"I am so disgusted with what I see on college campuses today."

"Disgusting action. They should have shredded their diplomas"

"Amazing how you can get a college degree today and still have a weak mind!"

"I guess ND students can't really take opposite ideas to theirs and have to walk off... Guess they have not really learned much of the real life lessons the University looks to offer."

"Poor fragile children. Others opinions hurt them so. Good luck in the real world, you'll need it!"

As I read through articles and articles about the peaceful protest at Notre Dame University's graduation, I kept seeing the words "disgust", "disrespectful", "rude", "weak", "childish", "unsuccessful", and "babies". When I started my article on this topic, I was inspired by a sorority sister's Facebook post that I just couldn't ignore: "pretty disrespectful again. I know you don't have to like him, but this scene isn't appropriate for this." However, now that I have done my research, this article has become so much more. How has this peaceful protest has turned into a massive worldwide cyber-bullying situation where people sit behind their computer screens and write nasty comments about people they've never even met and know nothing about?

I was previously more concerned about people calling others "disrespectful" and then complaining when they were either called out or someone else commented and opposed on their belief. I originally intended this article to be something along the lines of "it doesn't matter what I think of this situation as much as it matters that you're calling people and their beliefs 'disrespectful' and that in itself is disrespectful". While this article still follows that original idea, I want to focus cyber-bulling.

In this day and age where technology is so prevalent, we must remember that technology does not give us an excuse to sit behind our screens and comment about someone being rude or disrespectful or even a high school situation where someone is being called fat or ugly.

"Mean, hurtful comments and spreading rumors are the most common type of cyber-bullying."

Sound familiar? It does to me. These students, along with everyone else in this world, do not deserve this treatment. If this was fifty years ago, how would the general public have handled this? Would there be protests in the streets, boycotts, riots? I hate to say this, but I feel like if people didn't have the technology to hide behind, they would protest outside the homes of the students with signs and rude comments, spit in their faces, and bully them beyond belief. Computers may have stopped the violence, but it has only escalated the problem.