A child's life is important

Nia Davis

 A child’s life is important

            Antigay bullying is an issue that affects middle and high school students across America. In particular LGBT teens have become victims of anti-gay bullying and it has led to them being ostracized by their schools, families and community and some have even taken their own lives.  LGBT teens have are also being bullied through social networks such as Twitter, Facebook or Instagram.  School administrators, parents, community members and students all need to come together to effectively put an end to bullying.    Different texts such as “cyberbully” directed  by Charles Biname, is about a girl who was bullied until attempting suicide through social networks, the documentary “bully” directed by Lee Hirsch, films the lives of five different students and how their school and community overlook bullying, the article “Gay Teens Bullied to the Point of Suicide” by Kenneth Miller brings attention to the increasing rate of teen suicide due to antigay bullying  and a YouTube Dan and Jerry It Gets Better video encourages victims of bullying to keep hope alive in life even when bullies make it hard.   These show the effects of bullying and how the issue is overlooked.  The audience for each text is parents, school administrators and communities who are against homosexuals.  Although they all address different aspects of the issues, they are all very effective through their anecdotes, tone, authority and assertion

            Even though each text does an awesome job addressing the issue, the text that best addresses the Antigay bullying issue is the film “bully” directed by Lee Hirsch.  “Bully” addresses bullying of LGBT students and students whom are considered different from others  by using real life situations of families with a child who is either a victim of bullying or committed suicide because it.  The rhetorical technique used throughout the documentary to support his argument and convince the audience is anecdotes. 

            Each text uses anecdotes to appeal to the audience’s emotions.  One of the anecdotes “bully” uses is a young boy named Alex who was physically bullied on the bus everyday but he still felt that the bullies were his friends.  One day after school his mother asks him about the bullies and he says, “Well if they are not my friends, then what friends do I have?”  This anecdote demonstrates how victims of bullying start to feel numb to the abuse that they go through on a daily basis and become in denial that they are bullied.  “Bully” also uses four more anecdotes to show that victims of LGBT bullying or bullying in general will eventually get to the point where enough is enough.  Similarly, Miller uses real life situations to prove that victims of antigay bullying do not feel accepted by their peers community and family.  “Cyberbully” is an anecdote because it tells the story of a teenage girl who was bullied through social networks.  This film’s use of an anecdote draws the audience to the situation allowing for a look inside of bullying, which is very similar to the documentary “bully”.  The Dan and Jerry Savage It Gets Better video is an anecdote in and of itself because Dan and his partner Jerry tell of how their lives were before and after high school.  They tell the story of how they met and how their lives have changed for the better.  The audience is able to see how life gets better for LGBT teens after high school and that suicide is not the solution. 

            Throughout each text they display a very deep, serious, tone; nevertheless each comes across in a different way.  “Bully” is extremely apprehensive about bullying in schools and how parents and administrators need to effectively put an end to this issue.  His tone is serious, caring, and even strict which is depicted from certain scenes in the documentary.  The tone is depicted from the real life situations of parents who have had a child commit suicide due to bullying whether it is LGBT related or simply because they were different from others.  An example of this is a statement from a father whose 11 year old committed suicide.  He stated, “My son will be 11 forever.”  Like the film “bully”, Miller is serious when he states his case as well.  At the beginning of the article, Miller presented a list of males ages 13 to 18 who committed suicide due to bullying.  That list started the article off with a very serious tone. Miller also used quotes from parents about how they reacted to their child coming out as LGBT.  Through these quotes his tone gradually became more serious in the same way as “bully”.  The Dan and Terry, It Gets Better YouTube video also has a serious tone because it is about their own personal experience with bullying and how their lives have changed.  This particular video is serious because it was meant to stop LGBT teens from committing suicide.   The film “cyberbully” is also very serious in tone because it addresses another issue of bullying which are teens bullying each other through social networks.  The things that teenagers say through these networks to each other have been very detrimental and have led to suicides as well.

            The text that uses authority as support or evidence is Miller’s article.  He provided quotes from leading experts as well a few statistics.  Throughout Miller’s article he provides quotes from experts such as Scott Quasha, Jody M. Huckaby, and Merle Bennett Buzzelli that support his assertions and purpose for the article.  Miller quotes Merle Bennett Buzzelli saying, “Antigay bullying is something all parents should be concerned about.” A statistic he provides from a recent Gallup poll is that fifty-two percent of Americans consider homosexuality morally acceptable.  In doing so, he implies that the other forty eight percent are against homosexuals and this is why LGBT teens do not feel accepted.  Another statistic he inputs into his article is that kids can join gay-straight alliance groups at more than 4,000 high schools and more than 150 middle schools nationwide find and support online.  By throwing this statistic into his article he establishes credibility that there are some schools that are very opposed to antigay bullying and are trying to effectively cut down on the LGBT teen suicide rate.

            Furthermore, the rhetorical technique that is used is assertions that are followed by many examples as support.  Miller uses assertion when he says, “For once we could all agree: Those kids should be in their classrooms, not in caskets.” (Miller, 2012) Following Miller’s asserted quotes he provides real life quotes from parents who are in fact concerned about antigay bullying because they have an LGBT child who has been a victim of the situation.  Assertions were also used in the Dan and Terry It Gets Better video.  The assertion that they put an emphasis on is that Life gets better after the bullying is over.  They support this assertion by telling about their own lives and how bullies did not define who they are today.  Dan comes from a Catholic family and he remembers being picked on and teased for being gay.  Jerry is from a small town and school where gay people are ostracized in schools and the community.  They both speak about how they met and that their lives are great. Their story tremendously supports the assertions.  Along with Miller and It Gets Better, “bully” also uses a great amount of assertions.  “Bully” makes an assertion that bullying is an issue that occurs in schools throughout America and that school administrators do not take the issue seriously until another child takes their life.  Hirsch majorly supports this assertion by filming five families who have had personal experiences with bullying and antigay bullying.  One family in particular that provides an example of the cruel side of bullying is the family of a young boy Alex.  Alex was taunted and teased every day in school and on the bus.  When his parents finally went to the school principal, the principal denied that bullying was an issue in her school.  The principal did not seem to care too much about the situation as she took out a picture of her grandchild.  She also stated that the school bus is safe and that no bullying occurs on it.  Also, there was another heart felt story about a family whose 11 year old son committed suicide due to bullying.  His father Mr. Smalley stated,” My son will be 11 years old forever.”  This family’s story supports Hirsch’s assertion that students are bullied to the point of suicide and families are left heart broken.  This is also Hirsch’s way of appealing to the audience’s emotion.  The film “cyberbully” did not use real life situations as assertions but the actions in the film symbolize many assertions about teenagers bullying each other through social networks.  An assertion in the film is that parents need to better monitor what their child posts about others on social networks.  At the start of this film, the teenage girl, Taylor, is gossiping through email with her friend about a girl at school.  The scene takes place in the morning as she gets ready for school and her mother walked right by her computer without asking what she was doing.  With this incident, Biname wants to show that parents are unaware of what their teens do on computer chat rooms etc. As we can see, assertion is a very effective rhetorical technique that each text successfully input into their work.

            These texts all addressed different topics regarding bullying, but they are similar in purpose when using strong tone, anecdotes, and assertions.  Each text can agree that bullying is a serious issue in schools across America and school administrators, parents and the community need to stop it from occurring. The texts all address an audience through emotions and credibility by providing examples from real life situations.  “Bully” and “cyberbully” are alike because both were produced as a film and aired to the public while Miller or the “it gets better” video are alike because they are not televised. 

            Along with similarities within each text, there are also differences.  Every text has its own way of addressing the issue.  “Bully” is the text that is most different from the other texts because it addressed a very painful side of bullying which is the reality that some victims of bullying at any age eventually say enough is enough and commit suicide.  The funeral scene where the 11 year old victim’s best friend is seen carrying his casket sets it apart from the other texts because it shows how serious bullying is.  “Cyberbully” is different because it is not based on real situations it is more of a scenario of how bullying through social networks happens, but this does not make it less effective than the other texts.  The “it gets better” video was made to encourage victims of bullying to never give up while the other texts were made to educate the public about bullying in schools and how everyone should effectively try to end this issue.  Each text effectively addressed the bullying issue even though they addressed them in different ways.

            I selected each text for many different reasons.  I chose “bully” as one of my sources because it covers all aspects of bullying such as LGBT bullying and bullying of students who are different from others.  My first impression of this documentary was that it came across as very emotional and heart felt through each families' story or experience with bullying.  I also chose the It Gets Better video as one of my sources as well because it gives victims of bullying and antigay bullying hope that life will get better for them even though present circumstances wit bullies may make them feel otherwise.  From watching the video, my impression was that the way they describe their life after high school was perceived as a dream or a fairytale.  The video was effective because of its encouragement but not from its “happily ever after” feel.  Also, I chose the film “cyberbully” because it addresses the issue that bullying does not just occur in school but that it can happen through social networks.  My first impression of “cyberbully” is that it was very emotional just like the other texts.  For my last source I chose an article by Kenneth Miller because it addressed the LGBT acceptance issue and it provided statistics and real quotes.  After reading the article, my first impression of it was that it seemed very emotional but did not focus too much on solutions to bullying. 

            Lastly, Bullying is an issue that occurs in schools everyday but remains overlooked by parents and school administrators.    The texts all addressed different aspects of bullying through assertions, anecdotes, authority, and tone. LGBT students and students who are different are bullied mentally, physically and emotional on school buses, in the classrooms and through social networks and it needs to end because some have resulted in committing suicide.  Bullying is not being handled properly and there is no reason why it should not be important until another child commits suicide.  Like Miller said, “those kids should be in their classrooms, not in caskets.” 

Work Cited

Hirsch, L. (Director). (2011). Bully [Motion  Picture].

Miller, K. (2012). Gay Teens Bullied to the Point of Suicide. Ladies' Home Journal .

Biname, C. (Director). (2011). Cyberbully [ABC Family].

Savage, Dan and Jerry, 21 Sept. 2010. Web. 16 Oct. 2012. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IcVyvg2Qlo>.