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I always thought that if I could have a superpower, it would be awesome to have "troll confrontation power." How cool would it be if, every time you encountered some thirteen year old a-hole sitting behind a screen saying "i did ur mom fag n ill kick ur a$$!" You had the power to teleport to their location, tap them on the shoulder and just say "bring it." Followed by a loud, resounding bitch-slap?

Anonymity (well, relative anonymity; security concerns and legalities aside, you'll never know the identity of 90% of the trolls you encounter without doing some sleuthing) has always been the internet's biggest blessing and its worst curse. It gave birth to the blogosphere; to people openly sharing their hearts, their dreams and their aspirations without fear. It let's people share their true opinions of something that they might otherwise be afraid to speak out on. It lets people be who they really are.

Unfortunately, as I said, it lets people be who they really are. And that goes for assh**es as well good people. No identity means no accountability; so those same idiots that once upon a time just made their peers miserable at school can now do the same to everyone the come across. Some people just get off on the misery of others, and the anonymity of the internet only emboldens them.

All that being said? I kinda feel like we're going a bit over-board with our reactions to cyber-bullying. When I was in school, before I started working out, I was a skinny, awkward bean-pole with a speech impediment (a had a serious stuttering problem; it's mostly under control now thanks to years of speech therapy) and a bi-racial background (which, admittedly was only a major issue for four years when I temporarily lived in a town with an active Klan chapter). I had people steal my stuff, s**t in my backpack, poor wood-glue in my hair (forcing me to shave it off), beat on me, and even crack my head open with a 2x4 during wood shop. That was bullying. And before Colombine, when people weren't afraid you were going to shoot up your school; the faculty response was "I'm sorry you have to deal with this. It's unfair; but that's just part of growing up." It sucked, but you dealt with it, and you grew strong.

Now someone says something mean about you on the internet and you gain a movement around you.It all sounds well and good, but I worry we're raising kids to be soft. As horrible as my bullying was, it taught me how to deal with frustration. It taught me that life was unfair, and sometimes you just had to be strong and power through. And that was a very, very important lesson to learn early on; because later, when more adult problems sprang up, I was emotionally prepared for them. If I had grown up feeling like I was going to have a massive support structure to defend and encourage me all my life every time the road got a little rough; I think I would have fallen apart when I graduated and real life hit me in the face.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying we should just go back to shrugging our shoulders about bullying. I'm just saying sometimes, kids need to learn to fight their own battles; and I'm not convinced we're doing them any big favors by trying to do it for them.

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