of troubling sights just waiting to make you regret having eyes. But I can safely say that I’ve found my limit – I’ve finally discovered something that I just can’t watch. It runs for ten minutes and nine seconds; and I lasted about a minute and a half.
It’s a bunch of middle-school students yelling abuse at their 68 year-old bus monitor. Having called Karen Huff Klein a “dumb-ass”, a “fat-ass” and “elephant”, they threaten to “piss all over [her] door” and “fucking take a crap in [her] mouth”. In addition, they speculate that “she probably eats deodorant because she can’t afford real food” and tell her ”you’re so ugly your kid should kill themselves.” As it happens, her son had done just that ten years previously.
As the story went viral yesterday afternoon, it popped up on a number of news sites, along with transcripts of the kids’ astonishingly malevolent attacks. At least that saved me from having to watch the whole thing. I don’t need to see a near 70-year-old widow being bullied until she cries.
It wasn’t long before the story hit Reddit, as the social news site’s users quickly voted it up to the front page. Somewhat predictably, incensed Redditors were soon posting details of the school in question, emailing district officials in the area, and even adding a link to Karen’s facebook page. Other users, looking for a more vengeful outlet for their disgust, chose to post links to the kids’ own pages, as well as their parents’ addresses. Threats to vandalise their homes, beat them senseless and harass their families swiftly followed.
Thankfully, not everyone was quite so filled with blood-lust. One Redditor, calling himself Max S, decided to set up a donations page on Indiegogo. Since Karen’s Bus Monitor salary is a matter of public record, Max wrote on his page “She doesn’t earn nearly enough ($15,506) to deal with some of the trash she is surrounded by. Lets give her something she will never forget, a vacation of a lifetime!” When I started writing this, the figure was at $5,500. It’s now at $113,781, and appears to be increasing exponentially.
As well as monetary donations, a number of facebook pages have been set up in tribute to Karen, offering people a chance to add their sympathetic messages of support. Many have shared their own stories about suffering at the hands of bullies. Others are content to call her a saint, a role model, and tell her that the whole world loves her.
Other users, looking for a more vengeful outlet for their disgust, threatened to vandalise their homes, beat them senseless and harass their families.
Some people will look at this story and see it as a pointed commentary on how an era of lazy parenting has created a generation of vicious, amoral monsters. Others may choose to see the silver lining, and celebrate the fact that over $100,000 dollars has been raised in a matter of hours, as a charitable gesture to make someone’s day.
In fact, this isn’t really a story about good vs evil at all. It’s a story about the internet, and how its omnipresence in every aspect of our lives has changed the way we think, communicate and behave.
It’s a reminder that, when witnessing tragedy or misfortune, our first instinct is not to stop and help, but to record and upload. It’s a reminder that the act of trolling has become so prevalent, that anonymous online cruelty is no longer enough of an outlet. Face-to-face attacks are what really count. It’s a reminder that anyone can achieve worldwide notoriety at a moment’s notice, sometimes for simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time. And it’s a reminder that, all too often, we imagine that any humiliation and suffering can be endured, just as long as there’s some kind of financial reward at the end of it.
In an interview with her local news station, Klein said that she just wanted an apology. In all honesty, I wouldn’t even know where to start.
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COMMENTS
Fucking hell that's made me feel bleak and I didn't even watch it.
This is horrible. But what exactly is a bus monitor?
@Tim According to what I've read, the bus monitor is there to keep an eye on the kids while they're travelling on the school bus, especially bullying. Which makes this even more cruelly ironic.
"The bus monitor bullying is one of the worst things I've ever seen on the internet." This immediately invalidates ANY opinion you hold regarding the internet. You sound like some bluestocking busybody who blames video games for school shootings and "moral decay".
when i was in secondary school 10-15 years ago we were horrible to our bus drivers, not quite bad as this but still it was unforgivable looking back on it. when i read the title of the article i was ready to write "yes, the internet is to blame" as it provides a platform for anonymous abuse and trolling that is becoming so commonplace that it is now leaking into real life. however, my busmates and i were doing similar many years ago before trolling became such a big issue. some people are just plain horrible, many kids are (i was no angel). they will grow out of it and feel awful for what they did to the bus monitor but the internet is not fully to blame. i don't know where i am going with this comment now as i am rambling so i am going to shut up.
Without the internet, she wouldn't have a six figure vacation to look forward to. If you're talking about something bad that we can MAYBE blame on the internet versus something amazing that we can CERTAINLY THANK the internet for, it doesn't take Bob Ross to see the positive side.
@MRDA Thanks for your comment, and I'm sorry if it made me sound like Mary Whitehouse. For the record, my point is that this was footage that I simply couldn't sit through. I have, of course, seen far more graphic/offensive content, but in those cases my curiosity overrode any gag reflex. @Adam - I'm guilty of rambling too, which might be how my point got lost along the way. You're right that the internet didn't create bullies, but I think it's amplified and exaggerated how those bullies behave, and how the rest of society is expected to react to them.
Something blatantly obvious is that this woman wouldn't be taking a six figure vacation without somebody recording the bullying. These bullies wouldn't be getting publicly shamed without the internet. But they'd still probably be bullies with or without.
The internet didn't cause this, I had to endure this kind of abuse when I was in middle school back in the 80s. These kids have always existed. Haven't you read "Lord of the Flies"? But this is one reason I never had kids.
@Robin - these kids have always existed. It's their victims that seem to be changing.
Ha, over $170k now. Guess she won't be going back to work!
When I was a child, if I had been one-one hundredth as disrespectful to an elder as these vicious little swine were to poor Mrs. Klein, my old-school dad would have smacked me to the moon and back. And I never would even think of doing it again. But today? Oh, noooooo! Poor little Johnny would be traumatized for life if you do much as laid a finger on him. Not to mention getting sued and/or arrested for what used to be known as disciplininge one's child. Then again, a lot of parents would be in denial ("Not MY Johnny! He's a good boy!"). This behavior is learned at home, as ALL behaviour is. Then again, one could make the argument that 12-13 year old kids don't know any better. If so, give the PARENTS a smack upside the head! Or lessons in how to BE a parent.
There's no evidence or even a plausible theory in this article as to a connection between online and offline bullying, but a very clear, cut-and-dry story of the web's ability to bring people together to help one another. I can understand watching this video and having an emotional reaction and seeing the parallel between bullying and trolling, but allowing emotions to cloud rational thinking and sound judgement is why 9/11 led to TSA and the Patriot Act and a war in Iraq. Free-association works in experimental comedy, not sociopolitical commentary.
@Ghastly - Thanks for your comments, and for reading this piece. This is clearly an emotive topic for people, so it's unsurprising that interpretations will differ. In lieu of any evidence linking online and offline bullying, I would still contend that internet anonymity has empowered kids to voice their ugliest thoughts without any fear of recrimination. It's only natural that there's a point where those behaviours would spill over into the real world. As for whether my interpretation of these actions compares to the Bush administration playing on fear and grief to usher in the Patriot Act, I'll leave you to decide. Personally, I find the analogy as spurious as you found my article.
Robin don't try to lie - You haven't got kids coz you've never had your hole.
Their lack of any kind of empathy is very disturbing,I think the internet does erode young minds of empathy,it seems to me that there is a lot of admiration for cuntish behaviour out there,when I was young you would never have got a group of children all to be able to act in that manner.
When I was 11-12 I studied in a Catholic College, in Southern Brazil. Father Wilson took care of us when we did something ugly. And he had a pair of very hard hands. No one of us became traumatized or developed serious mental problems. The slaps did vanish in some minutes and it was all ok. We'll be more careful next time. I think this type of "psicology" is what is lacking in this case. Call Father Wilson!
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