Online abuse and cyberbullying are issues that have
increasing relevance in the modern classroom as technology proliferates and the
line between our online selves and our in person personas continues to
blur.
Two recent newsworthy controversies that highlight power of
cyberbullying include the Gamergate and the Sad Puppy/Rabid Puppy
movements. Without going into too much
detail, the Gamergate controversy began when Eron Gjoni, a video game developer,
posted a defamatory article about his ex-girlfriend, Zoe Quinn, after she ended
their brief relationship. In this
article, he alleged many things, including that she traded sexual favors for
exposure and promotion in the video game industry. Originally posted in gamer-related internet
forums, his posts were quickly removed by moderators, forcing him to post his
allegations in the less closely monitored/regulated imageboard: 4chan. From there, online users, mostly male, began
an organized, targeted campaign of online abuse toward Quinn and women in
general within the video game community. (Salter, 2017)
Similarly, the Sad/Rabid Puppy movement is an organized
group of SciFi/Fantasy novel enthusiasts who used underhanded tactics to rig
the nomination process of Hugo Awards to shut out works of literature from diverse authors or works
that promote a social justice message in favor of traditional works with a more
white/male sensibility. The Sad Puppies as
a group generally approached discourse with the community with a relatively reasoned
and measured demeanor where the Rabid Puppies, as led by Vox Day, generally
resorted to cyberbullying and other forms of online abuse. (Robinson, 2015)
In his article on Gamergate, Salter suggests that both the online
users and the technological platforms themselves contribute to promulgation of
online abuse. (Salter, 2017) I tend to agree, as the anonymity possible
online allows individuals to behave in ways they otherwise wouldn’t. In addition, a single individual has the
ability to create multiple identities (known as sockpuppets) as a way to
inflate the apparent chorus of agreement to any inflammatory comments he or she
makes. Many online message boards have
disabled the ability to post anonymously, which helps in reducing online abuse
and inflammatory posts, but does nothing to prevent individuals from making
fake identities.
I also notice how many of today’s online harassment controversies
revolve around identity and diversity.
Both Gamergate and the Sad/Rabid Puppy movements are comprised of
primarily white men upset over and protesting the inclusion of non-traditional
individuals into their community. With
Gamergate, the backlash was over women entering into a male dominated hobby
while the Sad/Rabid Puppy movement focused on the celebration of diverse
authors and novels promoting social justice and diversity over traditional
works by white male authors telling traditional straightforward hero narratives.
With so much talk and coverage of these high profile
cyberbullying cases, it can be easy to think it is a ubiquitous problem and
inevitable that it will affect all students, but it is important to realize
that cyberbullying, while problematic and significant, is not a universal
experience. (Sabella, et al., 2013)
Perhaps the best way to address cyberbullying is the same
way an educator would address traditional bullying in the classroom: By
addressing the root cause of the conflict itself. Questions to consider: Are the motivations for cyberbullying similar
or different than the motivations for traditional, in person bullying? As many newsworthy cyberbullying incidents
revolve around white male reactions to diversity, is increasing diversity to broaden individual's exposure the answer?
References:
Sabella, Russell, et al. “Review: Cyberbullying Myths and Realities”,
Computers in Human Behavior, 2013, ResearchGate. Web. 27 Feb. 2017.
Salter, Michael. “From Geek Masculinity to Gamergate: The
Technological Rationality of Online Abuse.” Crime,
media, culture, 2017, pp. 1-18 SAGE
Journals. Web. 27 Feb. 2017.
Robinson, Tasha. “How the Sad Puppies Won – By Losing”, NPR Books, 2015, http://www.npr.org/2015/08/26/434644645/how-the-sad-puppies-won-by-losing.
Retrieved 27 Feb. 2017.
Hi IcarusRising, you pose some great questions here. I feel that the motivations for bullying, whether via online or face-to-face, remain the same, especially among children and adolescents. Not to justify their behavior, but young people are still developing compassion and understanding, and without adult role models who embrace diversity, they are more likely to ridicule differences between themselves. The introduction of online platforms merely contributed other avenues for bullying, and I would even say, makes it easier to bully by hiding behind the shroud of their computer screens. As a future educator, I hope to address bullying with the same approaches whether it be online or in the classroom. I feel it is important for students to acknowledge the severity, and reality, of bullying, and also to see that as an adult, I take it very seriously.
ReplyDeleteI find it pitiful that so many adults participate in cyberbullying. Especially women, the constant reminder and attacks to be a certain size, look a certain way, or act a certain way. It distracts from more serious issues that we face. I'd much rather comment on women's health, than the size of my waist post-pregnancy.
As a female, minority, in a mostly white-male dominated field, I have never been bullied in the workplace-at least not to my knowledge, maybe I've never noticed...On the contrary, my peers and colleagues tend to be genuinely curious about me, and often speak of me in kind regard. However, I do have to make sure I am not just a "token". You'd be surprised how often I am reminded that I'm a "female, latina, scientist". While, I do not feel "bullied" when they point out these things, it is important for them to understand that it does not define me. Yes, I am proud of those attributes, but I studied and worked hard to get my job, and I don't want to be treated any differently.
The questions you have posed for your audience are very thought-provoking. As I tussled with many different scenarios, I have come to the conclusion that bullying is bullying rather it be traditional or cyber. People, students especially, have the same motivation in either type of bullying. They have come to the consensus as a group (typically) that one person, or groups of persons are of less importance. These groups of bullies usually have one ring master and the rest are controlled like puppets on a string because they do not want to be out-casted. These students, in particular, feel the need to draw attention to somebody else in order to make themselves feel better. It is all-too-often the result of hate, confidence issues, or jealousy issues. As far as society goes, I believe it has to do with perspective. For example, I love what Renata wrote when she states that she does not feel bullied and is not defined by her intriguing background. If more people in society focused on the hard-work that it takes to make a difference like Renata does instead of the color of their skin, etc. then there would be less bad reactions to diversity.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments. It appears we are in agreement that the root causes for cyber bullying look much the same as traditional bullying. Savanna pointed out that many bullies feel the need to draw attention regardless of whether good or bad attention due to underlying confidence or jealousy issues.
ReplyDeleteRenata made a good point that simply increasing diversity may not be enough; we also need to model acceptance for our students and set clear boundaries about what will or will not be tolerated. I also appreciated your comments about treating diversity as something beyond tokenism. If we only pay lip-service to diversity without fully adopting it as a core value, we risk perpetuating the less overt types of racism and prejudice.
Thank you so much for your participation.