Girl suspended over a fake account committing suicide

[Ho-Oh]

https://news.ninemsn.com.au/world/8472418/student-suspended-after-fictional-girl-kills-herself

A US high school student who created a Facebook page and YouTube video about a fictional character to teach her classmates about bullying was suspended after she made the character commit suicide.

In the video posted on May 15 and the Facebook page, Long Island, New York, student Jessica Barba, 15, plays fictional 12-year-old Hailey Bennett.

Hailey's mother died when she was three, is abused by her father and all alone after her friend moved away. She commits suicide after being bullied daily and teased on her Facebook page.

Jessica's teacher at Longwood High School was aware she was doing a project on bullying for class, but did not know she was doing a Facebook page.

"I just created the video in order to raise awareness of the major issue that's bullying," Jessica told the US TODAY show. "I don't understand why I'm being punished for it."

Jessica said there were clear warnings on the Facebook page and video warning they were about a fictional character but she was hauled into the school's assistant principal's office after a parent saw the page and called police.

One of the Facebook page's posts said: "I wanna be dead."

She said she tried to explain her work to school officials but they would not listen.

"I tried explaining it so much ... they had the printouts of the page but none of the printouts that they had were the ones where I specify that it was a fake page," Jessica said.

She said the person blew the whistle on her "hadn't been able to go down far enough to see that it was fake".

"I couldn't even believe that I was getting in trouble for something that I had worked so hard on, and the only intent of it was good," she said.

Superintendent Allan Gerstenlauer told WNBC Jessica's work was "unfortunate in that it created a substantial disruption to the school".

Her father Michael said he was very proud of what she had done.

"This is a great project," he told TODAY. "There's thousands of people that love it, and it can be fixed. This can be fixed, simple."

Jessica was set to face a suspension hearing this week. Her father said she should be allowed back to school.

So I was just reading up on the news and this kinda stood out to me and I was wondering what you guys thought...

Was the school right in suspending her? Why/why not? If so, should the school be punished? Do you think she actually achieved anything from this? Do you feel that by doing this, more attention will be brought to the bullying issue at hand, or will it die out within a week? Do you think more things should be done like this? Discuss your thoughts.

You can find the aforementioned video right here, which may help shape your opinion.

Hopefully it's news-worthy enough Live/Razor! Also, although it concerns the Internet, the issue at hand isn't really the Internet, and rather the overarching issue plus it'd die out within a second in LU&E, but up to y'all if you think it's better fit there.

 

[Yoshikko]

Well, that lady who called the police just seems a bit hysterical imo lol, if she would have just scrolled down a bit more she would have seen that it was fake. I do understand why she called though obviously, and I do think that that move the girl made was a bit..drastic? Suicide is VERY serious, and even though her intentions might have been good, I can imagine why the school'd suspend her for that. Well but because her intentions were good and to raise awareness on bullying I think it should be overturned.

 

[Ray Maverick]

Seeing as people don't take bullying seriously enough and Jessica made sure to change that, I'm on her side - besides, what is wrong with making a fictional character commit suicide? It's completly legal, although it might seem unethical given that her work was showcased to school kids.

 

[KingCharizard]

People always post on fb that they wanna die, they wanna kill them self, fml etc.. I never heard of anyone calling the cops I agree the person who called the cops is an over dramatic idiot.. This girl no matter how stupid her idea or project was trying to do something for school she should not be suspended.

Again this is a very stupid idea.. It wont work and I dunno if she's doing it for attention or for real cause she really cares if she does its cause she gets bullied.. anyways its stupid to play suicidal to stop bullying! Just hit the bullies back chances are their soft punks who get beat on at home and they come to school to beat on you.. they are losers so HIT THEM BACK. if your too small then find another way to hit them back, like a bat or something you might get suspended but if you do spread the rumor the bully is a snitch and nobody likes a snitch(tattletale)

 

[Yoshikko]

People always post on fb that they wanna die, they wanna kill them self, fml etc.. I never heard of anyone calling the cops I agree the person who called the cops is an over dramatic idiot.. This girl no matter how stupid her idea or project was trying to do something for school she should not be suspended.

Again this is a very stupid idea.. It wont work and I dunno if she's doing it for attention or for real cause she really cares if she does its cause she gets bullied.. anyways its stupid to play suicidal to stop bullying! Just hit the bullies back chances are their soft punks who get beat on at home and they come to school to beat on you.. they are losers so HIT THEM BACK. if your too small then find another way to hit them back, like a bat or something you might get suspended but if you do spread the rumor the bully is a snitch and nobody likes a snitch(tattletale)

It could have seemed to the woman who called that she was promoting it or advertising or whatever, she probably didn't even read anything that the girl mentioned about the video.

 

[Hybrid Trainer]

I think it's disgraceful that she's being punished for this. It's actually a really good and well thought out campaign to try and stop bullying in schools, which is more than a lot of other students would try to do. The fact that she'd be punished for something like that just goes to show that most people prefer to just ignore the problems rather than try and put a stop to them.
I can understand that maybe at first glance they could see it as someone trying to cause trouble, but no way would I expect it to go as far as her being punished for it.

 

[Oryx]

People always post on fb that they wanna die, they wanna kill them self, fml etc.. I never heard of anyone calling the cops I agree the person who called the cops is an over dramatic idiot.. This girl no matter how stupid her idea or project was trying to do something for school she should not be suspended.

The news article implied that the woman who called the cops didn't see the part where it was fictional. I don't fault that woman at all. Suicidal posts should be taken seriously whether they're on Facebook or to a friend, and calling the police is a valid reaction. The people at fault here are the people that investigated it, for not seeing the warnings that the character was fictional.

 

[Esper]

I think this girl had a really creative idea, that her heart was in the right place, and moreover I think that ultimately it's going to make her school pay more attention to the issue of bullying so as long as they lift the suspension I think all's well that ends well. No one actually committed suicide, which I'm grateful to hear. This seems like one of those stories where people make mistakes and can actually learn from them.

I don't blame anyone for their reactions. Like Toujours said, suicide is serious and should be taken seriously if anyone talks about killing themselves. I suppose in retrospect one extra thing she could have done with this project is get someone in her school involved so that they would know it wasn't real. Maybe they did see the part that said it was fiction and thought it was still real. I can see that happening.

Again this is a very stupid idea.. It wont work and I dunno if she's doing it for attention or for real cause she really cares if she does its cause she gets bullied.. anyways its stupid to play suicidal to stop bullying! Just hit the bullies back chances are their soft punks who get beat on at home and they come to school to beat on you.. they are losers so HIT THEM BACK. if your too small then find another way to hit them back, like a bat or something you might get suspended but if you do spread the rumor the bully is a snitch and nobody likes a snitch(tattletale)

She herself wasn't pretending to be suicidal. She created a separate, unreal character whose story was that she was being bullied and was suicidal. I agree that no one who isn't suicidal should pretend to be, but that's not the case here.

Also, fighting back is not a good idea. It's probably more likely to escalate the bullying. Saying "hit them back" is a double-edged sword because if you can't fight back it kind of legitimizes the bully since you're being told "All you have to do is fight back. C'mon, why can't you fight back? What's wrong with you?" Not a good thing to say to someone who is being bullied.

 

[ThunderPom]

Thats not cool. Apparently everything is threatening to schools now. Thts not fair tho I see ppl bullies evryday it needs to be stopped

 

[KingCharizard]

It's actually a really good and well thought out campaign to try and stop bullying in schools,

How is pretending to be suicidal, fake or not a good thing? How does that stop bullying? There are many reasons people commit suicide and bullying isn't among the top reasons.

She herself wasn't pretending to be suicidal. She created a separate, unreal character whose story was that she was being bullied and was suicidal. I agree that no one who isn't suicidal should pretend to be, but that's not the case here.

Regardless if its her or a character it should not be done period.. they are promoting suicide... even if they don't realize it..

 

[Oryx]

How is pretending to be suicidal, fake or not a good thing? How does that stop bullying? There are many reasons people commit suicide and bullying isn't among the top reasons.

Do you have some kind of science, research, or news article to back up this claim?

 

[droomph]

How is pretending to be suicidal, fake or not, a good thing? How does that stop bullying? There are many reasons people commit suicide and bullying isn't among the top reasons.

Why would you say that? You're trivializing how serious these things are. It really does help to see it in action.


Your ignorance makes me sad :(

Thats not cool. Apparently everything is threatening to schools now. Thts not fair tho I see ppl bullies evryday it needs to be stopped

This, and why would a school feel the need to take such measures for something that won't affect anyone else physically? That's just dumb.

 

[-Grayscale-]

I feel bad for the girl, really honestly. Not as if she was trying to do something bad or 'promote' suicide, geez.
I think it's okay they called the cops. If I saw someone about to kill them self or something over the web, I'd probably try to do something to make sure they didn't, too. Calling the cops seems reasonable. Too bad the woman didn't realize it was a fake account.

Personally, I thought it was an interesting idea to do something like that on bullying.

How is pretending to be suicidal, fake or not a good thing? How does that stop bullying? There are many reasons people commit suicide and bullying isn't among the top reasons.

Regardless if its her or a character it should not be done period.. they are promoting suicide... even if they don't realize it..

...What.
Just, what.
I'm pretty sure bullying is like, one of the main contributing factors that lead to suicide. What lead you to think otherwise?
Just because there's a lot of reasons people commit suicide doesn't mean it's uncommon for a pressured/severely hurt kid to commit suicide because they feel abused or unwanted.

And how is this promoting such a thing? lol

 

[Oryx]

Bullying can be helped. It's more cowardly to say that bullying can't be targeted on a large scale and instead leaving the weak and helpless to deal with it themselves, without offering a hand to help them. Or in this case, raising awareness. Many people who are strongly against bullying have either been bullied or know someone who has been bullied. By creating a person, people who may be bullies could feel sympathy for this person and feel bad when she kills herself, therefore making them rethink their decision to bully others.

Plenty of people function just fine in everyday life without bullying being a part of their experiences. Disproves your theory that it teaches you to deal with life.

As far as suicide: suicide is nearly always caused by some kind of mental disease in the person committing it, very, very often depression. Depression in teenagers can have many factors, but one of the larger ones in this day and age is bullying. Depressions leaves a person not in their right mind, where they can rationalize taking such a drastic step like committing suicide. No one is arguing that suicide should happen. What everyone is saying is that suicide happens for this reason, a lot. You never came up with anything showing the "top reasons for suicide" either, so we're going to have to assume your claim that bullying isn't among the top reasons is baseless. Back yourself up or you're just spouting hot air.

 

[KingCharizard]

Bullying can be helped. It's more cowardly to say that bullying can't be targeted on a large scale and instead leaving the weak and helpless to deal with it themselves, without offering a hand to help them.

Plenty of people function just fine in everyday life without bullying being a part of their experiences. Disproves your theory that it teaches you to deal with life.

As far as suicide: suicide is nearly always caused by some kind of mental disease in the person committing it, very, very often depression. Depression in teenagers can have many factors, but one of the larger ones in this day and age is bullying. Depressions leaves a person not in their right mind, where they can rationalize taking such a drastic step like committing suicide. No one is arguing that suicide should happen. What everyone is saying is that suicide happens for this reason, a lot. You never came up with anything showing the "top reasons for suicide" either, so we're going to have to assume your claim that bullying isn't among the top reasons is baseless. Back yourself up or you're just spouting hot air.

I've said all I'm going to.. The reality is bullying cant be stopped it can maybe be reduced but never stopped.. and the more you try to stop it the worse it will get...

 

[droomph]

I cry because stupid people make me sad. Mainly those in this thread.

Spoken like a wimp who gets bullied... Everyone always wants someone to hold their hand baby them, life is hard bullying teaches you how to deal with the constant crap life throws at you..

So those that disagree with me are saying bullying is a reason to commit suicide. Also would you guys do it?


This student is stupid and here is why

• its a fake profile not real it doesn't prove anything
• two suicide is not always likely.
• To promote suicide as a way out that kids take is likely to make more people consider suicide
• This is a sensitive subject, she should have stepped lightly.
• You can't stop bullying.

What is wrong with the young kids these days, everyone is getting soft.. everyone is too spoiled these days.. ugh


suicide is a cowards way out.. bullying is a part of life. it cant be helped.. deal with it..

Look, I know what you mean, but trust me, being depressed or suicidal is nothing that can be avoided, and does not mean that you're cowardly. All it means is that you're depressed/suicidal, and at worst means you want some Vicodin or Prozac very badly.

And you can take my word for it because I'm going through a bout of depression right now, and there's nothing I can do about it. However it doesn't make me weak that I'm depressed, it just means I'm feeling down and I should get help. If you refuse to admit your depression and its severity then that's what makes you weak.

And I see you've never been bullied before - it is not a fact of life, and nobody should have to go through that mess. It is harsher than reality has to be. I understand coddling them is a dangerous thing, but so is being driven to the point of abandoning hope. Nobody has to be tortured by a stranger to be taught how to survive; that's the parent's job to wean the child off of their support.

 

[Livewire]

Guy's I'm going to warn you here, do not derail this thread by getting chippy with each other. This is a pretty serious topic, can it.

 

[KingCharizard]

And you can take my word for it because I'm going through a bout of depression right now, and there's nothing I can do about it. However it doesn't make me weak that I'm depressed, it just means I'm feeling down and I should get help.

I get depressed, and im an adult life is hard. That does not mean you should commit suicide, which was my original point to this thread. There is no excuse. No reason to use suicide as a reason to stop bullying what about the other reasons people try to commit suicide? Can we stop bills, stress, PTSD, depression, and other reasons? We can't. The problems can be helped but not stopped.

About the student,
No she should not have gotten suspended, but she should have made it know to all publicly it was part of a project for school more than once. The parent over reacted but did what some people would do if they think someone is going to harm themselves. The school is overreacting. Her whole situation is just a mess and its honestly all her fault..

 

[Oryx]

"Getting depressed" is not the same as "having Depression".

Do we know exactly where on the Facebook page she noted it as fake, or where in the video? There are obvious places to put these things, and then less obvious places. I'm going to see if I can investigate that.

Edit: The youtube video says "(Fictional Story)" right in the title. No excuse for that. Can't find the Facebook page easily though.

 

[Calipornia]

If someone commits suicide because of bullying, that individual is a weakling, and a loser.
That said, if someone does commit suicide, it is a major failure on the guardian's side (parents, teachers, whatever) and they are the ones to blame. The bullies might have a part in it, but it would have been sooner or later that the individual will suicide because of another emotional issue, like breaking up.
If that person had a proper guardian (aka support), they will be able to grow mentally stronger and not be a weakling. I'm also quite sure there are people who were bullied and never harmed themselves. They are mentally stronger.

Let us analyze what makes a bully. Bullies are usually children with stupid parents that their parents that don't know what proper parenting is. It doesn't matter why, it can be financial issues that makes them work the whole day or whatever. They just don't know how to be a proper parents. Even if we remove the issue, I don't have much faith in their parenting skills. In short, bullies are usually neglected by their parents.

Who does bullies target?
"Weaker" people. Ones they can easily abuse. People that can't stand up to them.

What is the best way of avoiding bullies then?
You can't, depending on what kind of person are you. That is where the guardian's responsibility comes. This is where the bully and the one who suicide connect: they're both neglected by their parents. It is the guardian's job to help them deal with the problem. Teach them self-defense or something.

So, both the bully and the victims are victims of neglect. The bully (who is often in a group) finds some support. The victim does not, which leads to suicide. If you find the bully alone though, he is most likely more vulnerable than the victim. It connects well with the story.

Hailey's mother died when she was three, is abused by her father and all alone after her friend moved away. She commits suicide after being bullied daily and teased on her Facebook page.

No support for her.

The issue was not bullying. Bullying is only one of the possible mental challenges a person will face in his life. Some are more resilient than others. The less resilient need that support. When it is not met, unfortunate things happen.