December 8, 2010
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What Do You Think?
So maybe this subject has been beaten like a dead horse, but I want to bring it up anyway.
I was on the treadmill today, reading an older issue of People Magazine. There was a whole bunch of articles about gay bullying, teen suicide, and bullying in general. The main article was about the boy at Rutgar's who had jumped off the bridge... remember that?
One of the articles talked about another young girl, 15, who was not gay, but killed herself because she was bullied. 6 teens are charged with federal crimes (I don't know what) and they were now the ones getting bullied, because of how they treated that girl. The school officials and guidance counselors on the school staff are also getting harassed, because they didn't do enough to stop the bullying, as are the parents of the 6 teens charged with crimes.
I'm wondering if it's okay in your eyes to bully the bully. Is it okay to give them a dose of their own medicine? So they can see how it feels? Should the school staff be harassed for not doing more? Should the people in this community, who didn't do enough, become victims of the same crime? Do you think they feel guilty enough, without getting yelled by people in the supermarket?
I think this is an interesting topic to explore. Honestly, I don't know how I feel about it. I was bullied pretty badly in elementary and middle school. Definitely when I was younger, I would have been like fuck yeah, give them absolute hell. Now, I really don't know what to think.
What do you think??
*Also, don't forget I'm sending out Christmas cards! If you want one, get me your address.... I'll probably be sending them out Saturday =]
Comments (13)
Fuck no.
Bullying the bullies does nothing but perpetuate the idea that some people are "superior" to others, and therefore are in a position where bullying is justifiable.
That is NOT the position we want to be espousing if we ever want to stop bullying.
Also, bullies are still human.
There are other arguments, but those are the two most persuasive, in my mind.
I'm with you on this one. I don't know what to think about it either. I actually have a story that sort of relates to the bullying. I may or may not blog about it sometime later.
Bullying a bully makes you a bully. Just like killing a killer makes you a killer.
I was bullied pretty bad, too, but I never once thought, "I wish someone would bully [name of bully]." I think it's wrong. Example: There was an episode of The Fairly OddParents like that, when Timmy wished that his babysitter Vicky was a 5 year old girl (he's 10). He proceeded to be really cruel to her, just as she had been to him, and he almost died as a result. I think it's extreme karma.
as much I as I want to say hell yeah, I know its not right...
But at the same time I don't think they should get to just go on like nothing happened, they should be ostracized...
Having a brother with a disability, and seeing how cruel and rude people are...they need their own medicine. Not to an extreme extent, just so they get the message.
As for the school...I went to a high school that was bias. The staff favored the kids with money, or ones of certain families...so unless the bulling revolved around the "higher class" (Which it never did) there usually wasn't any thing done. I know from experience, I was "bullied" by a teacher and it took me going into the office balling my eyes out, refusing to go to the class or be in the same room as that teacher before someone would listen to me.
So by all mean, let the school have it.
But then again. I'm just an angry person
of course you shouldn't bully the bullies. not only do they (or they should) feel guilty enough, but bullying them is telling them that what they were doing was right. the kids charged know what they did was wrong, but they did it because that's probably the example that was set for them, and continuing to set that example helps no one.
Giving the people who deserve it, a taste of their own medicine sounds like good clean American fun to me, but I'd rather kind of have a dating service for autistic people and other disabled people and help them get laid or at least help them get a good clean old fashioned hand job once in a while, or maybe even a foot job. Some of those people would get so excited they'd probably jump for joy.
Whatever happened to hand jobs anyway? There's a line in Ken Kesey's "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest" that went something like,
"'I wash my hands of the wholllllle deal!'"
Is that what the world did. It wouldn't come as a great surprise.
(Oh not meaning to change the subject or anything, it's just that mutual masturbation seems more productive than revenge fantasies....)
I was bullied when I was younger. Back then I would've completely agreed with the idea of getting revenge. Now, though, I'm unsure. To some extent a bully should feel the pain that they have caused, but wouldn't it be a little hypocritical to say that bullying the bully is best?
I used to say the same thing because I was bullied a lot. Now, I believe Karma will take care of their ass way better than I ever could.
Bulling the bully is counterproductive. They don't get a taste of their own medicine. In fact, they might enjoy it because it means that their bullying has worked. After all, the goal of the bully is to get under their victim's skin. Bullying your bully means that your bully has succeeded in getting under your skin.
I can see where ancestral bullying would be effective punishment. In a tribal form bullying would be a way for the group to judge the weak/dumb. That would cause ostracization and eventually either force them to conform or leave. This would make the team stronger and therefore life better.
However today it seems that bullying is more of a way for people to pass their individual judgments. I think the guilt sane people should feel would be enough coupled with any criminal sanctions. The judicial system is set up to properly punish or under punish any criminal - never over punish (not saying that's how it always works.) So in those cases the kids should be left alone until they are found guilty or innocent. The professionals however should be help accountable by their bosses, and them in turn by the voting public. People should keep their mouths shut toward them and read the news and find the facts and judge with a vote - not gossip or worse bullying. If they are to be fired or not let them live their lives. They might be innocent.
It's definitely still wrong. Legal action should be taken, but would you want more people to kill themselves over something preventable? Definitely not.
Comments are closed.