Resolved: Cyber bullying should be a criminal offense.

I will respond to my opponent's responses in the same order as well, just to keep things organized. 1) My opponent says that legislating forms of speech is a very delicate balance act. I agree with this: yes, it is difficult to know where to draw the line on who can say what. However, we already have laws against harassment and stalking in the real world: why not the cyber world? My opponent pointed out the flaws in the Megan Meier Cyberbullying Prevention Act, however they failed to refute my claim: That criminalizing cyber bullying would be a deterrent to many. Yes, it may be difficult at first to regulate the policy, but does that mean we shouldn't do it? No. It doesn't. Just because something is not easy, doesn't mean it's not the right thing. The philosopher Kant says, when judging whether something is right or wrong: "take what you're going to do, apply it to everyone, and then judge it." The most basic example: throwing a piece of trash on the ground. It's just one piece of trash right? But imagine if everyone in the world threw just one piece of trash on the ground. Is it good or right now? It's just one little girl who committed suicide. It's just one bully. But imagine if everyone did that. Imagine if you were cyber bullied. Then what would you think? We need to act on this, because this is an important problem in our society today. 2) My opponent says that you can turn off a computer, but you can't turn off a bully. However, cyber bullying is usually a continuation of bullying that starts in the real world. Now, not only do you have to put up with the bullies at school, or wherever it may be, but they can essentially bully you whenever and wherever you are. And for the person who is actually being bullied, it may not be as easy as ignoring it, or just turning off the computer. Also, why should the victim have to ignore it? Shouldn't the bully be punished, not the victim? Everyone has a right to be on the Internet, and everyone has a right to feel secure while they are on the Internet. The victims shouldn't have to deal with it on their own. Telling the victims to just ignore it and turn of their computers (and, may I add, their cell phones and all other electronic devices as well) is taking the easy way out. We need to deal with this problem. We need to let it be known that bullying others is not okay, whether you are online or in person. 3) Yes, I agree that a victim of cyber bullying will benefit by learning to ignore hurtful comments and to focus on their real friends and to move on. However, by criminalizing cyber bullying, we will not only be helping the victim to learn an important life lesson, but we will be teaching the bully an important life lesson too. Whether we criminalize cyber bullying or not, the victim will have to learn to move on, because either way the victim will have been affected by the words. However, by criminalizing cyber bullying, we will be teaching the bully that, no, it is NOT okay to bully people, even when you are on the Internet. This is why it is so important that we criminalize cyber bullying: because we will be teaching important life lessons to not only the victim, but the bully as well. 4) My opponent states that the adult woman who cyber bullied Megan Meier did not kill Megan Meier: Megan Meier killed Megan Meier. My opponent also states that we need more education on how to deal with bullies, instead of trying to make them go away. Yes, we do need more education as far as dealing with cyber bullies. However, if this is the case, then what harm would we be doing by creating a law criminalizing cyber bullying? We would be getting the message out that it's not okay, and we would also be showing that there are consequences for those who do cyber bully. It's like when you're little and your mom tells you not to draw on the walls, but you draw on the walls anyway. What does your mom do? She puts you in time out, she makes you clean it up, etc. There is a consequence. If your mom didn't, then you would think it was okay to go ahead and do it again. However, if you get stuck in time out for a while, or if you are forced to clean up the mess, then you think "wow, maybe I shouldn't do that next time." We can educate people on how to deal with bullies, but we also need to show the bullies that what they are doing isn't cool, and that we are not going to stand by and let it happen. For all these reasons, I strongly urge you to vote Affirmative: because cyber bullying is a problem, and because we will be helping the greatest amount of people by criminalizing it. Thank you, and good luck to my opponent.