Ireland - Family endures double tragedy at hands of bullies

In October, Erin Gallagher (13) committed suicide after being subjected to a "vicious" online bullying campaign.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/...s-suicide-battle-cyberbullying_n_2040850.html

Shannon Gallagher, the teen's older sister, also shared her grief on the tribute page.

"I love you darling. It's so hard to say you're gone. Everyone's heartbroken. I couldn't have asked for a better sister. You were a stunning girl. No one deserved what you went through," she wrote. "I'm sorry that I couldn't prevent it. Love you with all my heart."

Click to expand...

Sadly, the grief of losing her little sister seems to have been too much, and last week Shannon was found dead.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/...ullying-suicide-erin-gallagher_n_2296488.html

Shannon's funeral was on Saturday

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2012/1217/breaking3.html
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2012/1215/breaking11.html?via=rel

Oh, how awful for this family. Peace to them all :rose:

The Gallaghers, like so many other families, will be in my prayers this holiday season. A couple of my favourite websites that have many resources for kids in trouble: http://www.childline.org.uk/explore/bullying/pages/cyberbullying.aspx
http://www.spunout.ie/health/Education/Stop-bullying/Cyber-and-text-bullying

Again, we need to look ELSEWHERE for the answers into why young people commit suicide other than this. Am I understanding right - this girl didn't even know anyone who was posting international messages on some site? Basically these were computer generated messages from absolute strangers.

That's not the cause of her suicide. The cause was a basic underlying lack of interest in living - depression, etc. And the same for her sister. The fact that their mother states they "lived" for their little brother is telling. Teenage girls don't "live" for a younger sibling unless there is something completely wrong with their basic set up.

Until we're willing to stop blaming very peripheral causes for this epidemic in teen suicide, we won't ever get to the bottom of it - which is brain chemical dysfunction. It's not about some website. It's about a lack of basic desire to live.

Why are so many teens lacking the drive to survive? THAT's the question.

Agree. I live in the same part of Ireland as this family, and I'm seeing the local media and local politicians call for this, that and the other website to be banned, but they're really missing the point.

The normal reaction to being trolled on the internet is to turn your computer off, not to kill yourself. There are deeper causes to this tragedy which aren't being looked at, IMO.