Report of cyberbullying

  There are some famous saying in China which claim the pernicious impact of rumors, “Three people spreading reports of a tiger make you believe there is one around” and “Gossip is a fearful thing”. It functions in cyberbullying as well that sometimes verbal injury such as rumors and disparaging comments could destroy a person completely than physical damage.

  The author defines the “cyberbullying as any hostile act directed towards another person that occurs using digital technology” (page 81) which also related to perpetrators, victim, bystanders and rein-forcers as bullying based on an imbalance of power. So why there is an existence of cyberbullying?

  If you asked a Chinses people on the internet that do you know “Sister Feng”, you would receive an affirmative reply about her “exemplary deeds”. She became an Internet celebrity and meme in China because of her ridiculous comments on seeking a marriageable boyfriend who was required to meet her excessive qualifications in late 2009. Many Chinese people regarded her as an online funny clown and teased her or made a malicious comment on her because her wishful thinking according to her poor conditions. Finally, she got an American Visa and went New York City for living in 2011 because she could not live any longer in China because of online disparaging comments on her and realistic of people’s discriminatory attitudes to her.

  In this case, the perpetrators are people on the Internet who teased her dream about seeking a marriageable boyfriend in their normal view. I cannot say these people are malicious because they didn’t hurt her directly, but they did damage her by their immoral comments on her. Everybody has the authority to have a dream though it seems a little ridiculous sometimes, we cannot comment on any others’ dream by our own experience because everyone is different. And the most important point is that these people may don’t have a dream because of the heavy pressure of real life or they live better than her, so they can’t accept that someone who live worse than them with a bigger dream which challenging the realistic. In some words, they have strong power than her and they want keep it forever.

  “Poor people must be hateful”, it’s really the truth. As a victim in this case, Luo Yufeng did wrong performance to reply perpetrators’ disparaging comments. For example, she “called herself the brightest human being in the past three centuries, and added that she would remain the smartest person for the next 300 years.” (From Wikipedia) She even appeared on a Chinese entertainment show named China’s Got Talent to proclaim her ridiculous point. As a result, she was pelted with eggs by more and more people because she has repeatedly challenged the public’s view of world and values.

  At first, public people are bystanders and invisible audience who just regarded her as an online clown who had an impractical dream from news about her. As it progresses, more and more invisible audience became visible on the Internet, they stood up and accused her ridiculous behavior unmercifully. These people became rein-forcers who led a critical trend of discriminatory attitudes to her at last.

  Absolutely, it was a tragedy because of the cyberbullying. I think if Chinese people could be more merciful and avoid malicious comments on her or she could control her ridiculous behavior, Luo would have a better life in China.