Atheist Ireland Forum

damn i thought this was about Dennis

http://news.sky.com/home/uk-news/article/16068619

still interesting to note cyber bullying is getting taken seriously

That's awful - what's wrong with people.

I think the parents of Natasha MacBryde made a good point about Facebook being difficult to get in touch with. For me this is another strike against Facebook who need to take action to avoid this type of scenario in the future.

The comments on this article are mindblowing - can't remember last time I've seen such a diverse difference of opinion. A couple of them had me half-persuaded to their view. (Not counting some of the more idiotic ones such as "Who really thinks they have the right not to have their feelings hurt.")

Not sure what to think. There should really be a zero-tolerance policy on bullying, cyber or otherwise. I'm not sure a prison-sentence is quite the answer, though I can't think what the right answer would be. Ban from social networking sites is certainly necessary, but I'm not sure it's enough.

It is also to be taken into account that he did have Asperger's Syndrome. It could be an excuse, I know an Aspie who, while not always socially suave, would never do anything like this. But I also knew an Aspie in highschool who was certainly higher on the spectrum, and while the only method of dealing with him was to ignore him, I certainly don't think he was able to control his behavior. (Which, among other things, involved him being banned from the premises of a local Target store for stopping women outside and asking them what their bra size was.)

Whatever the case may be, I think people capable of that level of cruelty are malfunctioning socially or mentally somehow, regardless of whether they have a "genuine" condition or not. It does not necessarily mean they do not understand their actions, but it needs to be addressed with some kind of treatment or rehabilitation program regardless of other punishments.

I have a lot of personal experience with Asperger's, but I don't see any problem with this guy getting 18 weeks. It's 4 months., he'll be out in 2. There's no excusing the kind of behaviour he was involved in. It's the extreme example of the kind of mindless comment droppers I come across online.
Perhaps if it wasn't so pervasive among people who can 'control' their negativity, then individuals like Sean Duffy might not get to such extremes.

There is a great lack of understanding about Asperger's, and I definitely think that it had no place as a defence argument in this case. It was just a ploy by his defence team, and it was used at the expense of AS individuals everywhere. This behaviour is not typical, or even common among aspies. The comment that I took most offence to was actually the woman with two Autistic boys. Despite claiming to be an authority on the subject she makes the mistake of equating Classic Autism with Asperger's.

Someone with AS may have difficulty with irony and emotion but they are generally able to learn what comes instinctively to neuro-typical people (everyone else). She then falsely claims that many with AS have 'Oppositional Behaviour' problems. This is just not true.

To me this is a triple tragedy. First there are the kids who died, then the grief of their families and friends watching the memorials being attacked, and finally there are the tens of thousands of aspies (diagnosis is on the rise, for no other reason than it is now better understood and it's prevalence is more widespread than previously known) who will feel the backlash of negative stories like this when they have a difficult enough time integrating as it is.

The only silver lining is that the culprit is going to jail. Perhaps it will send a message to that mass of trolls who still think their bedroom door shields them from any responsibility.