Cartoon Network’s Stop Bullying, Speak Up, Anti-Defamation League, Her Universe, and The Hero Construction Company Team Up with Celebs, Authors & Experts at Pop Culture Mecca
“The opposite of a hero is not a villain, It’s a bystander.”- Matt Langdon, The Hero Construction Company
Bullying is a huge problem today. More so with the constant barrage of abuse on social media a victim can be subjected to. I wrote about this in an article entitled “Keeping Your Head In The Game Adult Vigilance On and Off The Playground”. As a teacher and a father, I believe being proactive to educate and empower both and caregivers in how to resist bullying is vital, and can save lives.
National Bullying Prevention Month is a campaign in the United States founded in 2006 by PACER’s National Center for Bullying Prevention. The campaign is held during the month of October and unites communities nationwide to educate and raise awareness around bullying prevention.
Traditionally held the first week in October, the event was expanded in 2010 to include activities, education, and awareness building for the entire month. National Bullying Prevention Month is recognized in communities across the United States, with hundreds of schools and organizations signing on as partners. Facebook, Disney, CNN and Yahoo! Kids have supported the month through media outreach and dissemination. Marvel has teamed up with Stomp Out Bullying, a leading national bullying and cyberbullying prevention organization for kids and teens, to produce a series of variant comic book covers this October, in their latest anti-bullying campaign.
I’m pleased this years Pop Culture Anti-Bullying Coalition’s powerful panel, back at NYCC by popular demand, will include geek, cyber, & LGBT-bullying, becoming a hero IRL, and analyzing how media and entertainment affect our attitudes toward bullying and aggression. If you are attending NYCC14 this year it’s a worthy cause that we Geeks should all support.
End Bullying! Responding to Cruelty in Our Culture
Friday, 10/10/2014
5:00PM – 5:45PM
Room 1A21
Javits Center
The unprecedented Coalition, which is all-volunteer and self-funded, was formed in 2013 by actress Chase Masterson (Star Trek: DS9, Doctor Who: Big Finish) and author Carrie Goldman (Harper Collins’ Bullied: What Every Parent, Teacher, and Kid Needs to Know About Ending the Cycle of Fear).
Young Adults, kids, parents, and educators will learn strategies from celebs & experts, including Cartoon Network VP Social Responsibility Alice Cahn, Her Universe Creator & Actress Ashley Eckstein (Star Wars: The Clone Wars), Comedian Joe Gatto (TruTV’s Impractical Jokers, Jokers Wild), Matt Langdon (Founder, Hero Roundtable and The Hero Construction Company), Dr Travis Langley (Author, Batman & Psychology: A Dark and Stormy Knight), Anti-Defamation League’s Eva Vega-Olds (Director of Research and Communication), Goldman and Masterson.
“Pop culture revolves around heroes. Since we love them – why not be one?” asks Masterson. “We’re not just here to make a stand against bullying. Everybody knows that needs to stop. We’re making a safe, go-to place where teens, kids and adults can find support, healing and answers.”
“In our digitalized, media-driven society, pop culture has a constant influence on the way that both children and adults interpret the world. When kids see celebrities take action against bullying, it resonates strongly and sends the message that cruelty is not acceptable,” says Goldman.
In addition to the Anti-Defamation League and Cartoon Network, the Coalition includes CW Seed’s Husbands and several national non-profits with initiatives to end bullying, including the United Nations Association, GLSEN, International Bullying Prevention Association, Girl Scouts of America, Brave Girls Alliance and the NoH8 Campaign.
NYCC, one of ReedPop’s undisputed epi-centers of the pop culture universe, draws over 150,000 fans and receives prominent press worldwide. Pop Culture Anti-Bullying Coalition brought this crucial issue to the heart of the Con’s entertainment-driven conversations.
“The truth is bullying is not only an issue for the schools and the home. The impact of bullying is one that carries over beyond the school years and affects the behavior of adults and the entire society. It takes a whole community to allow bullying to go on, and it takes a whole community to make sure that it doesn’t.” said Tammy Gillies, Regional Director, ADL.
Matt Langdon builds real-life heroes with The Hero Construction Company school presentations and Hero Round Table conference. “Our approach to anti-bullying is summed up with this statement: the opposite of a hero is not a villain,” says
Langdon. “It’s a bystander.”
“STOP BULLYING: SPEAK UP uses the inspirational power of entertainment media to motivate young people, and the adults who care for them, to speak up safely and effectively when they see bullying happen,” remarked Cahn. “Working together, we can create a culture of kindness in our schools and communities.”
“From now on, Con-goers will come for cosplay, entertainment, freebies, autographs — and healing.”-CNN
For details, please see http://www.AntiBullyingCoalition.com
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