A bunch of eighth graders in a “wealthy Philadelphia suburb” recently targeted teachers with an extreme online harassment campaign that The New York Times reported was “the first known group TikTok attack of its kind by middle schoolers on their teachers in the United States.”

According to The Times, the Great Valley Middle School students created at least 22 fake accounts impersonating about 20 teachers in offensive ways. The fake accounts portrayed long-time, dedicated teachers sharing “pedophilia innuendo, racist memes,” and homophobic posts, as well as posts fabricating “sexual hookups among teachers.”

  • macniel@feddit.org
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    4 months ago

    I meant that comment in regard to

    I know teachers can be shitty but this is completely uncalled for unless they were actually doing those things

    • idiomaddict@feddit.de
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      4 months ago

      If they actually did those things, it wouldn’t be slander.

      If I were to guess, I’d take it as “unless the kids knew/suspected with good reason they were doing those things”, because that’s how I would feel about it at least. I would still want to talk to them about appropriate responses and make sure they knew they could trust me, but kids don’t always know how to bring up adults’ misbehavior.

      If it’s just a fluke, that would feel like an ends justifying the means situation.