Article is found here: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/technologynews/view/261285/1/.html
Channel News Asia recently ran an article on how Australia’s Victoria state is taking up the futile challenge of curbing the Internet’s influence on its teenagers. Actually they say they will block Youtube on all school computers to clamp down on cyber-bullying, but it is essentially the same thing.
To give readers a bit of background history, a group of schoolboys sexually abused and humiliated a girl, then posted a video on Youtube. Public outcry ensued, and the education board felt it had to do something. Thus, they banned Youtube.
The first thing I thought when I read the article was whether the Education Minister Jacinta Allen, or whoever approved the ban, had actually thought before passing it. I wonder if he or she actually asked how banning Youtube in schools would prevent cyber-bullying. For example, would it have prevented the humiliation incident? Would the schoolboys, after filming, have gone to school just to upload the video? If they could not have uploaded it in school, would they have broken down and turned themselves in to the discipline master?
The reason for banning Youtube, according to Ms Allan, is that ‘All students have the right to learn in a safe and supportive learning environment -- this includes making students' experience of the virtual world of learning as safe and productive as possible.’ Also, ‘The (state) government has never tolerated bullying… approach extends to the online world.’
From this we can conclude that the government thinks banning Youtube will make students’ experience of the virtual world ‘safe and productive’, and send a zero tolerance signal to bullies.
The ‘productiveness’ part I understand; students are already barred from watching videos in class so that they can concentrate on work. However, I fail to see how it makes the virtual world safer. Perhaps it is just my lack of experience in this area, but if they assume that preventing students from viewing potentially ‘harmful’ videos, like the humiliation one, will make the virtual world safer, then I think they are wasting their time. They should put themselves in students’ shoes; wouldn’t they be smart enough not to view such videos under the noses of their teachers?
I also do not see how banning Youtube will send a zero tolerance message to bullies of any kind. I personally know bullying to have been around before Youtube was conceived. If the government has such a tough stance against bullying, they would have detected this humiliation case before it even got onto Youtube. That they only noticed it when it was posted on a public website shows how serious they are about eradicating bullying.
Perhaps it is time to rethink how we educate the young about bullying. Seeing how it is still prevalent, I think the current methods are not working. I am not going to lie and say I know how to stop bullying. All I know is there are ways to improve, and banning Youtube in schools is not one of them.
498 words
Sunday, March 4, 2007
Saturday, March 3, 2007
Infighting in Infighting
I refer to the article on Yahoo! News written by Brian Murphy: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070303/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq
This is yet another article detailing the violence in Iraq; the Hell’s Kitchen where bullets outnumber flies and roadside bombs spring up faster than weeds, and while there is oil underground the only liquid seen topside is blood.
This killing would have been like any other if not for the reason the victims were chosen. The six Sunni victims had attended a reconciliation conference with Shiites; soon after, they received death threats. If it had been a Shiite group which carried out the killing, it would have been just another case of sectarian violence; still a condemnable act, but an expected one. This time the killers were Sunnis.
Having no other news of Iraq other than reports of bloodshed, it is easy to forget that most Iraqis just want peace. The impression I got from the news was that that all Sunnis hated Shiites and vice versa. After reading this article I realised that it is the only the Sunni extremists, not the whole community, who are trying to topple the Shiite-led government.
While relieved that it is only a few who are causing chaos, I am burdened with new knowledge of the divide that exists within the Sunni community, and it is into this chasm that the possibility of peace is being pushed. How can there be peace between Sunnis and Shiites if there isn’t even peace within their own communities? While there are some who actively try to bridge the rift, there are some who will kill to keep the wound open. They want peace, but it seems they cannot agree on how to achieve it.
The worst part, though, is the fact that while I sit at my desk and pontificate, I know that I am really doing nothing to alleviate the situation.
There is a quote from the movie Hotel Rwanda. A camera-man, after shooting scenes of the Tutsi massacre, says: “I think if people see this footage, they'll say Oh, my God, that's horrible. And then they'll go on eating their dinners.”
While I might think that I am cut deeply by the cold-blooded killing and insensitive actions, I will soon shove it to the back of my mind. It will be just another snippet of information to be stored away so that I may fill my head with more important things, like the latest head-shaving antics of Britney Spears or today’s Garfield strip.
When this post is published another improvised explosive device (IED) will have gone off in Diyala. And when I think about it, I will be deeply traumatized for ten seconds before opening a chat window and forgetting about all.
438 words
This is yet another article detailing the violence in Iraq; the Hell’s Kitchen where bullets outnumber flies and roadside bombs spring up faster than weeds, and while there is oil underground the only liquid seen topside is blood.
This killing would have been like any other if not for the reason the victims were chosen. The six Sunni victims had attended a reconciliation conference with Shiites; soon after, they received death threats. If it had been a Shiite group which carried out the killing, it would have been just another case of sectarian violence; still a condemnable act, but an expected one. This time the killers were Sunnis.
Having no other news of Iraq other than reports of bloodshed, it is easy to forget that most Iraqis just want peace. The impression I got from the news was that that all Sunnis hated Shiites and vice versa. After reading this article I realised that it is the only the Sunni extremists, not the whole community, who are trying to topple the Shiite-led government.
While relieved that it is only a few who are causing chaos, I am burdened with new knowledge of the divide that exists within the Sunni community, and it is into this chasm that the possibility of peace is being pushed. How can there be peace between Sunnis and Shiites if there isn’t even peace within their own communities? While there are some who actively try to bridge the rift, there are some who will kill to keep the wound open. They want peace, but it seems they cannot agree on how to achieve it.
The worst part, though, is the fact that while I sit at my desk and pontificate, I know that I am really doing nothing to alleviate the situation.
There is a quote from the movie Hotel Rwanda. A camera-man, after shooting scenes of the Tutsi massacre, says: “I think if people see this footage, they'll say Oh, my God, that's horrible. And then they'll go on eating their dinners.”
While I might think that I am cut deeply by the cold-blooded killing and insensitive actions, I will soon shove it to the back of my mind. It will be just another snippet of information to be stored away so that I may fill my head with more important things, like the latest head-shaving antics of Britney Spears or today’s Garfield strip.
When this post is published another improvised explosive device (IED) will have gone off in Diyala. And when I think about it, I will be deeply traumatized for ten seconds before opening a chat window and forgetting about all.
438 words
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