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>.

A Little Louder

Keenan Robertson

A Little Bit Louder

            In schools, on the streets, even in homes there is a persisting intolerance to homosexuals and even those who could be remotely identified as homosexual.  Bullying in schools hasn’t gone away, nor has is become any less harsh, and those who are victims do not have much to hold onto for support.  There are many articles and editorials addressing these issues and the possible actions to take against these problems.  The range of media is generally diverse, currently consisting of mostly YouTube videos, documentaries, and articles but is still expanding.  However, the audience who is exposed to the present texts seems to be somewhat limited and the expanding forms media are very necessary for the words of influence to reach their full potential.

            The 2011 film Bully, directed by Lee Hirsch, uses the big screen as window to see into the world of the tormented and teased.  Viewers witness the inhumane treatment of children by their own peers, as well as the neglect of the local school’s administration to effectively stop the bullying.  Hirsch did a great job capturing the natural environment of the six bullied children; giving each one their own voice, while at the same time attributing their plights to the same causes and the same failures to act on part of the administrations.  After seeing this movie in theaters or in a class, one leaves more depressed and tear-stained that motivated to act.  Nearly every review concerning the movie highly advises to bring tissues instead of popcorn.  It’s a shame really that more or less wastes the emotional power it has over its audience.  With everyone emotionally rattled to the point of tears, Bully has tapped into a very deep part of their audience’s heart, but then lacks a vital call to action.  The average person would leave the theater feeling more down then wanting to actually do something about what they just witnessed through the big screen.

            So how are these kids going to get help? Without a sturdy call to action from others, they have had to go out and look for it themselves, in most cases meaning simply logging on to a computer.  Dan Savage and his husband Terry Miller started an online campaign in 2010 called “It Gets Better” in response to the many publicized gay-teen suicides.  Their story is an inspiring one, finally finding love after being tortured in high school just as millions of other teenagers are.  The point, of course, it for teens struggling with their sexual identity due to bullying would be able to see themselves in the video and give hope to those so desperately in need of it.  Through the use of YouTube, many other people and celebrities have uploaded their own videos also saying how it gets better.  While this is a great, positive thing that has giving hope to many individuals who might have taken their own lives as a response to bullying, there are a few aspects that make the “It Gets Better” movement not the best movement.  While its great, and in many cases necessary, to have a hard skin, the slogan and impressions of the videos is that the bullies are not going anywhere.  While it’s a fantastic source for those who are bullied, it does not touch on the fact that bullying should not happen in the first place. Secondly, Dan and Terry are quite an exceptional case.  Many videos have also been uploaded with the title “It Gets Worse”.  While this is an excellent effort for the cause, it does little to end bullying at its source.

            Bullying is a problem in itself but the additional struggle is that we as a society largely do not know how to properly fight it.  The policy that has been growing in popularity has been the strict “zero-tolerance policy’ which actually is not the answer that the victims of bullying are looking for.  Carolyn Laub, the Founder and Executive Director of the Gay-Straight Alliance Network, writes about how tradition forms of strict punishment are not the answer to these emotional attacks on those who are victims of bullying.  In her blog article, Why Zero Tolerance Is Not the Solutions to In School Bullying, she points out that bullying will not go away if bullies are simply suspended, instead she pushes the idea to allow school staff to “intervene with counseling or other meaningful solutions that help the students engaged in bullying learn from -- and change -- their behavior” (Laub, Why Zero Tolerance).  Laub makes a very good point and what she has to say is extremely logical, but unfortunately her voice is not heard by the those who need to hear this information the most.  Her audience ends for the most part at people who already support the cause and those doing research about it.  While her thoughts and words are quite powerful; unheard they are not much more effective than a few protestors on the side of the road.

How many people actually stop and listen to protesters?  Admirable for their passion for whatever their cause may be, protesters seem to only get attention by their numbers.  Alone, they are just people stating their opinion.  However, a single celebrity’s thoughts can influence thousands.  People have been disputing gay marriage for years and protests and gay rights actions have been going on for longer, yet one of the biggest uproar was caused when President Obama stated his support for gay marriages.  Those who saw Bully, mostly saw it for school or because they felt strongly about the subject already.  Those who watch the “It Gets Better” videos, are mostly those seeking that reassurance or for the same reasons Bully was seen.  Those who read Carolyn Laab’s article had to know what they were looking for.   The population that this media reaches, for the most part already knows what they are going to see.  While effective and powerful texts, they are more-or-less wasted on the wrong audience.  The people that need to hear it are those who are ignorant, naïve, or are those who choose to ignore the situation as a whole. 

            What better way to hear it than by song?   The rap music industry reaches out to most of this audience who is in dire need of getting some insight of the injustice done throughout the nation.  Ben Haggerty, better known by his stage name as Macklemore, is an extremely talented and rising hip/hop artist with a very eclectic range of song content.  He raps about some typical subjects of the hip/hop industry such as sex and cars, but stands out from the crowd for also hitting serious topics like drug and substance abuse, anti-violence, peace, and searching for genuine individuality.  Macklemore has set himself apart even farther from the rest of the rap industry by one song on his new album but released earlier as an EP: ‘Same Love’.  He is the first rapper ever to release a song, not only talking about gay marriage and rights, but in passionate support for their cause.   Typically most in his genre avoid this subject like it is the black plague.  One of Macklemore’s lyrics explains:

If I was gay

I would think hip-hop hates me

Have you read the YouTube comments lately

"Man that's gay"

Gets dropped on the daily

We've become so numb to what we're sayin' (Macklemore)

It is surprising then, that this song is not met with the same response. Not only is it not criticized, but also it is respected and has become the most popular song on Macklemore’s new album.  This is why Macklemore’s voice is more influential then all the other media; not only does it reach the really important audience, but its effective with style, emotion, and logic.  The key to solve the problem, the mistreatment and unjust acts against homosexuals, is reaching out to everyone and to unite them.  It is to get them on the same level of understanding and respect.  That is what Macklemore preaches:

Kids are walkin' around the hallway

Plagued by pain in their heart

A world so hateful

Some would rather die

Than be who they are

And a certificate on paper

Isn't gonna solve it all

But it's a damn good place to start

No law's gonna change us

We have to change us

Whatever god you believe in

We come from the same one

Strip away the fear

Underneath it's all the same love

About time that we raised up (Macklemore)

This angle on changing society is the most effective without a doubt.  Those in need of enlightenment are not going to read editorials or watch documentaries about issues that they may even be contributing to.  But they will listen to someone who has their respect.  The reason this song has so much influence is that Macklemore stands up and says what needs to be said, only a little bit louder in a way that everyone can hear.  Utilizing his personal exposure to GLTB bullying and inequality, he preaches words of truth and logic in a deeper way than just a celebrity supporting a cause.  He touches the subject on an emotional level, personal level, and logical level and to sum it all up he states that it will not change that easily but that legalizing gay marriage is “a damn good place to start” (Macklemore).  “Same Love” takes the cake for having it all when it comes to audience, tone, content, and call to action all in one, but each source works a different side to end this injustice in schools everywhere. 

Works Cited

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

It Gets Better: Dan and Terry. Perf. Dan Savage and Terry Miller. YouTube. YouTube, 21 Sept. 2010. Web. 29 Oct. 2012. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IcVyvg2Qlo>.

Laub, Carolyn. "Why Zero Tolerance Is Not the Solution to School Bullying." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 16 May 2012. Web. 29 Oct. 2012. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/carolyn- laub/bullying-zero-tolerance_b_1521844.html>.

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis. "Same Love." Rec. 18 July 2012. Same Love. Ryan Lewis, 2012. MP3.

**Download Macklemore & Ryan Lewis's "Same Love" on iTunes**

Andrew Ryan- Bullying Rhetoric Analysis

A Spark of Guilt in Everyone

By Andrew Ryan

            Bullying is a problem that has seemingly become more prevalent as of late. Many sources claim that bullying is a result of our culture, a result of our social pressures and inability to see depth beyond labels or secondary characteristics. Many groups, activists, and forms of media have done great work to try and address the problem of rampant bullying. From hopeful words to social outcries, and more in-depth research; People are doing their best to make sure that this problem is known to society. What these people hope to accomplish is to make the problem well known and allow society to see the ugly face of its social pressures. We can only hope to institute changes in social values and norms if we become more educated and see through our flaws in thinking. Until then, we have people being ridiculed and bullied because of small aspects of themselves that they should not be held at fault for. A forward thinker and “biphopbia” educator, Robyn Ochs said, “We are not responsible for what we do not know that we do not know”.  So the first step is to make sure that people know that they are ill-informed.

            There are many forms of media that do a good job of addressing the issue of bullying, either at the school level, or widespread bullying targeted toward homosexuals. The movie Bully is a documentary that follows bullied children and the families of bullied children during their daily lives; giving the audience a glimpse into what they had to deal with on a daily basis. Ellen Degeneres hosted the first lady, Michelle Obama, on her talk show and addressed how young people were being affected by bullying, and the deep rooted problems it represents. Robyn Ochs gave a presentation about bisexuals, and how society can simultaneously belittle and ignore an entire demographic of people. There is also a counter group to the campaign known as “It Gets Better” with a message of “it doesn’t get better”, and regardless of the negative feel behind the message, there are some interesting points put forth by the YouTube user, Jeffreycraigg.  These sources all put forth a message to be heard by the many, and hope to make people aware of this social problem.

Bully takes us into the life high school students, of varied locations, who are bullied and relentlessly tormented. It is a documentary, and the footage we see of the abuse is all real. From the dangerous school bus happenings, to the oblivious and ill prepared school officials, we get to taste a little bit of what these kids and families have to go through every day. Michelle Obama is the first lady of the United States, and has shown through her work that children are one of her top priorities. Ellen Degeneres was one of the first celebrities to come out publicly as a homosexual, and she is a very relevant and popular talk show host to date. Robyn is an esteemed educator, speaker, and consultant for sexual orientation and identity. Robyn has also experienced these difficulties first hand, declaring herself as bisexual.

            Anecdotes and emotional stories were rampant in the texts that tried to spread awareness of the problems. The movie Bully showed a school aged boy, Alex, being punched and stabbed with pencils on the school bus; and the school administration had the audacity to refer to the school bus as angels when they were on board. We were also given a glimpse into the lives of parents who had lost a child to suicide induced by relentless bullying at school. Michelle Obama and Ellen Degeneres also bring up the subject of suicides afflicting school aged children, induced by bullying, they are hopeful about the future and plan to spread awareness and make sure our culture of bullying is changed for good.  Robyn Ochs was able to tell us about when she came out and what a tough time it was in the nation to come out, with little resources available and the ones who were, were far away and could not provide support. She cited that as the reason she wanted to make sure that others who came out after her had more resources at their disposal, so they would have a better time of it than her.

            Ellen and Michelle Obama use a very emotional tone when addressing the issue on the Ellen show, while Bully uses the very same appeal through much of the movie. There is a very stark difference in the background of these people, yet they are still able to be bound together by their humanity and how they feel about the problem. Ellen and Michelle are famous and have wealth and tons of resources at their disposal, but the families in Bullly have little wealth and power over the situation that they and their children are in. Kelby, a young girl who is bullied at high school for being a lesbian, has aspirations of changing the views of her small town; she wants to persist and show these people that have wronged her that they are wrong and she does not deserve the treatment that they have given her. Kelby finally moves at the end of the film because the town was too overwhelmingly cruel to her, really shaking her faith in solving the problem. Through this we can see that Kelby’s tone shifts from defiant and hopeful and near the end of the film her tone transfers to a sad and broken. These tones do a good job of addressing the issue, because tone can show that everyone has the ability to empathize with people who are being mistreated; and in Kelby’s case, can show how a bad situation has affected someone for better or for worse.

            Robyn had a very approachable use of language and tone. She used common language and had a very positive and happy tone, regardless of what she was talking about. She made sure that her audience was very comfortable when she was speaking, and that they felt comfortable responding to her. In a stark contrast to Robyn’s tone, the “it doesn’t get better” video has a rather melancholy tone. This video used pessimism where Robyn used optimism, even though they were trying to address similar problem of not being accepted into a community. The different tones used by each source reflect back on what they are hoping to convey. Robyn is hoping to spread education and awareness of a problem plaguing almost everyone, unbeknownst to most; while the video “it doesn't get better” by YouTube user jeffreycraigg is trying to convey that things don’t always get better even if these people make it through high school.

            All of the language used in these sources has been very approachable language. Middle school children would probably be able to fully comprehend what was being said. This really helps the spread of these sources; if a portion of the population cannot understand what you are trying to say, then how can you hope to spread your message to these people. An underlying theme in all of these sources, whether stated or unspoken, is that bullying is a result of not fitting identities that there are social pressures to uphold; and the more people that are made aware of this problem, the easier it will be to solve it, if it can be solved.

            Many of these sources use comparisons and basic reasoning as a great defense of their argument. They question the values and do not blindly accept what has been laid out before them. Michelle Obama and Ellen talked about how our culture is one of bullies, and that children will certainly grow up to bully people if they are subject to the rampant bullying that we put out in the open every day.  They also point out that these young people are very valuable to society, and that it is always a tragedy when we lose one to something as ignorant as bullying. The movie “Bully” takes us to the school officials who swear that things are alright, but when they are confronted about the hostile environments or the poorly policed school busses, they say that there is not much that they have the power to do and that school busses are notorious for being rampant bullying zones. The show points out just how silly that this seems to be that they have effectively given up on doing a good job protecting students on the bus because it’s accepted that it is hard to accomplish.

Robyn spoke of how the society that we live in has ambivalence with sexuality. Pointing out that our values say that women should be attractive and sexy, and that the genders should follow how their gender is attractive, but then we condemn sexuality and label women as sluts if they do follow those guidelines of attractiveness. Robyn’s lecture was full of interesting anecdotes and analogies. She asked us, “If you were to see me walking down the street by myself, what would you assume that my sexual preference was?” and most, if not all people, would have thought her to be a heterosexual. She really pointed out a flaw in our “Binary Thinking” by asking what she would have to portray for people to assume that she was bisexual. Robyn showed us that there are entire spectrums of people who can be erased by binary thinking. One example was, “if you’re not white you’re ____, if you’re not liberal you’re ____, if you’re not straight you’re ____.” These comparisons really showed how silly that sort of binary thought was, while simultaneously showing how easy it is to fall into that mode of thinking.

The YouTube video entitled “It Doesn’t Get Better” tries to dispel the ideas that spread a hopeful message for all those high school children to stick it out after high school. The speaker in this video says, “I don’t think it gets better, for some people it gets less bad”, and brings up the struggles that still plague people after high school has ended. He brings up how, even in the queer community, there are “systems of difference” and they do not allow a true sense of community. This is a pretty reasonable argument based on what we see so widespread in society. Robyn even brought up that a struggle that bisexual people face is that there is a “one of us or not one of us” mentality in the gay community, and how hard it seems even from the eyes of someone not in the community. These are very logical arguments from people who are trying to spread different messages, in response to what appears to be the same problem.  

            We can see that society is fostering bullying; we think that it can be changed if we get people to be informed and aware of the problems. Our steps are to educate and make sure that people know that they do not know something, and we have to insure that we don’t accept or abide by bullying tactics that are in place in society, like the aggressive political climate. These sources are hoping to make people aware of the fact that there is a problem affecting us, and it is as deep as our culture.  Through personal stories, emotions, reasonable arguments, and the endorsements of many people, celebrity or not,  these sources hope to one day change a culture that has grown a society of normal people and not normal people. Before one can be educated though, one has to be aware that something is missing.

Works Cited

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

"It Doesn’t Get Better." YouTube. YouTube. 19 Oct. 2010. web. 30 Oct. 2012.

Obama, Michelle. "First Lady Michelle Obama Talks about Bullying" YouTube. YouTube. 28 Oct. 2010. web. 30 Oct. 2012 (date you accessed it).  

Ochs, Robyn. “Addressing Binaries.” Ohio University. Ellis Hall, Athens, Ohio. 15 Oct. 2012