Nate Bronstein was a 15-year-old boy who attended an elite school in Chicago. But in January, cyberbullying drove him to commit suicide. Was it because of rumors that he had not been vaccinated for Covid?

Parents File Lawsuit Against the School

Nate’s parents, Rose and Robert Bronstein, filed suit on Monday against the Latin School, a $40,000 per year private school in Chicago’s exclusive Gold Coast neighborhood. Nate had hanged himself in the shower of the family’s home, one month after he had met with the school’s dean to report cyberbullying. He told the dean that he had received an obscene Snapchat message, as well as being “attacked, hazed, targeted and threatened with physical violence” in a text thread, according to his mother.

However, the dean did nothing after that December 13th meeting, according to the lawsuit. In the meantime, about 20 members of the school’s JV basketball team continued to torment Nate until he committed suicide.

This had been Nate’s first year at the Latin School; he had transferred there because he wanted to return to in-school classes. But he struggled to fit in, and as early as September, 2021, Nate began complaining to his parents about being bullied.

Nate’s parents also sought out Latin’s administrators, but said that the school didn’t respond. Moreover, they had no idea as to the extent of the cyberbullying until after Nate’s suicide.

As Rose Bronstein told CBS News in Chicago:

“Our son would still be alive today if Latin would have done their job and reported to us what had gone on within the school.”

Did Vaccine Rumors Lead to Suicide?

In one incident reported in the lawsuit, Nate had been talking to another student about the upcoming Homecoming Dance, but the student told Nate that he couldn’t join him or his friends. Then, just a few days after that, the same student began spreading rumors that Nate had not received Covid vaccinations.

Moreover, during the last time Nate had visited this student in his home, the mother told him that “it must suck to have to take a Covid test every week.” But when Nate told her that he had indeed been vaccinated, the mother responded, “Yeah, right.”

After rumors began about Nate’s vaccination status, other students began approaching Nate, asking him if his parents were “anti-vaxxers.” So the Bronsteins reached out to these parents in order to resolve the issue once and for all, yet the bullying became worse.

But other incidents besides the vaccine rumors also occurred. For example, the lawsuit alleges that Nate’s geometry teacher ridiculed him before the class. Nate had made comments about geometry proofs in class which the teacher didn’t like, and as a result, the teacher told the class that Nate was “going nowhere in life.”

And then there were the texts and Snapchat messages. One of them was a direct threat that encouraged Nate to kill himself.

Nate committed suicide on January 13, 2022. His parents had arranged to return him to his previous school on January 24. How incredibly sad.

Latin Ignored Anti-Bullying Laws

The state of Illinois beefed-up its anti-bullying laws in 2014, which Latin apparently ignored. As Rob Bronstein, Nate’s father, said:

“We’ve come to learn that the Illinois laws are maybe some of the strongest, if not the strongest, in the United States. But if schools don’t follow them, it doesn’t do anything. And that’s what’s so upsetting.”

Illinois requires that schools investigate and report incidents of bullying within 10 school days. Plus, parents of all parties must be notified as well, and the offending students are subject to discipline.

However, Latin is one of the most prestigious schools in Chicago. And, as such, its students come from some of the city’s wealthiest and most powerful families. In fact, at least three of Nate’s abusers were the sons of Latin’s board members — people with a vested interest in making sure that incidents involving a misfit kid disappear.

Plus, there is a Facebook page entitled “Survivors of Latin,” which shares experiences of bullying and abuse by students, parents, and faculty. These incidents go back years.

How Cyberbullying Can Lead to Suicide

It’s certainly true that bullies have existed ever since children have flocked together and social pecking orders have emerged. It’s a sad part of our human condition — along with our drive to be social, there’s also a need among some to dominate others, and enjoy the cruelty that goes with it.

We’ve snickered at teen movies where the geek with the nerd glasses gets pushed into a locker. But it’s viscerally satisfying to watch Ralphie Parker beat the crap out of the bully Scut Farkus in the classic film A Christmas Story. A lot of us knew what it was like to be Ralphie when we were kids.

Credit: rinkrover.ca.

But that was then. Victims of bullies could go home, knowing they would be safe from their tormentors. Not any more. The torment follows kids home through cell phones and social media. They get no rest. They open their cell phones in the morning or late at night before they go to sleep and learn how someone wants them to die. “Simple,” some might say. “Just turn off the damned phone. Better yet, don’t even get one. Problem solved.”

Eh, but it doesn’t. How can kids who have relied on Zoom and internet school for almost two years succeed without such connections? For that matter — how many of us can function in the work world without the ‘Net and its connections to our colleagues?

When Progressivism Supplants Traditional Ethics

The traditional Judeo-Christian ethics which have served our social order for generations is diminished. In its place is progressivism, which rejects religious ethics and makes man, rather than God, the center of life. So when humans become God, it follows that the strong dominate the weak, without any concern for the morality of destroying lives. The words of Jesus to “love your neighbor as yourself” is rejected as too “Christian.”

When kids grow up in this sort of environment, it’s no wonder that bullies abound. Combine this lack of morals with the tech world, mix in fear and loathing of the unvaccinated, and you have a perfect storm. The strong kids gang together like feral dogs, gleefully hunting the weak for the sadistic pleasure of annihilating them. And then out-of-place kids like Nate Bronstein will all too often turn to suicide for relief.

Featured image: vectorjuice/cropped/freepik.