The Media Project

A major problem that is occurring all over the United States is that kids as well as young adults are being bullied and harassed in their school settings every day because they appear to be different or some cases might be gay. Bullying is causing kids to have issues, such as depression and is even pushing some far enough to the point where they decide to take their own lives. One of the bigger reasons why we see suicide and depression rates escalating around the world is because of bullying. More and more every day, faculty members in school districts become more oblivious to what is really going on with the students that attend their schools. In most schools across the nation bullying is not being recognized as a problem within the schools and is becoming more tolerated than it really should be. Schools are letting bullies get off with a minimal punishment for their actions, which is causing them to continue with this behavior. Bullies have the idea that there will be no severe punishment for their inappropriate behavior. Also, communities are not taking a stand against bullying and are not pushing for anti-bullying policies in school systems until it is too late and another young person is lying dead in a casket. If school systems would establish and enforce anti-bullying policies within their schools, and communities would push for anti-bullying policies in schools, we would see a decrease in the number of people who are bullied and harassed. It would be a stepping-stone on the path to bring an end to the tragic pattern of suicides of young adults and kids due to bullying and harassment.

The issue of bullying is addressed in many different types of texts, such as multi-media outlets and anti-bullying organizations. For my RAP analysis essay, I have chosen and analyzed three different types of text that constitute to bullying prevention ecology, a video from the “It Gets Better Project”, the 2011 documentary film titled “Bully”, and the anti-bullying organization “Stand for the Silent.”    

All of these texts are related through a pattern of effective rhetorical tools that are used to support their arguments and persuade their audience to see their stance on the issue of bullying. These three texts strongly utilize the classical appeal of pathos and logos, and also include effective rhetorical techniques such as, anecdote, assertion, reasoning, and example. Each of these texts are very effective with presenting their arguments and addressing the bullying problem in schools, however the anti-bullying organization “Stand for the Silent” does the best job by advocating change across the world, educating students and communities on the seriousness of bullying, and starting a national movement to bring awareness on the issue and stop bullying in schools. 

The first source that I chose to analyze was a video from the “It Gets Better Project” titled, “It Gets Better: Dan and Terry.” In the video, Dan Savage and his husband Terry Miller talk about their experiences with bullying as they were growing up, fear of being accepted by their families, and their personal lives. When I watched the “It Gets Better: Dan and Terry” video for first time, my first impression was that the examples they were giving were somewhat fairy tallish, but overall I thought the video left a good impression and was inspiring. I chose the text because it is a positive influence on kids and young adults who are GLBTQ or perceived as being different. The video includes two gay men who have dealt with being bullied and harassed at some point in their lives and victims of bullying can relate to them. In the video, Dan and Terry address the issue of bullying by reaching out to kids and young adults who are having a hard time dealing with bullying on a daily basis especially those in high school. Dan and Terry share their personal stories with the audience in order to make a personal connection and insinuate that even if life may seem extremely difficult, if you keep your head up and push through, then eventually life will get better.

The second source I chose to analyze is a documentary film directed by Lee Hirsch titled “Bully.” When I watched “Bully” there were many times where I started to tear up and felt a sense of sadness and frustration. This documentary touched me emotionally and also had the same effect on many others that I know watched it. When I saw the troubles that Alex, Kelby, and Ja’Meya faced on a daily basis because of bullying, it disgusted me, mainly because very little was being done to help them or to put an end to bullying in their schools.  But I did not choose this text for my RAP analysis essay only because it had a personal effect on me. I chose this documentary because it provides strong visual evidence of the harm that bullying does to not only its victims, but also the families of the victim’s and the ignorance of school administrators as to how serious this issue is in their schools. “Bully” reaches out to the world and sends the message that bullying is a major problem and actions need to be taken against it in both schools and communities.

The third source that I chose to analyze is an anti-bullying organization called “Stand for the Silent.” Students who attended Oklahoma State University and were involved in the Oklahoma City Upward Bound chapter established this organization in 2010. These students were inspired to create this anti-bullying organization because of the heart-breaking story of Kirk and Laura Smalley and their son, Ty Smalley who committed suicide at the age of eleven because of bullying. I was introduced to the “Stand for the Silent” organization through Lee Hirsch’s documentary film “Bully.”  My first impression of the organization was that they are doing a great job at bringing change to schools and are getting students, parents, and communities to recognize the issue of bullying and getting them to stand up against bullying. I chose this organization as one of my texts because it is making progress towards stopping bullying in schools and bringing awareness to the issue nation-wide. The overall message that “Stand for the Silent” spreads is “I AM SOMEBODY” and teaches student to treat each other with love and respect.

By breaking down analyzing these three different texts, we can determine the main points that each of these sources are trying to make and get a better understanding of the overall message. In the “It Gets Better: Dan and Terry” video, Dan Savage and his husband Terry Miller utilize the rhetorical technique of assertion by reaching out to bullied teens and claiming that if they can get through high school, then life will get better. We see this assertion in the video when Terry states, “Living well is the best revenge, and if you can live through high school, which you can, you can totally live through high school. You’re going to have a great life and it’s going to be the envy of all those people who picked on you while you were in high school and middle school. Just stick it out, it’s painful now but it is going to get so much better.” (Savage)  Dan and Terry make this assertion because they convince kids in high school who suffer from bullying and harassment, that even though life may seem terrible at the moment, if they can find the strength to get through high school then life will get so much better.

 “Living well is the best revenge, and if you can live through high school, which you can, you can totally live through high school. You’re going to have a great life and it’s going to be the envy of all those people who picked on you while you were in high school and middle school. Just stick it out, it’s painful now but it is going to get so much better.” - Terry Miller

 In Lee Hirsch’s documentary film titled “Bully,” Hirsch makes an assertion that bullying is becoming a major issue in schools and school administrators are doing very little to solve the problem or help bully victims. Bullying is causing harm to not only its victims but also the victim’s families. Hirsch supports this assertion with visual evidence. In a scene where Alex’s parents meet with the assistant principal of his school, Alex’s parents discuss with the assistant principal their concerns with all the harassment Alex has been receiving on his bus. The assistant principal lingers around the issue and starts to show Alex’s parents and younger siblings pictures of her grandchildren and then goes on to tell them that she has ridden Alex’s bus before and states that it is “good as gold.” (Bully) Because Hirsch provides his viewers with visual evidence, we we’re able to see that Alex’s bus was not “good as gold” (Bully) and that the assistant principal did nothing to stop the bullying issue on Alex’s bus. The assertion that the anti-bullying organization “Stand for the Silent” makes, is that bullying in a serious issue in schools that causes serious harm and that everyone deserve to be treated with respect and love. This assertion is supported by the story of Ty Smalley, who at eleven years of age took his own life due to years of bullying and harassment. His parents, Kirk and Laura Smalley who were devastated by the loss of their son, tell Ty’s story. This story shows us that not only did bullying cause harm to their son, but it has also harmed Kirk and Laura Smalley too because they now have to go through life with the pain of losing their son. Each of the texts makes assertions and provides evidence to support their claims. However, “Stand for the Silent” does the best job supporting their assertion by spreading their message and starting a movement to bring awareness to seriousness of the issue.

When analyzing the assertions of the texts, we can determine that they are structured through the rhetorical techniques of logos and reasoning. The “It Gets Better: Dan and Terry” video is structured by general themes that include an introduction of themselves and their experiences, their families, how they met, starting their own family, and sharing a happy memory. Dan and Terry’s discussion is based off of these themes and they are used as the reasons that support their assertion and explain how life did get better for them. When Terry talks about his favorite moment being snowboarding down mountains with Dan and their son D.J., Terry states, “Those moments make it so worth sticking out the bullying, and the pain, and the despair of high school. And if you can just do that, you have moments like that and so many more ahead of you.” (Savage) Dan follows Terry’s statement by saying, “And they come when you least expect them, and they come at you all the time” (Savage) Dan and Terry share these happy moments in order to inspire bullied GLBTQ teens to stick it out with the hope that they will have their own happy moments after they get out of high school. In “Bully,” Lee Hirsch supports his assertion through logos and reasoning by showing us the struggles that bullied kids and their families go through on a daily basis and how their schools tolerate this inappropriate behavior. In the documentary, Hirsch uses the personal stories of the Long and Smalley families. Both of these families suffer on a daily basis due to the tragic loss of a son, Tyler Long and Ty Smalley both committed suicide because they were harassed and bullied at their schools. These two tragic deaths add to trend of suicides across the nation of bullied kids and young adults. Hirsch uses these stories as reasoning because it supports his assertion that bullying is becoming a major issue in schools and nothing is being done to solve this issue or help bully victims. Because of bullying, Tyler Long and Ty Smalley took their life, which leads their families to believe that if the issue would have been addressed in their schools, then the outcome of the situation may have been different and their sons would still be alive today.  The anti-bullying organization “Stand for The Silent” also uses the story of Ty Smalley’s suicide and the death of many other kids and young adults because of bullying at their logos and reasoning. Ty Smalley’s parents, Kirk and Laura Smalley, have suffered greatly because of bullying and have dedicated their lives to trying to stop bullying in schools. On the “Stand for the Silent” website, it states, “Stand for the Silent exists as a platform to allow Kirk and Laura to share their story and offer education and tools that will prevent their tragedy from happening to another child and family.” (Stand for the Silent) It also states, “Kirk and Laura’s mission is to continue to change kids’ lives and bring awareness to bullying and the real devastation it causes.” (Stand for the Silent) The “Stand for the Silent” organization gets students and communities around the world to stand up against bullying and its overall message is “I AM SOMEBODY.”  

(Kirk and Laura Smalley)

The “It Gets Better: Dan and Terry” video, the “Bully” documentary, and the “Stand for the Silent” organization all strongly utilize the classical appeal of pathos and present emotional anecdotes. In the “It Gets Better: Dan and Terry” video, Terry presents an anecdote through an emotional story of his experiences with bullying. In the video Terry states, “I was picked on mercilessly in school; people were really cruel to me. I was bullied a lot, beat up, thrown against walls, and lockers, and windows. Stuffed in to bathroom stalls, people shit on my car, scratched my car, and broke my windows.” (Savage) By hearing Terry’s story, bullied kids can make a connection with him and see that he too had a very rough time in high school because he was gay and perceived as different. “Bully” is strongly based on pathos, which Hirsch establishes through anecdotes, which are the heart wrenching stories of Alex Libby, Kelby Johnson, Ja’Meya Jackson, and the Long and Smalley families. 

Alex Libby is a 14-year-old boy from Sioux City, Iowa, who was tormented, harassed, and bullied on a daily basis. Longing for friendship, Alex took the torment he received as a joke and even tells his mother that his bullies are “just messing around.” (Bully) While having a conversation with his mother, Alex is asked if being punched, kicked, and stabbed makes him feel in which he responds, “Well I don’t know, I’m starting to think that I don’t feel anything anymore.” (Bully) This statement shows the effect that bullying is having on Alex; he’s becoming numb to the torment and pain. 

Kelby Johnson is a 16-year-old teen from Tuttle, Oklahoma. After coming out as a lesbian, Kelby and her family were shunned by family, friends, and their entire community. Kelby faced a lot of harassment in her school, not only from students, but from her teachers also. Kelby talks about how one day her teacher indirectly called her out for being gay and describes how horrible and uncomfortable she felt sitting in that classroom. Thoughts of suicide resulted from the bullying Kelby faced every day, she tells how her girlfriend and small group of friends were the only thing she had and states, “It it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t be here right now.” (Bully) 

Ja’Meya Jackson is a 14-year-old girl from Yazoo County, Mississippi. After being bullied numerous times, Ja’Meya brought a gun onto her school bus as a defense mechanism to scare her bullies away. Because of her actions, she served several months in juvenile detention and faced several criminal charges. A sheriff described her actions as being unjustified, but Ja’Meya would not have made that bad decision and it could have been prevented if her school would not have neglected the bullying issue. “Stand for the Silent” presents anecdotes through the sad stories of kids and young adults across the world who have committed suicide due to bullying. On their website, “Stand for the Silent” has a tab titled “Who We Honor” that lists six bully victims that took their lives and provides brief stories about them. These tragic deaths and many others are the inspiration for the organization and examples of the damage that bullying causes.

The “It Gets Better: Dan and Terry” video, the “Bully” documentary, and “Stand for the Silent” all present their arguments and tell their stories with an emotional tone and informal language. Dan and Terry speak with emotional tone to connect with the viewers and speak with informal language because they want everyone to be able to understand their argument and also because the video is suppose to seem like they are having a casual conversation with the viewers. “Bully” is made up of a collection of emotional stories that are our told with an emotional tone and touch the hearts of the viewers. The language in the film is also informal because the personal stories are being told mostly by teens and also because Hirsch’s intention for the film was for people of all ages to be able to watch it and understand what the documentary is arguing. “Stand for the Silent” tells their stories with emotional tone because the stories are being told by teens and families effected by bullying. The organization uses informal language because they are calling for students to stand up for bullied kids in their schools and for communities as a whole take a stance against bullying.

A common quality that all three of these texts share is that they all effectively advocate change. The “It Gets Better: Dan and Terry” video advocates change by trying to stop the trend of suicides due to bullying. They do this by trying to convince bullied GLBTQ teens that suicide not the solution and that it that it lets the bullies wins. They ask that bullied GLBTQ teens keep their heads up and push through high school because after high school, life will get better. “Bully” effectively advocates change by using visual evidence to show viewers how bullying greatly effects not only its victims, but the families of the victims also. It also shows how bullying has become a serious issue in schools and how school administrators fail to address the problem appropriately. “Stand for the Silent” advocates change by sharing personal stories and educating students in schools across the nation and world-wide on the seriousness of bullying and the damage it causes. They get students and communities to take a stand against bullying and spread the message that everybody is somebody and deserve to be treated with love and respect no matter who they are.

"My son will be 11 years old forever." - Kirk Smalley

In conclusion, the “It Gets Better: Dan and Terry” video, the “Bully” documentary, and the “Stand for the Silent” effectively advocate change towards stopping bullying in schools. Each of these texts are very effective with presenting their arguments and addressing the bullying problem in schools, however the anti-bullying organization “Stand for the Silent” does the best job by advocating change across the world, educating students and communities on the seriousness of bullying, and starting a national movement to bring awareness on the issue and stop bullying in schools.

Works Cited

Dan Savage. Terry Miller. "It Gets Better: Dan and Terry." YouTube. YouTube. 21 Sep. 2010.  web. 5 Oct. 2012

Bully. Dir. Lee Hirsch. The Weinstein Company, 2011. Film.

N.P. Stand for the Silent. Stand for the Silent Organization. N.D. Web. 26 Oct. 2012.