CYBER BULLYING AND RUBBER CROCS

It is the festive season and we are supposed to be on our jolliest moods. However, recent events on the local social media platforms dictate otherwise.
There is a new invasive pattern that is creeping into our otherwise peaceful and loving persona as a nation.

This weed, that is growing, is now threatening to suffocate the lovely atmosphere that we normally find on our social media streets. It has taken up the form of cyberbullying.

Cyberbullying or cyberharassment is a form of bullying or harassment using electronic means. In essence it is the use of electronic communication to bully a person, typically by sending messages of an intimidating or threatening nature.
At school you would find some children being made fun of because of their height, body features or voice. Sometimes even their family financial status would be the butt of jokes. It still happens even today. It’s a sickening trait. I have never laughed at a joke when someone was being made fun of because of their features or financial status. I just have never found anything amusing about it. I still don’t to date.

bullies

A year ago, when I took my daughter to her first day of primary school, I marvelled at how the teacher conducting the morning assembly quickly tried to prepare the new students about how to deal with bullies and insults from other students.
She said, “A real crocodile has teeth and can bite you. A rubber crocodile also has teeth but it can’t bite you. It looks scary but it is harmless because it’s made of rubber. This rubber crocodile must be ignored. So if anyone comes and makes fun of you, know that person is a rubber crocodile. The best way to respond to anyone who insults you is simply say, ‘it’s ok, you are just a rubber crocodile.”

I loved the analogy. The sounds of the students screaming “rubber crocodile” still echo in my head everytime I have to deal with a cyberbully. Because if truth be told we will encounter cyberbullies at one point in time in our lives and when we do we need to be ready to ignore their dry sarcastic and distasteful remarks that have no place in any developing or developed society.

It is societies where people speak well of each other, encourage each other and motivate each other that develop rapidly. Societies where people look down upon one another grow at a very slow pace. Societies where people are quick to pick out what is wrong in you than celebrate what is right while supporting you to fix what is not, are the ones that are growing rapidly.

Mocked

I read a story this past week of how one of my favourite soccer stars Carlos Tevez was mocked for the car he was driving when he joined Manchester United.
Wayne Rooney gave him his Lamborghini as a gift to be able to fit in to the elite club’s playing personnel. He didn’t join those mocking Tevez. Rooney was not part of the problem but a solution. Interestingly many years later Tevez would go on to be the highest earning soccer player when he was in China. The support grew him and made him realise his potential.

Coming closer to home, we daily hear people mocking local artists and the quality of music they produce. Some even snub shows that are only headlined by locals and confidently say they would never attend a show where poor quality singers are performing.
These are people who are not offering a solution. When an artist comes from outside the borders they dig deep to pay to see that artist.

They support an already thriving artist and shun the developing one forgetting that the thriving artist got there by being supported in his own country first.
Worse when the local artists try to rise above the insults and ridicule, people still try to pull them down on social media making fun of their music and sadly at times their appearances.
This happens on Facebook and leaves a very bitter taste in my mouth. I personally buy two CDs of any local artist at any given time, when or if I have any money.

I plant back. Two CDs because if a person likes the CD I am playing I hand the extra one to them as a gift to promote local talent. Many of my second CDs are in South Africa now as my visiting friends take them back with them. 
We love our gadgets and social media. They make communication quicker, better and easier. But with every good there is usually its equally bad vice.

Unfortunately

According to an anti-bullying website, apparently on reported cases of cyber bullying, it is said 87 per cent occurred on Facebook. Unfortunately, of those victims of cyber bullying, only 37% ever reported the bullying to the social network it happened on.

Apart from unfriending or blocking the person who bullies or harasses you on Facebook, you can report them to the social media administrators.
Using the report option will notify Facebook about the offending person or material.  Every page and post on Facebook has a ‘Report’ option you can use to report bullying on Facebook.

This is usually visible after clicking a little gear icon on the page or post. If the person or material is in violation of Facebook’s term of service, they may suspend or terminate the person’s account.

That is how to deal with the cyberbullies if the rubber crocodiles tactic doesn’t work. For me I choose the rubber crocodile tactic. After all, rubber crocodiles do not bite.

Post your comment

Your name:

Your e-mail address:

Add your comments:

Please enter the code you see in the image:

Image:

Code: