No Snowflake is Innocent in an Avalanche

By Tianyu Hao

(First Year Writing Award: First Place, Style)

To Cyberbullies,

I doubt that you are worthy of the title “dear”. I always wanted to write to you a long time ago. Due to the fermenting of cyber violence in recent years, I couldn’t help to write to you, even if I take the risk of being the next victim.

The rise of social platforms gives everyone the opportunity to speak up and express themselves. But free speech on the Internet doesn’t allow you to be a keyboard man, claiming to hold the banner of justice to leave messages at will.

Sometimes I can’t understand how can you do that. Maybe in your view, no physical attack, just verbal bullying is normal and reasonable behavior to express emotions. It’s your right. Using sharp, evil words, which turn into hurting poison and bloody daggers. 

Do you remember the woman in Shanghai? She thanked the enthusiastic deliveryman but was beaten by Internet violence. The anger, grief, fear, and pain that engulfed her family have turned everything upside down. The bitter seed is planted, and a blood-colored flower blooms.

I have seen the woman who was forced to jump from a tall building, her faith collapsed. She did nothing wrong but was accused by the world of being mean to the delivery man (Just a Moment...). The voice of explanation is weak, drowned in the sea of abuse, with no waves. Is she the only victim in this world? No. I heard on the BBC news about the Megan Meier case in America, Amanda Todd in Canada... There are a lot more victims.

I am not writing to just condemn you. Maybe you were victims too. Maybe you just don’t know how to express yourself or how to solve problems, so you went for verbal attacks. But I wonder when you learned that the woman who was cursed by you, just like a shooting star, passed away, the same air she breathed, the same sky she stood under, the same flesh and blood she once had, have you ever felt a little touched in your heart? A trace of guilt? A little uneasy?

You can’t feel the pain in the victims’ hearts. They couldn’t get in touch with this world. They couldn’t work and live normally, because whenever these people turned on the phone, turned on the computer, and connected to the Internet, all the words of ridicule and curse would swallow them up.

Sam Cook, a data journalist, gathered relevant cyberbullying statistics, “60 percent of parents with children aged 14 to 18 reported them being bullied in 2019”, and “A 2018 Pew Research study found that a majority of teens (59%) experienced some form of cyberbullying”. These data are shocking. Offensive name-calling, physical threats, stalking…Various means emerge in endlessly.

Countless lives are covered by the snowstorm called cyberbullying. However, no snowflake is innocent in an avalanche. You must take responsibility for your actions. Don’t take chances, time passes, but there are traces left. Also, Bullies may one day be victims too. It’s possible that when you are typing on the keyboard and wantonly bullying others with words, you may also be harmed by the sharp edge of language.

The world of the Internet needs love and respect, in which we need to treat each other with heart. Every word sent to the Internet has the power that can make people smile or force people to die. 

Tianyu Hao