One of the most interesting points made around this article was written in the comments:
> So many people watch and laugh at this vids, and they are the same people who hear Retah's story and think bullying is terrible. We don't realize how hypocrtical we can all be sometimes.
That's the worst possible lesson to take from this. I watched this video and I laughed at it. But that doesn't mean I ever thought the kid was a loser, or that I thought he deserved ridicule. Everyone does embarrassing things in their life. Everyone. It would be the height of ridiculousness to attempt to hide every embarrassing thing anyone has ever done from the world. Especially today. And it would be even sillier to attempt to prevent people from laughing at embarrassing moments.
What is more important is to encourage compassion and discourage ridicule and bullying. The difference between laughing at embarrassing moments and using such events as a basis for bullying is not at all subtle. There are light-years of difference between someone saying "this is hilarious" and someone saying "kill yourself".
Maybe, but for all of us who laughed at a silly kid then resumed our normal lives after didn't consider the aftermath that ensued in his life.
By doing nothing, we may have indirectly contributed to the bullying Raza experienced at school.
I'm not saying watching videos == cyberbullying, but the truth of the matter is, this kid had to change schools because of that video. What would happen if I or you took two seconds out of our life to write a simple comment on the video saying something like, "yo that's hilarious. keep on keeping."
He may have gotten a little mental peace that all of us who watched from miles away were simply laughing at his antics, and not him as a person. Instead, we laughed from afar and remained silent, leaving Raza by himself to face the onslaught of those who decided to be maliciously vocal.
I watched the video, I laughed at the video, and I think the bullying is awful. Just watching the video and finding it amusing does not turn you into a bully. Posting mean comments about the guy does. How many of us did that?
I don't agree. He did not want anybody to see him embarrassing himself. If you know he does not want you to see his video, but you disregard his wish and do it anyway, how can you not call yourself a bully? You disregard his wish and add yourself to the collective mass of people that caused him so much pain, and you still claim the moral high-ground?
You gave 2 examples of people who made the conscious decision of being in the spotlight. Star Wars kids did not want to be in the spotlight.
There's a spectacular crash on the highway. A barrage of thousands of onlookers makes it hard for the ambulance to reach the site. Because of that, the crashed guy dies. Are these onlookers bad people?
Not a single one is guilty for his death. They're certainly bad as a group. But of course you can't put 1000 people on trial for each being 0.1 percent guilty.
The only thing you can do is hope each single one decides for himself, whether he thinks he's bad... whether he will prioritize his interest as a curious onlooker over a victims wishes and future life path the next time a crash happens.
> So many people watch and laugh at this vids, and they are the same people who hear Retah's story and think bullying is terrible. We don't realize how hypocrtical we can all be sometimes.