FRANKFORT, KY – “Cyber bullying is a very serious issue in
our country and it’s gotten so bad that some teenagers are even taking their
own lives after being bullied on social networks like Facebook and Twitter,”
says local resident Shelly Parone. “I can’t
believe someone in our community, in our state, would target such hateful words
and bullying tactics just because someone voiced their opinion. People need to realize that we do still live
in a free country. If I want to go to
Wal-Mart and voice my opinion about what people wear in public then I’m allowed
to do it. Now, sure, it wouldn’t be a
good decision because one of those crazy people might attack me but it’s my
right to voice my opinion. These people
just need to leave that woman alone.
She’s just voicing her opinion, she ain’t hurting anyone.”
According to authorities, a local blogger, Brandy Parrish,
made a statement on one of her blogs that caused her to get bullied and
threatened on Facebook. On her blog, Parrish
said, “I don’t like men with long hair.
They look like hippies and are probably using the same hair products as
me and other women. What’s so manly
about that? Maybe they should look inside
their boxers and see if they still have enough equipment to be called a
man.” Such a comment would certainly rub
more then a few people wrong but instead of responding directly on her Creative Aluminum Can Projects Tumblr blog,
a certain person found Parrish on Facebook and made verbal threats on her
timeline. Brandy, who did not have any
security settings in place on her Facebook page, immediately received support
from family members following social networking aggression. Even all 13 of her friends on Facebook were
appalled by the attack.
Upon further investigation, however, authorities discovered
that Brandy had made those threats herself by creating a fake Facebook account. Frankfort officials say that Ms. Parrish did,
in fact, author the online threats but then lied about it. “She’ll receive a misdemeanor charge of
interfering with an investigation but we’re unsure of how to proceed with this
right now,” said Frankfort police spokesman Joseph Tiller. “Ms. Parrish says it wasn’t actually her who made
the threats to herself, it was the voice in her head who made the threat. We are currently waiting for some legal
advice on how to proceed; nobody wants the wrong person charged.”
In the mean time, Brandy says she will continue with her
blog while the legal issue gets worked out.
“Maybe I’ll get some more followers on Tumblr and will add a few more
friends on Facebook because of all of this,” Brandy said. Perhaps, Ms. Parrish, there are other ways to
get attention.








