By now everyone has heard about the infamous “mean girls.”  On April 22, a TikToker @jackielabonita posted a video of two young women making fun of her at a baseball game for feeling confident and posing for pictures. This video went viral and got nearly 40 million views and 7.2 million likes and over 200k shares. All this attention led to the internet’s fury and the two bullies have been under constant attack since.

According to @jackielabonita, the girls began to make offensive faces and hand signs behind her, meanwhile  laughing and talking loudly about her. “Watch my confidence disappear after these random girls make fun of me for taking pics,” Jackie writes in the video. But it didn’t stop there. One of the girls continued this bullying and got her phone out and started to record @jackielabonita while yelling “laaaame”. The TikToker says she felt “super self-conscious” after they were laughing and talking about her.

“I wanted to cry,” she adds. 

This drama just shows how we have to start making a change and not resort to making fun of someone just for fun. This kind of behavior is uncalled for and, as seen in this particular case, not going to be tolerated. We’ve all heard the “reasons” given for why people bully others- low self-esteem, issues at home, etc. BUT, our culture is evolving into one that doesn’t allow excuses to justify unkind behavior. 

“When I saw this video I was shocked! As someone who also likes taking pics in public I was mad at these girls,” Emily Matta says. 

Bullying is one of the main causes for the decline in mental health and rise in substance use and suicide. None of these effects are worth getting a laugh with a friend. Let’s come together and put a stop to this!   Everyone should just be kind.