Charlotte Dawson found deadf

[Wolfinsheepsclothing]

was sad to hear http://nz.news.yahoo.com/a/-/top-sto...-dead-in-home/

[Vincenzo]

I remember seeing an interview with her last year in the middle of the maelstrom that circulated after she was bullied on FB and by tweets. With tears in her eyes she referred to herself as just a stupid ol' moll. She then became the face for action against online bullying - congrats to her!

This is one Ol' man who will miss that Ol Moll - Rest in Peace sweet lady.


Vincenzo

[nstg8a]

Yeah its a pretty sad indictment on just how pathetic we have become as a society when so many people who are suffering from mental illness are pushed until they break, rather than given all the help they need.

She certainly had her flaws, as we all do, but no one deserves the vitriol she attracted.

R.i.p

[TheAussieStig30]

A LOOOOONG time ago, I commented on twitter, Dawson said something on TV about someone not having natural beauty. I replied saying she was hardly a judge of natural beauty considering the work she had done. We had a brief exchange back and forwards where she was pretty bloody abusive, she RT'd me to her followers and I was smashed by her fans, then her and I sorted it out, I apologized but said it wasn't fair of her to criticize a younger person on facial looks, I think she called me fat at one stage, then that was that, we had a joke, then some. Nigel Perry? Hairdresser sent shout 15 tweets to me raging on and on, I asked the bloke who he was and he just kept going. Anyway, there is no doubt in my mind her death will lead to an online bullying law or something, however, it should also start a 'TV personalities should be responsible when they say something stupid' law and a 'take a break from social media' law. If someone hassles you on twitter, don't feed the fire,block them. If it keeps going, take a break. If it keep going, report them, whatever, don't reply. Don't feed the fire, don't rt them trying to get support and have your friends haze them, fanning the fire more.

Regarding Ms Dawson, it's a shame she took her life, she was a bubbly personality who needed help.

[AndyXR6T]

It feels as though schools have only just gotten a hold on face to face bullying after all these years, but now this new wave of cyber bullying is here it's taking too many lives.
Hopefully society can now put its real world programs together with cyber bullying and stop this bullshit.
It's easy to say "just ignore it" but that's not an answer

[wookie836]

i dont know why she didnt leave twitter after her first public break down and suicide attempt where she posted pics of her hand full of pills. she seemed to crave the attention towards the end.

it must be hard when youre a 'tough love' personality on a show whos dished out her fair share of bullying online outside of the show and then being a victim of bullying herself. she definitely wasnt perfect but the media is starting to wipe her slate clean and forget about her past transgressions.
sadly she could have done so much more for the cyber bullying, depression and mental health causes alive but made her decision.

DONT FEED THE TROLLS

[V8UTE]

Originally Posted by wookie836

i dont know why she didnt leave twitter after her first public break down and suicide attempt where she posted pics of her hand full of pills. she seemed to crave the attention towards the end.

it must be hard when youre a 'tough love' personality on a show whos dished out her fair share of bullying online outside of the show and then being a victim of bullying herself. she definitely wasnt perfect but the media is starting to wipe her slate clean and forget about her past transgressions.
sadly she could have done so much more for the cyber bullying, depression and mental health causes alive but made her decision.

DONT FEED THE TROLLS

I agree. I feel sad for her losing her life but it does seem like a first world problem. Theres people in the world struggling to get food to survive the day and we have people commit suicide over a twitter feed. I seriously don't get it but RIP Charlotte.

[TheAussieStig30]

Yes, agreed. After the first attempt and her management dumping her, it should have been the time her family closed her social media and sought help for her.

[wookie836]

Originally Posted by V8UTE

I agree. I feel sad for her losing her life but it does seem like a first world problem. Theres people in the world struggling to get food to survive the day and we have people commit suicide over a twitter feed. I seriously don't get it but RIP Charlotte.

yeah the media coverage of dead celebs over the real issues in the world really annoys me personally, but the death of one is a tragedy and the death of millions just statistics. even now discussing her unfortunate choice we are perpetuating it instead of talking and bringing awareness about the rest of the worlds problems, like venezuela, ukraine etc


heres the other side of her story, i grew up with the mantra sticks and stones and when you turn the internet off and walk away from social media, amazing things happen.
http://www.throng.com.au/2012/08/the...er-abuse-saga/

[tweeked]

Unfortunately i think the fight against bullying itself is futile - and aimed at the wrong point.

The energies would be better spent teaching people to be more resilient. A person who shows strength in the face of bullying wont be bullied for long. Unfortunately we are trying to treat a sympton of todays society, rather than the cause. Bullying is becoming more of an issue because of our "no winners/no losers" ideology pushed through our education system as a starting point - and then through the other stages of life.

My kids have had trouble with this at stages, I have never gone back to the school or direct to a bullier - just worked on showing my kids it doesn't matter what unimportant people think, say or do. They have come out the other end much stronger, and the "problems" went away.

All in my opinion of course.

[2011G6E]

Farmers out west are shooting themselves after they finish killing their drought affected cattle...no one gives a stuff and the media couldn't care less. But some pretty blonde who half the people haven't even heard of and is famous for being famous offs herself and the world is coming to an end. Says it all about our society...

[wookie836]

Originally Posted by tweeked

Unfortunately i think the fight against bullying itself is futile - and aimed at the wrong point.

The energies would be better spent teaching people to be more resilient. A person who shows strength in the face of bullying wont be bullied for long. Unfortunately we are trying to treat a sympton of todays society, rather than the cause. Bullying is becoming more of an issue because of our "no winners/no losers" ideology pushed through our education system as a starting point - and then through the other stages of life.

My kids have had trouble with this at stages, I have never gone back to the school or direct to a bullier - just worked on showing my kids it doesn't matter what unimportant people think, say or do. They have come out the other end much stronger, and the "problems" went away.

All in my opinion of course.

BINGO
think how much better people could handle any situation if they were taught to overcome bullying as opposed to not having bullying around. i suffered in school with it and i see more people seem to have a harder time dealing with it these days [well we hear about suicides a lot more due to the fast communication at our disposal] as those affected are not taught how to handle the situation. bullying can be prevalent in so many different forms and levels.

If charlotte was taught how to handle the online bullying as opposed to trying to stop it from happening in the first place im sure shed be here today and we wouldnt be talking of it.

[BPXR6T]

I don't get this. I thought it was only 14yr olds that got upset by crap on social media. I mean, she was an adult. Why not just switch it off. I guess in the end she killed herself because of more than what kids said on Facebook or Twitter...

[davenl5l]

depression goes deeper than social media . sadly it is usually the straw that breaks the camel's back . meanwhile our governments are drastically cutting back on mental health services . sad really !!!

[jpblue1000]

I'm guessing when we were kids, assuming most of you are actually real adult aged, the bullying stopped when we left school or if we were unlucky when we got home. (ignoring in home abuses here)
Today that bullying transcends the sanctity of home via, email, facebook, and twitter et al.
what for us was black eye, stolen lunch money or verbal, racial, other abusiveness for 8 hours a day has become or has the potential to be 24 hour enmasse criticism and torment as more people jump on the abuse 'bandwagon'.
I don't have any answers but can see how the pressure mounts to the point some people find a different solution.

JP

[Lotte]

Since when was mental health a first world problem?
I think people need to realise that twitbook and faceter are usually only the straw that broke the camels back in this instance.

Resilience is all well and good to be taught, but there is only so much resilience someone with depression/bipolar/etc can muster (trust me I know, I suffer from depression and I have a point I get to where it gets to much, that I know would be better if I didn't have a pre existing condition). How about people teach their kids not to be *********, then they won't grow into ******** adults; teach our kids how to deal with their problems rather than lash out at someone they see as weaker.

[Vincenzo]

Originally Posted by 2011G6E

Farmers out west are shooting themselves after they finish killing their drought affected cattle...no one gives a stuff and the media couldn't care less. But some pretty blonde who half the people haven't even heard of and is famous for being famous offs herself and the world is coming to an end. Says it all about our society...

It is not my intention to start a war of words. You claim no one cares about a dead farmer yet we praise a dead celebrity. Unless you are in the loop you won't hear of it. If a death is reported that was a suicide care is taken not to mention the big "S". Until you said something about the farmers I was unaware it was happening. Not in my circle of knowledge.

Let me ask you a question, what is the biggest killer of young Aboriginal people in the NT - the answer "Suicide". They miss their friend, relative so much they just want to be with them. Does anybody care.

During my time as an Ambulance Officer (15 years) I attended more than my fair share of them. Part of the problem is the media won't say it was Suicide for fear of copy cat proceedings.

I bumped into the Commissioner of Police at the Post Office the other day and thanked him for his stance on reporting Suicide. He believes, as do I, it needs to be brought out more into the open and not be a thing that is like the elephant in the room and no one speaks of.

Just another point of view


Cheers Vincenzo

[Stefan]

Originally Posted by 2011G6E

Farmers out west are shooting themselves after they finish killing their drought affected cattle...no one gives a stuff and the media couldn't care less. But some pretty blonde who half the people haven't even heard of and is famous for being famous offs herself and the world is coming to an end. Says it all about our society...

Stupid post. a thread about Charlot Dawson what does it have to do with farmers shooting themselves?

How many threads have you started to discuss our farmers plight, show me the link. What have you done to help them?

So even when the poor chick offs herself, some trolls can't help them selves and still feel the need to lay the boot in.

RIP

[blueoval]

I realize this is a strong topic by the look of these comments. I cant see this thread lasting much longer to be honest.

A person who seriously and secretly needed help has committed suicide and all we can do is B**** and moan about the person's personality or whose/whats to blame.

It would be nice to show some respect and an ounce of compassion for the deceased and their families for at least 24hrs before laying the blame on anyone.

[chamb0]

Originally Posted by wookie836

heres the other side of her story, i grew up with the mantra sticks and stones and when you turn the internet off and walk away from social media, amazing things happen.
http://www.throng.com.au/2012/08/the...er-abuse-saga/

Originally Posted by wookie836

i dont know why she didnt leave twitter after her first public break down and suicide attempt where she posted pics of her hand full of pills. she seemed to crave the attention towards the end.

it must be hard when youre a 'tough love' personality on a show whos dished out her fair share of bullying online outside of the show and then being a victim of bullying herself. she definitely wasnt perfect but the media is starting to wipe her slate clean and forget about her past transgressions.
sadly she could have done so much more for the cyber bullying, depression and mental health causes alive but made her decision.

DONT FEED THE TROLLS

Bullying behaviour should always be challenged, whether in the schoolyard or in adult life. I'd hate to see this descend into victim blaming. Bullies will target a perceived vulnerability and the victim may already have issues with self confidence, depression, isolation etc. Framing this as a problem for the victim to sort out themselves will only result in yet another unnecessary burden for them to struggle with, as they come to believe that it's really their fault for not being strong enough to cope with it.

My teacher relatives say that the 'sticks and stones' saying is wishful thinking at best, and uselessly unhelpful. Words are powerful weapons and can potentially hurt far more than physical bullying, perhaps especially for girls. Words wield the power to isolate, degrade and damage someone to their very core. Pychologists tell us that words have the power to eventually shape a person's behaviour and beliefs about themselves especially when repeated. As a kinder teacher my partner teaches the bullied child resilience and creative solutions to combat mild bullying, but it's always combined with dialogue with the bully to effectively cut it off at the source.

This isn't about playground bullies though but a woman who endured vicious hatred from hundreds of people - it's awful to read what people are capable of. Read some of the material posted by an endless parade of people and put yourself in her shoes - it's disgusting. The effects of bullying and harassing behaviour over social media cannot always be simply switched off or shrugged away. Relentless attackers and stalkers just generally continue the abuse (i.e. through making new pages etc) even if the victim deactivates, so the victim is aware that material about them is still being viewed by their social groups in their absence, adding to their sense of powerlessness. If it were easy to avoid surely we wouldn't see this sort of thing happening.

I've never heard of Charlotte before this. But it looks like she had been doing good work in the anti-bullying field (with an organisation that believes equipping and supporting victims is important), was open about her struggles in an attempt to help others and tried to assert herself to her attackers. It's worth mentioning that in one of her interviews she said that she'd confronted someone over twitter in relation to the sickening abuse of one of Charlotte's followers, a woman that had lost her partner and was in a fragile state of grief. The abuser just responded that she should be able to handle criticsm. So in their warped view they were justified because it was in fact the victim's fault for not being strong enough to cope. At what point do we believe the personal responsibility of the abuser becomes a key issue?

Originally Posted by 2011G6E

Farmers out west are shooting themselves after they finish killing their drought affected cattle...no one gives a stuff and the media couldn't care less. But some pretty blonde who half the people haven't even heard of and is famous for being famous offs herself and the world is coming to an end. Says it all about our society...

Every injustice and every problem deserves attention... Suicide involving social media harassment is an issue that needs airing out. So too does the tragic desperation and suicide of farmers. Yes it's humanly possible to give a strong stuff about both circumstances at once. Both have a common thread - the person's feeling of utter powerlessness to find a way out of their situation and we can have total empathy for the plight of both. It's not constructive to reduce this issue by playing groups of vulnerable people off against one another in a simplistic popularity contest over who is more deserving of our attention. Indeed commercial media need to pick up their game and publicise rural mental health issues more widely. I've noticed the ABC certainly already do. The same can be said as well for harassing behaviour. Sometimes high profile cases can effect positive change (if it's a signpost pointing to a wider underlying issue). For this reason I think we also really needed to hear the recent story of the suicide of the legendary top gun shearer Steve Handley. Or was he also distracting attention?

[Road_Warrior]

Originally Posted by Stefan

Stupid post. a thread about Charlot Dawson what does it have to do with farmers shooting themselves?

How many threads have you started to discuss our farmers plight, show me the link. What have you done to help them?

So even when the poor chick offs herself, some trolls can't help them selves and still feel the need to lay the boot in.

RIP

I'm not defending him, but I think what he is getting at is the media hysteria that followed the tragic news.

Is the media hysteria a good thing, to highlight issues surrounding bullying, depression, suicide etc, or is it a case of them simply being a pack of parasites making a big noise to boost ratings?

I don't know the answer, all I know is the lady is deceased, people will miss her but unfortunately she isnt the first, and won't be the last.

[Revolver]

Originally Posted by tweeked

Unfortunately i think the fight against bullying itself is futile - and aimed at the wrong point.

The energies would be better spent teaching people to be more resilient. A person who shows strength in the face of bullying wont be bullied for long. Unfortunately we are trying to treat a sympton of todays society, rather than the cause. Bullying is becoming more of an issue because of our "no winners/no losers" ideology pushed through our education system as a starting point - and then through the other stages of life.

My kids have had trouble with this at stages, I have never gone back to the school or direct to a bullier - just worked on showing my kids it doesn't matter what unimportant people think, say or do. They have come out the other end much stronger, and the "problems" went away.

All in my opinion of course.

I though prevention was better than cure?

As someone who has experienced it, long before all this social media stuff. Resilient? Ha. Most continue regardless of which way you handle it. Walk away and you are considered weak and they continue because your an easy target. Respond in kind and they eat it up. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

So how do you stop it? Kill it before it starts.

Logical to me.

[Lotte]

One of the best ways my teacher mates have gotten the concept of every action makes a change is to do this:

Give each member of the class a piece of paper.
Tell them to scrunch it up.
Now flatten it out and apologise to it.
Has the apology fixed it? No.

A lot of them have found that kids don't understand that the things they say CAN and DO have a lasting effect on a person. When they explain bullying like this, quite a few lightbulbs click on. Some don't.
A few of them are also trying to proactively work with bullies to get them the help they need; and try to suss out who's being a bully because they're suffering at home/have insecurities of their own etc, and those that are just downright shitheads. The lashing out is most often due to having personal issues themselves, that they can't handle. And so they provide similar support and coping mechanisms to those kids lashing out, as they do with the kids being bullied.
While I don't condone bullying, I know for a fact that looking back 90% of the bullies at my high school (at least) had some serious home troubles (some as bad as physical/sexual abuse); and if someone had picked up on that and dealt with it, rather than the age old, "detention, after school detention, suspension, jesus we have to expel you?" those kids might have turned out a lot better.

[stev3n]

I feel sorry for her family. Suicide is a very selfish action.
It would have been much easier to quit facebook and twitter, get outside and enjoy your life. If you start to worry about what other idiots believe the downhill slope is very steep.

[stev3n]

Never entertain an idiot

[Lotte]

If you genuinely think it was just facebook and twitter that pushed her to that point, you're a highly ignorant human being.

It's equally as selfish for loved ones of a person who's in that state of mind to want them to stay alive. I've been touched by the suicide of a loved one, and knowing the anguish; lack of help; and eventually hopelessness he suffered; I wouldn't want him to be here just to please the rest of us. Like many other illnesses, mental illness can go it's own version of terminal.

[UberKnee]

Honestly considering all the messed up **** that happens daily, a Z list celeb who tried to be a troll on the internet but in turn got out trolled and killed herself because of it doesn't really garner my sympathy.

[supershifty]

chamb0, very well said - you speak from the heart as if you have experienced it yourself, if not then you most certainly know what it's all about - kudos mate.

Some of us make it through bullying, some don't. I did, but it took a lot of work from within to bolster my self esteem from years of bullying at school - I was the fat bright kid. Now I'm very much in the vein of no **** given, no **** taken.

I too had never heard of Charlotte, googled her on image search and still didn't recognise her. It must be hard to be a celebrity and out there, they're expected by fans to be on social media to be closer and in touch with them. An easy insert for mindless, spineless and jealous keyboard trolls to target.

Personally I don't care what my favourite celebrities have going on in their personal lives. ie: I enjoy Clint Eastwood's acting for what it is, don't give a rat's about who he's shagging. Same as my panelbeater - I enjoy his craft, stuff his private life.

It would be a further stressful burden on celebrities just to live a normal quiet life. Yeah, I get that it's the path they chose blah blah, but they're human and like their quiet times too. You and I can go to the shops, pub or beach unhindered in our daily lives, get away with a few indiscretions and move on. Just imagine being followed by cameras, fans wanting photo's and autographs, getting press for dropping a fart in public - I'd find that very annoying. I'll bet the celebs would crave for the anonymity we have.

Rest in peace now Charlotte.

[wookie836]

Originally Posted by chamb0

Bullying behaviour should always be challenged, whether in the schoolyard or in adult life. I'd hate to see this descend into victim blaming. Bullies will target a perceived vulnerability and the victim may already have issues with self confidence, depression, isolation etc. Framing this as a problem for the victim to sort out themselves will only result in yet another unnecessary burden for them to struggle with, as they come to believe that it's really their fault for not being strong enough to cope with it.

My teacher relatives say that the 'sticks and stones' saying is wishful thinking at best, and uselessly unhelpful. Words are powerful weapons and can potentially hurt far more than physical bullying, perhaps especially for girls. Words wield the power to isolate, degrade and damage someone to their very core. Pychologists tell us that words have the power to eventually shape a person's behaviour and beliefs about themselves especially when repeated. As a kinder teacher my partner teaches the bullied child resilience and creative solutions to combat mild bullying, but it's always combined with dialogue with the bully to effectively cut it off at the source.

This isn't about playground bullies though but a woman who endured vicious hatred from hundreds of people - it's awful to read what people are capable of. Read some of the material posted by an endless parade of people and put yourself in her shoes - it's disgusting. The effects of bullying and harassing behaviour over social media cannot always be simply switched off or shrugged away. Relentless attackers and stalkers just generally continue the abuse (i.e. through making new pages etc) even if the victim deactivates, so the victim is aware that material about them is still being viewed by their social groups in their absence, adding to their sense of powerlessness. If it were easy to avoid surely we wouldn't see this sort of thing happening.

I've never heard of Charlotte before this. But it looks like she had been doing good work in the anti-bullying field (with an organisation that believes equipping and supporting victims is important), was open about her struggles in an attempt to help others and tried to assert herself to her attackers. It's worth mentioning that in one of her interviews she said that she'd confronted someone over twitter in relation to the sickening abuse of one of Charlotte's followers, a woman that had lost her partner and was in a fragile state of grief. The abuser just responded that she should be able to handle criticsm. So in their warped view they were justified because it was in fact the victim's fault for not being strong enough to cope. At what point do we believe the personal responsibility of the abuser becomes a key issue?



Every injustice and every problem deserves attention... Suicide involving social media harassment is an issue that needs airing out. So too does the tragic desperation and suicide of farmers. Yes it's humanly possible to give a strong stuff about both circumstances at once. Both have a common thread - the person's feeling of utter powerlessness to find a way out of their situation and we can have total empathy for the plight of both. It's not constructive to reduce this issue by playing groups of vulnerable people off against one another in a simplistic popularity contest over who is more deserving of our attention. Indeed commercial media need to pick up their game and publicise rural mental health issues more widely. I've noticed the ABC certainly already do. The same can be said as well for harassing behaviour. Sometimes high profile cases can effect positive change (if it's a signpost pointing to a wider underlying issue). For this reason I think we also really needed to hear the recent story of the suicide of the legendary top gun shearer Steve Handley. Or was he also distracting attention?

if she deleted her account after her first attempted suicide/ hospital stay and took the help she needed. THE PROBLEM OF PEOPLE ABUSING HER VIA HER TWITTER ACCOUNT WOULD HAVE CEASED, no account for people to abuse her from, no abuse. it is really that simple. it would not have followed her everywhere and if she is one to worry about the opinion others have of her, well then that is a problem she should have and possibly was dealing with. i would love to know why she didnt seek help in a time of need, especially after her public display of pills in hand saying you win. but she chose to come back, time and time again.

she gave out as good as she received, it is all available to everyone online, you wont hear a mention of it now and unfortunately for her she couldnt defend herself against the seemingly endless tirade of the turned table; but since this is the first time you have heard of you it is clear you missed this. there are plenty of examples online of her and alex perry publically abusing ex contestants via facebook, there are plenty of examples online about the some of the extreme vitriol spewed forth on her twitter account. she had even attempted to get a person fired by using her position in the media world, ringing up that person at work and also contacting the boss to see if that persons comments made outside of work, were also the views of the flight centre. definite attempt to bring the company into disrepute.

so is fighting fire with fire is the answer? you believe she may have been trying to assert herself with the bullying by reposting, but most of the time it was trying to get the attention of her fans, get them involved in the fights and make the issue a lot worse.

half the reason why people have little compassion for her is that its just another poor nobody celeb whos died because of their own choices. a lot of people are sick of it. also the selfish decision of suicide ruins more than one persons life and that really is a bitter issue for a lot of people.
then you have how our media machine loves to idolize tv personalities, when there is so much happening in the world that never even gets such skerrick of exposure like a celeb in distress will. but that is a symptom of the times, people feed on these actions, they wait for the destruction of another celeb, they love to read about it and discuss it. it generates revenue via ad content and ratings. a lot of ca$h. a lot.

Everyones opinion of her being in a disgusting situation is correct, it is apparent how difficult she had it. it is very sad that she undertook such a tough decision to end it instead of seeking help that would have definitely and easily been one post away, let alone a phone call. we are all commenting about what we believe led to her death, her failed marriage and grubby halo with her social image possibly could have played into it as it is unlikely such bullying from twitter would have absolutely been the root cause of it all.

Do you absolve the victim of all their sins when theyre constantly perpetuating the issue? one day being the bully, the next being the victim? as with most media personalities that people have never heard of before, its quite odd to find a lot of people defend her when they only have heard so little of her. compassion should be saved for those who really need it. how compassion can help a dead person? theyre dead.

[wookie836]

you must consider that in this circumstance most people are not talking about suicide in general, they are talking about charlotte dawsons suicide and the events that broke the camels back