A Joke? Picture portraying bullying incident sparks concern, outcry
February 8, 2013 5 Comments
A picture taken at Columbia High School in Nampa has sparked some well deserved controversy.
The photo, depicting three teens pulling the hair of a bound and gagged “victim”, has received thousands of reposts on tumblr and facebook since it appeared online sometime on Wednesday or Thursday.
It’s not clear just who uploaded the photo, though a caption under the tumblr version reads in part “This a photograph taken from the teenager (shirtless guy) named Austin Schafer’s Twitter account, of a kid being tied up and beaten by upper classmen at Columbia High School in Nampa, Idaho. This is a recent photograph and one where the school’s authorities have not taken action yet. Remember this kid’s name and repost this picture. “
Nampa School District spokeswoman Allison Westfall tells KBOI-TV, “We talked to the students, the coach and the parents. It’s not hazing, it’s not bullying. It’s students having fun.”
The tumblr account that originated the photo on the social media site is no longer active. A Google search shows that Schaffer plays quarterback for Columbia High’s football team.
The Idaho Press Tribune reports that the boys in the photo are actually members of the Columbia High School wrestling team. Two of the wrestler’s in the picture are apparently brothers.
Coach Todd Cady tells the newspaper that he did not witness the incident but says he’s confident that it was simply a prank, “The picture immediately makes people worry and wonder,” Cady said. “It looks like a major hazing incident — we’re all fearful of that as parents and coaches. It was a controlled environment.”
As the picture made its way around the various social media sites, there was concern that perhaps the school was trying to cover up the incident.
While it’s not clear just where the bullying angle came in to play after the picture was uploaded, it is clear that the kind of behavior depicted in the photo really isn’t a laughing matter.
Idaho has been grappling with student bullying and harassment over the past couple of years. A bill that would have strengthened Idaho’s anti-bullying law was killed by Republican Rep. Bob Nonini, chairman of the education committee, during the last legislative session.
Currently, Idaho has the fourth highest suicide rate in the nation. Studies have shown that those who have been bullied and or harassed at school can be affected by the actions well into their adult years.
According to last year’s Idaho Youth Risk Behavior Survey, out of 1,702 students in 48 public high schools in Idaho, 22.8 percent reported being bullied or harassed on school property.
According to a study released in 2011,”Nearly 44 percent of gay male participants said they had been bullied in the previous year, compared with 26 percent of heterosexuals who reported the same.
For girls, 40 percent of lesbians indicated they had been bullied in the past year, while just over 15 percent of heterosexuals reported such. About 35 percent of bisexual and mostly homosexual guys had been bullied and about 25 percent of their female counterparts.”
Those statistics were given a face earlier this week when 15-year-old Jadin Bell died in a Le Grande, Oregon hospital after hanging himself on a school playground.
A family spokesman says Bell was bullied at both school and on the internet because of his sexuality.
Respectfully, I still don’t accept this explanation. If this is a freshman younger brother of a successful senior athlete older brother, and it was in fact bullying, it would be very difficult for the younger brother to come clean. The pressure would be enormous not to implicate your brother and ‘ruin his future’. In the previous piece i saw, it sounded like it was quoting the young man who is tied up, via his mother, as saying it was no big deal. Because people who are bullied are always having a laugh about it with their mom..
This photo is horrible… it’s now made it to my area of America via Facebook. It is literally plastered everywhere – Austin Schafer’s name is mud. Reading this article… obviously the whole thing was “hushed” up… brother or not… a reprimand and punishment should be given to the bully, Austin Schafer (just look at his bloody knuckles). There is no laugh coming from the victim of the photo. Come out of the back woods, Idaho. How many more kids are you allowing to be victimized?
I can’t vouch for the identity, but I found this comment at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaVUjgDJJ2U: “Janet McDonald commented 3 weeks ago ‘All of you that were misinformed and jumped on the hate band wagon against Austin. This is the mother of the student that was taped up and NEVER beaten. Alan Pace of Kuna Idaho has staged and started the most ugly cyber bulling stunt ever and you all are a part of it. Austin is a friend and a mentor to my son, not a bully. Please before going on a hate parade know your facts and get them from a reliable source all of these kids were playing around and there were adults in the room.’”
I understand that there are unknown facts. However, weather or not this is a hoax, these boys clearly need some sensitivity training. The subject matter is very serious. This ” boys just being boys” attitude is outdated, to put it mildly. Would it be ok if it were a girl tied up half naked, bloody etc. simply because it was ” just a joke?” Or a disabled person? This is a sick example of the tearing down of the moral fiber of our entitled society. The very idea that as a mother, you would be ok with this shows that you, ma’am, are a part of the problem. It is our job as parents to help our kids understand right from wrong, clearly this photo portrays a very wrong act, joke or not. These boys need their parents to tell them it’s wrong and show them how to humbly apologize for their insensitive behavior. Not make excuses for them so that they learn they can do as they please and someone will clean up their mess for them. They obviously are not getting the message that there are consequences for bad behavior & they should learn that now, before they are adults and have to learn it again when you aren’t there to clean it up. If adults were in the room and allowed this to go on in the current school climate, shame on them!
That being said, I’m also sad to hear that someone would comment that Idaho needs to get it together… not only are these boys and the people who are backing them up bring shame to their families/ school communities, they are also brining shame to anyone associated with the state?
It looks like hazing to me. Why on earth would they post such a terrible picture fi they are such “great” kids? And if there were truly adults in the room, why on earth would these adults let these kids do this and take pics? You can cover it up all you want, but it appears like the adults are trying to cover for these kids, because they allowed this behavior. Honestly, they deserve all the negative attention they are getting, a consequence for posting such a horrible picture. And if they are all lying, they will get their punishment someday.