Bullying

[Karma]

Has it gotten worse over the last two generations?

Why is the perception that it's some kind of "childhood rite of passage" still widely held?

Why do people seem to think [if they think it's a problem @ all] it's a problem that will correct itself?

In a time where now even when a victim is bullied to death & the abuser shows up @ their funeral to mock them in death ...when does it stop? When does the abuser get taken to task & when is the victim no longer blamed for the abuse they suffer?

 

[Screen Legend]

In my opinion, yes. I remember back when I was in high school, I didn't see any out and out bullying. But, I have to admit, just because I didn't see it, doesn't mean it wasn't there.

I honestly don't know why people seem to think it will correct itself; I don't think it will. These days, when I turn on the news, the general consensus of high school students seems, to me anyway, that they are absolutely brutal these days [people committing suicide, etc.].

 

[Clara Oswald]

I think kids talk about it more now than we did or those before us did. Looking back, I was bullied in middle school, but at the time I never would have called it that. Bullying was something that happened to boys when big kids stole their lunch money.

But I do think bullying has gotten worse with regards to the lengths people are willing to go. I mean, at my local school, some girls set this other girl's hair on fire and they didn't even get suspended. Personally I think it comes from the fact that too many kids are raised with zero consequences for their actions - and with no one teaching them how to act right.

 

[Karma]

I had kids TRY me in highschool...but I got right back w/them & while it got me "branded" as a "bitch" or "outcast"...i didnt care. as long as they knew not to cross me.

& regardless of what those petty bitches were talking about @ school. when the school day was over? that was it. I NEVER saw or heard any of those drug addicted sluts out & about & if I had? they knew better than to cross me.

I look back on it today & that was their attempt to bully but i shot that shit down.

It wasn't like what happened to me ONLINE back in 2001. THAT was something I'd never encountered or experienced before & couldn't immediately deal with b/c my harrassers were 1000's of miles away & i wasnt net savvy enough to know about IP addresses , reporting etc. That was crazy to me & it drive me NUTS that I couldn't do more to stop it until Rana & yourself got involved. but they knew they had the BENEFIT of not being anywhere within my grasp...physically & for the most part legally. fuckin cowards!

these days? kids harrass & abuse their victims @ school, after school, ONLINE even & the parents (sometimes on both ends) don't seem to have a CLUE what is going on! i think that goes to what you're saying about kids not being RAISED [w/zero consquences for their actions], vil.

i feel like not enough ppl expect schools to do their job which INCLUDES fostering a SAFE environment for EVERYBODY. if a kid is being harrassed/bullied & tells a teacher or school official & nothing is done about it, if it escalates to something like what you just mentioned & someone's HAIR gets set on fire...then among OTHER things, the school should share in that accountability!

without being able to follow up on the stories of bullying that leads to suicide/fatality that DO get reported...it certainly looks like too often the abusers get away w/ MURDER.

 

[Screen Legend]

without being able to follow up on the stories of bullying that leads to suicide/fatality that DO get reported...it certainly looks like too often the abusers get away w/ MURDER.

See, that's what I think too. They should be tried as accessories to murder. Even though they didn't actually kill the person, they still pushed them to their snapping point. That's how I see it.

 

[Clara Oswald]

This is somewhat tangential but I'm waiting on someone to commit suicide because of comments made on YouTube. Google should be ASHAMED for allowing that to go on on their website. The things you read on there...I don't usually read the comments but I was watching a comedy video on there and happened to see people in the comments using the N word - and not in a way of personal empowerment. How can this go on? Someone is going to harm themselves and unfortunately it's going to take something like THAT and an ensuing lawsuit for Google to clean up it's act. Because clearly page views are more important to them than doing what's right.

 

[Karma]

This is somewhat tangential but I'm waiting on someone to commit suicide because of comments made on YouTube. Google should be ASHAMED for allowing that to go on on their website. The things you read on there...I don't usually read the comments but I was watching a comedy video on there and happened to see people in the comments using the N word - and not in a way of personal empowerment. How can this go on? Someone is going to harm themselves and unfortunately it's going to take something like THAT and an ensuing lawsuit for Google to clean up it's act. Because clearly page views are more important to them than doing what's right.

well it's gotten pretty close. remember the young boy on the east coast (i forget which state @ the moment) who committed suicide LIVE on youtube? he was black & a victim of homophobic bullying & felt there was no hope. Ppl were on there CHEERING him on!? there was such a sick, callous response, it broke my heart. somebody 2 states away called 911 but by the time police & emergency workers got there, he was already gone. he died ON SCREEN on YOUTUBE & ppl cheered him to his DEATH!

law enforcement were looking into charges of somekind against certain specific individuals but I havent heard anything about it since & I'm SURPRISE there wasnt some sort of backlash against youtube b/c of it.

 

[Rampage]

I have a more nuanced view.

There has always been bullying. People did it to people I knew in school and tried to do it with me. It is a part of growing up, that pointing out of differences and forming cliques that compete.

The real issue in my mind is that when kids were being little shits to you in the past, you kicked their ass. If there was a bully, kids banded together and kicked their ass. You might have gotten sent home a day or a paddling or something, sometimes nothing if no harm was done and you were the one bullied. Maybe you lost the fight. But you FOUGHT, stood up for yourself.

But then we got a to a point in society where people started saying "There is NO reason to hit". That actually empowered the jerks and bullies of this world because they only understand force and loss. So now THE bullies and jerks are even more mean and talk even more shit that hurts and the good kids are powerless personally to stop it. WE TOOK A POWERFUL TOOL.

So now a kid that fights back ends up in jail, or out of school for the year. And bullying is out of control. So now we want to send kids to prison for being the little shits their parents raised them to be. I for one would rather see a bully with a black eye and a life lesson learned than see them in jail.

One suggestion: Bring back the asswhippin'.

 

[Black King]

I think kids talk about it more now than we did or those before us did. Looking back, I was bullied in middle school, but at the time I never would have called it that. Bullying was something that happened to boys when big kids stole their lunch money.

But I do think bullying has gotten worse with regards to the lengths people are willing to go. I mean, at my local school, some girls set this other girl's hair on fire and they didn't even get suspended. Personally I think it comes from the fact that too many kids are raised with zero consequences for their actions - and with no one teaching them how to act right.

How did they not get arrested for that, i mean that pushes a line.

And I don't think bullying got worst this generation but there definitely is an openness that wasn't around before especially since so many kids (i say kids like they aren't my age or a little younger) have killed themselves.

 

[Clara Oswald]

They didn't get punished. It was disgusting. The school told the parents they should just send their kids to another school if they were being bullied.

Here's an article about it:

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&sqi=2&ved=0CB4QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.google.com%2Fnewspapers%3Fnid%3D1129%26dat%3D19970730%26id%3DFNRRAAAAIBAJ%26sjid%3DK28DAAAAIBAJ%26pg%3D6651%2C9814218&ei=01bFTo2FDa_I0AHeqbHiDg&usg=AFQjCNFYkafmwzmOPiFOzxeac_zDwb1_sA&sig2=GV350Avv93oLlIhDL7pCng

 

[Karma]

I have a more nuanced view.

There has always been bullying. People did it to people I knew in school and tried to do it with me. It is a part of growing up, that pointing out of differences and forming cliques that compete.

The real issue in my mind is that when kids were being little shits to you in the past, you kicked their ass. If there was a bully, kids banded together and kicked their ass. You might have gotten sent home a day or a paddling or something, sometimes nothing if no harm was done and you were the one bullied. Maybe you lost the fight. But you FOUGHT, stood up for yourself.

But then we got a to a point in society where people started saying "There is NO reason to hit". That actually empowered the jerks and bullies of this world because they only understand force and loss. So now THE bullies and jerks are even more mean and talk even more shit that hurts and the good kids are powerless personally to stop it. WE TOOK A POWERFUL TOOL.

So now a kid that fights back ends up in jail, or out of school for the year. And bullying is out of control. So now we want to send kids to prison for being the little shits their parents raised them to be. I for one would rather see a bully with a black eye and a life lesson learned than see them in jail.

One suggestion: Bring back the asswhippin'.

yep, sometimes being violent is necessary to protect yourself! i agree w/ that. now IDEALLY, nobody would be harrassing/putting their hands on anybody else. i think THAT would be good as well BUT we know that's not the world we live in & bullying, from the playground to the corporate jungle happens for all kind of "reasons".

you're right, back in the day...drama @ sschool was settled @ school. like i said, these little drug addict tramps in my class TRIED me & i dealt w/ them. Yeah it was a "big shock" b/c it happened @ a private school but I didnt care. I wasnt about to let those bitches think they could run me in ANY kind of way & once that confrontation occurred, that was it.

but these days, if that happens, then the bully wants to bring a gun to school or the parent wants to cry foul against the victim who defended themself & the school, which looked the other way before, NOW wants to step in & make an example @ the VICTIM'S expense!? it's ALL ass backwards now in so many ways.

 

[Screen Legend]

I think bullying should be outlawed. I'm sorry but I got an email from my pastor to pray for this person's kid. He's being bullied at school and he's been talking about wanting to die and go to heaven.

He's only six! Six-year-olds are not supposed to be wanting to die! :mad3:

They are supposed to be having fun and just enjoying the freedom of being a kid. I want to find those kids who are bullying him and tell them how it's going to go down. Of course, we all know that bullies bully other kids because of their own insecurities.

Of course, I don't really blame the little guy. He's sick and tired of being bullied all the time. I'm sick and tired of hearing about horror stories of bullying myself.

When is it going to end? WHEN?