A mock movie poster for the film “Suicide Squad” depicting Amanda Todd with celebrities who killed themselves has drawn the British Columbia teenager’s mother into another battle against cyberbullying and trolls.
Carol Todd is taking aim at Internet memes she spotted including one with photographs of her daughter, actor Robin Williams, and rocker Kurt Cobain. She said the images being spread online ridicule her daughter’s death and perpetuate misconceptions about suicide.
“It’s just contradictory to the message that we’re sending: if you have mental illness and you are feeling that you’re not supported, and you need help, to go and ask for help,” she said in an interview.
The 15-year-old girl from Port Coquitlam, B.C., took her own life in October 2012 after intense cyberbullying. She drew global attention to the issue by posting a YouTube video before her death recounting how she was relentlessly harassed.
Todd’s mother first became aware of one meme last week, and several variations created since then are being shared around the Internet. The film itself is a fictional thriller about a team of the world’s most dangerous super villains assembled by a secret government agency to execute black-ops missions.
“Ironically enough, if my daughter was alive she would probably be viewing the movie, that’s what young people are viewing these days,” said Todd, noting the film isn’t actually about suicide.
“[The meme is] just another way of attention-seeking by people with trolling behaviours. They empower themselves with negativity.”
Todd doesn’t know who produced the memes, but she has shared some of them on Facebook to start a discussion about the issue. She said some people tell her to ignore what’s being posted, but she instead sees the situation as an opportunity to raise awareness.
Rehtaeh Parsons’ father also spoke out when pictures of his daughter were used in online dating ads posted on Facebook after they were taken randomly from Google by a so-called image scraper. They were later removed by the administrator of the dating service, who apologized for their inadvertent use.
The cases of Todd and teenager Rehtaeh Parsons in Nova Scotia led to legal changes aimed at tackling cyberbullying.
From The Canadian Press
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