By now we’ve all learned that we can’t fight bullying by bullying the bully, but so far not a lot of remedies have been able to curb bullying effectively.
Until now!
The best example I’ve seen is the way a community of loving individuals embraced a man who was bullied online for dancing. Yes, you read that correctly – dancing. His crime according to the abusers? He was fat. Instead of shaming the bullies, though, some Hollywood celebrities took it upon themselves to embrace the man by throwing him a star-studded party!
Sean O’Brien, known as the “Dancing Man,” became a victim of cyberbullies, who posted a video of him dancing. Some warm-hearted individuals, after seeing the vicious attack, searched for him by posting a social media campaign using the hashtag #FindDancingMan. The hope was to fly him out to California so that he could attend an event focused on raising money for a variety of anti-bullying charities.
Writer Cassandra Fairbanks, music artists, Meghan Trainor, Ellie Goulding, Moby, Pharrell Williams, Andrew WK, and anti-bullying advocate Monica Lewinsky, banded together to throw Sean O’Brien a party he would never forget.
What a great lesson for all of us! Don’t attack the bullies! Embrace the ones getting bullied! If you see somebody being bullied, stand up for him or her. Don’t participate in cyber-bullying – ever. Don’t get caught up in “mob-mentality” and join forces with the lowest common denominators of society. And if you are being bullied, TELL SOMEBODY YOU LOVE about the crime and try to learn how to stand up for yourself!
For more information on how you can prevent and put an end to bullying and how you can respond to bullying, visit StopBullying.gov.
Related Reading: Cyber Bully Compassion Crisis and Empathy Deficit (Monica Lewinsky)
