How did they force her to listen to their teasing? Last time I checked you can turn down a friend request on Facebook and make your page private so that only your friends can read it. You can even block people.

If someone is communicating to you and saying things that you don't like how about, I don't know, stop fucking listening to them? No. That would make too much sense. Those two girls had the right to speak their minds, to say whatever they wanted. They weren't forcing SuicideGirl to listen to them. They certainly committed no real crime and no SuicideGirl's freedom was in no way being trampled.

Those are negative rights. The right to be left alone from people who would take your life, lock you in a cage or physically force you to do or not do certain things, and seize your property. Notice that it says you have the right to pursue happiness. You don't have the right to force others to make you happy. You don't have the right to prevent me from telling you to kill yourself, which is of course something I would highly recommend. It is much nicer on the other side. Oops. Did I just break the speech laws again?

My freedom to express myself through physical violence ends where your right not to be physically hurt by others begins. There is no contradiction there. All real rights are negative rights. We both have the right to be left alone to do what we wish. That includes the right to say mean things to you so long as I don't force you to listen.

Freedom of speech applies to all forms of communication. That is what speech is. A form of communication. Using the term 'expression' is probably not such a good idea because it can also refer to emotions. A person has the natural right to communicate with anyone who cares to listen so long as the speaker is not interfering with anyone else's rights. And I do believe that as a natural right we all are free to communicate anything. Without limit. I believe that is also what the founders of this country intended.

To say that punching someone in the face is a form of communication is quite a stretch. It isn't really a form of communication and even if it were it would violate the rights of the other person not to be physically harmed.

The right to elminate another person would be a violation of that other person's right to exist. As a right that would be nonsensical.

Speak for yourself. I don't have a Facebook account or a cell phone. It actually is possible to live without those things. Of course if you are going to kill yourself every time someone says something mean to you then I don't think it would matter. People say mean things IRL too.

Wow. That's scary. Florida could put half the world in jail with that law. My state has no such insanity yet. Yet another reason not to live in Florida I guess. Notice how "cyberstalking" is specifically mentioned. That is a recent law. Not one of the controversial new laws from the 90s that I was referring to.

Until some point in the 90s it was perfectly legal to sit in your car outside your ex-girlfriend's house all day and then follow her around everywhere. I don't really see how that can be extended to the internet. There is no such thing as a "where" on the internet. Using the justification for that law as an excuse to outlaw cyberstalking is a perfect example of the sort of slippery slope thinking that I was referring to.

2001 called and wants its slashdot demographics back. They claim it's theirs and if you don't return it you're going to be asked to drink bleach and die.

---barlevg

You've got cojones. That's for sure.

It takes courage to commit suicide. As someone who has contemplated it many times I know all too well how much. It isn't easy to place the barrel of a gun against your forehead and pull that trigger. It goes against every animal instinct.

Only a truly courageous person with an iron will and determination to leave this world is capable of it. It is not a cowards end. I see it as a noble end. The Japanese and their culture got a great many things right, and the nobility of suicide is one of them. Saying that it is the pussy way out is quite offensive in itself.

Well they had to try to get her for stalking because there actually aren't any laws on the books against "telling someone to kill themselves" or "relentlessly teasing" or "being impolite". I highly doubt there was actually any real stalking going on. Stalking is when you sit waiting outside someone's house and follow them around everywhere they go. That's why the (then controverisal) stalking laws exist. To prevent that particular behavior. Using those laws to go after these little girls is absurd and a perfect example of why slippery slope legal arguments are so compelling. The police and courts will *always* eventually attempt to overextend laws for some purpose for which they were not intended. This case is a simple attack on the freedom of speech in the US.

So IOW girls don't get bullied. Instead they get teased, insulted, and taunted and socially excluded by the more popular girls. Well guess what? Guys also get teased and taunted and insulted and socially excluded. Is it still bullying when that happens to a guy? Using the word 'bullying' to represent both physical intimidation and teasing is confusing. I suspect the confusion is intentional and politically motivated. It's an attempt to get around the first amendment and try to make certain kinds of speech that you don't happen to like illegal.

Look. I don't like people who tease other people either. I think they are assholes. I've never teased anyone in my life. But if we are going to put everyone who has ever teased someone else in jail we aren't going to have many people walking around in the outside world. If we are going to put everyone who has ever insulted someone else in jail then pretty much everyone would be in jail. I'm sorry, but that is just not the kind of world I want to live in.

I believe in freedom of speech and obviously you don't. What I want is the freedom to speak. To express myself. Without being locked in a cage for it. I know that you also believe in freedom of speech, but only speech that you happen to like. Only speech that you approve of.

Says the person who was never physically abused or built a physical wall to prevent it. Teasing is a mean thing to do, but it is not in the same category as physically injuring somone. Words can just be ignored. Being physically injured cannot be. Sticks and stones can break your bones. It's pretty hard to do that with words.

At least where I grew up we didn't call this bullying. We called it teasing or just being a bitch. Now that teasing is considered the equivalent of physical violence it is treated more seriously, but teasing is not the same as bullying. Getting someone to obey you via physical violence, even torture, is just not the same kind of thing at all as saying mean things to someone. It just isn't.

One of the many differences between sticks and stones and words is that words don't cause any physical harm, any physical damage. In fact they don't have to cause any damage at all if you just ignore them. You can't ignore someone hitting you in the head with a rock or beating you in the face with a stick.

It is true that teasing someone can lead to their suicide, but not hiring someone for a job or rejecting someone or breaking up with someone can also lead to suicides. Even getting a poor grade on an exam can lead to suicide.

Those two girls are not responsible for that other girls death. Yes they contributed to it in the same way that a pretty girl rejecting an ugly guy can lead to his suicide, but they are not directly responsible for her death and cannot be held responsible for it. No one forced that girl to jump. It was a decision she made for herself and I suspect that the teasing was only one factor in that decision.

So now saying mean things to someone is attempted murder? Nice.

Well from what I understand the way to deal with bullies is to actually fight them. Were these two girls so much better fighters? This girl should have just kicked their asses and then no more bullying. Of course usually bullies pick on weaker victims they are confident they can best in a fight, but I haven't seen any evidence of that here. Even in those cases you can always just pull a knife and stab them a few times or just hit them in the face with a sharp rock. Problem solved. No one will ever fuck with you again after that. I was mercilessly bullied as a child, in the sense that I was beaten if I did not obey orders. I should have used a weapon to even the odds and told them to fuck off.

So it should be perfect for you then. Now go do likewise. I suggest a knife to the side of your throat, but feel free to choose any method you prefer.