Teen who posted anti-bullying YouTube video kills herself

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Coquitlam girl commits suicide after being bullied





Online condolences and tributes are spreading on social media after a teenage Coquitlam girl who claimed to be the victim of severe bullying committed suicide.

Fifteen-year-old Amanda Todd posted a YouTube video in September flipping through index cards that tell the story of how she was bullied, beginning when a boy sent a topless picture of her to other students at her school.

She was forced to move schools several times because of the bullying, but the torment never stopped.

“A year past and the guy came back with my new list of friends and school… [he] made a Facebook page. My boobs were his Facebook profile picture,” the cards said.

Todd said she started cutting herself, got involved in drugs and alcohol, and suffered from depression and anxiety. She switched schools again but the bullying followed her and she was cornered by a group of teens.

“A guy then yelled just punch her already, so she did… she threw me to the ground [and] punched me several times,” the cards said.

After the assault, Todd said she laid in a ditch until her father found her, and when she got home she drank bleach.
“I thought I was actually going to die,” she wrote.

Teens online were relentless, saying she deserved it and posted photos of bleach online tagged with her name.
“She should try a different bleach. I hope she dies this time and isn’t so stupid,” one of the cards read. “They said I hope she sees this and kills herself.”

The video was removed from YouTube Thursday, a day after Todd committed suicide.

Hundreds of tweets with the hashtag #RIPAmanda began trending on Twitter and a Facebook memorial page called Rest in paradise Amanda Michelle Todd had more than 5,000 likes on Facebook by Thursday.

Coquitlam RCMP confirmed they are investigating the death.

Premier Christy Clark expressed her condolences Thursday and joined thousands of online mourners calling for the end of bullying.

"I just heard about Amanda and I want to say to everyone who loved her how sorry I am," Clark saidin a public message posted to YouTube. "No one deserves to be bullied. No one asks for it. It's not a right of passage. Bullying has to stop."


[WARNING, GRAPHIC CONTENT]
ORIGINAL VIDEO AMANDA POSED ON YOUTUBE:
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Teen who posted anti-bullying YouTube video kills herself

VANCOUVER - A British Columbia teenager who posted a gut-wrenching video to YouTube of her treatment at the hands of relentless bullies has killed herself, prompting an outpouring of condolences on social media.

Amanda Todd, 15, posted a haunting, black-and-white, nine-minute video on Sept. 7 in which she doesn't speak, but leafs through dozens of white pieces of paper with brief sentences in black marker.

On the papers, the teen explains that as a Grade 7 student, she was lured by an unidentified male to expose her breasts via webcam.

One year later, Todd said she got a message from him on Facebook, though she didn't know how he knew her name or where to find her.

Todd's notes say the man ordered her to "put on a show for me," or he would send around the webcam pictures. Todd said he knew her address, her school, her friends and her family.

She said she was later alerted by police that he had followed through with the threat.

"I then got really sick," she wrote.

She noted she was plunged into anxiety, major depression, drugs and alcohol. But the bullying didn't stop. She said the man created a Facebook page with a list of her friends and school.

"My boobs were his profile picture," she wrote.

"I can never get that photo back. It's out there forever."

Todd wrote that she eventually changed schools and things were better for a while. But she said an encounter with another girl's boyfriend started the bullying again, this time worse. It escalated into a physical attack in which she said she was beaten and left in a ditch until her father found her.

She said she tried to kill herself twice, including once by drinking bleach, and constantly cut herself.

The video ends with her note: "I have nobody. I need someone."

Beneath the video, though, Todd posts a note saying she produced it not for attention, but "to be an inspiration and to show that I can be strong."

"Everyone's future will be bright one day, you just gotta pull through. I'm still here, aren't I?"

RCMP in Maple Ridge confirmed they are aware of Todd's death Wednesday night, but were unavailable for further comment.

Premier Christy Clark posted her video Thursday. In the grainy production, Clark said she had just heard about the death and wanted to pass on condolences.

"No one deserves to be bullied. No one earns it, no one asks for it, it isn't a right of passage. Bullying has to stop. Every child, everyone needs to be able to feel safe at school.

"When we send our kids to school we need to know that they're going to come home safe."

Shock and sadness, but also anger, poured out on a Facebook page devoted to Todd.

"This is really sad," read one post written by someone identified as Taylor Sjostrand.

"It was painful to see the kids who made fun of her write on her Facebook 'RIP, you will be missed, we loved you.' Why would you say that when YOU'RE the reason she's gone. They have no remorse, let alone any idea what they did. "
Another post, by someone writing as Nathan Mullin, noted the hypocrisy in the outpouring for Todd in death when there appeared to be little help for her in life.

"Where was all this support when she was suffering?" he wrote.

"I find it sad and disgusting that people care now that it is too late. It bothers me to no end when someone ends their life because of reasons like this and everyone says 'Oh she was such a nice girl, so pretty and kind' Well, where was everyone with the kind words when she needed help? Breaks my heart. By watching the video, all she seemed to want was someone to love and accept her."

Cheryl Quinton, communications manager for the Coquitlam School District, confirmed Todd was a Grade 10 student at a small school in the area and that teachers were aware of the video and help was being provided.

"Amanda was well-connected with the students and staff at that school," Quinton said.

"Whenever there is a student death, our critical incident team. . . goes to the site and that was the case this morning. They're helping staff and students through their grief and shock. We'll provide counselling services there as long as is necessary."


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People never care enough to help BEFORE sometimes happens. They never take bullying seriously.

i dont get it. if the police, teachers, and everyone else knew why didnt they do anything. whats worst is that the police are now saying that they hope the bullies learn that bullying isnt funny or something. wtf, the police had the chance to go get the bullies when they were alerted of the problem before.

what is interesting is that im not sure if i want the police to catch the bullies and send them off to prison. rather i want the bullies serving community service, going to different schools and talking abt the seriousness and harmfulness of bullying. i just realized how restorative justice class has changed my perception of how to deal with criminals ...

Take no offence.

But seriously people... This was all over "tits" being shown on a cam and some ignant retard showing it to the world.
Why is a young girl victimized over this? has no one seen porn? it sickens me that its happening here in BC. I see kids picking on others and when someone steps up, tails between the legs and the "ill get you next time" look shoots off at the victim as they scurry away.

Time to go hunting.

On a side note,

All those who posted shit like more bleach *this that* hope she dies *etc etc*" or had involvement in the attack should be charged with man slaughter / assited suicide/hate crimes/ threats. Aand the one who circulated her photos should get no less + possession of child pornography. Pick up your shoes RCMP time to go to work

yes it is going to be around, but it can be reduced.

i dont think locking up the bullies will benefit anyone. they would come out worst than before and cause more harm.

it is child pornography. im surprised the police and the school didnt do anything abt it.

I have no wise words but it pisses me off seeing how people all of a sudden care after things happen.

"Oh the police were contacted" "Oh the teachers were notified"

Their response
"Oh it's just some kids having some harmless fun"

I definitely think bullying could be reduced. It's really pessimistic to say that bullying would happen no matter what so there's no point in doing anything about it. I disagree and I really believe that the more people advocate for it daily i.e. stop calling the new kid some weird name then slowly perhaps decades from now people would stop seeing the appeal in name-calling and bullying altogether.

If each individual, then each school, each city had the will then there will be a way.
(There will always be some idiot out there who doesn't follow it) but that doesn't mean the majority needs to follow the idiot.

RIP Amanda.


**Dear people, please don't bring kids into the world if you can't take care of them. @xneener, **agreed on the JB shit. But I also think it's not just the parent's "fault"...kids are influenced by other factors around them. And it's unfortunate that these kids didn't have good role models in their life for them to think this is a normal thing to do.

Not related to this particular girl,but
o.o why is bullying so prevalent in North America? Kids have too much free time?

these kids have no morals, no responsibilities and no consideration at all, and i blame this on their parents. there is absolutely no f$%king way i could have said such things or done such things to anyone, not even my worst enemy, especially if I was 15. Not then, not now, not ever, not with the way my parents raised me.

ok, I watched the video, she went on cam to meet new people and flashed.
....

i dont think its a time thing. i think bully goes on everywhere around the world. especially in asian countries. we just dont hear abt their stories here.

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RE: parents

i dont think it is necessarily the parents' fault. i dont think any of the parents know their kids were bullying others. yes, the parents should keep a closer eye, but i think we all know how easy it is to hide things from our parents. i think society and media are factors of bullying. we give kids this days access to so many forms of social media yet we dont teach them how to use them appropriately. in addition, i think schools are not doing enough to education kids and not doing enough to support the victims.

there is so much more i want to say, but i have to work on my paper.

we all have different opinions, but i think we all agree that bullying should not be tolerated. bullying doesnt only occur with kids. bullying happens everywhere, in university, in our workplaces, etc. what is important is that we recognize what bullying is and dont do it. in addition, when we see bullying, we have to tell the bully his/her action is inappropriate, while supporting the victim.\

btw, its great to see that so many ppl care abt bullying.

she made a mistake, but that does not allow and justify the actions of those who bullied her.

There's definitely not enough being done to educate people on bullying. It really pisses me off to see teenagers only caring about the expensive brands, cell phones, gossip and partying. I hear it ALL the time on the bus and I really don't understand how some people can be so vain and arrogant. And teens gossip A LOT. Some of them don't eve realize that it can be a form of bullying and that's how rumors start sometimes.

When I was in elementary school and high school I was bullied and some teachers didn't give a shit at all. Even in kindergarten a teacher was like ' What do you want me to do about it?' And of course I didn't know what to say because I was only 6. It's sad that some teachers and parents think that being bullied is just a "phase" and the kid will learn how to cope with it soon enough - that's why some kids start to self harm or attempt suicide because to them, no one can help. And I swear, counselors don't do SHIT! All they do is ask 'And how do you feel about that?' or 'what do you think you should do?' Like seriously, if they're not going to make an effort then schools should just cut their jobs.

And like lucasvince said bullying happens everywhere. My managers bullied me and when I talked to them about it they did nothing so I quit.

This is a never ending problem. People young and old will always be a bully in some sort of way.

i watched a documentary in class the other day and it says that the current educational system is flawed and that teachers are being bullies. teachers who dont do anything are equally as bad as the kid bully.

It's funny how true that is. Teachers do only the minimum for the job these days. It's kind of rare to find a teacher who actually cares...

It's really sad how mean kids can be...

Another death that Facebook is indirectly responsible for. People should not abuse the features Facebook offer.
I hope those who are responsible for her death would face some sort of charges and be trialled as adult. The status of 'minor' should not encourage kids to think it's okay to commit actions that you would normally not commit if you were an adult (trial length/charges greatly differ between adult and minor).

Actually, my main comment to this story is that: Kids nowadays are getting scarier and scarier.

I used to get bullied in elementary school and a bit in high school x_x it was a lot worse in elementary because they would push me down and call me horrible names for no reason. Yes, kids are getting scarier and scarier, I don't know about anyone else's generation, but I've met kids who would shank/stab someone or even burn somebody's house with no concern/feelings towards that person.