Social Media Trolls

Just recently I had a friend post a picture of themselves with a trophy they won't on their Instagram page. This was a big achievement for her. She has been working very hard for a long time for this achievement. One guy, though, decided to make comments about her weight. First by saying the trophy looked like a child's size. Of course that could have been interpreted differently if he had not continued to do more posts saying "Fat ass" and "Moooooo 🐄."

Knowing my friend would ignore the troll, she's been picked on about her weight for years. I stepped in and told the guy not to be a hater because she is beautiful and talented. The interaction continued with him body shaming her and resorting to posts of fart emojis, barks with 💩, and more similarly childish responses. These came after me asking him why he was so unhappy that he was attacking someone he didn't even know. She would never do anything like that to another person, especially a stranger she's never met. The guy's bio is set to private and in his brief bio he has a holy cross. This confused me even more.

The Golden Rule states, "Do unto others as you would have done unto you." I know many people who aren't religious that believe in the Golden Rule. It also applies to karma. You get what you give.

Unfortunately this type of treatment towards others is becoming increasingly more prominent on social media. Before responding to the guy I tried reporting it. First as spam, then as abusive. Result was that my reports were denied.

It is coming across more clearly where social media stands on its definition of abuse and harassment. Unless it clearly says "Go kill yourself" or anything along those lines, they will not step in. This is not good.

If grown adults are allowed to do and say these things to complete strangers, what are they showing the youth? When they go unpunished or un-reprimanded for such behavior what is that telling the youth?

It is ok to tell someone they are fat, a cow, don't deserve their achievement because of their size? As long as you don't tell them to die and you don't know them, it is ok.

It is not ok. People in this world are killing themselves because they don't feel they belong. Suicide rates amongst teen girls went up 30% between 2010-2015. In teen boys the rate went up 50% between 2010-2015. I am scared to see how much it has gone up since.

According to the bible we are all created in God's image and we should love thy neighbors. This means we all look like god. We all look how we are meant to look. Size, shape, color, none of it should make a difference. None of it should be told it is wrong. Yet with social media it is normal. A lot of harassment and bullying is allowed because it doesn't fit into social media's definition of harassment and bullying. When does body shaming fit in? When the person develops and eating disorder? When the person dies from the eating disorder?

Social media trolls are bullies and needs to stop. If those in charge of the social media will do nothing to acknowledge what is harassment and bullying then it is up to the people. Report, report, report. Don't stop reporting the bad behavior. Make sure it is in their faces that we don't agree this is fine. Force them to open their eyes to the power they have to help affect change. Let's save the next generation from this disease. Then maybe we can look at the next generation with pride.