I think I’m one of three people I know who does not actively hate Nickelback.

(Yes, I carefully chose each word in that sentence.)

For whatever reason, people loathe Nickelback.

Really, it doesn’t make any sense to me. The band manages to rack up tons of award nominations and wins (the guys have even won “World’s Best Selling Rock Artist,” for pete’s sake), but I guess there are more people out there who despise the group than there are fans, and those who despise Nickelback make no secret about it.

Well, Nickelback finally lashed back.

Within the last few days, the band has taken to its Twitter account (@Nickelback) to respond to numerous jokes, insults, and overall mean-spirited tweets. Whomever tweets for the band went so far as to ask one girl whether she’d cut her ear off yet and telling another user that the aneurism, defecation, and dog death that he claimed happened when he listened to their music was “the best day [he's] had in a while.”

Of course, for Nickelback (and any other celebrity), lashing back can be good for visibility, or their image, or popularity. It drums up interest and gets people talking (hey, I learned about this story through Rolling Stone).

For the rest of us, giving in to cyber bullying isn’t the best move. As do most kinds of bullies, cyber bullies see responses as reinforcement and often they’ll keep on and keep on and keep on as long as the victim feeds them the responses they want.

So, instead of taking a page from Nickelback’s How To Respond To Cyber Bullies In 140 Characters Or Less book (actually, that’s a pretty decent title), check out the following articles for legit information on cyber bullying, including the dangers of virtual harassment and tips for handling cyber bullies:

• Coping With Cyberbullying: The Use Of Technology To Terrify
• Cyber Bullying: Parents Try To Fight Back
• Insights And Tips On Cyber-Bullying
• Depression High In Cyber Bully Victims
• Virtual Harassment Worse Than Face-To-Face
• Cyberbullying And Teen Suicide
• Find Advocates To Deal With Bullying

How about YOU, readers? Do you have any advice for cyber bully victims? Any firsthand stories about how cyber bullying affected you?

Image Credit: cj_slim per these Creative Commons License Attributions

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    Last reviewed: 25 Jan 2012