By Olivia Alsept-Ellis |
You’re scrolling through your Facebook feed. Amidst the usual hodgepodge of Facebook activity is a name – wait, it’s almost identical to your name. This post is directed at you! Perhaps, at first, you think someone has posted something funny about you on the unofficial “Confessions of a Pilot” Facebook page. But after you read the paragraph-long rant, you realize this post is not in good humor.
This post is trying to tear you down.
Through the threatening language and a malicious tone, an anonymous someone has just violated you with insults, profanity and a cruel reference to your medical condition.
This is what Sunday morning brought senior Anndres Olson. After being contacted by The Beacon, she agreed to share her story – not out of vengeance, but to support others who have suffered from cyberbullying and to bring awareness of the issue.
“I went from being half asleep to dry heaving,” Olson said. “I just looked at myself and asked, ‘Why would someone react in this way? Have I said anything? … Should I take responsibility for someone’s feelings?’”
The post not only insulted her character and her physical appearance, but slandered her position as an ASUP senator and belittled her chronic medical condition, rheumatoid arthritis. The Beacon has chosen not to quote the post due to its hateful content.
“It insinuated that my physical disability wasn’t true,” Olson said. “This is something I live with. The message also said that ‘I hope it spreads to your brain,’ insinuating that I’d die.”
These violations were “jarring,” she said, because she doesn’t reveal this intimate knowledge with just anyone.
The anonymous post also attacked Olson in another, unspoken way.
“My brother committed suicide when I was a freshman,” Olson said. “So, this is a really upsetting topic within my family.”
Since bullying is frequently associated with suicide, Olson’s family is particularly sensitive to the issue and felt being open about this experience could help prevent future bullying. Olson said she knew the perpetrators were UP students, once friends, who had access to her family history – meaning that they would have known that her family has suffered the loss of her brother, Josh.
After she saw the post, Olson quickly pulled herself together and called her mother, Shannon Lambertson, for support.
Lambertson was leaving aerobics when she noticed she had received multiple calls and texts from her daughter. Olson sent her a screenshot of the post.
“The first thing I thought of was how pathetic that post really was,” Lambertson said. “I mean, of course Anndres feels hurt and violated, but it says so much more about the poster. It was so embarrassing for (the cyberbullies). I thought, ‘Well, thank goodness this is anonymous because otherwise they would be outed for just being classless.’”
Lambertson supported her daughter, not only to make it through Sunday, but to make sense of what had just happened.
“I was upset initially but, with the help of my family, I realized that it doesn’t reflect anything about me,” Olson said. “It reflects someone who is drunk and angry. But someone (who’s cyberbullied) who doesn’t have the support probably could not deal with that in a healthy way, or could not deal with it as quickly, or maybe would not have the resources available.”
However, the sting of such a personal violation wasn’t and isn’t going to fade anytime soon.
“I don’t think (the perpetrators) realize how much this has impacted my mom who has had to deal with this twice now. And myself,” Olson said.
Lambertson said her family’s reaction to her daughter’s harassment was intensified by losing Josh.
“Maybe I am quick to panic because of what we’ve gone through,” Lambertson said. “But this was immediately something for us to take seriously because it just hit home for us so hard.”
TAKING THE FIRST STEP
The cyberbullies hid behind the anonymity of the Internet, so Olson and her family were unsure where to begin. They first aimed at the “Confessions” Facebook page, which is moderated by more than one UP student, to have the vicious post taken down.
“My mother was really on the ball with taking action and talking to the (Facebook page) admins. The post was pulled within 45 minutes of getting posted and I got a hold of the (page) admin. They were able to give me the IP address of the person who posted it. But IP addresses can change, day to day, so it wasn’t known if I could find the person based on the address,” Olson said.
Lambertson was initially disappointed in the response she received from the students who run the “Confessions” page.
“They said, ‘Sorry for that (messed) up post, I was drunk and still am. Haha!’” said Lambertson.
She continued a dialogue with the anonymous page administrator, who eventually apologized. She said that, in the end, she didn’t blame them for the post.
“It’s just a forum, and nice or humorous people could use it for such,” Lambertson said. “And cruel or mean-hearted people will ruin it for everyone else.”
Soon afterwards, the Facebook page was taken down.
As of Wednesday, Olson had not contacted Public Safety.
But Public Safety Director Gerald Gregg said victims of Internet harassment can reach out to either Public Safety or the Office of Residence Life.
“If someone is being bullied or harassed or annoyed by electronic communication, we would encourage them to come see us,” Gregg said. “We will do what we can to help them. In many cases, you know who it is. And we can help them deal with the person responsible for it in the appropriate manner. But we’re happy to have them come to us even if they don’t know who it is, so we can have it documented.”
Gregg said he is aware of the “Confessions of a Pilot” Facebook page and others like it, although Public Safety doesn’t monitor them regularly. He was already concerned with the anonymous platform the page gives the posters.
“This is the problem with these things: you don’t know who the (page) administrator is, who is screening these things and deciding to post them, and you don’t know who is posting them. But if we hear about it, we will take it seriously, try to investigate it and and put a stop to it,” Gregg said.
Public Safety would pass the information on to Residence Life, where it would be adjudicated through the student conduct process.
Olson and her family are speaking to Portland Police about the incident, but are unsure of their next steps. Oregon has a state law that makes “electronic harassment” illegal. However, the family said they are interested in hearing out the aggressors to help understand the reasons behind the attack.
“I don’t think it’d be okay to let (them) off the hook,” Lambertson said. “I would feel horrible if they turned around and did it to someone else. And I would feel guilty. But I wanted to make sure (our involvement) wasn’t coming from a place of revenge for my daughter, but from a place of protecting others.”
Olson also thinks cyberbullying should not be taken lightly.
“I want to feel safe on campus. I don’t want to feel like they’re more bold now that they’ve gotten away with this or that they could do this to other people,” Olson said. “It would be different if they had apologized from the beginning and said it was wrong.”
ANONYMOUS AGGRESSION
Anonymous online platforms like the “Confessions” page can encourage people to write hateful content they would never say publicly.
“People feel bold when they think it’s anonymous and that, hopefully, the other person would see it,” Olson said. “But people have to understand that, just because it’s online and they don’t necessarily have to see how the other person reacts, doesn’t make it less powerful for the person to receive that message.”
Olson thinks some UP students don’t realize the gravity of Internet harassment.
“People don’t know enough about what cyberbullying looks like for the victims and the offenders,” Olson said. “I think maybe a workshop or more public information about what it looks like would be more helpful.”
Although the “Confessions” page that contained the attack on Olson is no longer online, a new version has surfaced. Gregg warned future page administrators who persist in creating “Confessions” pages to have a discerning eye when reviewing posts.
“If there is (a page) administrator screening the posts, there is absolutely no excuse for posting something as nasty and venomous as that,” Gregg said.
THE AFTERMATH
At this point, the family is trying to take this day-to-day. Lambertson said she wants to understand why someone would hurt her daughter.
“What was the goal here? Was it to really to try to squash someone?” she said. “Do you need to make them feel ugly to be happy? I know this might be shocking, but if they’re hanging from the light fixture, then would you be happy? When does it stop?”
Olson has been staying with her family in Battle Ground, Wash. since the incident for emotional support. In going public with their story, she and her family hope they can help prevent this from happening to someone else.
“I don’t feel like this makes just me feel uncomfortable,” Olson said. “This is against a community.”
