When I was growing up, kids used to talk about snitching... It never extended as a cultural norm outside of the gangsters.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
On the one hand, the press, television, and movies make heroes of vandals by calling them whiz kids.
Unfortunately, in some parts of the country, some kids are taught at an early age that being different is somehow bad or wrong or worthy of ridicule.
I get cyber-bullied all of the time. Everybody has something negative to say. It is so hurtful. So I think that it is really important for kids to know how to deal with it correctly because it can be a really dangerous situation.
I'm from the old school - you go where the power is, and you try to make fun of it. When it becomes off limits to say or do certain things without being brutalized or censored or whatever, it's unfortunate.
Sometimes, the Internet can feel like a middle-school playground populated by brats in ski masks who name-call and taunt with the fake bravery of the anonymous. But sometimes - thank goodness - it's nicer than real life.
Kids nowadays, I remember when I was in school, they were just rude, even to the teachers and stuff.
When I was a little kid, I used to really embarrass my parents.
My dad wasn't a gangster, and he wasn't a criminal, but he sure liked to rub padded shoulders with them.
I grew up in a society where everything you did was eavesdropped on, recorded, snitched on. I had friends when we were kids getting into trouble for telling anecdotes about Communist leaders.
To call the police is a really big deal because you don't snitch - that's the culture you grow up in.