Thoughts on the whole Karen Klein thing

[lollylegs]

Not sure if this is in the right place but it's about a popular news story, so I thought it would fit here.

For those of you who didn't catch it, Karen Klein was a bus monitor who was verbally bullied by a group of school children. The incident was filmed and uploaded to YouTube, went viral, and became an international thing.

An online collection was taken and about $700 000 raised, which went to Klein.  Now I'm reading a lot of articles lambasting her for how she's spending the money - she bought cars for her grandchildren, there was some tut-tutting that she didn't donate any to an anti-bullying foundation, and now she's announced she's using some (I think about $75 000) to start her own anti-bullying foundation, which some people are saying isn't enough.

I'd like to hear what everyone thinks about this whole thing. Two specific questions I have:

1) Even though everything turned out well for her, I think it was kind of rude for whoever to upload the YouTube video in the first place.  Agree?  Disagree?

2) Is there any merit whatsoever in the argument that voluntarily donated funds, with absolutely no strings or conditions attached, should be spent altruistically?

[MyFamily]

I think a ton of things that are uploaded to YouTube are rude and should never be publically shared like they are, because their whole purpose is to embarress someone, so yeah.

I think she's doing fine with the money.  It was a gift given with no strings.  As I recall, the man who started the drive did so so that Ms. Klein could take a vacation.  More money came in then expected, and she's sharing the wealth with her family.  Just because she was a victim of bullying doesn't mean she's now responsible for solving the entire bullying problems of the world. 

[Iris]

I think a ton of things that are uploaded to YouTube are rude and should never be publically shared like they are, because their whole purpose is to embarress someone, so yeah.

I think she's doing fine with the money.  It was a gift given with no strings.  As I recall, the man who started the drive did so so that Ms. Klein could take a vacation.  More money came in then expected, and she's sharing the wealth with her family.  Just because she was a victim of bullying doesn't mean she's now responsible for solving the entire bullying problems of the world.

This. I believe at one stage there was talk that she could *retire* on the money so that she wouldn't have to deal with those horrible brats ever again. If you want to donate to an anti-bullying campaign, do so. Don't give your money to someone and then try to dictate how they spend it. A gift is a gift.

As to Youtube - there are so many, many things that I don't think have any place being uploaded there that this is just a drop in the bucket, but yes, I do agree that this is one thing that should have stayed private.

[Hmmmmm]

I do not believe the people who donated expected their money to go for an anti bullying foundation.  They donated to this woman.  There was no statements made that she needed the funds for food, housing or medical bills. 

So how she decides to use the funds is completely up to her.

[JonGirl]

I agree with everybody else.
This poor woman was bullied and filmed for all the world to see, she can spend it any way she wants.

[WillyNilly]

So let me get this straight... the woman was bullied.  And then sent money cause people felt bad for her.  And now she's being bullied because she is using the money.  Yeah ok, the whole world makes sense 

I think its fine that she's spreading the wealth among her family and enjoying it.  Wasn't that its purpose?  To make her life happier and more pleasant?  And I think giving any amount, but certainly $75,000, towards anti-bullying is amazing and generous of her!

[Sharnita]

I do not believe the people who donated expected their money to go for an anti bullying foundation.  They donated to this woman.  There was no statements made that she needed the funds for food, housing or medical bills. 

So how she decides to use the funds is completely up to her.

Absolutely.

[cabbagegirl28]

So let me get this straight... the woman was bullied.  And then sent money cause people felt bad for her.  And now she's being bullied because she is using the money.  Yeah ok, the whole world makes sense 

I think its fine that she's spreading the wealth among her family and enjoying it.  Wasn't that its purpose?  To make her life happier and more pleasant?  And I think giving any amount, but certainly $75,000, towards anti-bullying is amazing and generous of her!

POD all of this. Those people need to mind their own business; it's not as if she's doing something heinous/illegal with the money.

[Cleargleam]

As I understand it, neither Ms. Klein nor the individual who started the fundraiser posted the video to YouTube. Not having seen the video, I can only assume it was posted as a "bearing witness" by a classmate of the bullies, rather than the bullies bragging (although bullies and criminals bragging about their misdeeds is a common occurrence). If posted as a measure of bearing witness, what is the etiquette concern? Behavior like that of the bullies needs to be witnessed to be addressed.

Yrs, it's hard on Ms. Klein to be permanently marked as having been a victim, but thugs gang up on the weak and powerless. I suspect she didn't have much in the way of authority to tell the brats to sit down and shut up.

As for the donors - they saw the amount raised. At that point, they could have chosen to not donate.

[TurtleDove]

I'm curious what an anti-bullying organization would use the money for.  If it's raising awareness, I would say this woman has already done her part.

[RingTailedLemur]

I'm curious what an anti-bullying organization would use the money for.  If it's raising awareness, I would say this woman has already done her part.

Offering support and advice to victims?

[TurtleDove]

I'm curious what an anti-bullying organization would use the money for.  If it's raising awareness, I would say this woman has already done her part.

Offering support and advice to victims?

Why would they need money to do that, is my question.

[Sharnita]

I'm curious what an anti-bullying organization would use the money for.  If it's raising awareness, I would say this woman has already done her part.

Offering support and advice to victims?

Why would they need money to do that, is my question.

Trained professionals cost money. 

[RingTailedLemur]

I'm curious what an anti-bullying organization would use the money for.  If it's raising awareness, I would say this woman has already done her part.

Offering support and advice to victims?

Why would they need money to do that, is my question.

Trained professionals cost money.

Plus set-up, printing costs for posters/leaflets, phone costs, publicity.

[Cleargleam]

I'm curious what an anti-bullying organization would use the money for.  If it's raising awareness, I would say this woman has already done her part.

Offering support and advice to victims?

Why would they need money to do that, is my question.

Trained professionals cost money.

Certainly if the idea is to educate potential victims (which, in essence, can include every low level customer service individual) on how to disengage from the cycle (which includes *having* and *perceiving* the authority to tell a bully to stop), there will be costs associated with developing curricula.  More so if there is any hope of educating employers about the need to support employees with the authority to tell a bully to back off.

Do bus drivers, for example, have the authority to pull the bus into a parking lot until all passengers are compliant? What could Karen Klein have done to change the situation? I imagine if she had simply parked the bus, every parent would have raised a hue and cry about her tardiness and her "inability to control the students a few hooligans".

That district, certainly, needs to look at its processes - was there any way before this to remove the individual bullies from bus privileges? Once a bully senses his victim has no authority to change the dynamic, he just digs in deeper because he knows he cannot be stopped.