Anti-Bullying campaign - Right or Wrong?

We see it on Facebook, on new books and TV shows, all over the place - bullying must stop!

I have questioned this for some time as to whether it's right or not...

I was bullied as a kid. I was very socially nieve and a caring intelligent kid who got teased mercilessly. I was also great at sports so I had a few people defend me now and then but in general I was shunned and made fun of. One "Support" reason for the anti-bullying campaign is that, for me, I had no choice. I didn't get stronger by being harrassed, attacked (physically and verbally), by being shunned... it just stopped me from interacting, I went home for lunch everyday and chose to stay away. (I'm well beyond that now, three decades later and a few degrees (in Psychology - go figure ), married and a child, that situation is no longer me at all.

Some argue that bullying makes people stronger.... but I wholeheartedly disagree UNLESS there's a community background to help kids through the bullying; which we don't really have in America.

IMAGINE for a moment the situation between the sheeple and The Powers That Be.... a few uncaring people at the top running the planet, making things happen so to have slaves unquestioningly support their extravagant way of life.

Now imagine these very same "Elite" people were behind the anti-bullying movement... it's just a thought but imagine if it was. Would it be like this?

Teach all the children of this era that everyone should be nice, complacent, follow directions, and if someone bullies you don't ever stand up to him or her, go to an authority fugure.

We are MISSING THE POINT!

Stopping bullying by having grown-ups stop the bullies is disempowering!!

Stopping bullying by creating the idea in our children that bullies do exist (and will always exist), and teach them the ways in which bullying works, will empower our children to recognize bullying and stand up to it on their own.

Bullying isn't really a threat and anger directed at kids; it's about competition and whether another kid belongs in your in-group. It's a natural part of human behavior.

One kid singled out and harassed by a mob of others in school is not empowering and that kid has no way to defend himself against the bombardment of ignorance and violence heading his way.

Bullies should be suspended, and then expelled if the behavior continues. Legal action should be taken if necessary.

Oh, yes, absolutely.

This is the kind of stuff our educational boards and Congress does against bullying.


Matt's Safe School Law

Basically, anyone is allowed the right to bully or taunt (or basically verbalize their opinions toward) a child if their opinion and actions are based on a legitimate moral or religious ground.

In other words, if the Bible says you're going to hell for being gay, expect to get beat up in the parking lot behind the school every day, as well as getting taunts hissed at you from every side while walking down the hall. And if you eat pork on the wrong day, well...don't be surprised if you get smacked around a little. After all, this law says it would be alright.

And we wonder why there are so many suicides in America. For shame, people...are we Nazis, or what?

Right or wrong? YOU DECIDE.

This is going to cause way more problems than its going to solve.... Kids need thicker skin, such wusses and its all internet based...think about it.... people killing themselves over facebook, sounds a bit foolish in retrospect does it not? (no disrespect at all just trying to lay it out)..

Grrr this makes me angry... Kids should be able to fight in school, NOT get expelled for defending themselves... its just rough for kids these days I tell ya

I imagine it must be a lot worse for kids nowadays with things like facebook and text messaging. It's now possible for bullies to use this technology to bully anonymously.

Ive never met a persons who has said "i wish i was bullied more"

I was not bullied much even as a new comer mid way through the 5 year secondary school system, i saw it done by freinds of mine and to freinds of mine by others. I never bullied anyone and i always talked people i knew out of it when it happend in front of me.

My sister however, not so lucky and with a learning problem, she was teased and beaten up beyond my ability to do anything about it (shes two years younger) and when i left school i could do nothing for her remining 2 years. What i can say for sure is that her pysical pains healed fast but the torture layed down by the groups of people did her no favours.

She remins a very closed person, she is now quick to lash out with a distinct lack of trust in anyone (even toward our parents), i remain the only one she actually listens to.

Bully DOES need to be stopped.

Hazing and fooling around, sorting the alphas from the betas etc is one thing (and does help to build positive character), bullying never had a place and does not desirve one in the future.

EDIT: also more to the point, kids have to trust the system, if the system lets them down and the trust is degraded that earily on..... well thats just not good for anyone.

reply to post by woodwardjnr


Heres the thing... Facebook has a BLOCK button and privacy settings... WHY DO 14 year olds need a facebook anyways?!

Cell phones should be restricted by the parents.... BLOCK the number, talk to the bullies parents.. .CALL THE COPS

dont add more legislation we dont need

Originally posted by DrNotforhire
reply to post by woodwardjnr

 

Heres the thing... Facebook has a BLOCK button and privacy settings... WHY DO 14 year olds need a facebook anyways?!

Cell phones should be restricted by the parents.... BLOCK the number, talk to the bullies parents.. .CALL THE COPS

dont add more legislation we dont need

Maybe your right , but you can't put the geenie back in the bottle so to speak. Kids do use these technologies and will continue to do so. I'm not saying you need more legislation, but more education would be a good thing. An essential thing.

reply to post by woodwardjnr


agreed... but whats the problem with that... For lack of a better term kids are STUPID... Think about when you were 14-18 you thought you knew everything, everything you did was right blah blah blah... NO kids are going to bully the weaker kids.... these anti bully acts are just prolonging the cycle of maturity...

I was a mean bully... BIG and BAD...


I was tortured in elementary and middle school.
When I grew up and got big EVERYTHING CHANGED.

I found myself on top of the food chain.
Which was great, but I never forgot
where I CAME from..

I bullied the bullies..

If i found SOME ass hole slapping YOU around (a kid in health class was getting slapped around by two different teens) They just had the kid in a corner slapping him back and forth. I was two times bigger
then both of them combined, i took them by the collar, told them to apologized
and me and the kid slapped took turns slapping them around.

Let kid's be kid's there will always be people like me
to help your little squirt.

YA I WAS A BULLY!!!

But i only bullied the bully

right or wrong???

Some of the kid's i saved will never forget me

The goverment cant teach our kids that bullying isnt good for anything, in a SCHOOL and you expect those same kids when they turn 18 to vote to actually expect things to happen.....

Bullying will always happen and when it does it should be 'treated' properly, just hanging signs everywhere that say avoid drugs and dont bully, look both ways etc - thats alot of signs for kids to ignore all day :p

The system fails in a teahcing inviroment, how about more different tactics rather than just paste the same old failure campain.

reply to post by popsmayhem


Pops this is a great post.... I too was targeted by bullies in high School..

I defended myself and wound up with three days of suspension.. but you know what after that I wasn't messed with because I had a back bone...

And I had people like yourself rushing to my defense... Since I stood my ground, and proved my worth.

and you are right.... This was over 14 years ago.. and I still remember who helped me out and their names and what they look like!

reply to post by Starchild23

The staunch opposition stems from the fact that the law allows harassment by teachers and students as long as they can claim their actions are rooted in a "sincerely held religious belief or moral conviction." Those who truly believe homosexuality is wrong, for example, are free to torment classmates consequence-free.

Wow!! That's awful!

Originally posted by DrNotforhire
This is going to cause way more problems than its going to solve.... Kids need thicker skin, such wusses and its all internet based...think about it.... people killing themselves over facebook, sounds a bit foolish in retrospect does it not? (no disrespect at all just trying to lay it out)..

Grrr this makes me angry... Kids should be able to fight in school, NOT get expelled for defending themselves... its just rough for kids these days I tell ya

No disrespect, just calling kids sissies when five football players walk up and shove them in a mud puddle.

I'm sure you'd want to fight those odds. A little compassion, please. You have no idea what these kids go through on a daily basis.

These children have committed frikkin' SUICIDE over these matters. Does that seem like a petty thing to you? And in all honesty, I'm pretty sure it takes some gonads to hang yourself.

Think about it some more.

Originally posted by Biigs
Hazing and fooling around, sorting the alphas from the betas etc is one thing (and does help to build positive character), bullying never had a place and does not desirve one in the future.

I think this is presisely one of the issues! We don't have a proper working definition for what bullying is. Some of it is obviously anger issues and abuse, while much of it (in my opinion) is common competition and in-group validation.

reply to post by Starchild23


Did you just read the one post I made??? Did you not read where I was a victim of bullying??? This is more regulation and the same slant that people are trying to make in order to GIVE YOUR KIDS OVER TO GOVERNMENT CONTROL..

look a little deeper next time you make accusations.. and FOR THE RECORD... Suicide is the most selfish act on the face of the planet.

So no, NO compassion for something that EVERYBODY has to deal with... At least we live in the 2000's police are on high school campuses now...

Its not like they are Unattended... there are SO many laws in regards to this, and they obviously aren't working...

I believe in a social pendulum effect...

50s housewife, turns into raging feminist, turns into balanced legislation allowing women a fair salary, which eventually turns back into an acceptable level of respect for both sides.

We had 50s after-school fights, then serious bullying, now we have a huge movement against bullying...

I HOPE the next step is:
* teaching our children that competition and strength of personality are parts of life
* we don't need to always turn to authority to be protected
* and, some of the bullies really do need to be reprimanded/educated/incarcerated, etc.

reply to post by Thermo Klein


Well said Thermo

I completely agree...

It's called human nature. Good and bad. Whether it be a school-yard bully, a radical religious group, a country, or a powerful global entity; it is still nothing more than an expression of human nature. One can stop using red ink, outlaw kickball, denounce terrorist actions, war with threatening countries, and protest the Bilderbergs/World bankers. The bottom line is that human beings have been subjects to their base nature as long as they have been on this planet, and will be for a long time to come.

So what to do? Accept it. Deal with it. Embrace it. only then can we rise above it. Strive for the elevated and nobel of course, but never for a second think that one is totally removed form it. It's the best and worst of us.

Sure there needs to be consequences to excessive bullying, but the victim isn't only the one being harassed. As much as it is good standing its ground, it is bad learning shame for its actions.

Originally posted by DrNotforhire
and FOR THE RECORD... Suicide is the most selfish act on the face of the planet.

I hear this so frequently from certain groups... and it's a ridiculous statement!! Suicide isn't done by someone in a right state of mind. It is WAY too complicated to label it with some horribly unfeeling statement as to call the person selfish!

This is a big issue though and honestly deserves it's own thread.