Word for The Day: Cyber-bullying

Word for The Day: Cyber-bullying

It has been some time since I have addressed the word; cyber-bullying.

In 2006 and 2008, teenagers were the victims of cyber-bullying in Missouri. Those incidents brought attention to the lack of laws to punish the criminals having damaging effects on the lives of others. 

Today, there are about 45 states that have laws in their State's to legally address this crime. Before the cyber-bullying laws were put into place, teenagers got the word out among their peers to stop being cruel.

So, here it is 2021, and cyber-bullying is widespread among adults especially when politics has a voice in this abuse utilizing tech instruments and social media platforms. 

Arkansas is one of the states that has a cyber-bullying law (Ark. Code Ann. § 5-41-108.) Is it time for adults to wake-up and realize that it is not just young people that utilize their devices (internet, social media, phones, letters and gaming) that causes harm to others?

Even First Lady Melania Trump attempted to have bullying her personal project but, it got lost in the news cycles. So, what is cyber-bullying?

Definition? Cyber-bullying or cyber-harassment is a form of bullying or harassment using electronic means. Cyber-bullying and cyber-harassment are also known as online bullying. It has become increasingly common, especially among teenagers, as the digital sphere has expanded and technology has advanced. Wikipedia https://g.co/kgs/GkaQs4

What are the causes and effect of cyber-bullying? Like all forms of bullying, cyber-bullying causes psychological, emotional and physical stress. Each person's response to being bullied is unique, but research has shown some general tendencies. StopBullying.gov reports that youth who are bullied have a higher risk of depression and anxiety.

What is the purpose of cyber-bullying? Cyber-bullying is the use of digital-communication tools (like the Internet and cell phones) to make another person feel angry, sad, or scared. Online bullying is like in-person bullying in two key ways. It's done on purpose, and it tends to happen more than once.. understood.org

My message to seniors and young adults; cyber-bullying is not just about oppression of teenagers and their silly, impulsive manners. There are adults that utilize all of the new telecommunication platforms. These tech platforms are harboring cyber-bullying offences as well as breaking open meeting laws, which were created  to insure that citizens were informed, able to participate and elected officials followed government procedures.

Why do any of us continue to address the wrongs and continue the pursuit of Hope and being good mentors?

My answer to that question are the words spoken, to a group of journalists during a dark time of misinformation, by John Seigenthaler, "enduring values matter."

rls

Update editing March 8, 2023

Word for the Day: Oppression

Word for the Day: Oppression

"a situation in which people are governed in an unfair and cruel way and prevented from having opportunities and freedom"

Cambridge Dictionary

rls

Update editing March 8, 2023

Blog Post: Littlemouse's Vision Quest journey

Littlemouse's Vision Quest journey

1. Gathering together all the locations I have utilized over the past twenty-years.
2. Word for Day is in draft for the moment.
3. Sized a masthead to fit Creekside News Journal's RSS feed and published the first short article for a local news item hosted at the Creekside News Journal (CNj).
4. And the final assignment is to gather facts together after receiving replies to a long list of FOIAs in order to write short articles regarding local governments. One fact that is clear, government needs to be transparent and reporters need to write What is transparent. Well, let's see how long it takes to sort through a tangled mess of mis-information provided by Pandemic isolation and many, many ZOOM meetings. 

It has become difficult to compete with little social groups of people that pass a story around and then utilizes a social media location where more isolated individuals grab a hold of the misinformation and add more little stitches to the story and what one is left with is the worst Quilt ever. The grandmothers should be appalled at this sloppiness. Who knows; was this what developed the Crazy Quilt?

 

rls

Update editing March 8, 2023

Word for the Day: Social Media

Word for the Day: Social Media

Social media usage for advertising in the U.S.A. is overseen by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC.) 

Social media usage by government officials in the U.S.A. is overseen by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC.) 

Government Social Media Policies are recommended for elected officials as well as their staff. Elected officials need to comply with campaigning laws and open meeting laws. 

rls

Update editing March 8, 2023

Word for the Day: Gerrymander

Word for the Day: Gerrymander

In 1812, Eldridge Gerry was the Mayor of Boston and signed a bill that created a partisan voting district. Gerrymandering is the political term, named after the Mayor, and the term is considered to carry negative connotations including corruption of the democratic process.

The term will be used most often when voting districts are re-drawn utilizing the data collected and provided by the Bureau of the Census and when the new voting blocks result in greater advantage for some and unfair representation for others; Gerrymandering is the word of choice.

In 25 states, the state legislature has the primary responsibility for creating a redistricting plan and in many of these states the state governor has the final approval.

"On June 27, 2019, the Supreme Court, by a 5 to 4 vote, ruled that claims of unconstitutional partisan gerrymandering are not subject to federal court review because they present non-justifiable political questions, removing the issue from the federal court's purview." 

Congressional Research Service 

https://crsreports.congress.gov

LSB10324

update 5/ 15/2021 

The community where I reside became an incorporated town and then a city all within less than a year; during the Covid outbreak. At a workshop meeting, procedures were discussed for the creation of Wards. The following information was being researched and here is an example that I found at MRSC in Washington state.

https://mrsc.org/Home/Explore-Topics/Governance/Offices-and-Officers/Council-Election-by-Wards-or-Districts.aspx

Election Procedures

" Council candidates must be a resident of the ward they wish to represent. Candidates are elected by the voters within the ward at the primary election to select the finalists who will appear on the general election ballot for election by all voters in the city." 

rls

Update editing March 8, 2023

Word for the Day: Special Meeting

Word for the Day: Special Meeting

In Arkansas; the government official calling a special meeting shall notify the newspapers, radio stations, television stations and anyone that has requested to be notified. Notification shall be made at least two (2) hours before the meeting takes place in order that the public shall have representatives at the meeting. The time and location for the meeting will be announced.

A special meeting is a topic meeting. 

The reason for the meeting is to be announced by the official calling for the meeting.

A quorum must be a known factor by the official calling the meeting.

No other topics are discussed and public comments remain on the specific topic.

Word for the Day: Executive Session

Word for the Day

Executive Session

Arkansas Open Meeting Laws state:

(c) (1) Executive sessions will be permitted only for the purpose of considering employment, appointment, promotion, demotion, disciplining, or resignation of any public officer or employee. 

The specific purpose of the executive session shall be announced in public before going into executive session.

Word for the Day: Volunteer

Word for the Day

Volunteer

I use to look upon this idea of volunteering as an action to assist someone or something for the greater good. An action with NO strings attached. The recipient had the final say on whether to accept or not. 

The offering came in many forms such as a meal, a ride, a reader, a listener, a helper on the farm, a babysitter, a coach, etc. 

Gestures or offers extending a hand of hope for the moment.  

An offer with no strings attached and no monetary gain. 

The common thread for a volunteer is Time.

rls

Update editing March 8, 2023

Word For The Day: Plagiarism, Copyright Infringement, Intellectual Property

Word For The Day: Plagiarism, Copyright Infringement, Intellectual Property

Originally posted by me: Littlemouse Vision Quest™ in a Ning Group on Feb. 28, 2010

Plagiarism: Usage of someone else's words without permission.

There are people or organizations that will give permission to use their words provided there is a citation giving them credit.

If you copy someone else's words or even definitions and paste it somewhere else; you are plagiarizing and that is very easy to see on the Internet and you could be banned from a search engine such as Google or start receiving notices to "cease and desist."

In addition,© copyright belongs to the author or person with the original idea expressed in print.

Don't copy from a forum blog board like this one and place people's words someplace else.
These comments of mine will be time stamped the moment I hit submit. If you were to copy the information to place in your personal blog then you are doing two things: Copyright Infringement and Plagiarism and some small business people might scream theft of Intellectual Property.

All a person needs to do is take any sentence they have written and place it in a search engine. (Sometimes I use the whole first paragraph.) If it is indexed out there it will show up. It will tell you everyone who has lifted and using another's words and the time stamps and even the cache link (or last time crawled) will give you an idea who is the original content owner. (At least on the Internet.)

Update editing: March 8, 2023