Brony Commits Suicide due to Cyberbullying over a Fanfic

[CC_Maud_Pie 6,431]

Not surprised. Many groups that people make fun of or are considered outcasts usually have incidents like this that happen. Hate is so strong that it can lead to things like bullying.

[PROJECT: Simon 3,954]

Whoever cyber bullied this guy will get punished. Brony committing suicide because of cyber bullying? Thats just terrible.. 

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 41,478]

I don't know what can be done about this kind of thing. It is a subject I have not had much confidence in. I hate bullies like this, yet it seems they will never go away and it might only get worse. I really hope it doesn't, what happened with Adam is a perfect reminder to why. The internet is the perfect shield for these bully people...

[Silver Letter 1,832]

What a horrifying thing. The darkness in some hearts know no restraints.

[Poland_Ball 10]

This is disturbing on so many levels even though this stuff may not be new but it doesn't mean it should happen they had no right to attack him I don't care if it sounded like someone else's fanfic guess what there is better ways to handle that then harass someone to death what really pushes me to tears is that I have thought about committing suicide before I am just sad for this poor man who had to go through this hell these cowards put him through I hope they are caught and given the maximum punishment for their crime

[Neutron Star 21]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2877190/Teenage-Little-Pony-fan-posted-heartbreaking-YouTube-video-APOLOGISING-internet-trolls-tormented-days-threw-train.html

 

Seriously, this cyberbullying has got to stop. Really? People didn't like his fanfic so they cyberbullied him? That is the worst thing a critic can do. I can't even call it criticism. And even after he aplogized, they made fun of trivial crap like his voice. You can't control what your own voice is. They're bullying people over stuff they can't control. 

 

This isn't even about bronies anymore. This is about cyberbullying in general.

The internet has fallen to idiots who don't care about others, all they will do is make us have a bad rep.

 

if I was cyberbullied I'll just pretend that they never said that and move on cause you (the bullies) don't have a life to respect people rightly, it's wrong to say anything like "You should kill yourself." or "You don't belong here!" that's just wrong.

 

It's sad to see a fellow person be bullied like that would cause suicide, I'll always be strong and never listen to those bully us. It's time we stand and end all types of bulling once and for all!

 

 

Ugh. Don't those people have have better things to do than to cyberbully? I leave posts and comments on the internets for curious people to read what I think about something, not to cyberbully! That's not just wrong It's dead wrong!

It's like there's a dark world on the web full of hateful people who just love to bully us and make us feel depressed and suidical, this makes me wanna stand up for once and help those who were bullied.

 

I do have aspergers which is a form of austism which I do have and someone will bully me so bad I'll kill myself, but I know better to ignore them and be strong.

Edited January 28, 2015 by Neutron Star

[Admiral Regulus 2,769]

Now, forgive me for being a heartless jerk for a moment, but there are a few things I have to say:

 

From what I read, the story in question was plagiarized from someone else on the site. That's just... you know, that's one of the things you know you shouldn't do. That gets you banned from most institutions, and even most websites. It's stealing other people's work. Not doing that is just common courtesy, and it's taught to kids since the time they're able to read.

 

Now, let me ask you this. What if this kid stole a bike? What if he stole a bike, and then he was bullied for it, and then he killed himself. Who is really to blame in that situation, and why is this one any different?

 

If that's true—if he really plagiarized—can you really blame that person and/or their friends for getting mad at this guy? Imagine that you wrote a fanfic, and then someone else uploads it under their own name. Of course that doesn't make it okay to bully them, but I wouldn't hold it against you if you're angry over it. I'd probably make snide remarks, too.

 

And then there's the fact that he was dependent on the internet for friends and communication. Yeah... I really question how much the bullies were at fault here. That kind of isolation takes a toll on anyone, and very few people are capable of living like that without getting depressed in the first place. I've been there, and I'm speaking from personal experience on that one.

 

I'm not saying it's the boy's fault, but rather that the perpetrator in this case isn't so cut and dry. Can we really blame the "bullies" in this case...? Can we really say that he wasn't already depressed and ready to commit suicide? You never know, if it wasn't some snarky comment, this may still have happened.

 

If you want to know what I think, it's no one's fault. This is just the product of unfortunate events and circumstances.

 

No matter what, though, everyone loses except the media. The kid's dead. His parents and family have to suffer that loss. The bullies have to live knowing that they instigated his suicide, and will probably forever regret their actions from this day onward. Not a happy story, by any means, unless you're the one writing it and making a profit from the viewership.

Edited December 18, 2014 by Regulus

[Neutral 1,185]

Well from my perspective it's just another case of cyber bullying. We can't stop it from happening, I know that it's horrible to have to see a family suffer for a loss because of bullies on the Internet. But what can you do? This will keep going on and on and on, it won't stop. Cyber bullying is just one of those massive cons to the Internet and why I don't have a YouTube account or make videos. Well r.i.p Adam Smith and may he be cared for in heaven.

[Spagem 505]

It's bad enough that sometimes this happens from anti-bronies, not that I am diminishing the problems those bullied by anti-bronies face, but for this to be coming from within the fandom is sickening.

Indeed. I'm honestly not surprised though.

 

Here's the hard truth. We bronies can deny or ignore it all we want to, but the fact is that the brony fandom is pretty freaking sick. The vast majority don't follow the messages of the show, and we're generally not very nice people. ( Not complaining. I watch it because it's good, not to learn lessons. )

 

Heck, bronies even originated on 4chan, the so called "hell of the internet". Even nowadays I'd say a big chunk of the fandom uses the pony board there ( myself included even ), and it's not a pretty sight.

 

[Sir Hugsalot 9,348]

This is why I hate internet trolls and cyber bullies. They are all so brave in safe distance but most of them would not say a word to him if they saw him irl. 

 

But hate won't change a thing so I will put it aside. 

 

 

All my condolences go to the poor guy, I can't imagine suicide as a solution but with such pressure from people who surrounded him he probably saw no other way out of here I wish anyone could've stopped him and shown him a world in a better way than those jerks. I am not sure what the fanfic was about but even if it was *that* kind of fanfic he did not deserve to be treated like this. Even if it was a worse one with bad grammar or pointless story - he did not deserve that. I can't read article at work, but I will at home just to know the details. But nothing justifies bullying. 

I also hope his family and friends will feel better soon. They should not blame themselves. Suicidal people are often masters in hiding their true emotions. Nobody should blame them for not noticing what was happening. 

 

Maybe there's a chance to do something in memory of that guy? I am no expert in such events, but... 

 

 

 

 

Now, let me ask you this. What if this kid stole a bike? What if he stole a bike, and then he was bullied for it, and then he killed himself. Who is really to blame in that situation, and why is this one any different?

 

One time tab I've been working on for entire month was shamelessly copied and pasted on ultimate-guitar.com with no credits to me. So I can relate. I never bullied the person. I reported the issue and sent link to my own tab on that exact site and it was removed shortly after. Such cases can be sorted out without bullying.

 

What he did was bad, but bullying is not a solution. The guy should've been reported, not pushed around like that. Ironically it made case worse, because now he won't be seen as the one who did something wrong. He will be seen as a victim and barely anyone will care that he copied work of other person.

In the end bullying solved nothing. 

[Osiria 142]

Indeed. I'm honestly not surprised though.

 

Here's the hard truth. We bronies can deny or ignore it all we want to, but the fact is that the brony fandom is pretty freaking sick. The vast majority don't follow the messages of the show, and we're generally not very nice people. ( Not complaining. I watch it because it's good, not to learn lessons. )

 

Heck, bronies even originated on 4chan, the so called "hell of the internet". Even nowadays I'd say a big chunk of the fandom uses the pony board there ( myself included even ), and it's not a pretty sight.

 

bored scootaloo.png

Well many people call themselves bronies just to be funny or trolling.

But even so, the real bronies sometimes make fun of some other social groups too, e.g. goth, emo, etc.

 

If we want to make a difference, let it begin with us.

[AlbaTross 1,586]

One thing I learned about this fanbase when I joined it is that Bronies sometimes get cyber bullied, and I also noticed a high ratio of people suffering from depression happen to like this series. Cyber bullying, like any kind of bullying, is just wrong and only serve to spread hate, and make others feel worse. When someone is on the edge, all it takes is some negative comments to push them over. It's a sad thing, but unfortunately it does happen. I'm glad to be a part of a fanbase that is close knit enough to mourn its fellow members like this. I had a cousin once whose name was also Adam, and I know what it's like for a family to have to go through such a rough time, so I pray for the family of this guy, and hope that the trend of cyber bullying will curve one day.

[Spagem 505]

Well many people call themselves bronies just to be funny or trolling.

But even so, the real bronies sometimes make fun of some other social groups too, e.g. goth, emo, etc.

 

If we want to make a difference, let it begin with us.

Ehhhhh... while there are quite a few people out there who call themselves bronies to troll, I can confidently say most of 4chan's /mlp/ isn't faking it. ( They have too much knowledge of the show. )

 

As for making a difference, I think it would be nice... but near impossible to achieve. Excuse my negativity, but I feel like you can't really fix a fandom that was broken from the start.

[Denim&Venöm 18,963]

Cyberbullying, where both perpetrator and victim are truly sad pieces of work. You know how you avoid cyber bullying? By clicking that X on the top right corner of your screen, going to a different site, or just shutting your damn computer off! It's so simple a concept, yet so frustrating that people are letting themselves be victimized over this!

 

What the hell ever happened to "sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me"? Does that need to be rephrased to "sticks and stones may break my bones but texts, Emails, posts and IMs won't hurt me"? What kind of children are we raising that deeply value the opinions of strangers who are not even in the same room? Getting your jollies by hurting someone your not even int he same room with? How petty can such sadistic satisfaction get?

 

I am not picking on Adam Smith, because this happens to thousands of kids each year. No thick skin, no self confidence, no emotional backbone. It's mind boggling what is wrong with all these kids. Where's the confidence? Where's the will to fight? Where's the sense of self importance or even self preservation?

 

 

Those of you calling for an end to cyber bullying, you're just repeating the words of idealists over the years. Ending this is like trying to end real bullying. It's been going on since the age of Homo erectus. It is a by product of asserting supremacy and dominance over others. Making yourself feel better by bring others down. We are made to look out for ourselves first and foremost. Some just take that to higher levels. 

 

This is similar to my rant on the ferguson riots about racism. Discrimination is socially ingrained. Except rather than classifying a person based on skin color, we are classifying a person based on our own conceptions of social acceptability, combined with our need for supremacy. Putting them in their place, as it's called.

 

We don't like something, we lash out against it. We won't be silenced or ignored. We will be heard. The squeaky wheel gets the grease (and the emptiest barrel makes the most noise). We try to get our emotions and intentions out clear across. It makes us think that we're important, that we have some semblance of power and control over this chaotic world, and over others. And we love power, oh boy do we humans love power. We change how a person acts & behaves, we get to think we're god for that moment. We get our primal dominance asserted.

 

Worst of all, we think we've done some justice to the world, that we've righted some wrong. If people knew bullying was bad, it would stop, right? Bad things make the world a bad place, and us doing bad things would make our surrounding world a bad place, so why would we want to corrupt & ruin our own environment? Answer: We don't. In The back of our minds, we think we're doing something beneficial for ourselves and the world. It's hard to reason with someone when they think they're right. 

 

This, this whole cyber bullying, bullying in general, will never end. It's not a problem. It's a symptom. Of our evolutionary nature clashing with the way we were raised to think and believe and the circumstances we live in now, however pleasant or awful they might be. To get rid of that, you'll have to start early on in how we raise kids from birth to adulthood and it'll have to be done with conscious effort on an astronomical scale. 

 

There are no words to justify the loss of Adam Smith. Nothing I say will make his situation or this broad problem any better. There is no happy ending. 

 

Bullying is a cancer, a malignant one that's been with us since the dawn of our species, and it will only die when we do. 

[boiteporte 591]

Yeah, I have heard about that. This is indeed heartbreaking. Unfortunately, cyberbullying is quite a common issue.

I am not sure it will ever stop. People do not realise that cyberbullying can have tragic consequences.

 

Also, some people think that hiding behind a screen makes them anonymous. This is not the case. Cyberbullying can have serious consequences, not just for the person being bullied but for the one bullying them as well.

Edited December 18, 2014 by boiteporte

[Spagem 505]

@@Denim&Venom, I would brohoof that post a hundred times if I could. I agree with everything you said completely.

 

Fedoras Hats off to you.

[Malinter 3,064]

I've heard some people have deleted there comments on some of his previous vids. Shows what kind of cowardly scum these people are.

[Jeric 46,851]

I normally would not have posted here, as suicide is a personal 3rd rail topic for me and I cannot separate my experience from my views, no matter how hard I have tried. Because of this I will comment once and only once. 

 

I'll just drop these non-directed thoughts right here. Everything biological is chemical, everything psychologically is influenced chemically, not just cognitively. This is why disorders are so difficult to treat, and are prevalent in society. Looking over letters in history there is strong evidence that this has always been the case. Rising complexity and all that. The solution is not as simple as 'grow tougher skin'. Emotional pain can be just as real and dangerous as physical pain. You have to appreciate the complexity of human physiology. My wife has over 12 years of education in this subject and even she admits that so much in how emotions, social influence, cognition, and physiology interact is just being discovered. the DSM is a living document in a way due to this. 

 

Regarding this specific situation, regardless of the specifics on why the interactions turned sour, Adam Smith did not deserve to be made to feel like a lesser person. Mistakes happen, and in the grand scheme of things, mistakes like this do not warrant the reaction that was received. There is also he sad fact that this is not external bullying from just non Bronies. I see this incident less about the stigma of being a Brony, and more about bullying in general, and the influence that anonymity and not seeing the humanity over the digital space brings to the table. 

 

All of that said ... in all the hell that I know exists in this world, and the pain that many feel at the hands of others, I still believe Anne Frank was right. I will carry that view to my last breath. 

 

 

 

“It's really a wonder that I haven't dropped all my ideals, because they seem so absurd and impossible to carry out. Yet I keep them, because in spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart.” 
? Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl

 

[Ashen Pathfinder 16,161]

@

 

In all through this tragedy I have been looking for the right words to express how I really feel, and I think you pretty much hit the nail on the head.

 

The answers we seek are a lot more complex than we sometimes want to realize. No kid deserves to go through the absolute torment he did; none of them. We make mistakes and we do things that we regret, but that should not lead down the road he eventually traveled.

 

My sympathies to his family & friends. I can't imagine the pain that's in their hearts now...

[flutterfan12 20]

This  is just saddening  and  yet we as a society,   still  don't  how to grasp cyber bullying  because  it's  such a new concept for people that didn't  grow up with the internet.  Having experienced  a similar  experience earlier  and yes, I was  targeted by some  blank flank  because  I love MLP,   I  was scared  and couldn't go to sleep  all that night. And those  person's  words haunted me  and left  a damaging  impact  on me for quite some time to the point of me blocking  said  site, where I was being targeted.  I know people  like to say that  suicide  is the coward's way out but  when this young man  had so many people  ganging up on him, to him,  he must have felt as though there was no other option.  It's  sad and frustrating and  this just convinces  me that we need to find  a better way to handle this matter.  I don't  know what it would be  but hearing stories like  this or  the one from earlier this year,  where the young boy attempted to hang himself because his peers were mocking him because he liked MLP are heartbreaking.  

[Castle Bleck 19,361]

Vaya con Dios, Senor Smith.

Edited December 18, 2014 by A.V.

[Scootaloodle 1,622]

That’s pretty awful that he felt he had to go as far as to kill himself because of some mean people on the internet.

 

Those bullies should be metaphorically beaten to a pulp quite frankly.

 

This news had ruined my day.

 

R.I.P Adam Smith, my condolences to his family

[Lightning Dash 327]

Bullying is seriously a problem we have nowadays and it's not something that will ever go away. It is saddening when it gets as far as suicide. No one deserves to get bullied like that. Though there's little justice that can been done here now, I'm sure it will leave a scar for his parents. I myself feel heartbroken over this and that's saying something coming from me. It's upsetting just to know that a fellow Brony actually went through a lot of shit and now he's gone. It's just as bad as the bullies/trolls killing him themselves because that's basically what they've done.

 

What the hell ever happened to "sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me"? Does that need to be rephrased to "sticks and stones may break my bones but texts, Emails, posts and IMs won't hurt me"? What kind of children are we raising that deeply value the opinions of strangers who are not even in the same room? Getting your jollies by hurting someone your not even int he same room with? How petty can such sadistic satisfaction get?

 

I am not picking on Adam Smith, because this happens to thousands of kids each year. No thick skin, no self confidence, no emotional backbone. It's mind boggling what is wrong with all these kids. Where's the confidence? Where's the will to fight? Where's the sense of self importance or even self preservation?

I see what you're saying. When you think about it, it does sound foolish to worry about stuff that goes on over the internet, but it's not like that for ever single user. A lot of people do value their internet life as they do their actual life. Some people are sensitive to what's said towards them. We're all different. Some of us can take any shit we get online, but there are those that see an offense online as being no different from an offense in real life and that's why this stuff happens.

 

Bullies/trolls, they don't care, they'll do anything for the kicks and giggles. If they see a sensitive user that's easily hurt, they'll keep at them. The only thing that can be done is how we deal with these things as individuals. If you don't reply back to a troll or show you're upset over what's been said, you won't fall victim to cyber-bullying. The problem is, not everyone can. Some do take things to heart, we can't blame them for being sensitive.

 

Regardless, it's still sad to see this. Even sadder knowing it was caused over some heartless idiots on the other end of a PC. I'm not going to blame him for being over-sensitive. Sensitive or not, the blame goes to the pieces of low lives that gave him all this grief.

 

----={0}=----

Now I don't know about you guys/girls but I've always seen Bronies as being one big family and seeing as we've just lost a Brother, may he rest in piece. Never forget your family.

[Dark Horse 12,961]

This is just sad.. very sad only. A grim reminder of the darker sides of the internet and the people who just have no consideration for the one's they are afflicting with grief. Cyberbullies just seem to think that as long as they're shielded by anonymity, any and all consequences are irrelevant. It honestly makes my blood boil that some could be so selfish as to destroy someone else's life just for their own petty feelings.

 

My thoughts and condolences with this poor man's family. I hope at the least it can continue to bring to light the ever-persistent issue of bullying.

[Lucky Star 972]

I feel that if you plan to put content onto the internet you should be prepared for negative comments, but a lot of people go in thinking that every will love what they have and are shocked when they find out otherwise.

 

I don't think this should have happened, suicide is never the answer to social problems!

 

we're never going to fix the problem with bullies though! we need to do something realistic, at least with cyber bullies, we need to make sure that people under stand the these are just words, that they should just ignore them, and if we see a person being cyber bullied we should take the time to give them a kind word and not wait until they've died to do this kind of thing.