Bullying - like everything else - has an online presence

Whoever coined the phrase, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me,” probably never dealt with bullies. Maybe they did but never told anyone about it.

Bullying is one of those problems that never seem to go away. No matter how far advanced we like to think we are as a society, bullying continues to exist in different types of forms.

I like to think bullying began in the caveman era. The bigger caveman pushed around the smaller caveman and messed up the latter’s cave paintings because he was jealous. The smarter caveman tricked the slower caveman into giving him his food and shelter. Three cavemen picked on their friend across the pond because he decided to wear a tiger-skinned tunic rather than sport the leopard print because that’s what was in fashion at the time.

Technology and the Internet has given us access to an ungodly amount of knowledge, but it also allows us to take our bullying on a grander scale and the world is our plaything, all with a few keystrokes and clicks of a mouse.

The Internet allows people to insult each other with the impression that they are doing it behind an invisible wall. Folks can use an avatar and a silly nickname as a way to conceal their identity.

A recent incident in Medical Lake has shown us that this kind of behavior can happen in our own backyard. A student brought to his mother’s attention an application called Burnbook, where a few students were anonymously posting hurtful messages and pictures about each other. The Medical Lake School District and Spokane County Sheriff’s Office has investigated this matter and things seem to be back to normal.

Medical Lake isn’t the only community that deals with this type of problem. Sure, if you Google Burnbook, you’ll find Medical Lake’s incident, but you’ll also read about the El Camino High School student, in Oceanside, Calif., who was arrested for making threatening statements about his school on Burnbook. You’ll also learn about the freshman at Warren High School in Downey, Calif., and a junior at Leuzinger High School in Lawndale, Calif., who were arrested for “posting ominous messages.” With some help from the application’s developer, authorities were able to track these students from their IP addresses.

Burnbook is not the only application or website where this type of behavior happens. According to BullyStatistics.org, over half of adolescents and teens have either been bullied online or have engaged in cyber bullying.

Social media websites like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram are perhaps the most popular avenues people use to harass others. Competitive online video games are a cesspool of harassment.

I’ve listened to someone boast about harassing a female UFC fighter on Twitter. She was able to ban him from using the site because the Library of Congress records every tweet.

One famous example is San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick engaging in a feud with a fan who mocked him on Twitter. Rather than ignore the person, Kaepernick fired back, insulting the user’s lack of NFL experience and Twitter followers, which resulted in the person receiving more attention.

Jimmy Fallon has a regular segment on “The Tonight Show,” where he allows celebrities to read insulting tweets people send them. Although this type of response may be a funny way of dealing with the problem, it also shines a spotlight on these bullies and probably motivates others to send out their own hateful messages. Who wouldn’t want to brag about having Marshawn Lynch responding to a hateful message they sent him, especially if it’s more than what he normally says to the media?

Unless you work in law enforcement or are tech savvy, it’s tough to handle these kinds of bullies because there is no way you can have a face-to-face encounter with them. If someone is bothering you, just ignore it. The block button and privacy settings are great tools for this.

Al Stover can be reached at al@cheneyfreepress.com.