节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2012-05-17
难易度:Medium
关键字:friend, cruelty, tragedy, unknown, cyber bullying, anonymous
OK. Welcome back, everybody.
The threat of physical violence makes face-to-face encounters with bullies very
unpleasant and traumatic experiences.
Now getting picked on in a school hallway or on the playground is no fun.
Victims of cyber bullying, however, say getting threatened over the Internet is
actually worse.
Let's find out why as we continue our reading under the heading: What is it?
(Music).
Cyber Bullying.
What is it?
Cyber bullying is the use of the Internet and other technology to attack and
hurt someone.
Attackers are usually school-age kids, but as the Megan Meier case proved,
adults sometimes take part in this harmful activity too.
Victims state that cyber bullying is much worse than being bullied face-to-face
because the attacker is often unknown.
And on the Internet, being anonymous is powerful!
However, many countries are taking the threat of cyber bullying seriously and
passing laws to punish the attackers.
(Music).
All right. So we've seen at least one example of just how dangerous cyber
bullying can be.
So now we want to know what is it.
Yeah, what is cyber bullying?
What makes this happen?
Now we heard this tragic, this terrible story about this mother who was involved
in harassing this girl Megan.
And Megan ended up committing suicide over it.
Now that story is what brought the idea of cyber bullying into the public to be
talked about, to be discussed.
And now we're going to define it.
And we're going to talk about how we can help prevent it from happening.
And I think this is very important.
It's... the Internet is still pretty young.
It's only been around for a few short years.
So it's important for us to learn how to use it properly and in a safe way.
Now cyber bullying is the use of the Internet and other technology to attack and
hurt someone else.
Well, that makes sense because we know that bullying is to attack and hurt
someone else, be... either physically, emotionally, verbally.
So doing cyber bullying is all of that but over the Internet.
So how do we keep track of this?
Who are the people that usually do this?
Well, let's find out.
Right. Well, attackers are usually school-age kids.
And that's common for school-age kids to bully each other at school, and we see
it does happen online too.
But as the Megan Meier case proved, adults sometimes take part in this harmful
activity too.
OK, let's go back to talking about the school-age children.
Those are... anybody we talk about school-age being anywhere from elementary
school up through high school is what we consider school-aged.
Now even though it's common for bullying to happen or common that cyber bullying
happen does not make it OK.
Just because it's something that happens does not mean you should do it.
And in fact, this is something you should never do.
Yeah. And this can be just as harmful as bullying at school or as we see, even
more harmful.
So this is dangerous.
And you definitely do not want to take part in it, which means to be involved in
it.
That's right.
And we... we see in the story that unfortunately adults sometimes take part in
it.
And we would like to encourage you to be better than that, be a bigger person.
Be the adult, don't take part in this.
Stay outside of it and coach your students to be better people as well.
Yeah, your students or your kids because victims they state, or they say, that
cyber bullying is much worse than being bullied face-to-face because the
attacker is often unknown.
Now I... I found that a little odd when I first heard that because bullying,
when you're bullied in person, you feel just awful.
And you're in public and you're hurt.
What do you do in public?
But this makes sense.
If you don't know who's attacking you... oh! That would be so frustrating.
Yeah, you don't know, like you said.
The word "unknown" there means not to know.
So you don't always know who's talking to you online.
Just like we saw, the MySpace profile that Megan Meier was talking to wasn't a
real person.
There wasn't a "Josh" that existed.
And so that person she was talking to, she didn't know who it actually was who
was bullying her.
That's right.
He... this mother was bullying her.
She was an unknown attacker.
Poor Megan did not know who that was.
Well, the Internet is... got a lot of problems with it.
One of those is that the... there's this anonymous factor, so.
It says the Internet being anonymous makes it very powerful.
Right. When you're online, you are "anonymous." It's very easy to be anonymous.
And that word simply means that no one knows who you are.
And that can be very powerful, why?
Because you're private, you're a private person.
It's not a public information.
You can do whatever you want when you're anonymous because it's not coming back
to you.
But you need to be careful.
Even though, Ryan, even though you're anonymous, it doesn't mean you can be mean
to people.
Exactly. In fact, there are many laws, as we'll find out, that even if you're
trying to be anonymous, people can still sometimes find out who you are.
So as people they try and hide by thinking they are anonymous, but maybe it's
not always true.
But just the thought of being anonymous makes you feel powerful.
Just don't use that power incorrectly.
So even though you feel powerful, there are some ways of tracking you.
That's right.
And as we were saying, there are many countries that are taking this threat very
seriously and they're passing laws in order to punish those attackers.
That's right.
So countries all over the world are taking this seriously, which means they're
not just saying, "Oh. Kids do that. They just... they will be kids.
You know, let them do whatever they want." It means they're focusing on it.
They see it as a problem.
That's... and this is wonderful, I think, because cyber bullying has really
started to become more and more common now.
As more people are using Facebook and MySpace, it's really becoming a big
problem.
And I'm very glad that there are many more laws.
That's right. You know, um... when in the United States, I work in schools.
And schools are actually very aware of this as well, trying to track who is
attacking so that they can be punished.
They're passing laws that it's legal to punish or to cause... make them pay for
their actions.
Yeah. If you're doing something wrong, you should pay for your wrong actions
even if you think you're being anonymous.
That's right.
Well, we're going to talk more about cyber bullying and what we can do to
prevent it and how to be aware of it tomorrow.
But first, let's see today's skit.
I love the Internet!
You can meet lots of different people online.
It's so much fun.
Yeah, meeting people online can be fun.
But sometimes it's not.
What... what do you mean?
Some people use the Internet to attack and hurt people.
It's called cyber bullying.
I know. School-age kids do it all the time.
It's a way to have fun.
It's not fun.
Cyber bullying is cruel.
It's a harmful act.
Come on, it's not so bad.
Yes, it is.
It's much worse than being bullied face-to-face.
Worse than being bullied face-to-face?
Why is that?
If someone is bullying me face-to-face, I can fight back.
I can hit and kick and push them.
Oh.
But cyber bullying is different.
The attacker is often unknown.
I know.
There is power in being anonymous.
Cyber bullying is dangerous.
Many countries are taking the threat very seriously.
Oh. How so?
They are passing laws to punish the attackers.
I really don't think that's necessary.
I think it's a good thing.
Stop it!
(Chinese).
And we're running out of time.
I'll see you next time. Bye-bye.
OK. Thank you, Michelle.
I think cyber bullying brings a different kind of horror to victims because they
may not know who their attacker is or even what he or she looks like.
When cyber bully victims turn on their computers or smartphones at home, they
are, indirectly, allowing that bully into their living rooms and bedrooms.
And that can be a living nightmare.
Friends, join us tomorrow when we look into some of the methods cyber bullies
use to attack their victims.
Until then, I hope all of you have a good day.