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Benni Cinkle: How I Overcame Cyberbullying

Ever since I first started getting attention for my dancing in the Rebecca Black “Friday” video, people have asked me to share my story and talk about how I dealt with the cyber bullying, why I recorded my song and music video, “Can You See Me Now”, and where I hope to go from here.

Well, it all started in February 2011 when my friend, Rebecca Black, asked a bunch of friends from school to be extras in her music video.

I didn’t think much of it at the time. It just sounded like fun, and of course I wanted to support my friend. My part was small, and involved “kickin’ in the backseat” in the nighttime drive scene.

It didn’t take long for the “Friday” video to spread all over the internet (over 180 million views on YouTube) or for the haters to find me and make fun of my dancing.

Suddenly there were all these gifs of me dancing all over the internet (which I gotta admit, some of those were pretty hilarious). Then people started making Facebook fan pages for me and using my picture as their profile pictures. I was even entered in UrbanDictionary.com.

Things got pretty crazy. Thousands of strangers were talking about me and being really mean. They were calling me names— lame, loser, awful, worthless, annoying, fat, ugly, dumb, horrible, stupid, freak –and those aren’t even the bad ones, lol. It seemed like the whole world had something to say about me.

At first I was pretty shocked because I’m just a 13-year-old kid dancing in a little video, what was the big deal, right?  But then I realized that all that hate couldn’t be directed at me personally. How could anyone really hate someone they know absolutely nothing about?

So I laughed and I joked with the haters. I admitted that, yes, my dancing was pretty awkward, thank you very much.

Then the very people that were making fun of me became my supporters.  Before I knew it, I had this awesome platform to talk about things that really matter in the world, like raising money for earthquake relief in Japan, or walking to find a cure for Cystic Fibrosis. Not to mention how to deal with cyber bullying.

Very soon, I will be starting a national school tour to talk to kids my age about just that.  Because there are a lot of kids out there who have to deal with some pretty heavy stuff, every single day. And while I won’t be able to talk to all of them, I hope that the kids I do come into contact will help me spread the message that everyone matters, that everyone deserves respect, and that everyone has a voice.

Thanks for listening. (:

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Benni Cinkle rose to internet fame in March, 2011 when she appeared in the “Friday” music video that went viral on the Internet. Immediately after the “Friday” video began to spread, Benni became a target for aggressive online bullying. Instead of reacting defensively or shying away, she met her critics with wit and candor. Soon, anonymous bullies became die-hard fans and Benni’s online reputation as a fun, approachable, and down-to-earth teen began to grow. Aware that she had stumbled on a platform that offered international reach, Benni decided to use the attention to raise awareness for the causes she cares about most.

Check back next week for a parent’s perspective…Benni’s mom will post an article on Monday!

Categories: Cyberbullying

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