Senator Fuschillo tackles cyberbullying with a webcast

On Feb. 7, State Sen. Charles Fuschillo Jr., a Republican from Merrick, hosted a 30-minute webcast on cyberbullying. While there have been numerous school assemblies and parent programs devoted to this subject, the webcast brought the discussion into the home.

Fuschillo had two guests with him: John Halligan, whose middle-school-age son Ryan was literally bullied to death. John has been the subject of several of my columns. Traveling around the country to tell his story, he hopes to put the brakes on this devastating problem. He has appeared at many of Long Island's elementary, middle and high schools –– and has received only rave reviews. Following the assemblies, he sometimes returns at night to meet with parents.

Also joining Fuschillo were two Seaford high school students who presented solutions to the problem from their perspective. The program was videotaped and is now available on YouTube at

http://www.nysenate.gov/event/2012/feb/07/senator-fuschillos-cyber-bullying-webcast.

While the webcast drew an audience in the hundreds, that isn't nearly enough. I feel the subject is so important that I am devoting this column and the next to list the salient points that the four speakers made. Literally a life-and -death matter, cyberbullying is being bulleted during a week of reports on my radio broadcasts on WCBS Newsradio 880.

Cyberbullying took off when the Internet became a primary means of communication among students. Fuschillo’s program began with statistics –– 41 percent of students in a recent poll said that they have been cyberbullied. More than 80 percent say it’s easy to do. When asked “why” they do it, students said, “the victim deserved it,” “to embarrass someone,” “to get back at someone,” “to show off,” “to be mean” and “it’s fun.” I find such remarks very unsettling.

The students pointed out how easy it is to post a disparaging remark and then walk away. Just push the “like” button. There is power in numbers; students can easily gang up on a victim simply by pushing a button. And it can be done anonymously. The students made it abundantly clear: It’s a great deal easier to type an insult you would never say to a person if he or she was right in front of you.