Eden Wormer: when bullying should be a crime.

Eden Wormer, 14, committed suicide on Wednesday, after being relentlessly bullied for two years, at Cascade Middle School, in Vancouver, Washington.

From her photos, in the article I saw, in the Daily Mail, in the UK, Eden seems like a bright girl – at least her eyes tell such a tale. Those who knew her referred to her as “talented”. She was also evidently quite good looking. I am led to wonder if it was these attributes that led to her being bullied: the fact that she was most probably brighter than the others, and better looking than some of them. It is said she struggled to “fit in”, trying by changes of personal styling, hair colour and the like, to do so. So, it is clear that she was “different”. She paid a high price for her difference. She was bullied mercilessly by her fellow students – until she could take it no more. Her final words to her father were, “I love you Daddy, goodnight”...followed by a goodnight kiss. She was found dead in the morning.

Now, what gave me pause about all of this, was a statement from the Vancouver police. “We haven’t found any evidence that the bullying rose to the level of a crime.” Really? How much evidence do you need...the girl is DEAD! The stupidity of the police statement really gives credence to their image as donut eating dopes. Eden Wormer felt that the bullying was of such an unbearable intensity that she preferred not to continue living...her own action, in killing herself, is irrefutable proof that the bullying was of a criminal level. I realize that the world’s police forces typically do not attract the brightest people, but even they should understand that the effects of bullying are subjective – they are determined by what is felt by the victim. In this case, the victim was persecuted to death. Her death is proof that a crime took place, in my view.

The Vancouver police have seemingly indicated that they are not going to do anything about this death. Well, they should. Every one of Eden Wormer’s bullies should be arrested and charged with murder – for that is what they have committed. They murdered Eden Wormer and their weapon was psychological abuse. They abused her to death, abused her so much that she could not take it anymore and fled life, to death, to escape it. They murdered her as assuredly as if they had shot her. So, they should face the same penalty as murderers in her nation. I also believe that they should be charged as adults, since anyone, even a teenager, can understand that bullying is hurtful – after all, that is its intent and purpose, so, of course, they understood that they were hurting Eden Wormer.

I did some background research on this story by entering the terms “bullying and suicide” into Google. I was disturbed at the vast number of bullying related suicides that came up as news items...some of them from kids as young as 10 years old. Yet, it is clear that very little is done to stop bullying. Bullying was rampant at my school, King’s College School, Wimbledon – both of the physical and the psychological kind. I personally experienced one or the other (usually the latter) on most days of my entire school career in the senior school there. The culture was truly awful...one of bullying the brightest or those who stood out in some way. It was mindless, cruel and malevolent – and ever persistent...it just went on and on, on a daily basis, grinding away at one’s core. Somehow, I endured it...but it wasn’t fun being the brunt of so much hostility. So, I can fully understand what Eden Wormer went through. I fought back in various ways and adopted an outward persona that was so intimidating, in its own way, that it made many of my bullies back off...it worked. I created a barrier for myself, that kept away much of the bullying...a psychological barrier of my own – one in which it became less likely that anyone would challenge me. Yet, of course, though the physical bullying was snuffed out by this, mostly, the psychological bullying remained – the sneers, the whispered words, the social exclusion, and so on...that was unstoppable...but at least I found my own way to close down the physical aspect of the bullying. Eden Wormer, it is clear, found no way to deal with what she was going through. She found no means to protect herself. So, in the end, she felt she had no choice but to kill herself.

Schools, in general, the world over, seem to do little to address bullying. They seem to see it as an accepted part of the child’s world and don’t intervene too much. Yet, bullying is highly destructive. It can make childhood hell for its victims. King’s College School, Wimbledon, was hell for me, for much of my time there...but I endured it, because I had a very strong sense of myself. I understood that those who disliked me, did so out of jealousy for what I had shown I was able to do. Intelligence was not a characteristic that made one popular at my school. Indeed, it seemed to be a liability, particularly if combined with enough creativity to make one “different”. That always courted a venomous response. I remember one other boy, who was physically and psychologically different – though I shan’t name him to spare him embarrassment. He was laughed at, on many occasions...the other boys (it was a boys’ school), would just jeer at him, when he opened his mouth, when he expressed his view, when he simply talked. Partly this was because his speech was odd, in sound – but in general I think it was because he was different. He seemed to ignore it all – but really, it must have been hell for him, to have such almost universal disdain directed at him, on a daily basis. The one thing that seemed to protect him, was that he believed he was smarter than other people. I thought this a little misplaced, at times, though. He once said to me, when I asked him about a physics question: “Oh, you wouldn’t understand.”. That was funny because in S level physics, I received a grade 1 Distinction – and he ended up with a grade 2 Merit...so perhaps he was the one who wouldn’t have understood! Nevertheless, though he was not quite right in his view of superiority, it was good that he had this belief to protect him – for no-one ever intervened on his behalf.

It is time for bullying to be treated as a crime. If a victim commits suicide owing to the bullying, then the bullies should be arrested and charged with murder – for their psychological and perhaps physical abuse, had killed someone. Ethically, and legally, bullying should be regarded as an attack with a psychological weapon, where no physical attack is involved. It should be recognized that psychological abuse, on a persistent long term basis, can destroy a person’s will to live. In short, bullying can kill. It should, therefore, be treated in the same way as all other intentional behaviours that lead to the death of another. It should be treated as murder. Were bullying punished in this way, by those sentences appropriate to murder, whenever it results in a death, bullying would rapidly decline, in all nations that implemented such punishments. If the bullies understood that they could spend a very long time in prison, or in some severe cases, perhaps, receive the death penalty themselves, they would not be so keen to bully others. The world’s bullies must be led to understand that they place themselves at personal risk of very severe punishments, whenever they bully anyone else. There are simply too many deaths related to bullying, for the world’s societies to stand idly by. Punish bullies for their very real crimes. Stop bullying now – and save the next “Eden Wormer” from suicide.

Posted by Valentine Cawley

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The suicide of Korean stars.

Korean stars have a strange habit: they commit suicide with appalling regularity. Yet, their suicides - and there have been many - are not without cause.

Choi Jin Sil, a celebrated Korean actress, committed suicide on October 2nd 2008. Jang Chae Won, a transgender entertainer, committed suicide on October 3rd 2008. The previous month, actor Ahn Jae Hwan gassed himself in his car. Woo Seung-yeon a 24 year old rookie actress hanged herself on April 27th 2009. Jeong Da-bin, a South Korean actress also hanged herself - in February 2007. Female singer, Yuni, killed herself on January 21st 2007. Movie actress Lee Eun-joo killed herself in February 2005.

I could go on listing self-inflicted Korean deaths, but I won't. I think I have listed enough to make the point: Korean stars have a seriously bad habit of killing themselves. Now, the question is why? What do all these cases - or almost all these cases - have in common?

The fans. Or shall we call them "anti-fans"? The common factor linking these deaths is the brutal, even evil, concerted comments by "anti-fans" on the stars' websites and any and all news stories relating to them. It is common in South Korea for netizens to gang up on stars and assault them with thousands and thousands of hugely unpleasant, slanderous, vile, brutal comments that attack every aspect of their lives, appearances, relationships and decisions. Few stars are prepared for this kind of ill-treatment, when they first become famous - which is why, perhaps, so many of the Korean star suicides are very young. They finally succeed at what they have aimed to do with their lives and, instead of finding joy in their success, they find themselves hounded by the most evil people imaginable. They come under constant online attack from their always anonymous detractors and attackers.

Artists, of all kinds, are usually more sensitive than the average person - that is what, after all, makes them artists. This means that these stars are vulnerable to these attacks. They find themselves not loved for their gifts, as they might have expected, but besieged by hate - and, for so many of them, the only way out appears to be at the end of a rope.

There is another consequence of this suicide of stars. Stars have followers and with each death of a star, there tends to be a rash of copycats. Thus it is no surprise that South Korea has the highest suicide rate in the developed world at 26.1 per 100,000, per year, in 2005. Indeed, among men in their twenties, it is the major cause of death.

Thus, it could be said that Korean netizens, through writing their constant barrages of hate, are killing thousands of their fellow citizens: they are, in fact, internet mass murderers.

Recognizing the seriousness of the situation, the Korean government has responded by setting up a Cyber Terror Response Centre with, an enormous 900 employees whose job is to scour the net, its messageboards and web sites, to identify posters who habitually post slanders and instigate cyber bullying. It amazes me just how big the problem must be, if it requires 900 full-time employees to begin to address it.

The Korean situation provides a strong argument against permitting the continuation of internet anonymity. Many an evil person hides behind anonymity on the internet to post vile material. Such postings are not without consequence and do, in fact, destroy lives and even kill people. It has to stop.

Korea is not alone in having this problem, though it is particularly acute there. It is a global problem, to varying degrees - and it all stems from the fact that internet hate posters can hide behind anonymity. This brings out the worst in the worst people.

It seems to me that there should always be a way to identify internet hate posters - and that they should be charged with a crime, each and every time they post internet hate. Unless the world takes a stand against such behaviour, we can expect other cultures to eventually go the way of the Korean one - in which people in the public eye are deluged with so much hate, that they would rather be dead, than continue to live and suffer it.

Let us learn from the Korean example and ensure that all hate posters, everywhere can be brought to justice.

It isn't worth it.

Today, I read a bizarre piece of news...tragic news...that felt more like an American story, than a Singaporean one.

An Indonesian Chinese boy at NTU (Nanyang Technological University) stabbed a lecturer in the back and arm, before slitting his own wrists, and jumping off the five storey building. The lecturer survived, the boy died.

The boy is unnamed in the report I have seen, but the Professor is Chan Kap Luk.

Now, at this time, one cannot know the motivation of the attack and subsequent suicide, but I feel one can observe that, whatever it is, it isn't worth it. Life should not be thrown away over a matter of education. Education is important, in some ways, but never that important. Whatever the issue was, there must, assuredly, have been other ways of dealing with it, than an attempted murder-suicide (the latter part successful).

This sorry tale does show one thing, however: students in Singapore are under tremendous pressure. That pressure sometimes makes them do rash things. The number of suicides here is not inconsequential, though not widely broadcast. Indeed, suicide in higher education is alarmingly common the world over. When I was at Cambridge, the talk was of how high the suicide rate was, there. I am not surprised, having experienced it myself. I wouldn't accuse it of being a warm, human and humane place. Sometimes, that is too much for people and they decide to end it.

We may never know the full details of what went on with this Indonesian Chinese boy - but we do this: stress in schools and universities is a terrible problem. Perhaps we should ask ourselves whether the highly competitive, dog-eat-dog, systems in place are really wise or conducive to the health and well-being of the students. This particular case is no doubt unusual, simply because he tried to kill someone else first...but there are many low profile suicides, here, in Singapore every year. I have even heard of young children killing themselves - primary school kids. The pressures they face are horrendous.

Personally, I think a focus on education and not on competition would be healthy. Let them learn, but stop grading them, incessantly, stop making them compete against each other and the world...just let them grow, instead. They will be far happier and there will be far fewer tales like this one to be told.

I hope Professor Luk is lucky enough to recover fully from his wounds. My condolences to the boy's family. No doubt this will come as a great shock to them.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

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Is Japan a culture of misery?

The first thing you should know about Japan, is that a lot of Japanese people kill themselves. By doing so, they declare, most potently, that something is not right in Japanese society.

Last year, 30,777 Japanese citizens made the ultimate criticism of their society: they killed themselves to get away from it. In a nation of 127 million Japanese, that is a rate of one person in 4,140 killing themselves every single year. Think about that number. Think about how many people you have met in your lifetime. If you were living in Japan someone - or perhaps several people - that you had personally met and known, would kill themselves, every single year. That is most sobering. Only Russia - a country of many troubles - can "boast" of a higher suicide rate.

I have never lived in Japan. I have never experienced what it is that makes so many Japanese people so miserable. However, I have met many Japanese people who have escaped from it, to some degree, for some time. What they say, is very telling.

I once knew a member of the government of a large Japanese city. He was living and working in Singapore. I asked: "When are you going back to Japan?"

"Never, I hope.", he said, with a surprising passion.

"Why?"

"Japan is a terrible society." His lips were tight with unpleasant memories.

"But you work in government!"

"I know."

I didn't get a fuller explanation out of him, unfortunately. He mumbled something about it being a "very unforgiving society" and wouldn't clarify more.

There is something awry in a country, when members of its own government perceive it as a terrible place.

What has brought me to discuss this matter is an event many of you will have heard of: the stabbing of 17 people - seven of whom have since died - by a 25 year old Japanese man, Tomohiro Kato, who was "tired of life" and wanted to take as many people with him as he could. He first crashed a vehicle into pedestrians in Akihabara - an electronics and maid cafe district in Tokyo - then jumped out and began stabbing the three people he had just run over. Then he rampaged through the area stabbing out at random, roaring all the while.

Shocking as this murderous event is, it is not an isolated incident in Japan. It is becoming a bit of a Japanese tradition. Japanese youngsters, sick of life, and sick of Japan, are taking up weapons and going out and killing their fellow citizens (or is that fellow sufferers?)

A clue as to what is happening is that Japan is a very conformist society - perhaps the most conformist in the world. You are either in, and accepted, or you are out - and rejected. If you are one who does not fit in, Japan can be a very cruel place. It seems that some outsiders - or people who have "failed" in Japanese terms, in some way - are taking their frustrations out on random strangers.

This does not look like a trend that is going to go away. Suicide rates are rising. Japan shows no signs of dropping its insistence on absolute conformity - and people are still, consequently, becoming absolutely miserable. The death penalty - which Japan has, and has used in similar cases - is no deterrent for precisely one reason: the perpetrators are sick of life and SUICIDAL, as well as murderous. The fact that they get the death penalty for their crimes is actually giving them exactly what they seek, anyway.

So, in Japan's case, harsh penalties are unlikely to be the answer - however a gentler society is. If Japan were a kinder culture to its people; if it were more inclusive, more forgiving and less prone to rejecting those that don't fit in, there would not be any such rampage incidents. People would be happier, more fulfilled - and suicide rates would begin to fall.

Japan should stop focusing on materialism, as its societal goal, and start focusing on happiness. If the people were happy, they wouldn't kill themselves in huge numbers...nor would they kill each other. Such deaths are a sure sign of a society that has taken the wrong path. It is time Japan changed direction, before it loses, perhaps forever, its erstwhile reputation for being a safe, low-crime society.

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