00:00:05.070 --> 00:00:08.050
Hey, y 'all. I'm Mandy. I'm Keri. And this is
00:00:08.050 --> 00:00:27.190
Monstrous. All right. Episode three. You ready?
00:00:27.570 --> 00:00:30.750
Ready. Listener discretion is advised. There
00:00:30.750 --> 00:00:34.619
is a trigger warning. for suicide, stalking,
00:00:34.619 --> 00:00:38.420
and sexual extortion. Which sexual extortion
00:00:38.420 --> 00:00:42.520
is also sextortion. So it's extortion, but has
00:00:42.520 --> 00:00:44.979
a sexual element to it for anyone that does not
00:00:44.979 --> 00:00:48.700
know. Right. So I do want to recommend this episode
00:00:48.700 --> 00:00:52.140
for teens and young adults. Although we do have
00:00:52.140 --> 00:00:54.079
a trigger warning and a listener discretion.
00:00:54.840 --> 00:00:57.219
I believe this topic is very important for this
00:00:57.219 --> 00:00:59.240
age group, and I believe that they should be
00:00:59.240 --> 00:01:02.299
aware of it so that they themselves can ask for
00:01:02.299 --> 00:01:04.900
help if they're struggling or need someone to
00:01:04.900 --> 00:01:07.239
step in and help if they're going through the
00:01:07.239 --> 00:01:09.879
same thing like the victim in this case. According
00:01:09.879 --> 00:01:13.659
to statistics, Canada reported nearly one in
00:01:13.659 --> 00:01:17.319
five Internet users aged 5 to 29 have either
00:01:17.319 --> 00:01:22.750
been cyber bullied or cyber stalked. Wow. A survey
00:01:22.750 --> 00:01:26.069
done by Pew Research Center between April and
00:01:26.069 --> 00:01:31.390
May of 2020 said 46 % of teens reported that
00:01:31.390 --> 00:01:34.989
at least one type of cyberbullying had been experienced.
00:01:35.049 --> 00:01:39.129
Now, in 2024, these numbers have grown to be
00:01:39.129 --> 00:01:43.890
even worse. Over 60 % of children and 40 % of
00:01:43.890 --> 00:01:47.569
adults have at some point been a target of cyberbullies.
00:01:47.650 --> 00:01:50.189
So today, I'm going to tell you about one of
00:01:50.189 --> 00:01:52.930
these stories. The case for today is Amanda Todd.
00:01:53.090 --> 00:01:55.590
It is a story of how one choice made by a very
00:01:55.590 --> 00:01:57.829
young girl in the wake of the internet turned
00:01:57.829 --> 00:02:01.450
into not only cyberbullying, but also real -life
00:02:01.450 --> 00:02:05.189
bullying, physical assaults, extortion, and ultimately
00:02:05.189 --> 00:02:08.250
suicide. I had several sources that used, and
00:02:08.250 --> 00:02:10.120
those will be listed in the description. as normal.
00:02:10.300 --> 00:02:12.639
But most of my information I got from Amanda's
00:02:12.639 --> 00:02:15.259
website that was founded by her mom. And that
00:02:15.259 --> 00:02:18.900
is AmandaToddLegacy .com. So Amanda was born
00:02:18.900 --> 00:02:23.879
on November 27th, 1996. She was almost 10 days
00:02:23.879 --> 00:02:26.740
past her due date. She was born in Vancouver,
00:02:27.020 --> 00:02:29.300
British Columbia. That year, they got a ton of
00:02:29.300 --> 00:02:31.639
snow. And as she grew up, she was more and more
00:02:31.639 --> 00:02:37.060
captivated with it. Which as a kid, myself, and
00:02:37.060 --> 00:02:39.840
I'm sure you were growing up in the South. On
00:02:39.840 --> 00:02:42.319
the East Coast, we didn't get much snow. So when
00:02:42.319 --> 00:02:45.240
we got it, we loved it. Right. According to Amanda's
00:02:45.240 --> 00:02:47.960
website, before her birthday every year, she
00:02:47.960 --> 00:02:50.699
would watch the TV for a weather watch looking
00:02:50.699 --> 00:02:53.240
for snow in the forecast. To me, it shows how
00:02:53.240 --> 00:02:55.740
just sweet and innocent she was. Something my
00:02:55.740 --> 00:02:59.020
kids every year do, even though we get snow and
00:02:59.020 --> 00:03:00.919
a ton of it every single winter. It's always,
00:03:01.000 --> 00:03:05.180
when is it going to snow? Hopefully never. Most
00:03:05.180 --> 00:03:10.419
definitely. From Amanda's website, you're able
00:03:10.419 --> 00:03:13.819
to learn a bit more about Amanda. She was passionate
00:03:13.819 --> 00:03:16.900
about singing, art. She loved animals. She loved
00:03:16.900 --> 00:03:20.120
doing acts of kindness. And her favorite color
00:03:20.120 --> 00:03:23.360
was purple. At the age of 15, her mom, Carol,
00:03:23.500 --> 00:03:25.539
gave Amanda her nickname, which was Princess
00:03:25.539 --> 00:03:29.139
Snowflake. I know. So cute. Love it. That is
00:03:29.139 --> 00:03:32.800
true. The most adorable little nickname ever.
00:03:32.939 --> 00:03:35.219
So her website says that her mom called her this
00:03:35.219 --> 00:03:38.259
because she was a typical teenage girl. She wanted
00:03:38.259 --> 00:03:42.439
everything that she's seen on TV that was advertised
00:03:42.439 --> 00:03:47.039
in magazines or on billboards. But because she
00:03:47.039 --> 00:03:49.300
was born in the winter, the nickname was perfect.
00:03:49.400 --> 00:03:54.259
Also on the website, her mom had recanted the
00:03:54.259 --> 00:03:56.939
conversation that she had had with Amanda about
00:03:56.939 --> 00:03:59.319
the nickname. And it's just absolutely adorable.
00:04:02.759 --> 00:04:06.860
I want to say this conversation, to me, says
00:04:06.860 --> 00:04:10.099
so much about who Amanda was. Because how many
00:04:10.099 --> 00:04:14.780
teenagers like their nicknames? Right. Like,
00:04:14.780 --> 00:04:17.199
I loved what my Aunt Debbie, my Mama, and Papa
00:04:17.199 --> 00:04:19.120
all called me. I liked those. The rest of them,
00:04:19.160 --> 00:04:21.519
I couldn't stand. All right. So, I'm going to
00:04:21.519 --> 00:04:23.759
put the trigger warning for suicide, self -harm,
00:04:23.800 --> 00:04:26.379
bullying, and sexual blackmail here. Because
00:04:26.379 --> 00:04:29.639
now that we know a little bit about Amanda. We're
00:04:29.639 --> 00:04:32.060
going to jump ahead to what leads Amanda to taking
00:04:32.060 --> 00:04:37.319
her own life. This is a story that captivated
00:04:37.319 --> 00:04:39.259
headlines and brought to light an issue that
00:04:39.259 --> 00:04:42.500
has been around since the early 2000s. It began
00:04:42.500 --> 00:04:46.019
in 2010 when Amanda was 12 years old and only
00:04:46.019 --> 00:04:49.480
beginning 7th grade. Like most kids her age,
00:04:49.680 --> 00:04:52.000
she was online meeting new people and chatting.
00:04:52.079 --> 00:04:57.639
She was born two years after I was. I remember
00:04:57.639 --> 00:05:03.560
when AOL chat rooms and MySpace and really the
00:05:03.560 --> 00:05:06.639
internet became a huge deal. Like, you know,
00:05:06.639 --> 00:05:08.720
every day after school, you're setting up and
00:05:08.720 --> 00:05:11.040
hooking up to your dial up. So that way you can
00:05:11.040 --> 00:05:13.579
get on your AOL chat rooms and talk to your quote
00:05:13.579 --> 00:05:16.759
unquote friends, you know? Yeah. It was a huge
00:05:16.759 --> 00:05:19.720
deal for kids our age at that time. And I'm sure
00:05:19.720 --> 00:05:23.459
you remember it. Yeah, I do. It was a big deal.
00:05:23.540 --> 00:05:26.060
It was like the coolest thing in the world. And
00:05:26.060 --> 00:05:28.319
none of us were aware of the dangers that came
00:05:28.319 --> 00:05:31.459
with it. I don't even think parents knew what
00:05:31.459 --> 00:05:34.240
dangers came with it at that point in time. I
00:05:34.240 --> 00:05:35.720
don't think so either because it was so new.
00:05:36.199 --> 00:05:40.279
Yeah. And you don't imagine someone getting on
00:05:40.279 --> 00:05:43.319
the Internet and doing something like this or
00:05:43.319 --> 00:05:47.279
anything similar. Right. Nowadays, it's normal.
00:05:47.360 --> 00:05:50.279
But back then, it just wasn't thought of. Mm
00:05:50.279 --> 00:05:54.310
-hmm. So while in a webcam chat room with more
00:05:54.310 --> 00:05:57.569
than 150 other people, an unidentified man convinced
00:05:57.569 --> 00:06:00.689
Amanda to show her boobs. When she did this,
00:06:00.790 --> 00:06:03.310
someone within the room decided to screenshot
00:06:03.310 --> 00:06:07.149
the image. They then posted the image on a porn
00:06:07.149 --> 00:06:14.660
site. Oh, God. And if that's not. Bad enough,
00:06:14.800 --> 00:06:18.120
that image, along with the link to the site,
00:06:18.240 --> 00:06:20.920
was then sent to all of Amanda's Facebook friends.
00:06:24.420 --> 00:06:29.639
So this one act, something that so many teenagers
00:06:29.639 --> 00:06:32.800
do around the world every day, turned Amanda's
00:06:32.800 --> 00:06:35.379
life completely upside down. For this one action,
00:06:35.600 --> 00:06:38.879
Amanda was constantly receiving threats and hate
00:06:38.879 --> 00:06:41.439
comments in person as well as online. She was
00:06:41.439 --> 00:06:44.290
bullied. teased and beaten up by other teens
00:06:44.290 --> 00:06:48.790
she was around every single day so sad christmas
00:06:48.790 --> 00:06:51.810
eve of 2010 carol todd received an anonymous
00:06:51.810 --> 00:06:54.870
facebook message telling her that her daughter
00:06:54.870 --> 00:06:57.670
had become a victim of blackmail and police showed
00:06:57.670 --> 00:07:02.389
up at amanda's home at 4 a .m confirming to her
00:07:02.389 --> 00:07:04.790
and showing her that the photo had been sent
00:07:04.790 --> 00:07:06.750
out to everyone from there the spring of 2011
00:07:06.750 --> 00:07:10.089
rolls around and a man contacts amanda on facebook
00:07:10.959 --> 00:07:13.240
And tells her that he's going to post the pictures
00:07:13.240 --> 00:07:16.620
online unless she, quote, puts on a show for
00:07:16.620 --> 00:07:19.480
him. Now remember, she was 12 when all of this
00:07:19.480 --> 00:07:26.360
started. That's insane. And this is going on
00:07:26.360 --> 00:07:32.240
nearly a year later. So she is about 13 at this
00:07:32.240 --> 00:07:35.040
point. That's two years older than my oldest
00:07:35.040 --> 00:07:41.069
son. She's a baby. Yeah. So Amanda moved towns
00:07:41.069 --> 00:07:44.069
and schools several times, trying to get away
00:07:44.069 --> 00:07:46.290
from it. But no matter where she went, the pictures
00:07:46.290 --> 00:07:49.670
haunted her. And the bullying just never seemed
00:07:49.670 --> 00:07:53.009
to end. Because of the online activity and what
00:07:53.009 --> 00:07:55.550
she was facing every day in her real world, Amanda
00:07:55.550 --> 00:07:57.649
began to struggle with depression and anxiety.
00:07:58.829 --> 00:08:01.509
When they both worsened, she began to experiment
00:08:01.509 --> 00:08:04.689
with drugs and alcohol and eventually self -harm
00:08:04.689 --> 00:08:07.509
to ease her pain. In the fall of 2011, staff
00:08:07.509 --> 00:08:10.970
members at Amanda's newest school were sent a
00:08:10.970 --> 00:08:14.490
topless photo of Amanda. Thankfully, these school
00:08:14.490 --> 00:08:17.670
staff members did contact the police. Ten months
00:08:17.670 --> 00:08:20.810
later, she received yet another blackmail threat
00:08:20.810 --> 00:08:23.569
through her social media. The bullying at school
00:08:23.569 --> 00:08:25.850
was nowhere near getting better. It got worse.
00:08:26.540 --> 00:08:29.220
One day at school, a girl threw her to the ground
00:08:29.220 --> 00:08:31.000
and then punched her several times in front of
00:08:31.000 --> 00:08:33.159
the entire school after the girl's boyfriend
00:08:33.159 --> 00:08:36.639
had led Amanda on and made her believe that he
00:08:36.639 --> 00:08:39.620
liked her, leading Amanda to hook up with him.
00:08:39.679 --> 00:08:42.620
What the hell is wrong with people? Yeah. It's
00:08:42.620 --> 00:08:45.039
just a bunch of teenagers. And it's like, kids
00:08:45.039 --> 00:08:47.220
will be kids. Teenagers will be teenagers. But
00:08:47.220 --> 00:08:50.799
this is a whole nother level. Right. It's just
00:08:50.799 --> 00:08:53.580
cruel. Just tormenting her for something that
00:08:53.580 --> 00:08:56.080
I can guarantee most of these other kids did.
00:08:56.600 --> 00:08:59.620
Right. She made a mistake. The only difference
00:08:59.620 --> 00:09:01.679
is, is hers was out there for everyone to see.
00:09:02.019 --> 00:09:05.000
Right. Teenagers do dumb things and she, she
00:09:05.000 --> 00:09:07.379
was a kid. She didn't know any better. She made
00:09:07.379 --> 00:09:09.500
a mistake. You know, don't, you don't need to
00:09:09.500 --> 00:09:12.019
torment them and make their life a living hell.
00:09:12.139 --> 00:09:14.179
Like it had nothing to do with you to begin with.
00:09:14.960 --> 00:09:19.470
Right. It's awful. So after this, Amanda went
00:09:19.470 --> 00:09:22.549
home and she drank bleach in an attempt to end
00:09:22.549 --> 00:09:27.309
her life. Oh, wow. Thankfully, though, she was
00:09:27.309 --> 00:09:29.570
found and she was rushed to a hospital where
00:09:29.570 --> 00:09:34.750
they were able to save her. But the torment didn't
00:09:34.750 --> 00:09:38.590
end there. And this just gave her bullies another
00:09:38.590 --> 00:09:42.269
reason to ridicule her. On September 7th of 2012,
00:09:42.710 --> 00:09:45.490
Amanda took to her YouTube channel. She posted
00:09:45.490 --> 00:09:49.149
a nine -minute video entitled, My Story, Struggling,
00:09:49.409 --> 00:09:54.450
Bullying, Suicide, and Self -Harm. I'm going
00:09:54.450 --> 00:09:55.909
to put this link in the description for anyone
00:09:55.909 --> 00:10:00.110
that wants to watch it. But I do want to warn
00:10:00.110 --> 00:10:02.549
everyone that it is hard to read everything that
00:10:02.549 --> 00:10:05.659
she has to say. can clearly see the sadness on
00:10:05.659 --> 00:10:07.980
her face throughout the entire video. In this
00:10:07.980 --> 00:10:10.759
video, she tells her story and her experience
00:10:10.759 --> 00:10:13.779
with bullying on flashcards. In it, she talks
00:10:13.779 --> 00:10:16.559
about how she drank the bleach trying to take
00:10:16.559 --> 00:10:18.799
her life, how she moved away to live with her
00:10:18.799 --> 00:10:21.740
mom. But even six months after the incident,
00:10:21.940 --> 00:10:24.059
they still wouldn't leave her alone. They were
00:10:24.059 --> 00:10:27.159
posting photos of bleach and ditches and tagging
00:10:27.159 --> 00:10:29.639
her in them. These horrible kids said she should
00:10:29.639 --> 00:10:32.379
try a different type of bleach. That they hoped
00:10:32.379 --> 00:10:35.799
she died this time and wasn't so stupid. They
00:10:35.799 --> 00:10:38.039
hoped that she would see it and kill herself.
00:10:38.299 --> 00:10:40.580
And all of these were coming from kids that she
00:10:40.580 --> 00:10:43.840
no longer went to school with. In a town that
00:10:43.840 --> 00:10:49.340
she no longer lived in. Wow. So these kids are
00:10:49.340 --> 00:10:52.840
just actively watching her social media, actively
00:10:52.840 --> 00:10:56.940
harassing her. She doesn't live there. She doesn't
00:10:56.940 --> 00:10:59.779
go to school with them anymore. But they're still
00:10:59.779 --> 00:11:02.159
continuing. For what purpose? I have no idea.
00:11:02.240 --> 00:11:06.259
Just cruel. Just, I don't know, give them entertainment
00:11:06.259 --> 00:11:09.379
or something. I'm not really sure what the thought
00:11:09.379 --> 00:11:11.980
process with that whole thing was. I can't wrap
00:11:11.980 --> 00:11:14.100
my head around it in any way. Like you shouldn't
00:11:14.100 --> 00:11:16.919
bully or harass anyone. But the girl moved away.
00:11:17.680 --> 00:11:20.539
Right. Why do you need to continue? It just makes
00:11:20.539 --> 00:11:24.039
no sense to me. So after this, she began counseling.
00:11:24.100 --> 00:11:26.980
She was put on antidepressants, but it doesn't
00:11:26.980 --> 00:11:29.519
appear to have helped because of the horrible
00:11:29.519 --> 00:11:32.559
people that were harassing and bullying her constantly.
00:11:32.720 --> 00:11:35.340
Her struggles continued. In the summer of 2012,
00:11:35.700 --> 00:11:38.559
she overdosed and was hospitalized for two days.
00:11:38.659 --> 00:11:41.000
And she tells this whole entire story within
00:11:41.000 --> 00:11:43.960
her video. which I'm going to send you now to
00:11:43.960 --> 00:11:46.659
watch. On the video, there is a warning when
00:11:46.659 --> 00:11:49.059
you go to watch it. It lets you know that it
00:11:49.059 --> 00:11:52.620
contains content that regards suicide or self
00:11:52.620 --> 00:11:56.159
-harm topics. So everyone knows there is a warning
00:11:56.159 --> 00:11:58.220
on that video as well. All right, I just sent
00:11:58.220 --> 00:12:01.320
it to your Facebook, Amanda. Oh, she's such a
00:12:01.320 --> 00:12:03.940
cute little girl. Oh, she's beautiful. And she's
00:12:03.940 --> 00:12:06.000
just smiling. She got into drugs and alcohol.
00:12:06.960 --> 00:12:10.659
All in an effort to just make her pain go away.
00:12:10.679 --> 00:12:13.120
Poor girl. Like hearing the story is one thing,
00:12:13.139 --> 00:12:16.500
but then you actually watch her video and it
00:12:16.500 --> 00:12:19.500
just absolutely breaks your heart. I know. She
00:12:19.500 --> 00:12:23.000
said she started cutting. It's just heart -wrenching,
00:12:23.000 --> 00:12:25.440
especially with how young she is. It just makes
00:12:25.440 --> 00:12:29.220
it so much worse. I know. She's crying. The whole
00:12:29.220 --> 00:12:30.960
thing is hard to watch, but I think whenever
00:12:30.960 --> 00:12:33.759
she starts to get emotional is when it really...
00:12:34.120 --> 00:12:37.139
Yeah. She took the blame for it. She said it
00:12:37.139 --> 00:12:38.879
was all her fault because she didn't want him
00:12:38.879 --> 00:12:43.980
to get in trouble. Yep. That just says so much
00:12:43.980 --> 00:12:47.559
about who she would rather take the blame and
00:12:47.559 --> 00:12:51.100
everything get worse for her and him have any
00:12:51.100 --> 00:12:53.460
kind of repercussions for his behavior. God,
00:12:53.460 --> 00:12:56.820
they were so mean to her. Oh, yeah. Like saying.
00:12:58.030 --> 00:13:01.129
that these kids were just a giant group of assholes
00:13:01.129 --> 00:13:04.590
doesn't even begin to cover how awful they were
00:13:04.590 --> 00:13:07.389
to her. They should all be charged. Oh yeah,
00:13:07.490 --> 00:13:09.049
I thought the same thing. Because if they wouldn't
00:13:09.049 --> 00:13:11.029
have done what they did, she wouldn't have taken
00:13:11.029 --> 00:13:13.409
her home. Because it was just no relenting. They
00:13:13.409 --> 00:13:16.649
just would not stop. And she was just a kid.
00:13:16.690 --> 00:13:18.990
And her parents tried to help her. They did what
00:13:18.990 --> 00:13:21.210
they were supposed to do. But they also didn't
00:13:21.210 --> 00:13:26.149
know how bad things were. Wow. Oh, she showed
00:13:26.149 --> 00:13:31.460
pictures of her cutting her hair. Wow. That was
00:13:31.460 --> 00:13:37.299
sad. Yeah, her parents, I know telling it, it
00:13:37.299 --> 00:13:41.220
doesn't really talk about them, but they tried.
00:13:41.899 --> 00:13:45.159
They put her in counseling. They put her on medication.
00:13:45.460 --> 00:13:47.899
They did right. They did what they were supposed
00:13:47.899 --> 00:13:51.320
to do. They tried to help her, but they didn't
00:13:51.320 --> 00:13:58.679
know how bad things were until after. Whenever
00:13:58.679 --> 00:14:01.700
they began to go through her social media, began
00:14:01.700 --> 00:14:04.299
to look through her devices, and they found everything.
00:14:04.480 --> 00:14:08.639
So that's why I said this case is one that I
00:14:08.639 --> 00:14:11.620
feel teenagers and young adults do need to learn
00:14:11.620 --> 00:14:14.419
about. Because if you don't ask for help, if
00:14:14.419 --> 00:14:16.980
you're not saying this is exactly what's going
00:14:16.980 --> 00:14:20.519
on, then you're not going to get the help that
00:14:20.519 --> 00:14:25.820
you truly need. So in the video, she has written
00:14:25.820 --> 00:14:30.340
on a couple cards. She states, quote, I felt
00:14:30.340 --> 00:14:33.080
like a joke in this world. I thought nobody deserves
00:14:33.080 --> 00:14:37.100
this. End quote. Every day, I think, why am I
00:14:37.100 --> 00:14:43.399
still here? Things that no child at her age should
00:14:43.399 --> 00:14:46.279
ever feel like or should ever think. And I have
00:14:46.279 --> 00:14:49.659
to say, when I watched the video and I read those
00:14:49.659 --> 00:14:54.080
two cards specifically, all I wanted to do was
00:14:54.080 --> 00:14:59.629
just hug her. Mm -hmm. Like, it just broke my
00:14:59.629 --> 00:15:03.990
heart. So, a month after this video was posted,
00:15:04.029 --> 00:15:08.129
on October 10th, 2012, Amanda took her own life
00:15:08.129 --> 00:15:13.269
inside her Port Coquitlam home. I might have
00:15:13.269 --> 00:15:15.730
said that wrong. Nine days later, hundreds of
00:15:15.730 --> 00:15:18.529
people had heard Amanda's story. And they had
00:15:18.529 --> 00:15:21.210
gathered in more than 40 different cities to
00:15:21.210 --> 00:15:25.889
light a candle in her remembrance. Oh, wow. On
00:15:25.889 --> 00:15:30.450
November 8th, 2012, More than 600 people gathered
00:15:30.450 --> 00:15:34.149
at the Red Robinson Show Theater in the town
00:15:34.149 --> 00:15:37.110
that she lived in for a ceremony. And during
00:15:37.110 --> 00:15:39.710
the ceremony, I believe her mother had said it
00:15:39.710 --> 00:15:41.950
best about what her daughter had left behind.
00:15:42.389 --> 00:15:46.009
Quote, a larger than life message has sparked
00:15:46.009 --> 00:15:48.700
the world. and has made it open its eyes, its
00:15:48.700 --> 00:15:51.940
ears, and its hearts. In July of 2013, two of
00:15:51.940 --> 00:15:54.299
the schools that Amanda had attended raised money
00:15:54.299 --> 00:15:57.679
to have a bench dedicated in her memory inside
00:15:57.679 --> 00:16:00.460
Settlers Park. On November 20th of that same
00:16:00.460 --> 00:16:04.000
year, a federal anti -cyberbullying bill was
00:16:04.000 --> 00:16:07.059
introduced. And this bill makes it a criminal
00:16:07.059 --> 00:16:11.240
offense to distribute sexually explicit images
00:16:11.240 --> 00:16:14.659
online without a person's consent. So even though
00:16:14.659 --> 00:16:19.120
Amanda's story is tragic and it was a loss for
00:16:19.120 --> 00:16:21.279
her family, one that they will probably never
00:16:21.279 --> 00:16:25.860
be able to recover from, in the end, Amanda's
00:16:25.860 --> 00:16:30.320
story is the story that gave way to the creation
00:16:30.320 --> 00:16:34.620
to the federal anti -cyberbullying law. She left.
00:16:35.470 --> 00:16:39.409
A legacy that people everywhere, all over the
00:16:39.409 --> 00:16:43.549
country, benefit from every single day. Right.
00:16:46.070 --> 00:16:48.610
Cyberbullying is an ongoing issue, and I honestly
00:16:48.610 --> 00:16:51.570
don't see it coming to an end anytime soon. Because
00:16:51.570 --> 00:16:54.830
even though many see this as an issue, the world
00:16:54.830 --> 00:17:00.129
as a whole does not see it as one. It's easy
00:17:00.129 --> 00:17:02.919
to get behind a computer screen. to fake a name,
00:17:03.039 --> 00:17:06.200
and in most cases, those that do exactly what
00:17:06.200 --> 00:17:08.819
was done to Amanda suffered no consequences for
00:17:08.819 --> 00:17:12.079
their actions. Because a lot of times, the perpetrator
00:17:12.079 --> 00:17:15.240
is not within the same country as the victim.
00:17:15.359 --> 00:17:18.220
However, this was not the case in Amanda's story.
00:17:18.400 --> 00:17:20.559
The man that started the downfall of Amanda's
00:17:20.559 --> 00:17:24.619
life was identified as 38 -year -old Dutch citizen
00:17:24.619 --> 00:17:33.099
Aiden Coben. What? Yep. They were able to track
00:17:33.099 --> 00:17:39.779
his IP address and find out who he was. On April
00:17:39.779 --> 00:17:44.180
17, 2014, the RCMP announced charges against
00:17:44.180 --> 00:17:50.480
him in her case. He faced 72 different charges,
00:17:50.539 --> 00:17:54.859
which included storing child pornography, extortion,
00:17:55.160 --> 00:17:59.130
fraud, making an extri... and distributing of
00:17:59.130 --> 00:18:01.849
child pornography, internet luring, and possession
00:18:01.849 --> 00:18:08.230
of hard drugs. Good. In his trial, it was revealed
00:18:08.230 --> 00:18:11.170
that Amanda was not his only victim, and some
00:18:11.170 --> 00:18:13.950
of his victims had been abused by him for years.
00:18:14.089 --> 00:18:17.309
In 2017, Coben was convicted and sentenced to
00:18:17.309 --> 00:18:21.569
11 years in a Dutch prison for fraud and the
00:18:21.569 --> 00:18:24.450
blackmail cases, which involved many young girls
00:18:24.450 --> 00:18:33.170
and gay men. Amanda's story has exposed an ongoing
00:18:33.170 --> 00:18:37.109
issue within the social media world. It made
00:18:37.109 --> 00:18:39.609
people realize the effects of bullying and how
00:18:39.609 --> 00:18:42.369
one mean comment or post could cause someone
00:18:42.369 --> 00:18:47.269
to do the unthinkable. As a society, we continue
00:18:47.269 --> 00:18:51.640
to share... As society, we continue to share
00:18:51.640 --> 00:18:53.940
stories like Amanda's in order to spread awareness
00:18:53.940 --> 00:18:57.599
and prevent the horrific outcomes of cyberbullying,
00:18:57.740 --> 00:19:02.839
cyberstalking, bullying, and sextortion. I want
00:19:02.839 --> 00:19:05.480
to leave everyone with this. If there's one thing
00:19:05.480 --> 00:19:08.299
that you take away from Amanda's tragic story,
00:19:08.460 --> 00:19:10.640
it is to remember that your words are powerful.
00:19:10.640 --> 00:19:13.279
And even though we underestimate how much words
00:19:13.279 --> 00:19:17.529
can truly mean, We must treat people around us
00:19:17.529 --> 00:19:19.670
with respect because we don't know what someone
00:19:19.670 --> 00:19:21.529
else is going through or what they're struggling
00:19:21.529 --> 00:19:23.750
with silently. Nobody deserves what Amanda went
00:19:23.750 --> 00:19:27.210
through. And as one, we must do everything that
00:19:27.210 --> 00:19:30.410
we can to ensure her tragic story is never repeated.
00:19:32.529 --> 00:19:34.769
Inside the description, along with all of my
00:19:34.769 --> 00:19:38.089
sources, I have Amanda's YouTube video, her legacy
00:19:38.089 --> 00:19:41.089
page, and a list of documentaries that have been
00:19:41.089 --> 00:19:45.470
made about Amanda's story. Lastly, I've linked
00:19:45.470 --> 00:19:48.650
a website to help anyone in need in any situation,
00:19:48.990 --> 00:19:52.109
be it suicide, domestic violence, or sexual assault.
00:19:52.670 --> 00:19:55.210
The helplines on this site are able to help with
00:19:55.210 --> 00:19:57.349
a range of mental health and emotional struggles.
00:19:58.069 --> 00:20:00.529
When you get to the main landing page on this
00:20:00.529 --> 00:20:02.789
link, you simply select your country, select
00:20:02.789 --> 00:20:04.950
what it is you need help with, and the site will
00:20:04.950 --> 00:20:07.750
give you details on how to contact either by
00:20:07.750 --> 00:20:11.970
phone, email, or text with one or multiple helplines.
00:20:15.589 --> 00:20:19.730
It's a sad story. Yes, it was. I don't know.
00:20:19.849 --> 00:20:23.130
It was one of those, it was more hard to do because
00:20:23.130 --> 00:20:25.849
I'm a mom myself, you know what I mean? Right.
00:20:26.910 --> 00:20:31.029
This was the same time and era that I grew up
00:20:31.029 --> 00:20:39.349
in. Mm -hmm. So it was hard to see that, you
00:20:39.349 --> 00:20:41.430
know, she's two years younger than I myself am.
00:20:42.410 --> 00:20:46.349
I was a senior. I was graduating high school
00:20:46.349 --> 00:20:50.230
when all of this was going on in her life. Right.
00:20:51.329 --> 00:20:57.609
So to know that made it pretty difficult to write
00:20:57.609 --> 00:20:59.490
it and get through it. You know what I mean?
00:21:00.130 --> 00:21:03.269
Well, and then look at that. We've got boys that
00:21:03.269 --> 00:21:05.829
play games where they get to talk to people.
00:21:06.009 --> 00:21:08.710
And they're grown people. And I've heard how
00:21:08.710 --> 00:21:12.650
when my daughter plays the games, how some of
00:21:12.650 --> 00:21:15.779
these people that are grown, talk to these little
00:21:15.779 --> 00:21:19.140
kids oh yeah like the names that they say and
00:21:19.140 --> 00:21:21.140
then the stuff they say and you find out that
00:21:21.140 --> 00:21:24.619
they're adults that are our age or older the
00:21:24.619 --> 00:21:27.519
way they talk to these little kids yep logan
00:21:27.519 --> 00:21:30.819
he'll um because we've had we've had this discussion
00:21:30.819 --> 00:21:32.940
with both of them but especially him because
00:21:32.940 --> 00:21:36.579
he's getting close to the age that amanda was
00:21:36.579 --> 00:21:39.799
at at the time that everything happened with
00:21:39.799 --> 00:21:44.200
her and So we've talked with them, but not in
00:21:44.200 --> 00:21:46.779
like this explicit detail. You know what I mean?
00:21:47.220 --> 00:21:50.839
Right. So him, if they're playing the game and
00:21:50.839 --> 00:21:52.920
there's somebody talking like they shouldn't
00:21:52.920 --> 00:21:56.200
be, he kicks them out of their server. Yeah.
00:21:57.200 --> 00:21:59.099
Yep. Just is like, nope. Or if they're being
00:21:59.099 --> 00:22:01.799
mean or hateful or saying things to either him
00:22:01.799 --> 00:22:05.940
or Dax that they shouldn't be, he kicks them
00:22:05.940 --> 00:22:08.400
out. It's like, nope, we're not doing that. Yeah.
00:22:09.660 --> 00:22:12.319
It's crazy how they talk on there. Bryson was
00:22:12.319 --> 00:22:13.880
on the game the other night, and there was a
00:22:13.880 --> 00:22:16.779
little girl that was in there with him on Roblox.
00:22:17.000 --> 00:22:20.779
And somebody was being mean, and he got him out
00:22:20.779 --> 00:22:22.720
of there to another little girl that was on the
00:22:22.720 --> 00:22:25.720
game. Like, it's crazy. It's awful. And most
00:22:25.720 --> 00:22:29.000
of the time, it's the adults behaving that way.
00:22:29.019 --> 00:22:31.480
It's not the other kids. It's the grown adults.
00:22:31.740 --> 00:22:36.529
It's the older teenagers. You know, I get you're
00:22:36.529 --> 00:22:38.490
grown, you're allowed to talk that way. But at
00:22:38.490 --> 00:22:41.670
the same time, you have to be aware and conscious
00:22:41.670 --> 00:22:43.609
of the fact that there are children that play
00:22:43.609 --> 00:22:48.230
these games as well. And in my head, if you can't
00:22:48.230 --> 00:22:50.490
speak and act appropriately when you're playing
00:22:50.490 --> 00:22:53.890
online with other kids, then maybe you shouldn't
00:22:53.890 --> 00:22:57.289
be playing at all. Yeah. But that's the thing.
00:22:57.349 --> 00:23:02.029
People get behind a keyboard. Mm hmm. Yep. They
00:23:02.029 --> 00:23:04.960
say stuff that they wouldn't say. In real life.
00:23:06.740 --> 00:23:10.440
Yep. That's exactly how it goes. And there's
00:23:10.440 --> 00:23:12.940
a lot of people that's been bullying and has
00:23:12.940 --> 00:23:16.880
committed suicide because of cyberbullying. There's
00:23:16.880 --> 00:23:19.000
a lot of cases out there with it that's happened.
00:23:19.059 --> 00:23:21.359
There's a girl that's going viral. Her mom's
00:23:21.359 --> 00:23:24.220
going viral right now because her daughter was
00:23:24.220 --> 00:23:29.750
cyberbullied on TikTok. A lot of people are like,
00:23:29.829 --> 00:23:32.109
oh, it's not that bad. You don't know how bad
00:23:32.109 --> 00:23:34.910
it was. Like in Amanda's case, that's where it
00:23:34.910 --> 00:23:37.710
did start. It did start online. But then it bled
00:23:37.710 --> 00:23:41.549
into her real everyday life. And those kids are
00:23:41.549 --> 00:23:45.250
the ones that they just wouldn't stop. They wouldn't
00:23:45.250 --> 00:23:48.430
leave her alone. And it kept getting worse and
00:23:48.430 --> 00:23:50.910
worse so bad that she was physically assaulted.
00:23:51.630 --> 00:23:57.910
Right. Yep. And I think everybody should be charged.
00:23:58.599 --> 00:24:01.200
Oh, yeah. There should be some kind of consequence
00:24:01.200 --> 00:24:04.960
for it. Because I believe that, you know, because
00:24:04.960 --> 00:24:08.099
she was a kid, she didn't know what else to do.
00:24:09.339 --> 00:24:11.859
She made a mistake. Everybody makes mistakes.
00:24:12.599 --> 00:24:14.859
Exactly. And you just, you won't let her live
00:24:14.859 --> 00:24:18.019
it down. She moves to a different town, moves
00:24:18.019 --> 00:24:21.319
to a different school, and you're still harassing
00:24:21.319 --> 00:24:25.529
her. You're still doing the same things. Not
00:24:25.529 --> 00:24:27.309
only that, you don't know what someone's dealing
00:24:27.309 --> 00:24:29.730
with in their own personal lives. You don't know
00:24:29.730 --> 00:24:32.630
how their home life is. You could be making it
00:24:32.630 --> 00:24:35.990
worse. That's why I always tell Bryson, it doesn't
00:24:35.990 --> 00:24:38.009
matter what somebody wears, what somebody looks
00:24:38.009 --> 00:24:42.609
like. You don't know where they come from, what's
00:24:42.609 --> 00:24:45.630
going on at home. The kid that sits at lunch
00:24:45.630 --> 00:24:48.869
by themselves or sits on the bus by themselves
00:24:48.869 --> 00:24:51.210
or something, just you smiling at them or waving
00:24:51.210 --> 00:24:53.769
to them or saying hi might make them have the
00:24:53.769 --> 00:24:56.970
best day ever. Exactly. And I've told both my
00:24:56.970 --> 00:25:00.470
boys that I don't condone fighting simply to
00:25:00.470 --> 00:25:03.289
fight. Somebody says something to you, they say
00:25:03.289 --> 00:25:04.910
something to you. You don't have to stay in there
00:25:04.910 --> 00:25:06.609
and listen to a single word that they say. You
00:25:06.609 --> 00:25:11.329
walk off. Right. But if someone puts their hands
00:25:11.329 --> 00:25:15.549
on you, you defend yourself. If there is someone
00:25:15.549 --> 00:25:19.069
being bullied or someone that is not able to
00:25:19.069 --> 00:25:22.269
defend themselves, you step in and you defend
00:25:22.269 --> 00:25:25.230
them. I don't care what anybody else says. Yep.
00:25:27.490 --> 00:25:30.990
Because someone has to defend that kid. And if
00:25:30.990 --> 00:25:33.390
adults aren't going to do it, then you need to
00:25:33.390 --> 00:25:42.349
step up and do it. Yep. Exactly. So, oh, man,
00:25:42.450 --> 00:25:45.369
that was a little bit of a rough one. But I felt
00:25:45.369 --> 00:25:48.930
like it was a topic that needed to be discussed,
00:25:49.009 --> 00:25:53.240
needed to be brought back up. Especially with,
00:25:53.279 --> 00:25:56.099
you know, now kids have the online games and,
00:25:56.180 --> 00:26:02.180
you know, there's TikTok now and all that other
00:26:02.180 --> 00:26:06.859
stuff. I agree. I feel like it's definitely something.
00:26:06.920 --> 00:26:10.440
And then, you know, the newer generation are
00:26:10.440 --> 00:26:13.440
more into all the internet stuff than, you know,
00:26:13.460 --> 00:26:16.559
we are, obviously. Well, everything's on your
00:26:16.559 --> 00:26:20.309
phones now or on PlayStation. Or all that stuff.
00:26:20.490 --> 00:26:22.650
Yep. So I felt like it was one. It was rough.
00:26:22.769 --> 00:26:26.150
The topic is pretty hard, but I felt like it
00:26:26.150 --> 00:26:30.309
was important. Yeah. That was good. And that
00:26:30.309 --> 00:26:35.650
is the story and legacy of Amanda Todd. Bye,
00:26:35.650 --> 00:26:40.349
y 'all. Bye, y 'all. Watch for monsters. And
00:26:40.349 --> 00:26:41.509
don't kill people.