So much for the saying, ‘Sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never hurt me.’

They say people outgrow their teasing tendencies. If you were picked on in elementary school, your parents told you it’s just a phase – bullies grow up. Those words were comforting. But with advances in technology, online bullying seems to have stunted that moral development.

Not only has bullying continued, it’s gotten worse.

The Internet opened the floodgates to anonymous, non-punishable bullying. The mother of gossip Web sites – JuicyCampus.com – prizes itself on anonymous posts by, for and about college students, with its tagline: ‘C’mon, give us the juice.’

The content of Juicy Campus is neither constructive nor important in mankind’s progression. Anonymity – when it’s not for the safety of witnesses or construction – prevents people from being held accountable for their actions.

‘When (bullying) is anonymous, things go off the rails,’ said Leonard Newman, an SU psychology professor.

When people take jabs at you, the mental effects can be devastating, Newman said.

A post on Juicy Campus overtly expresses the site’s pull:

‘People don’t come to juicycampus to giggle over gossip – they come to spread hate and damage people’s reputations before the largest possible audience. It’s just the nature of internet anonymity.’

Megan Meier is an extreme case of the effects of online bullying. Meier committed suicide after her MySpace friend ‘Josh’ told her the world would be a better place without her. ‘Josh’ was really Meier’s friend’s mother, Lori Drew. The good news is Drew is being punished for her actions. But unfortunately, it sometimes takes a suicide to hold people accountable.

Founder Matt Ivester legally defends the site, referring to the guidelines all users agree to before posting, which states users won’t post abusive or obscene material.

But at the same time, he stands by Juicy Campus as a forum for free speech, only removing posts that give out personal contact information, spam and illegal hate speech.

It seems the guidelines aren’t enforced at all. Take a look at some of the posts from the Syracuse University link:

‘we all know our football team sucks. but face it, we still f*** em. which ones have stds?? i heard …. has something. (oh and sorry if this was already discussed before. I just wanna know who to stay away from on this campus).’

‘Phi Pig:

‘whos the fat blonde chick with the lazy eye whos always running around chucks being really f****** annoying i wanna punch this girl in the baby maker’

It turns out Ivester can’t morally defend these posts. He said he’s disappointed about how the site at some campuses has turned into an anonymous bashing session.

‘It’s not how I would like the site,’ he said. ‘(Posts) are mean-spirited personal attacks – I never envisioned (the site for that use).’

When universities want to ban access to the site on their networks, there is a defensive cry for the First Amendment. However, since SU is a private institution, the First Amendment doesn’t apply.

So where do we draw the line between a person’s right to free speech and imposing mental harm unto others? The U.S. Supreme Court said that hate speech regulation should be ‘strictly scrutinized.’ But it comes down to basic decency.

In Talley v. California, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a law banning anonymous pamphlets, because ‘constructive’ anonymous speech, such as the Federalist Papers, had frequently ‘played an important role in the progress of mankind.’

As much as I am for the freedom of speech (after all, I am a journalist), I put the majority of Juicy Campus posts into the category of hate or abusive speech. And, with no consequences, victims are distressed longer, said SU psychology professor Alecia Santuzzi.

The protections of the First Amendment are strong, and the Internet deserves that protection. But because the Internet and technology is ahead of our laws, the future of protecting online bullying is unclear. But until then, let’s at least be mature bullies, as much of an oxymoron as that is.

As part of the ‘Enough is enough’ post on Juicy Campus stated:

‘If you are going to post something that you know will spur disagreement or offend others, grow a pair … and stop hiding behind the mask of anonymity.’

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Published on January 28, 2009 at 12:00 pm