Willow Palin: Cyberbullying or Immaturity?

Willow Palin used homophobic slurs on Facebook, but some bloggers asked whether that makes her a cyberbully or just an immature 16-year-old.

The Huffington Post rounds up reactions from bloggers including Slate's Emily Bazelon, Andrew Sullivan at The Atlantic, and Salon's Mary Elizabeth Williams. Sullivan, a gay conservative, took the harshest line against the posts, and wondered what they say about the Palin family.

"Using the word gay to mean lame as an adjective is a different thing than calling a young man a 'faggot.' Willow is 16 years' old," wrote Sullivan. "Who taught her to use language like that? And the excuse from the Palins? Not disciplining or an apology -- but a defense: A source connected to the Palin family tells TMZ that Willow doesn't usually use this kind of language, but she felt like she and her family were being attacked."

Bristol, Willow's older sister, apologized for the posts Wednesday on Facebook.

But HuffPo asks in a poll, "Were Palin's insults an immature defense or a testament to the homophobia that is plaguing gay teens today?"