Slate Reporter Says Phoebe Prince's Death By Bullying Case More Complex Than It Seems

If you have not been bullied, you have no idea how traumatic it is. I am 45 years old and still think about that experience. It was horrible!!! I was 12 years old and a boy liked me and I got my ass kicked because of it. Some girls were jealous and ganged up on me......I am teaching my five year old son to "NEVER" bully anyone. I also want to teach him to handle himself if he gets bullied. I figure his dad is 6'4" (a big guy) he won't have to worry. Anyway, I will worry because I know how traumatic bullying is. Whether she was depressed or not the bullying was ultimately the reason she committed suicide!!! I didn't want to leave my house when it was done to me and I was a "happy go lucky" cheerleader. It changed me forever!

Suicide is the last resort any human has to end pain within themselves. It is a shame to read the comments made in such a selfish, judgemental way towards Phoebe and the loss of her life. Bullies are children with neglected pasts, and guardians or parents who did not do a good job in parenting, and end up being adults who bully others continously who do not know how to respond to a bully's ignorant ways, and comments. I could care less what anyone else thinks about my written words, however if some emotion comes out of it, it will hopefully bring awareness that every bully has his/her day. Period.

Its one thing where a person commits suicide out of some deep emotional depression. Its an entirely different situation when a person is pushed to their death by callously vicious bullies who disregard the value of another human being. These monsters targeted this girl constantly and without remorse until she finally took her own life. For someone to just ignore these facts and blame the victim of these atrocities can only be described as someone who displays a depraved indifference towards the sanctity of human life. These teenagers knew what they did, they knew right from wrong and they didn't care. If I were the district attorney I would charge them all with murder because each and every one of them is morally culpable in this horrific death.

are you serious so what you're sayin is if a person is dieing it's ok to finish them off cause it's their fault they're sick, cause that's what suicidal people are ... sick ... narrow minded people are the reason y our society is goin down, you are a perfect example of people not wanting to take responsibility for their actions, just blame it on someone else smh unbelievable.

Exactly!! These jackals weeded out a weakened member of the herd and took her down. Plain and simple. Stop blaming the vicitms!!

Thank you cee - you took the words right out of my mouth! IMO knowing that Phoebe did suffer from these emotional issues makes what these bullies did to her EVEN WORSE! I mean come on, we all remember high school - we ALL knew who the odd duck was - tell me these bullies are all innocent and had no clue this kid was troubled! B.S.! I knew it was only a matter of time before our twisted media tried to paint Phoebe as the problem. Disgusting!

"cee 7-21-2010 @ 9:57PM
Again, the VICTIM is responsible, not the people that do the deed.
No wonder our society is going down the tubes."
The victim is NOT responsible for this. the bullies are. Maybe you should tink twice before you say something that is wrong or could be wrong.

I am glad someone can say it so short and to the point. Kids who bully need to be taught a lesson. As a teenager your going through enough emotions no need to have people make you feel like your unwanted on this planet. I think people such as this author of this article who doesn't understand obviously in high school was on the bullying side of things. Most of us knows how it feels and its time someone did something about this type of behavior.

This is ridiculous...where does parenting come into play? Do we not teach our kids to look beyond others opinions, if they believe in their own? Do we not teach them...to ignore the mass ignorance? Why do our children lack the resources they need...to stand up to such silly crap? Do we really expect them to exist in the real world, with this training? Come on people...YOU are supposed to raise your kids!!! YOU are supposed to teach them...right from wrong,,,and give them strength against their periodic weaknesses,,That's what we are for..

people are responable for them selfs but if they are being bullyed everyday and no one helps them and it gets worse what do you think could happened. I think people should raise there kids better because the ignorance starts at home and the kids act the same the parents are to blame for the 6 kids that are on trial. If people start teaching there kids better things i think people will change

I don't buy any of it, those kids are guilty and for their lawyer to say all that you can tell she is desperate to get them off. Bottom line is.......they are guilty and knew exactly what they were doing to that girl and if they had any idea that she did have emotional problems they are even more guilty. As for that boy, she should be charged.......using a young girl like that.....what kind of man is he gonna grow into. About time that we act like "civilizied" people and know right from wrong and what these kids did was wrong. As always it goes back to the way they were raised.......sounds to me like spoiled brats.

I agree. So we should blame the dead victim, not the kids who were mean to her?

I can't believe you!!! You ignorant Jerk! Why would the victim be responsible. Obviously You practice bullying because you are a weak cruel individual. You bully others to make yourself feel better about your weakness. Others go along because they are scared to be bullied and rejected. Weak Weak individuals. And how sick to bully a depressed person. Somebody that is already hurting and down on the inside. You really have to be sick to do that! Depression is an illness. How would you like it if you had a broken leg without a cast for protection and 16 kids kicked it over and over again on a daily basis. You wouldn't committ suicide because depression is a the problem, but you would be in an awful lot of pain and cry out for mercy. What happened to love your neighbor? Cause you don't love yourself. Everyone of those bullies would had probably done the same thing if they had been in her position.

I don't think that anyone is to blame. I was bullied early in life and I know from that experience that there is nothing that anyone can do to help the situation. Kids are going to bully one another. Teachers may intervene, parents may communicate with their children and tell them that it is wrong, they may even punish them. In high school we even had an on duty police officer who would handle when situations got out of hand. None of this ever helped. Bullying has ALWAYS been an issue and will continue until the end of time. Most kids move on with their lives, some don't. The bottom line is that this girl tried to kill herself once because a boy broke up with her and it seems that anything that caused any kind of emotional distress sent her into a downward spiral. If she had been successful in her suicide attempt the first time would we charge the boy for breaking up with her? I think not. Get over your wild ideas, you're not kids and you have no idea what its like to grow up today. Oh, and RACHEL take an english class before you come on here and fill our heads with nonsense. Sorry, but I really cannot stand when people leave comments that are so full of garbage english that you can't even understand what they are talking about.

If those students were bullying the girl, they need to be held accountable. Our society is too soft on children. That's why they do so many horrible things these days.

rubbish

Robert and Cee are you guys thinking correctly number one this young lady was already depressed and two bullying shouldn't even be allowed in school but it still happens they are the reason she committed suicide its like them murdering her without them doing it physically. She died because of them she is the victim here. If you are the type of people to not understand u must not have kids or concern for any other young adult in this word. The parents of those teens and You both need to be taught somethings about how to raise and understand teens.

And what do you want to bet that the bullies will get away with it. They should be sent to prison for the rest of their lives. Maybe that's too long of a sentence, I don't think so. They need to suffer as much as they made this poor girl suffer. Yeah, I a bit tired of the bullies getting away with it.

I wonder if the bullies or their parents feel any guilt or remorse for their part in driving this child to her death. Not sure they do.