![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/Amanda-Todd1.jpeg\" "\\"Amanda")
<\/a>Three years ago, when Amanda was in seventh grade (which would make her around 12), she was on an Internet video chat when a stranger \u2013 who later turned out to be a good 15 or so years her senior \u2013 persuaded her to expose herself. He took a screen shot and later used the photo to blackmail Amanda. Ultimately, Amanda\u2019s tormentor emailed the picture to everyone she knew \u2013 friends, family and classmates.<\/p>\nOne would like to think that her peers would have been supportive, but such was not the case. The mistreatment Amanda received caused her to experience depression and anxiety. Her family moved and Amanda changed schools.<\/p>\n
The story\u2019s not over \u2013 not by a long shot! The image resurfaced as the profile picture of a Facebook page with the result that Amanda once again became the subject of teasing and bullying. Amanda changed schools again and things settled down briefly. Following an unrelated incident, in which she was beaten up by a group of girls, Amanda drank bleach. One might think that at this point her classmates would say, \u201cGuys, we\u2019ve gone too far. We\u2019d better knock it off.\u201d Again, such was shockingly not the case. Instead, classmates posted jokes online and expressed hope that she had died. They shared joke pictures of Amanda drinking bleach.<\/p>\n
Amanda became an absolute wreck. She couldn\u2019t leave the house. She abused drugs and alcohol. She was on anti-depressants. She overdosed. She cut herself regularly. In September 2012, she posted a video online telling her story. If that isn\u2019t a cry for help, I don\u2019t know what is. In October 2012, she was dead.<\/p>\n
This is all horribly tragic but it\u2019s not enough to convince me that it\u2019s the end times. But the story still isn\u2019t over. Pictures of Amanda have become an Internet meme, with captions variously mocking her for flashing online, drinking bleach or committing suicide. Sample captions include such heartless slogans as \u201cFlash or get out \u2013 why not both?\u201d and \u201cBleach cocktail \u2013 YOLO (you only live once).\u201d The fact that her classmates \u2013 who exposed Amanda to the harshest cruelties on a daily basis \u2013 could do this after her death is mindboggling enough. That random strangers could join in to mock and deride a dead 15-year-old who never did them any harm? It\u2019s the end of the world as we know it.<\/p>\n
Why such hyperbole, you may ask? I\u2019m not so sure it is. The Talmud in Sanhedrin (97a) tells us that Moshiach will come in a generation in which people have faces like those of dogs. This is a difficult metaphor. One explanation, given by Rashi, is that the people will be unbelievably brazen and shameless. I think we can agree that anyone who would mock the tragic death of a young girl doesn\u2019t care what anyone else thinks.<\/p>\n
Another explanation of \u201ca face like a dog\u2019s\u201d is that it is meant literally. I still think it fits. Teasing a classmate for a lapse in judgment several years old may be inhumane but taking delight in a child\u2019s suicide is inhuman. Anyone who would make her image with hateful captions a source of humor has effectively torn up their membership card to the human race. If you look at such a person, I don\u2019t care what they look like, you\u2019re looking into the face of a dog.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ve been talking about bullying nonstop since the suicide of Tyler Clementi in September 2010. Apparently, we\u2019re not getting through. I wouldn\u2019t believe that masses of people were capable of such organized cruelty even before Clementi was bullied to death. That this could be going on two years later means that a significant number of people just aren\u2019t getting it. What can we do? I have no brilliant insights to offer.<\/p>\n
What the man on video chat did to Amanda was literally criminal. He has since been identified and exposed by a hacker group<\/span>; we can only hope that he will pay for his role in this tragedy. Hopefully, some of Amanda\u2019s classmates may finally feel remorse and change their ways, even if it\u2019s too late to help Amanda.<\/p>\n But what about the anonymous opportunists who desecrate Amanda\u2019s memory by defacing her image with what they perceive to be witticisms? They became involved in this whole sordid affair after Amanda was already dead, fully aware of how hurtful their words would be to Amanda\u2019s family and, truly, any decent person. Those individuals, I fear, are beyond humanity\u2019s reach. I mourn not only for Amanda but for the generation that is capable of spawning such beasts. What do you think, readers? Have we taken anti-bullying education as far as it can go? Are some people simply beyond our reach? Are we at an impasse or is there a logical next level we can take things? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Rabbi Jack Abramowitz<\/strong>\u00a0is Torah Content Editor at the Orthodox Union. He is the author of five books, including\u00a0<\/em>The Tzniyus Book. His latest work,\u00a0<\/em>The Taryag Companion<\/a>, is available from\u00a0OU Press<\/a>\u00a0as well as on\u00a0Amazon<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" What happened to Amanda Todd is gut-wrenching. What happens after Amanda Todd’s suicide is inhuman. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":384,"featured_media":29594,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cloudinary_featured_overwrite":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[94,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-op-ed","category-relationships"],"yoast_head":"\n
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