Slanderous Blogging

Blogging is a tool that is used in different ways by different people. I have begun to see this in the short five years that I have been exposed to it. In early high school, my peers primarily used it as a sort of online journal. Often times, they would say harmful things that were directed at other students. I believe that this is because of the emotional state in which most of my peers tended to blog. I almost never saw a completely levelheaded blog. The writer was usually extremely happy, deeply sad, or exploding with anger. Those same feelings were often directed at or attributed to some person or thing. Rumors were frequently spread through blogging as well.

Behavior like this takes place in schools all across the country and has for many years. The only thing that has changed is the form that it has taken. Bullying is something that goes as far back as the public school system itself. Although cyber-bullying in particular is relatively new, bullying has been around for a great deal of time. The question that the reading asks is this: does the First Amendment protect blogging? First off, I would like to say that there seems to be a common misconception about what free speech really means. It does not mean that one can say whatever, whenever with absolutely no consequences. There are some exceptions (although they are very rare). Furthermore, the first amendment was not intended to protect all speech at all times in all places. It is important to note the spirit of the law as well as the letter.

I think that this article fails to address the true problem. The problem is bullying, not cyber-bullying. I admit that my experience could be different from the norm, but no one that I know personally has been bullied anonymously online. However, I have seen many people be bullied anonymously without any interaction with the Internet whatsoever. I am not a bully myself, but I can think of many ways to bully someone anonymously without going near a computer. The problem may be that cyber-bullying is almost impossible to prevent. Teachers and students cannot know when someone will be slandered next, and they cannot hope to prevent it unless students know that cyber-bullying will have consequences. They must know that what they say online carries the same weight as what they say in everyday life. I firmly believe that if a bully wants to bully, he or she will find a way. Of course, this is not to say that we should give up the fight. The consequences for cyber-bullying should be more severe if it is more harmful. I do not believe that blatant bullying was meant to be protected from any consequence by the first amendment. If it goes against a policy of the schools, and it hinders the educational process than it should definitely be punishable.