A Chicago first-grader has stirred the global online community into action over a case of schoolyard bullying.
The story of young Katie Goldman first came to light with the publishing of a ChicagoNow story early last week. According to the article, Katie, an avid Star Wars fan, became the victim of bullying after schoolmates teased her for carrying a Star Wars drink bottle, telling her Star Wars was ''only for boys''. Initially intended to shed light on the ongoing issue of bullying in schools, the story quickly went viral.
The original story attracted nearly 1700 comments and more than 11,000 Facebook ''likes''. On Twitter, users began tweeting with the hashtag #MayTheForceBeWithKatie and follow-up stories soon appeared on starwars.com and mother's help site mamapedia.com.
Katie's story has even led to a Facebook event dubbed ''Support Star Wars and Geek Pride for Katie''. The event asks all attendees - there were 615 as of yesterday - to ''wear a Star Wars tee shirt or any other piece of paraphernalia to show that you support Katie, Star Wars, anti-bullying, or at the very least, cool water bottles'' on December 10.
And according to the Chicago Tribune, all the web support has made a difference to the young Star Wars fan, with Katie now carrying her Star Wars drink bottle at school with pride.
Image Credit: ChicagoNow
Comments (62)
ReplyOriginal Trilogy, right?
Not weaker counterparts like the New Trilogy or Clone Wars...
Not weaker counterparts like the New Trilogy or Clone Wars...
Does it matter which? Star Wars is Star Wars.
Does it matter which? Star Wars is Star Wars.
As much as I hate to say it, it really does matter...
Original Trilogy FTW!
As much as I hate to say it, it really does matter...
Original Trilogy FTW!
This reminds me of Stargate Universe, an epsiode where Eli flips out and references one of the early films of star wars being epsiode 1, meaning the original and not the new crap!
I loved them all
Does it matter which? Star Wars is Star Wars.
It most certainly does matter.
Good for her!
+1
May darth vader be with you
I like this.
no pic of the water bottle?
**** yeah! GO GEEKS!
+1
11,000 vs 350,000,000 Facebook users...
"...carrying her Star Wars drink bottle at school with pride". Everything/anything hits the news latelly.
How about al qaeda, iraq war, etc?
"...carrying her Star Wars drink bottle at school with pride". Everything/anything hits the news latelly.
How about al qaeda, iraq war, etc?
Should we always be talking about the wars of the US?
"...carrying her Star Wars drink bottle at school with pride". Everything/anything hits the news latelly.
How about al qaeda, iraq war, etc?
I think makes nice change, this news fits nicely on Neowin.
"...carrying her Star Wars drink bottle at school with pride". Everything/anything hits the news latelly.
How about al qaeda, iraq war, etc?
-GASP- A tech site reporting things about technology and various other "geeky" topics?! I am in SHOCK!!
More seriously, there are better sites out there related to news on the war, terrorism, guns, Jesus Christ, and the various topics you may enjoy.
"...carrying her Star Wars drink bottle at school with pride". Everything/anything hits the news latelly.
How about al qaeda, iraq war, etc?
Al Qaeda wants to make you afraid and consume your life,, you feel a need to talk about them and find out everything they are doing,,, congrats they won, way to go you. They do what they do to consume you, just like they did what they did with the towers to make people afraid, it did, to limit peoples options, it did, to bring the government aganst its own people,,,, it did
"...carrying her Star Wars drink bottle at school with pride". Everything/anything hits the news latelly.
How about al qaeda, iraq war, etc?
Oh geeze, thanks for reminding me! <<runs and hides in fear>>
Why don't we leave the fear mongering to Fox News and the republican'ts, m-kay?
Oh geeze, thanks for reminding me! <<runs and hides in fear>>
Why don't we leave the fear mongering to Fox News and the republican'ts, m-kay?
Yeah, we don't we all stick our heads in holes and pray to a nonexistent "Mother Nature" that all will be all right? /s
After all, you can't do anything about a situation if you don't hear about it.
After all, you can't do anything about a situation if you don't hear about it.
Watch any news channel, don't need it here.
I find it annoying that people are giving her a stereotypical image and are dubbing her as a "geek," even though they're defending her against the stereotype of girls.
The interwebz is the stupidz
Thepitt -> so your basically condoning her bullying then? Kids get messed up when there bullied for years and years if this has helped stop it then that's a good thing
Al Qaeda were bullied
Kids (& adults) get messed up when they don't know how or can't deal with it.
If this reminds a parent or 3 to talk to their kids it's a good thing. If it encourages being a victim it's not.
We get oppressed by The Man every day in this place and nobody from Facebook comes in our rescue. But I guess that if I was a white girl then everything would be fine.
Yeah, damn people for helping that little girl! My sink is broken and no one from Facebook is helping me!! I bet if I was a little white girl then everything would be fine!
HUUUUURRRRRRP
In this white man world, we the ones chosen.
That's 'cause it would be rude to tell any little girl to go ahead and grow a pair. :-)
I say good for her I was bullied at school so good for her my the force be with her!
oh come on.. first of all, people have too much time on their hands for doing this. second, i don't condone bullying, but you can't always help the weaker ones. that's why they're weak. i know that most of you won't agree with me, but that's how it really is. you get tough from having to deal with problems, not by accepting help. the girl will grow up having never heard of the word "no". and when she doesn't get a job, she'll go suicidal.. hurray for helping each other....
ps. i was bullied in the school and i overcame it by myself. so go screw.
ps. i was bullied in the school and i overcame it by myself. so go screw.
Yours is a sad, sad outlook on life, sir. Might we remind you that this is a girl in the first grade? She isn't old enough to grasp the realities of life.
You say you've overcame it yourself, and yet you seem plenty angsty. Do I sense some underlying psychological trama? Please keep us updated to if you snap and start cutting yourself or go on a mass homicide.
So you are saying that if you have never asked for help for anything at all? Wow you must the the most awesome person in the world! I bet you are rich for such accomplishments!
On the other hand I think you are an idiot for not seeing the reality on bullying nowadays. There are a lot of stories of people killing themselves because of bullying. It's a real problem and if people can help then they will.
You can either help or not but keep the dumb comments to yourself.
Sad or not, idiot or not, he hits the nail. You can't expect the world to come to your rescue, it doesn't work that way.
Facebook can't save every bullied kid around the world. It's something they'll have to deal with by themselves. This kid got lucky, that's all. We can't do it for all of them. So supporting this as some kind of "solution" is, at the very least, stupid.
And being in the first grade, sadly, doesn't mean she won't be bullied. So they better grow quickly.
Facebook can't save every bullied kid around the world. It's something they'll have to deal with by themselves. This kid got lucky, that's all. We can't do it for all of them. So supporting this as some kind of "solution" is, at the very least, stupid.
And being in the first grade, sadly, doesn't mean she won't be bullied. So they better grow quickly.
Well, duh, but that doesn't mean no one should help someone calling out for help. Also, calling out for help doesn't mean you miss a "life lesson". Hell, I can only imagine the number of people who regret never having called for help.
I remember reading this story about a guy who, back in grade school, had someone come to their classes talking about abuse, and how they can always come to them for help. He mentioned some awkward looking kid who was always picked on, and how the kid quietly burst into tears. The counselors ended up pulling the kid out of class, and supposedly never returned to the school again. Never really knew the story behind what actually happened, but it surely wasn't nothing.
So yes, while it's safe to say you can't expect everyone to be there to fight your battles for you, calling out for help should never be discouraged.
ps. i was bullied in the school and i overcame it by myself. so go screw.
You are not living in an animal group anymore. Society doesn't work that way and believing the best for them is letting them face bullying alone is incorrect. The consequence of having psychological problems over bullying can be disastrous for someone without the correct help in their home or close friends group. And yeah, you obviously got over it with that mentality.
Yours is a sad, sad outlook on life, sir. Might we remind you that this is a girl in the first grade? She isn't old enough to grasp the realities of life.
You say you've overcame it yourself, and yet you seem plenty angsty. Do I sense some underlying psychological trama? Please keep us updated to if you snap and start cutting yourself or go on a mass homicide.
like i said, most of you won't agree with me. but my way of living is trying to live free and in shadows. don't try to change the world. it's full of idiots and the majority always wins, no matter what.
i might have some issues, but i feel that i'm thinking the right way...
think what would happen if apocalypse came tommorow? would we all be friendly to each other or would we slit each other's throat for surviving? and how would you survive if all your life you've been helped by others? no skill, no life.
but this is a feel good story so i won't comment anymore... be happy everyone... yech..
don't try to change the world. it's full of idiots
Evidently.
Owww, she's so cute :> Good for her
Man, Facebook has some social issues...
Kid gets bullied at school? I like it!
Kid gets bullied at school? I like it!
I don't really think you are understanding this story.
I still have my Empire Strikes Back glass.
This shows people still bully for what people like
Like at my school, can't express my like of 'Doctor Who' without any kind of bullying. She's doing the right thing 
Purely FWIW, which like all unsolicited advice is probably little or nothing... ;-)
There's always stuff some people will dislike about you, or something you do or like or how you dress etc. There are always ways to deal with it, from keeping some stuff hidden & conforming, to fighting back, to turning it around into something you enjoy [which admittedly can mean developing a somewhat dark sense of humor :-) ] I've used all of the above.
Pre 9/11 mind you, wrapping road flares together with electrical tape, then attaching a couple of wires & leaving it on a guy's truck once got the point across. Currently disabled, I have problems walking sometimes, even with a cane -- one lady kept rudely staring while I was shopping at Kmart -- I put on what I imagined was my most demented look, and started following her, laughing my a** off when she almost ran from the store. OTOH, there have been times when conformity has worked best, & I've done that when confrontation or trying to turn the tables was too risky -- rather than feel bad about hiding who I was, I always looked at it as gaming the suckers who didn't even have a clue. :-) Back when I was in school, I also made it a point to become friendly with the less desirable types, the most likely to be future criminal folks. It wasn't hard -- I'm naturally friendly -- & most were actually quite nice, & it's not like I was ever more than a casual friend. Anyone inclined to physical bullying Did Not mess with those people, so if there was ANY chance I was one of them, they gave me a wide berth. All in all it let me stay (in?)sane. ;-)
You honestly people can't stop reading after the title? I mean, if this is so annoying to you then I wouldn't dare to think how annoying REAL things must be. Do you go crazy?
Social networking. How is that not related?
Here's whatcha do, go and get Katie into some Karate classes, then when she's 19 and a 3rd degree black belt and someone gives her crap about her Star Wars sipper, she can promptly shove it right up their ***.
She was nice for not force chocking those bullies or jedi mind trick them into eat Bantha pudu.
Cute baby..
I have two ten year old children, boy and girl. they both go through this a lot, my boy more so than the girl. What I think is sad to see is how great people are at reacting to bullying and writing all these great posts that can make a wonderful book but that only a handful are proactive to prevent this from happening. I am glad for her that she has great parents....
Geek Love <3
People bully because their life is empty, they have emotional/psychological problems, or self esteem issues (or all three).
Cool article. Stupid how kiddies still can't just take in something good and must always reply with negative comments, pathetic.
How about al qaeda, iraq war, etc
--
I for one don't give a **** about terrorists or even terrorism. Whether i think about it all day or once a year, they are going to attack and try and bring fear regardless. I am happy to read about uplifting stories.
#1 Fact of life -- people aren't always cool, or nice, whether they're 2 years old or 100.
#2 Fact of life -- someday each person will have to learn how to deal with fact #1.
Since you can't control the behavior of every person your child will encounter over their hopefully long, long lifespan, doesn't it make more sense to focus on fact of life #2, helping them learn to deal with it?
That's not to say all the other stuff is unimportant -- that falls under our individual responsibilities as a member of the community -- but teaching & preparing your kids is your responsibility. You can't control the weather so you send your child out prepared for it, & warm or cool &/or dry them when they come in. Dealing with other kids or people deserves just as much attention, if not more. As parents we can't anticipate everything our children might encounter, but it's frankly our job to try, & when bad things happen, it's our job to help them get both through & beyond it, *teaching* them so they can deal with life, throughout their life.
Carrie Goldman's original article is cool, spreading awareness & reminding parents that part of preparing our kids is teaching them how to act towards others. It's not cool if anyone mis-reads it to say victimhood is something worthy to aspire to.
I pity you.. You don't get it do you..
I pity you.. You don't get it do you..
No, I really don't. I mean, it sucks she got bullied, but I don't see why this is a story. Kids get bullied every day.
No, I really don't. I mean, it sucks she got bullied, but I don't see why this is a story. Kids get bullied every day.
Oh come on, it`s got Star Wars, Facebook, Twitter and a little blond haired girl as lead. How can it not be newsworthy?
More so it just emphasises the power of the web
Star Wars (Clone Wars) FTW! Go girl
*ignoring the trolls*
No
...
Star Trek still wins over Star Wars
*trollface... *