I read an article today saying that Rebecca Black has had to quit school due to bullying.
The article posed the question of whether online fame was worth the offline consequences.
This really got me thinking. We are all so quick to jump on the bandwagon and laugh at the latest
viral video of an unfortunate individual, but what happens when that person is you? Or someone
that you know personally?
I'm sure a lot of people out there would be more than happy to laugh it off and poke fun at
themselves in order to ease the tension, but how long until that gets boring and you just wish that
everyone would go away and leave you alone?
I often wonder what happens to people like the Numa Numa guy. That video was released in
2004 and I bet he still gets hassled about it.
It must be even worse for Rebecca Black as the internet community is much larger and faster
than it used to be. And poor Rebecca is only 14 years old. I remember being 14 and going to
school was difficult and embarrassing at the best of times and I rarely did anything to draw
attention to myself. I can't imagine what it must be like for her.
I'm sure many people will be thinking, 'yeah but it's okay because she's famous now and she got
to be in a Katy Perry video' but I wonder what the long term affects will be on her? The world's
media has taken great pleasure in documenting the rise and fall of Rebecca Black but what if her
story doesn't have a happy ending? Would you feel guilty about making 'Friday' related jokes at
her expense and forwarding the Youtube link to all your followers? Or has the media numbed us
all into forgetting that these are real people?
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