Anderson Cooper's Anti-Bullying Series: Too Many Kids Have Died Already' (VIDEO)

Anderson Cooper has been a vocal opponent of bullying, and he is taking his advocacy one step further with a week-long series about bullying on "AC360." The series kicks off with a town hall at Rutgers, which airs Sunday at 8 p.m., marking one year since freshman Tyler Clementi's suicide.

Cooper said in a statement, "Too many kids have died already; too many kids are living in fear." His show teamed up with University of California sociologist Dr. Robert Faris to sponsor a study of bullying in one school. He will be exploring what motivates bullies, among what he called the study's other "eye-opening" discoveries over the course of the week.

Sunday's special, called "Bullying: It Stops Here," will also feature conversations with actor and bullying prevention activist Jane Lynch, psychologist Dr. Phil McGraw, host and mother of three Kelly Ripa, and "Queen Bees and Wannabees" author Rosalind Wiseman.

The issue of bullying is one that Cooper clearly feels strongly about. Most recently, the CNN host mourned the suicide of Jamey Rodemeyer, a teen who was bullied over his sexuality. Cooper spoke with bullied kids after the suicide of Tyler Clementi, and he spoke out against bullying on "Ellen" last year.

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Comments

[Amy Sarah Marshall]

12:20 PM on 10/20/2011

I think the scariest thing I've heard about bullying - aside from suicides and murders, of course - is that these behaviors / roles can follow kids into adulthood... http://uvahealth.com/blog/?p=1450

[JeremiahA]

11:10 AM on 10/16/2011

I finally had a chance to watch the special town hall, "Bullying: It Stops Here." Their sponsored study provided, I believe, valuable information on the dynamics of school bullying and the students' interactions. Also, working with other media outlets to host an app was an inspirational move that will help many young people. The segment on the Anoka-Hennepin School District helped to demonstrate that the neutral policy is not the problem. Rather its unequal application negates its usefulness.

The only possible negative on the program was the presence of Jane Lynch, which may have sabotaged Anderson Cooper's message. Miss Lynch decided to raise her daughter in a home without a father, demonstrating that her personal wants outweighed the needs of a child. Therefore, her comments on the welfare of children came across, at best, as inconsistent and at worst, hypocritical.

[MNKen]

02:27 PM on 10/10/2011

This article and many others on this topic remind me of the bully who used to hit my older son in grade school and did everything in his power to belittle my son for years. This was in small town MN. My son now has a successful career and a wonderful family. But the effects of bullying are still there.

The bully? He is scheduled to be released from prison in 2022. (murder - when he was 18 years old)

[WondererofAges]

12:18 PM on 10/10/2011

While i agree a certain amount of bullying has always gone on in the schools, i was in elementary and junior high school in the 1950's. Where i lived, went to school - believe me - the harsh 7/24 type of bullying happening today IS NOT anything like what used happen! When i was in junior high it was more kids forming into exclusive cliques and excluding the less popular, less wealthy. But there was very little actual physical abuse. Teachers and parents kept a much closer eye on us. There was much more respect for teachers and other authority figures and the parents were much more likely to back up the teachers than it seems like they do these days. Most mothers were didn't work and knew more details of their children's lives. NO KID, none, at least in my schools, ever even thought about killing themselves because of terrible bullying like today. I think a lot of the bullying is kids modeling their parents and societies behavior, with the intense "winner take all" mentality; succeed at any cost; no mercy given to the less-equal; if someone is not a "winner" it is their fault (see Herman Cain's comment recently!)

[JasonTromm]

02:08 PM on 10/10/2011

I think you hit on the key component of the problem here. Children have no respect for teachers and parents. Until we're in a situation where we can easily expel the bullies and other problem students the situation is not going to get any better.

[pab08]

11:47 AM on 10/10/2011

I am having trouble understanding why this is suddenly an issue that needs to be addressed by the government.
In grade school and jr high, it was the era of "bussing." Kids got bullied for being too fat, skinny, rich, poor, smart, slow, short, and tall. Bullied based on race, religion and personal hygeine. Bullied for any and every reason - but mostly because kids are mean and insecure kids are even meaner.
In high school, bullied for weight, acne, how fast you developed after puberty, race, religion, hygeine, etc.... Also for which sport you played or didn't play, whether you lived in the country or in town, and bulied based on your economic status. And yes, there was bullying of people who were gay or who people thought were gay.
Bottom line: Lots of bullying. Zero suicides.
When I was 17, my parents heard me and a friend talking about something mean we did - bullying. They told me that my behavior made them ashamed and disgusted. They literally drragged me out of the house by my ear, and made me apologize. I never did it again.
Bullys will always exist - the bully next door who wont let your child retrieve a ball from his yard, the bully that makes your schedule at work who doesn't care that you asked off 4 months ago for your sister's wedding. Stopping bullying at schools is admirable, but it is pointless and we don't have money to spend on silliness like

[troyrobertdavid]

10:42 AM on 10/10/2011

These kids that couldn’t even stop the taunting after he was dead are despicable and a reflection of their parents failure.

[pab08]

11:25 AM on 10/10/2011

Careful about blaming parents. I have been getting torched for suggesting that parents are responsible for the actions of their children.

[Fattonecat]

12:48 PM on 10/11/2011

It isn't always the parents fault but lack of parental control is a big problem.

[fredjonesiii]

08:59 AM on 10/10/2011

Dajia Lee of Clanton, Alabama hung herself last week. She was 12. Her father was serving our country in Iraq. He was brought home in time for the funeral. I am a friend of the family but I live in another state. When the questions began, she was already dead. Her friends said she was being bullied. Her mom had no idea. The kids knew, but the parents didn't. So sad, my heart breaks for these kids. It's got to stop.

[jerry23]

02:16 PM on 10/10/2011

I am so sorry to hear the sad news. I believe on the Anderson Special, it was mentioned how victims of bullying carry the pain. There is a stigma to acknowledging that you are being victimized-thus the Silence. Often you are lead to believe that you have a role in your victimhood. That if you change your behavior or appearance you get a pass. I wonder if the latch key kids are roaming the universe, like packs of undomesticated animals, looking for lone spirits to fill the void created by our shared Culture's warped sense of being.

[ColoradoCool]

04:54 AM on 10/10/2011

When I was in the fifth grade, I was playing with a bunch of kids at recess who suddenly started taunting and pushing around a skinny little girl with bucked teeth who wasn't very popular. I casually joined in for a minute until she burst into tears and that snapped me out of it. I told the other kids to leave her alone and put my arm around her while I walked her into the school to get a drink and wash her face.

I don't to this day know why I joined in. My capacity for empathy and compassion just seemed to be briefly absent for some reason. I didn't let anyone bully her after that and I liked myself better for it. It was a strange feeling to suddenly forget who I was and who I wanted to be even at that age. I've never forgotten that feeling of being kind of dead inside for a minute and how bad I felt about myself when I joined in the bullying.

[waitingonchange]

03:20 AM on 10/10/2011

Ironically enough, the "elephant" in the room is, well, just that....the elephant...(ie: symbol of Republicans) who facilitate the atmosphere of bullying in our society.

The GOP/Republicans are a party of division, of exclusion, of homophobia, of discrimination and of hatefulness. On behalf of their Corporate Benefactors, they use these social issues to get people to act/vote on fear. It is beyond disgusting. The youth who bully those who fit into the "bullying categories" are mirroring what is happening in this country and in our government every single day...As long as we allow the far right agenda to monopolize our airwaves and our government, these bullying activities will naturally occur.

[Bandit29]

09:57 AM on 10/10/2011

How can you possibly make this about politics? This is the most ridiculous statement I have ever read. No one, Democrat, Independent or Republican wants children bullied. However, it is not the responsibility of the federal government to change the situation. That starts on the local level with parents and teachers and school administrators. As long as people such as yourself just point fingers and look for a scapegoat they will never look in the mirror and realize all change must begin with the individual.

[waitingonchange]

02:19 PM on 10/10/2011

I appreciate your response, but I totally disagree...All societal trends (good and bad) are interconnected with the current culture, particularly with those in political power. The values (including hypocrisy), and the (currently poisonous) atmosphere that is projected to the society at large by these GOP politicians, strongly affects youth, from an early age. Individuals do not mature in a vacuum.

[meadowgold]

08:51 PM on 10/09/2011

I am watching the program now and have to give the homosexual community credit for pushing it to the forefront, particularly when being gay is not the principal reason kids are bullied. Anderson Cooper deserves a ton of credit as does CNN for producing the program. I read last night the principal victims of bullying are kids with physical handicaps and wonder if this issue will be explored further. When I was in high school over 30-years ago the most common victims were either kids who were small or overweight.

[lizmckenzie55]

09:10 AM on 10/10/2011

For me, it's been 40 years and the kids who were made fun of were learning challenged (they were called "Special Cs" and their classrooms were in the basement - which always struck me as odd that they were put down there). Anyways, the "mean" kids never taunted them to their faces, they would always do it behind their backs ... not like it is now where people openly show their h.. ate and big.. o.. try.

Anderson is one of those rare journalists who actually knows what it is really all about.

[Kay Nicks]

02:09 PM on 10/09/2011

Keep on for the cause Cooper..
"Life is a fight, but not everyone's a fighter....otherwise, bullies would be an endangered species."

[El Chingaso]

08:48 AM on 10/09/2011

Back in the mid-1970s, there was a bully from Chicago that regularly beat up on kids in jr. high. But then something happened over one summer: he contracted juvenile diabetes. When school began the following fall, he arrived about one foot shorter than the rest of us. Then the party was on...

What goes around, eventually comes around. That poor guy went from the Terminator to scared of his own shadow.

[Edward F Dragan]

07:47 AM on 10/09/2011

Most states have laws requiring local schools to develop and implement anti-bullying, harassment and intimidation policies. But most parents don't know that these exist and are in place to protect children from the harm of such behavior. When parents know the policy of their child's school, how to effectively communicate with their child and how to effectively communicate with the school they are able to hold the school accountable and work with the school to hopefully change the culture and protect their child.

Edward F. Dragan, Author, "The Bully Action Guide: How to Help Your Child and Get Your School to Listen"

[Hairy S Trueman]

12:43 AM on 10/09/2011

Good for Anderson for this airing this subject.

There was a bully in 3rd grade elementary class named Bobby Underwood. Bobby threatened to beat me up after school. He didn't but it ruined my day and every day after until we went to different Junior High Schools 4 years later.

I'm now 70 but still remember his name and the terror it caused me.

Thanks Anderson for helping the kids.

[AussieHugh]

06:49 PM on 10/08/2011

This may be a little off topic but I am always puzzled by the amount of bullying protrayed in US television and movies.

Any school show always has the nerdy kid getting their head flushed in the toilet, the jock or cheerleader bullyong someone.

I am really puzzled by 1. the lack of consequences for the bullys 2. that level of bullying protrayed.

The level of bullying is not apparent in general media from other nations so I wonder whether Americans just expect kids to "take care of themselves" rather that try and offer support to kids who are being bullied.

[cittidude2]

10:14 AM on 10/09/2011

Amen Hugh!

And then the shrinks give the kids anti-depresents. This makes them numb and stupid.

[momoluvsu]

01:18 AM on 10/10/2011

Bullying has been identified as a global problem, both traditional and cyber bullying.
I saw a study on global bullying and fewest occurrences were in Japan at less than 2% of the students interviewed.
MTV has an anti-bullying program,called A Thin Line, their goal is to "stop the spread of digital abuse" there poll ranked occurrence at 56% of 1355% interviewed between the ages of 14 -24 had experienced cyber bullying,compared to 45% in 2009.
Also most psychiatrists don't prescribe antidepressants to adolescents and young adults because it is found to increase the risk of suicidal thinking.
I am glad this is getting a lot of attention b/c research is indicating that changes have to occur within the culture of the school in regards to the general blind eye which allows bullying to occur. There has to be changes in homes also, kids learn what they see at home. They say that charity begins at home, you could also say that bullying does too.

[lizmckenzie55]

09:13 AM on 10/10/2011

I'm curious to know your qualifications when it comes to anti-depressants. I wish my son's best friend would have tried that route rather than taking his own life.

You are the one who is numb and ...