The Zhoosh! Brighton Blog
Jonah Mowry bullying video goes viral
Despite being posted online since August, a personal video posted by 14 year old American boy Jonah Mowry has just gone viral with over 6.5 million views to date. This high profile video depicts the emotional turmoil of a 14 year old, who was scared of returning to school in autumn due to bullying he experienced and the names he was being called on a daily basis: “Gay. Fag. Dick. Douche. Homo. Ass hole.”
My instant reaction to this video: upset and anger. Not for a moment did I consider that others wouldn’t feel the same as me. Now, I wouldn’t say I’m a closed minded person, I’m very aware that others have their opinions and that people have a tendency to be cynical of things posted on the internet. However, due to the content of the video and the age of the lad I assumed that there would be little negative publicity. How wrong I was. Type ‘Jonah Mowry’ into YouTube and you not only get the search results ‘Jonah Mowry’, you also get ‘Jonah Mowry lied’ and ‘Jonah Mowry admits he lied.’ No ‘Jonah Mowry anti bullying,’ ’Jonah Mowry brave’ or similar terms. Moreover, navigating to the ‘likes’ and ‘dislikes’ reveals 17,000 ‘dislikes’. Why would anyone dislike this? And if they do, why go to the effort of disliking it? Why not navigate to another page or not even view it in the first place? It’s not like you would accidentally stumble upon this video unless you are looking for gay anti-bullying videos.
Scrolling down the comments below the video in YouTube, I was shocked at what had been written: “fake” and just simply “homo.” Well, yes, he is homosexual. Your point exactly? Someone even criticised the spelling in the video. How or why is that relevant? Another smugly remarked: “What a waste of paper.” As exceptionally funny as that is (please note my sarcasm here) it is also a ridiculous insult to a very simple yet clever video.
Many people have deemed this video fake and consider its creator a fraudulent victim, spinning a web of publicity for his own personal gain. My answer to this is WHO CARES IF IT’S FAKE. It’s completely and utterly irrelevant. Those with more than half a brain cell will appreciate that this video isn’t solely about Jonah or even about homophobia; it’s about ANYONE that has been bullied for ANY reason. It’s reflecting how bullies affect others’ lives adversely and how many have been destroyed or lost due to discrimination and small mindedness.
Fortunately I’ve faced little discrimination in my life so far. This video serves as a stark reminder that others aren’t as lucky and that there is still an exceptional amount of prejudice in the world. The YouTube comments alone go a long way in proving that.
I am somewhat hopeful though. The video has over 280,000 ‘likes’ (over 16 times the amount of ‘dislikes’) and the vast majority of comments are positive. Wise words of one YouTube user: “Stay strong man, it’ll get better.” And it has. See Jonah’s message below the video on YouTube for an update on how he’s doing.
Please watch, ‘Like’ and share this video. We still have such a long way to go to wipe out discrimination and bullying.
Thanks for the post, just had a look at Jonah’s video and a few of the others that responded to what he had to say. How brilliant that people can now reach out and say how they are feeling and get support and come through those bad times. There are still too many teenagers who are bullied who believe that taking their own lives is the only way out. I’m so pleased Jonah has found friendships and that so many other people have given there support, but so much more needs to be done. Thanks again for posting it’s good to keep flagging this subject up as there are still too many children and teenages who don’t get to make a secound video to say it got better.
http://youtu.be/XOzIqrhiJ9w
Thanks Glenn, I totally agree. There’s so much more I could say re this topic, but ill keep it brief and just say thanks – the comments are much appreciated!