Cyberbullying & The Keyboard Warrior Generation
How Bullying Became Monetized
Bullying that once took place on the school yard is now taking place online and is largely invisible to adults. It’s not the 80’s wedgie in the bathroom.
This is online, 24/7 bullying in front of an often live and participatory audience. It doesn’t stop when mom comes to pick them up, and it can even go viral and be monetized.
One look at Twitch will show you the sad state of human relations among today’s youth. It’s more than gaming, Twitch streamers login and broadcast their lives to millions of viewers.
They see these streamers as their friends, sometimes their only friends and a donation can provide a brief moment of human recognition. Sometimes they get no acknowledgement at all, and the line between love and hate can be thin as Twitch streamer Sweet Anita is well aware.
Anita suffers motor and vocal tics (Coprolalia) due to Tourette’s Syndrome, and Twitch has become her livelihood. It’s also become the low hanging fruit for malignant behavior.
Some of her viewers find it good sport to use trigger words that cause violent tics, sometimes resulting in serious injury. She’s also been forced to endure death threats and stalking which recently manifested into a real world assault.
The UK Police response “maybe you should stop streaming” betrays the ignorance of modern industry. It’s a real job, it produces taxable revenue, and it’s growing. Besides, she probably wont last long at Starbucks calling out “Mocha Latte for go f#@& yourself.”
Despite documented death threats and being apprehended with a weapon, her stalker recently moved into her neighborhood with impunity. Perhaps future streamers will have ‘ Anita’s Law’ to look forward to as she recently tweeted.
If you would like to help Anita out, you can do so by filing a complaint with the UK Police here. The harassment has since escalated and the restraining order remains unenforced.
When this online behavior goes unchecked, it can have real life consequences. A lesson many people, both young and old are learning the hard way. A 12 year old was recently arrested for sending racist messages.
An 18 year old was sent to jail for an “LOL” regarding a car crash, and a young rapper was arrested for posting lyrics that mentioned the Boston bombing. One man was even arrested for using a public “wanted” poster as his Facebook profile picture.
This malevolant behavior doesn’t begin overnight, and is likely the result of a lifetime of overlooked online abuse run amok. Parents who prudently check report cards, buy nanny cams, and send endless texts have this inexplicable reverence for their child’s online sovereignty.
Hana Kimura is a different type of victim. Hired for The Fuji Television Network’s reality show Terrace House (distributed by Netflix) the 22 year old professional wrestler just wasn’t extra enough. Under pressure to overreact and become the “heel”, she did just that and became one of the first victims of the monetization of online hate.
Hana wasn’t willing to exchange hate for fame. Her entire Tokyo Cyber Squad (TCB) “Everybody’s different, Everybody’s special” tagline wrestling team was centered around inclusion.
Perhaps due to being a Hāfu herself, the strangely empathetic young woman didn’t just open doors; she created demand by bringing less marketable people together, and emphasizing their characteristics instead of hiding them.
Hana and her Island of Misfit Toys inspired team compelled fans to see performances that weren’t nearly as popular individually. An audacious achievement in a land where conformity is king.
Unfortunately that only contributed to the hate that eventually extended to her family members, as the Japanese veneer of civility isn’t reflected online.
On May 23rd, 2020 Hana Kimura responded to one of the thousands of “you should kill yourself” demands with “I think you’re right” — and she did just that.
A 40 year old woman in Eastern Japan confessed that she had driven Hana to suicide, triggered when Hana slapped the hat off of the head of a housemate. The misguided woman had no idea Hana had been coerced to slap him in the face — which she refused.
Unable to forget Hana’s behavior, she created her first social media account and dedicated it to slandering Hana publicly. “I have done a very terrible thing” she stated, spurred by a “twisted sense of justice”.
Since then, eight more of Hana’s abusers have come forward. All aged between 10 and 19 and unaware that reality TV is entertainment. A lesson that would serve the fans of TLC’s 90 Day Fiancé well.
When Satoshi Tajiri the creator of Pokemon was asked why the franchise was such a great success with children, he responded “because it’s the first time that they get to control someone else.” Indeed, it seems we have made a monster.
2019 Cyberbullying Statistics
Nationally representative sample of 4,972 12 to 17 year old middle and high school students in the U.S.
- 36.5% Have been bullied
- 24.9% Received mean or hurtful comments
- 17.4% Have been bullied within last 30 days
- 12.2% Threatened to hurt me through SMS
- 11.7% Threatened to hurt me online
- 10.8% Posted hurtful pictures of me
- 10.1% Pretended to be me
- 9.5% Posted mean comments about my race or color
- 7.1% Posted a mean video of me
- 6.7% Posted mean comments about my religion
- 6.4% Created a mean web page about me
- 30.1% One or more of the above
Statistics provided by TheCyberbullying Research Center on April 19, 2020.
Originally published at http://remotekeyloggers.net on October 2, 2020.
