Iowa paper devotes front page to fighting bullying
In a rare and forceful act of advocacy, an Iowa newspaper devoted the entire front page of its Sunday edition to an anti-bullying editorial after a gay teen committed suicide.
Relatives have said 14-year-old Kenneth Weishuhn Jr. suffered intense harassment, including threatening cellphone calls and nasty comments posted online, after coming out to family and friends about a month ago. He died April 15 from what the local sheriff's office described only as a "self-inflicted injury."
The Sioux City Journal's front-page opinion piece calls on the community to be pro-active in stopping bullying and urges members to learn more about the problem by seeing the acclaimed new film, "Bully," which documents the harassment of a Sioux City middle school student. It notes that while many students are targeted for being gay, "we have learned a bully needs no reason to strike." [continue]

Tags: Iowa, bullying, gay, schools, suicide, teens
Permalink Reply by Jonathan Simeone on April 22, 2012 at 8:01pm Dallas, I was seconds from posting the same story. I'm so glad a newspaper took such a strong stand against bullying.
So am I, but JFC, I'm sick of reading about these kinds of stories. He had his whole life ahead of him.
It's terrible Dallas .. I hear these stories everyday. In fact Austin just had some bullying issues in the news the other day. It's becoming too prevalent.
All I can say is that I hope all the media attention helps, and not hurts the situation. Sometimes I think hearing about it puts the idea into kids heads, but I'm not sure.
Permalink Reply by Nerdlass on April 22, 2012 at 8:16pm If only the schools could be more diligent... and peers step up to defend each other... :/ It's tough being a teenager. I can only imagine how tough it is for gay teenagers...
It certainly can make you feel like an outcast.
Permalink Reply by Jonathan Simeone on April 22, 2012 at 9:01pm I think coverage of an issue is almost always a good thing. The greatest exception to that is when the coverage is on Fox Nes.
J. Morr replied to Joan Denoo's discussion Cox, Brian + In Search of Giants (in 15 parts) by Joan Denoo in the group ORIGINS: UNIVERSE, LIFE, HUMANKIND, AND DARWIN
J. Morr liked Joan Denoo's discussion Cox, Brian + In Search of Giants (in 15 parts) by Joan Denoo
Loren Miller replied to Debra Stevenson's discussion Humanistic Mormon Bishop's response to Elder's homophobic remark at GC
Kris Leeds commented on Rachel Riley's blog post RAGE! (What I want to say but won't on FB)
Philip Jarrett replied to Anthony Jordan's discussion Poll Shows 29% of Americans Believe Armed Revolution May Become Necessary
Tom Sarbeck replied to Steph S.'s discussion 'Crazy ants' a threat in southern U.S. in the group Hang With Friends
Joan Denoo liked Dallas the Phallus's discussion Tamar Gendler: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Politics and Economics© 2013 Atheist Nexus. All rights reserved. Admin: Brother Richard.