During a live event on MTV, CMT and BET earlier today, President Obama cautioned us to behave ourselves when online. The President condemned the practice of bullying in general, cyber- or otherwise: “We have zero tolerance when it comes to sexual harassment, we have zero tolerance when it comes to harassment over a person’s sexual orientation, because of their race, their ethnicity.”

Obama hesitated to delve too deeply into the realm of online monitoring. “It is a challenging thing, because part of the power of the Internet is that information flows out there, and it’s generally not censored or controlled by any single authority.” There have been a lot of challenges made to the First Amendment as it applies to content on the Internet. Most rulings have been in favor of e-speech.

What do you think of the President’s stance against online harassment? Does he need to step up to the plate a bit harder, or is he right on the money?

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President Obama Wants you to Play Nice on Twitter

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A bully is a bully, no matter who or where they are. It doesn’t matter if they are online, or out there in the “real” world. I’ve suffered at the mouths and hands of a bully in my life. As soon as I accepted myself for who I am and not who they thought or said I am, it no longer bothered me. They were the ones with the problem, not me. You’ve probably been the victim of a cyber-bully at some point. They are everywhere, since the anonymity of the Internet makes it easy for them to attack people. If you’re someone who attacks people and makes them ashamed of who they are, stop it! There’s no easier way to lose my respect, than to disrespect someone else.

Kyle sent me the following email, and his list of top five tips to deal with bullies.

I recently was told by someone on Facebook that I was a loser and had no friends, along with many other hurtful comments. I decided to create this list in an attempt to help others deal with bullies.

1. Be Mature How bad would it sound if you responded: “OMG ur da real luzer, I h8 you”. Instead, you may want to respond “I’m sorry you feel that way about me, I guess you don’t really know me”, or something along those lines.
2. Don’t Even Respond If you respond, it will just give the bully another thing to find a way to make fun of.
3. Block Communications There is a way on all forms of cyber communication to block a person or persons, so why keep talking to them?
4. Don’t let it get you down You should never let them win by letting them put you down, understand that they don’t mean what they’re saying, and that they are just trying to make themselves feel better.
5. In some circumstances, confront them If they’re not known to be the kind of person who would physically beat you up, you may want to ask them why they have a problem with you in real life, because it is so much harder to say mean things about people in real life than it is when they are not directly talking to you.

Kyle has made many excellent point. Remember that the problem lies with the bully, not with you. Don’t let someone beat you up mentally, and force you to feel awful about yourself. It’s not about you… it’s about them. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that maybe they’re right. Accept and like yourself who you are. Don’t listen to people who don’t know you, yet try to bring you down with negativity.

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Are You a Bully or a Victim?