Amanda Todd, 15, posted a video on YouTube in September featuring distressing comments about the fact that she was alone, bullied, and depressed. When no one responded, she turned to suicide.
It all started when she was in the 7th grade and flashed the camera while one of her friends was taping; somehow, a photo of her topless got leaked on the web, and the bullying began. Todd talks about it in the video, and about crying every night out of desperation. Unfortunately, no one reached out to her afterward. She killed herself last week, and now her YouTube page and Facebook memorial pages which have been set up in her honor are receiving a host of ugly messages from those who are still intent on bullying the teen.
The comments, which range from the cruel–a picture of a hanged girl which reads “Todding”–to the unsympathetic victim-blaming that seems rampant these days on the web, are garnering attention from those who set up the pages in Amanda’s honor.
“You want to bully. Go for it — but the RCMP has set up an account for information on people who continue to bully her and it will be my pleasure to report you,” wrote one Facebook user.
Fortunately, Todd’s page has received thousands of supporters and is opening up an awareness about bullying in several communities. But, officials say, those who are willing to bully a girl who has already taken her life won’t just stop there, and if they are caught, there will be consequences.
“It’s really a matter of those who are involved in it to realize the impact of what they are doing and that they are bordering on criminal acts,” said RCMP Sergeant Peter Thiessen. “If we get that type of evidence then we would be quick to lay a charge.”