# Is Bullying even bad?



## AnOminous (Mar 18, 2017)

Seriously.

Isn't bullying just society's way of saying "quit doing that shit?"


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## Tlazolli (Mar 18, 2017)

There's immutable traits people get bullied for though, so not really. People bully for control and a validation fix.


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## ICametoLurk (Mar 18, 2017)

Only lolcows think bullying is real.


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## AnOminous (Mar 18, 2017)

If bullying is real, why do we have faces?

Checkmate atheists.


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## Mrs Paul (Mar 19, 2017)

Depends on what you call "bullying".


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## Sperglord Dante (Mar 19, 2017)

Physical bullying: bad. 

Emotional/psychological bullying: lol grow a pair of balls.


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## AnOminous (Mar 19, 2017)

Sperglord Dante said:


> Physical bullying: bad.



Is it, though?

Maybe if you're bullying a cripple, that's bad.

But suppose that much physical bullying is just teaching kids to fight.  Why is that bad?


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## FatFuckingClown (Mar 19, 2017)

Hoo-whee... and what about "cyber bullying"?


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## Sperglord Dante (Mar 19, 2017)

AnOminous said:


> But suppose that much physical bullying is just teaching kids to fight.  Why is that bad?


Much of physical bullying is several kids ganging on another or older kids picking on younger and weaker kids. You can't really learn shit when the odds are completely stacked against you (except maybe that life is unfair).


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## Positron (Mar 19, 2017)

FatFuckingClown said:


> Hoo-whee... and what about "cyber bullying"?


It doesn't exist.  What people called 'cyberbullying' is nothing but real-life bullying spilled over the internet.


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## StraightShooter (Mar 19, 2017)

AnOminous said:


> Seriously.
> 
> Isn't bullying just society's way of saying "quit doing that shit?"


The problem is that what lolcows and SJWs call "bullying" is just people telling the cold hard truth and them not liking to accept it - someone like Chris Chan would probably think that telling him to quit blowing his tugboat money on Sonic games and Legos is "bullying" for example, while basement-dwelling internet SJWs will claim that calling an actual pedophile like "Laurelai" a pedophile is "cyberbullying".

Likewise, the series of so-called "anti-bullying" legislations that public schools have been enacting are really just "pro-LGBT" bills, so the term has lost its meaning; same with "trolling", since "trolls" is apparently the new SJW meme which now just refers to anyone on Twitter who says anything offensive to their fragile little minds, which means pretty much anything truthful.

Bullying is the best thing that could happen to some of these freaks, since it's obvious that parenting and giving friendly advice hasn't saved them, but of course they'll just play the victim and claim "bullying" is the reason their lives are so utterly fucked up, and not their own self-destructive behaviors.


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## DatBepisTho (Mar 19, 2017)

Eh. Depends. 
People are fucking weird and cringe inducing sometimes, but other times being a harmless sperg who needs a compartmentalized plate isn't something you want to kick the shit out of someone over.


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## millais (Mar 19, 2017)

MDE gets it


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## ES 148 (Mar 19, 2017)

Often bullying is done for no good reason, though. Like, to random people for completely inane traits like having a weird name or coming from a different country. Even making fun of someone for being a total and utter dysfunctional sperg is wrong if they honestly can't help it (and presumably try to behave normally), and bullying can cause people enough distress to make their lives seem like hell (especially at younger ages where bullying is more common).


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## cuddle striker (Mar 19, 2017)

depends. really depends on the context, the age of the people, how much harm is done, physical violence level, etc

a kid stealing another kid's lunch money is classic and shitty. kid fighting back and losing... that's shitty too.

or do you mean... internet bullies?


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## Lurkman (Mar 19, 2017)

I think if your being an unlikable, hatable, punchable person (sore winner, acting like your above people) or your acting autistic (not following social norms, embarrassing yourself) it's not bad and you just need to learn why people are being mean to you and quit doing that shit

If your just being a normal person and your being bullied for no reason, punch that motherfucker in the mouth and watch him/her bleed.


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## MMMMMM (Mar 19, 2017)

Well I dunno about you guys, but my way of telling people to quit doing some shit is to simply say "Hey, quit doing that shit, fucko".

A lot of people throw around arguments that it's actually a good thing overall since it discourages negative behaviour, but that's demonstratably not the case.  See: Every single lolcow.  All bullied, none of them changed.  In fact, being ostracised actually makes them even more negative.

Also worth considering, I don't think I've ever seen or heard of a bully who wanted to change their social group for the better by weeding out negative people.  In every case they pick some flimsy justification that essentially boils down to "I don't like this about them and I can't handle it".

Emotional bullying is also a real thing, consider non-physical domestic abuse for example.


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## TowinKarz (Mar 19, 2017)

Bullying is bad, just like Sexual Harassment is bad. 

The problem is, as @StraightShooter pointed out,  the assorted special snowflakes of the last couple decades have expanded the definition of both to encompass any behavior at all that doesn't validate their feelings regardless of context.  

Calling someone a name once because they're sperging out next to you while you are trying to work isn't bullying, and anyone who collapses into a coma upon having it happen to them is way too fragile or immature and needs psych help.

Repeatedly calling someone a name, day after day after day, and specifically targeting them after they've taken reasonable steps to stay away from you and make it clear they just want to be left alone? Following them to places they went just to stay clear of you? That is bullying and someone who breaks down under that kind of pressure is not a wuss, or pansy or too much of a sperg, that's a normal human reaction to being victimized for no good reason.

But much like how every false rape accusation hurts every real one, every SJW who cries bullying over the "oppressive" color of someone's shirt or the way some guy is "manspreading" next to them hurts the case of people who have been bullied because they get painted with the same brush:  "Toughen up" 

I was mildly bullied in High School and find it almost impossible to add my two cents to any discussion about the pros/cons of bullying because I find myself buried under a ton of that same "You must have been doing something to deserve it" thinking,  and it's just not worth the fight to plea my case wasn't me being a crybaby, but genuine bullying. (As in the bullies were walking into class from the hallway just to smack me in the back of the head, and walk out laughing.  Or to dump soda on my classwork, WHILE I was working on it,  and the teacher who saw it all said it was my fault, I was encouraging it by having a "thin skin" ) 

FWIW, Bullying didn't destroy me as a person, but, considering I have a lot of problems socializing to this day, I can tell you, it didn't HELP either, so I don't know what reality the "Everyone needs to be bullied to grow a little character" people who think it's a good thing are living in, and I'll leave it at that.  

College isn't for everyone, and neither is getting bullied.  Some people were forced to grow up fast because one or more of their parents died young, that doesn't mean such a scenario is de facto good, and we should be wishing it upon others, because it could also just as easily wreck you.


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## Lackadaisy (Mar 19, 2017)

#BringBackSocialShaming


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## Save Goober (Mar 19, 2017)

I'd say being bullied was ultimately a positive experience in my life, my parents didn't have any social skills so I didn't learn much there.


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## ZeCommissar (Mar 20, 2017)

Getting bullied? Just grow some balls and shoot up the school.


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## AnOminous (Mar 20, 2017)

MMMMMM said:


> Well I dunno about you guys, but my way of telling people to quit doing some shit is to simply say "Hey, quit doing that shit, fucko".
> 
> A lot of people throw around arguments that it's actually a good thing overall since it discourages negative behaviour, but that's demonstratably not the case.  See: Every single lolcow.  All bullied, none of them changed.  In fact, being ostracised actually makes them even more negative.



But they're lolcows.  Maybe people who aren't total lost causes benefit.


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## Melkor (Mar 20, 2017)

Bullying sucked as a kid and it contributed to a lot of the issues I have now.

Then again I was the token weird kid. I wanted to be cool and funny so I did stupid shit to get people's attention. This was back when I was a little tyke in elementary school.

Obviously I grew out of it and now I laugh at spergs on the internet to feel better about myself.


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## The Iconoclast (Mar 20, 2017)

Yes. It is.

When people get harassed by their peers for arguably arbitrary factors (ex: "Ha! He has glasses and we don't! Four-eyes!"), then that _is_ a bad thing.



ICametoLurk said:


> Only lolcows think bullying is real.


Only a sith deals in absolutes.


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## DuckSucker (Mar 20, 2017)

I think a lot of yall are going into this with the predisposition that bullying is done from some inherent position of altruism. Usually, bullying is not.

Yes, it is someone picking on someone's eccentricities, but it's not done as a way of society to say, "Hey cut that shit out." Bullying is done in order to gain status for oneself at the expense of others, usually. It's more of a long term, psychological thing, it goes on and on. Bullying isn't really like, "Hey fat fuck! Yo you look like a 20 lb bag of shit, did your MOM dress you?" It's not just a one off fight, or even a fight every day with one specific dude. It's more manipulative, singling out one person and exploiting their weakness to meet your own goals or make yourself look better. I think in a way it's kind of like what people here might call "troll shielding".

Maybe Jeremy shit his pants at school one day. Obviously he's gonna get shit for it but the thing is, he probably didn't do it because he thought it was okay, and even if he did, after the initial ridicule, he probably wont do it again; but if it's not one thing, it's another. Now Jeremy has the reputation of a pants shitter, and kids arent gonna let that die. He's gonna go on to the next year and people are going to spread rumors, Jeremy the pants shitter tried to molest Nancy. Jeremy the pants shitter only bathes once a week! Even if Jeremy tries to fix all of his social eccentricities or bad habits, they're going to find something else to make fun of Jeremy for. And nobody wants to be associated with Jeremy, because of his reputation, he's socially isolated and nobody wants to get their hands dirty, nobody wants to be a part of that. Everybody bands together and they bolster each other up and they feel like they're all better than Jeremy and they have a sense of belonging, and a sense that they're part of the better group. They all elevate their own social status, especially with each other, through treating Jeremy like shit.

 THAT's bullying. A person picks a target ahead of time, for whatever reason, they see someone weak and exploit them, using those avenues of "Well, so and so deserves it. Did you see what they did?" Bullying is vindictive, it goes beyond just pointing and laughing. There isn't really a purpose or an end goal of bullying, not necessarily a catalyst for why it continues, no rhyme or reason, there's not really even a grudge or vendetta; it's just people taking advantage of other people they deem weaker than themselves, to meet their own ends, or feel better about themselves. Eventually they will move on and find somebody else, or they will deal with their own issues, and grow out of it, but I dont think bullying is done as a way of social conditioning, inherently.

That said, I mean I dealt with some shit, nothing that I would call true "bullying" per my own definition, but a bunch of events that fall into the category of "what doesnt kill you makes you stronger". I think that's more along the lines of what you're calling bullying as social conditioning here, and in that aspect, I think it has its role and purpose. Everybody deals with that to some degree, and it does help shape you, build character, and define you. But vindictively dragging out someone's misery, mocking them, I dont think that helps them "learn" to not do whatever it is they did to get the treatment in the first place; it's just cruel.

EDIT: One last thought I have, I would say that trying to justify treating someone poorly as "social conditioning" skirts a little bit close to the "she was asking for it" argument. It's not one-to-one, but it's a slippery slope away. I have a few more thoughts but I sperged enough already, and they aren't really organized in my head anyway.


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## pozilei (Mar 20, 2017)

Well, I can see that sometimes a kid gets bullied because they "deserve" it. I remember a boy I went to school with who was a total creeper towards the girls, and a weirdo, wannabe coolguy with the boys: he'd barge into conversations he wasn't a part of, turned up to things he wasn't invited to...the last straw was him sneaking into the boy's locker room during PE and stealing everyone's money/valuable stuff. Things kinda turned ugly then because no one was willing to tolerate him anymore after that.

But that's totally the exception to the rule. Almost all bullying happens to a completely innocent person. To someone just a little bit too meek for their own good, or they're already a bit insecure about themselves because they're too fat/too scrawny, too short/too tall, got some acne, wear glasses, got a stutter...and kids, for some bizarre animalistic reason, can smell weakness and channel all their insecurities, aggression, boredom onto that person.


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## cuddle striker (Mar 20, 2017)

after reading all this what I'm thinking is that Bullying is not good, but that "bullying" is shit that isn't even bullying at all and people are watering down what the goddamn word means.

like sexual harassment, like muh free speech. bullying doesn't mean all the shit people are thinking it means.


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## Caesare (Mar 20, 2017)

What if you're bullying the bullies?


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## Mrs Paul (Mar 20, 2017)

Most of the bullying I experienced was typical catty girl bullshit.  (And I hate to say, I participated a time or two).  It sounds stupid now, but when you're 12, it can really really suck, especially when a lot of times it's friends turning on friends.  

I think we forget sometimes that kids aren't miniature adults.  Most of them aren't trying to "well, maybe he'll change his ways."  Kids don't think like that.  Most of them are just nasty little shits.  And a lot of time, they'll choose a target not because of anything the person has anything they need to change, but just because they're weaker and can't fight back.  Or even for no reason at all, just because the other one happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.


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## Gym Leader Elesa (Mar 20, 2017)

Coleman Francis said:


> What if you're bullying the bullies?



You're Kiwi Farms.


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## Ravelord (Mar 21, 2017)

Meh, it teaches you how to kill yourself (as in not attaching yourself to anything, like an identity). It made me suffer a bit on highschool and probably helped break when I started college. But I kinda needed to fall to my worst in order to re-think my life. So it's not completely bad, but also not good. Depends on your parents. If they teach you to be strong, it can suck. If they don't care too much because they have their issues or didn't overcome their own problems in life, it kinda helps.

The lesson here that bullying would force you to rely on yourself more and make you more wary of people.  But that's my two cents.


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## Svirfneblin (Mar 21, 2017)

So far in this thread, I see people trying to justify their behaviour. Saying "Grow a pair" is great to say from a position of anonymity, but is that a truly fair characterization? I'm in full agreement with the subtext of this website - people _should _be very careful about what they put out there, and about obscuring the ties to your real life identity, whenever possible. I don't hate people for having weird fetishes that don't hurt anybody, but I cringe to high hell when I see a guy copy-pasting crops of MLP characters in their real life arms.

But saying "Grow a pair" is easy to say if you haven't been targeted. You could all say "I've been bullied before! It isn't so bad!", but we don't really know if you're telling the truth. One of my favourite, underappreciated subreddits is /r/asablackman (which tries to show points where people are clearly lying about themselves), and it demonstrates that people will maliciously tell lies to try and push a narrative, especially so when they're under the cover of being anonymous. It's full of fantastic 'gotcha!' moments of men pretending to be women, straight guys pretending to be gay, whites being blacks, Christians being Jews!

Something tells me many of you either haven't been _really _bullied in the past, or that perhaps you have always been bullies, and need to find a way to justify the rightness of your actions. I won't speak on any kind of authority for that, but it's something to consider. My personal credence is that if something does not hold up well under scrutiny, then it may not be doing any good.



Gym Leader Elesa said:


> You're Kiwi Farms.


Is that _really_ true, though? I would say yes if the criteria for selecting whom is doing actual bullying was strict in requiring full evidence of actual wrongdoing, but so far, I see that many of the "Horrorcows" are targets who deal in wrong-think, or who said something candidly. That, or people are humiliated into saying something stupid, because as it turns out that humans under pressure do stupid shit.

Your targets do not have the luxury of anonymity like you do yourselves. I see people acting high and mighty about having "_the right opinions_" all over Kiwi Farms, but we really don't _know_, do we? For all we _know_, you could be a diaper-wearing furry cub fetishist that has sent out pictures of their shit stains to people. To me, it demonstrates a lack of awareness, a lack that you are coming from the advantage.

The resistance to self-scrutiny is telling. I like to think I arrived here with fairly milquetoast reasons - to clarify some things spoken by a twitch streamer I follow. But even so much as talking has lead to immediate witch-hunting and laughter and painting me as a filthy SJW racist asshole.. for daring to talk. "No white knights!" is a funny rule to have, as that policy is so broad it could apply to anyone - even the folks trying to ask for evidence or clear up a bald-faced lie are called white knights. Are you in this just for the laughs? Fine. Whatever. So long as no one gets hurt (_though I argue people still do get hurt_). But if 'bullying the bullies' is to be applied, a greater deal of care should be taken. In my opinion.

In the film _Django Unchained_, probably my favourite Tarantino film, a phrase is oft-repeated by the slavers: "_Keep it funny._" It's always said towards the slaves or when someone is speaking loosely on how bad something is, and it's the idea that these slavers find it wholly uncomfortable to talk openly about what it is they're doing and the inhumanity of it. So they spout, "Keep it funny!" in order to hold up the lie. Calvin Candie states it while walking up to a runaway slave on his estate, whom he knows he's going to put to the death, but calling that out would bring up the lie that they all share: _they're celebrating human misery_.

I'm not going to be so daft as to compare you to _white fucking slavers _(though I'm sure some folks will!), but the idea of "keeping it funny" still holds some grain of truth as to what Kiwi Farms may or may not be. I won't assume to be the end-all arbitrator, I just want to ask questions. Why do many people on these forums act with so much disgust towards people debating the merits of your actions and the way in which they're handled? Is it because you're unwilling to test the merit of these actions under scrutiny? Or maybe it reveals something uncomfortable in you? Or maybe, even worse, you _know_ you are in the right and think testing it is just a waste of time - one of the strongest stances a person can make, that is indicative of religious belief. I often see the words, "I couldn't read past this part," when people try to retort my opinions and thoughts.

Some food for thought. ♥ I love you all!


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## Mesh Gear Fox (Mar 21, 2017)

Svirfneblin said:


> Unadulterated autism



This may not be the best place for you.  You don't exactly come to KF to have deep, philosophical discussions on the nature of society and human interaction (even though this is Deep Thoughts).  We're just here to laugh at tards.


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## Svirfneblin (Mar 21, 2017)

Mesh Gear Fox said:


> This may not be the best place for you.  You don't exactly come to KF to have deep, philosophical discussions on the nature of society and human interaction (even though this is Deep Thoughts).  We're just here to laugh at tards.


At least _you _are honest. But clearly some people view their actions as though they're bullying the bullies, which is where I draw contention.

Also, this is kind of.. double-think. Allowing a "Deep Thoughts" thread but also tossing aside someone willing to express their opinion, simply because it's against the grain? _Hmmmn._

I'm not in this to get +Likes. Give me all the +Autistics you guys want. I haven't said anything _offensive._ I'll keep saying my opinion up until the day opposing views are banned from this forum.


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## OtterParty (Mar 22, 2017)

Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo

and thats terrible


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## Gym Leader Elesa (Mar 22, 2017)

Svirfneblin said:


> At least _you _are honest. But clearly some people view their actions as though they're bullying the bullies, which is where I draw contention.
> 
> Also, this is kind of.. double-think. Allowing a "Deep Thoughts" thread but also tossing aside someone willing to express their opinion, simply because it's against the grain? _Hmmmn._
> 
> I'm not in this to get +Likes. Give me all the +Autistics you guys want. I haven't said anything _offensive._ I'll keep saying my opinion up until the day opposing views are banned from this forum.



Oh my God you thought I was serious.

I'm not going to tell you your text wall before the post I quoted was uncalled for. It was a Deep Thoughts thread. I'm sure people who actually want to _debate _will just ignore it, though, because in a sense you're right- they're insecure. But just so you know, people don't tend to post one-liner jokes for serious debate.

I'll be real with you because you exhibit the same kind of smug intellectual superiority people exhibit here and I love them, anyway. We have a lot of people with troll's remorse who are going to try to justify their actions online because they're regretful, or people who can only stomach some of KF and not all of it. This is fine and normal. You can see a shit ton of examples, above. Most of us, though, don't, because we know we don't need to. I have no idea if you're an "SJW", but one thing I do know about that crowd is that subtle combinations of serious-but-shitposting tend to fly over their heads. If so, that might explain why you were targeting some of the less serious responses. While it's true that deep thoughts is for "serious diecussion" nothing is ever totally serious here.

And if anything, my joke was not about us righteously taking on bullies- it was about how we're such assholes, we _even _bully the bullies.

On a side note I did lol at the idea you had a favorite scene in fucking Django Unchained. I'm disappointed you didn't make the comparison to the ancestors of mine Taratino so rudely and inaccurately portrayed  for "art" however, I would have found it flattering.


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## Svirfneblin (Mar 22, 2017)

Gym Leader Elesa said:


> Oh my God you thought I was serious.
> 
> I'm not going to tell you your text wall before the post I quoted was uncalled for. It was a Deep Thoughts thread. I'm sure people who actually want to _debate _will just ignore it, though, because in a sense you're right- they're insecure. But just so you know, people don't tend to post one-liner jokes for serious debate.
> 
> ...


I don't ignore the value of short statements. Even if they're trolling, I like to think about the implications of a statement. I freely, wholly admit that I'm a wordy asshole who likes to jerk off with my own text a bit more than I ought to, but I also like to make sure people know what I'm saying and where it's coming from. I just genuinely enjoy thinking about things to their logical conclusion, and understand that may be incongruous to the types of conversations being held on these forums.

My real, honest to goodness opinion is that the more trolling happens, the more Poe's Law comes into effect. You say, "_You're Kiwi Farms._" in response to people bullying the bullies, and I think: "_Hmn. That could be misconstrued as trolling.. but people are giving it likes and agreements in large quantities. So while there are people who may be in on the joke, there may be an equal number of people who genuinely believe it. Ergo, it's probably worth talking about._" We are who we present ourselves to be, and should be careful about what we present, afterall.

Your statement regarding Django Unchained is strange to me. If you're talking about your white ancestors, you're not wrong - slave historians can't find examples of mandingo fighting as presented in the film, based on a cursory google search, though they do not deny that it could have happened, as the Southern philosophy at the time was that anything goes. However, the point of presenting the mandingo fighting was that it was a complete scene that presented the views of slavers and slaves in as concise a fashion as possible, using brutality to make it strike home... because, in reality, the treatment of slaves was far more brutal.

If you're talking about your black ancestors, then the only thing that was out of character was the insane gunskills of Django. If you're talking about german dentists, well.. you have me there, I suppose. The point of bringing up the film was the statement of "keeping it funny", not the rest of it. I think the concept has merit to apply to other sections of society than just slavery.


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## Mrs Paul (Mar 22, 2017)

STFU and get back on topic.


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## Emperor Julian (Mar 23, 2017)

This page title reads like an alternate universe buzzfeed article.

 As someone whose been a both of a victim and perpetrator I'd like to chime in on this (with apologies for powerleveling) . Actual bullying- not calling people a faggot online, peer pressure, group infighting or usual human bullshit is very very bad. You're talking about a 'power' differance so dramatic between two individuals and the stronger party abuses this to a disturbing degree.
 We use the term bully but what you're usually talking about is low key abuse or torture such as beatings, social isolation, gaslighting, degradation via social attacks and other such evil shit, even sexual abuse is on the table when you get a full blown sadist/budding socipath vs the nerdy kid no one likes. You usually have limited options to defend yourself in such situations, authority figures can't really protect you effectively unless were talking about overt violence in a supervised enviroment and you're usually trapped in circumstance so can't simply avoid. It's hardly suprising that some young people commit when they've got a kicking scheduled  somewhere in the day from people they're forced to be around and everyone treats you like your some sort of Chris-chan freak show. Not to mention fucked up horrorshows like Bosses bullying (not just being a cunt actual bullying) employee. The problem really shines in cultures where nobody gives a fuck like jail, scummy jobs and shitty working class school with 3rd rate teachers. It gets even worse when social media is used to co-ordinate attacks because teenagers are too dumb/weak to distinguish between the bullies IRL power vs their limited online power.

 It's worth noting a lot of stuff child bully's do to other kids would end up having you put in a padded room if a grown up did it to another grown up, I recall an kid from my old school attempting suicide by drinking cleaning fluid because a load of kids from years above him had tied him to a rugby post and spat on him for about an hour, this sort of shit had been going on for months. He was  13 and dumb as shit so had no chance.  I used to kick the shit out of other kids for my own amusement and I found that sickening. Their are even rumours of one of the kids pissing on him but I could never verify since they all contradicted each other to save their own hides.

On reflection my school was a massive shit-hole, no wonder I'm such an ass.
 I don't think the question is if bullying is okay because it isnt, I think the better question (and one very relavent to us) is what qualifies as bullying.


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## Lorento (Mar 23, 2017)

Emperor Julian said:


> On reflection my school was a massive shit-hole, no wonder I'm such an ass.



You're also Welsh, which automatically means you should be bullied anyway.


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## Svirfneblin (Mar 23, 2017)

Emperor Julian said:


> This page title reads like an alternate universe buzzfeed article.
> 
> As someone whose been a both of a victim and perpetrator I'd like to chime in on this (with apologies for powerleveling) . Actual bullying- not calling people a faggot online, peer pressure, group infighting or usual human bullshit is very very bad. You're talking about a 'power' differance so dramatic between two individuals and the stronger party abuses this to a disturbing degree.
> We use the term bully but what you're usually talking about is low key abuse or torture such as beatings, social isolation, gaslighting, degradation via social attacks and other such evil shit, even sexual abuse is on the table when you get a full blown sadist/budding socipath vs the nerdy kid no one likes. You usually have limited options to defend yourself in such situations, authority figures can't really protect you effectively unless were talking about overt violence in a supervised enviroment and you're usually trapped in circumstance so can't simply avoid. It's hardly suprising that some young people commit when they've got a kicking scheduled  somewhere in the day from people they're forced to be around and everyone treats you like your some sort of Chris-chan freak show. Not to mention fucked up horrorshows like Bosses bullying (not just being a cunt actual bullying) employee. The problem really shines in cultures where nobody gives a fuck like jail, scummy jobs and shitty working class school with 3rd rate teachers. It gets even worse when social media is used to co-ordinate attacks because teenagers are too dumb/weak to distinguish between the bullies IRL power vs their limited online power.
> ...


I think a lot of the problems that stem out of school is that outside of school, parents and society as a whole have this fairytale-like belief that children are wonderful, amazing creatures of pure innocence, and can all hold hands together. As such, they put a huge amount of stipulations on the actions that authority figures inside of the school can take against a child, because there is a huge, _huge _pressure from parents to never treat their child as less than a perfect human being.

Which we should all realise by now that they certainly aren't.

I despise the "zero tolerance" policies that have been adopted by so many schools. It removes the depth and nuance of a situation, and makes authority figures afraid to act out of fear of upsetting the wrong parent.

A solution? I have no real clue as I'm no expert, but my gut tells me that schools are being steadily ad-hoc'd into being overblown hang-outs over time with learning and study being slowly driven away, as though it's not really _that _important. I've been considering an idea of a full-on contract being signed by parents when they enter their child into a school that may read something like..

"I hereby consign that by entering my child into this school, I hereby grant the school the freedom to act appropriately in the event that this child is disruptive to the academic and social activities of other children."

Private schools do this to an extent, and they have far fewer cases of bullying.. especially physical bullying. They have control over enrollment, the administrators set the rules, and they monitor kids like goddamn prisoners with internal camera circuits. You leave your freedom at the door - while you're on these grounds, you're here to learn and socialise and express yourself nonviolently.


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## Caesare (Mar 23, 2017)

Svirfneblin said:


> Private schools do this to an extent, and they have far fewer cases of bullying.. especially physical bullying. They have control over enrollment, the administrators set the rules, and they monitor kids like goddamn prisoners with internal camera circuits. You leave your freedom at the door - while you're on these grounds, you're here to learn and socialise and express yourself nonviolently.



Have you been to a private school? I ask this because I did from 2nd grade to 9th grade. Yes, there was still bullying, but not nearly to the extant that public schools did for the exact reasons you said, the administration has more control. I'm not old enough to have gone to schools where the nuns would beat you with rulers, but I do remember teachers, especially coaches, getting physical with students though they never went overboard, and it works.

But the camera thing though? Is this a thing now??? I've never went to a Catholic school that had cameras anywhere besides outside the high school I went to and only because it was in the middle of a pretty bad neighborhood. So the cameras weren't to monitor students, but to protect the school's students and teachers from having their cars broken into while everyone was in class.

Public schools here have metal detectors and actual cops, we had none of that, just a single private security guard who wasn't a member of law enforcement who monitored the grounds in case some rough types from the neighborhood decided to vandalize the property or attempt to break into someone's car.

They never treated the kids like "goddamn prisoners". That is complete nonsense. The cameras were for the school's protection and it also protected the school from the liability of having someone's property stolen.



Svirfneblin said:


> In the film _Django Unchained_, probably my favourite Tarantino film, a phrase is oft-repeated by the slavers: "_Keep it funny._" It's always said towards the slaves or when someone is speaking loosely on how bad something is, and it's the idea that these slavers find it wholly uncomfortable to talk openly about what it is they're doing and the inhumanity of it. So they spout, "Keep it funny!" in order to hold up the lie. Calvin Candie states it while walking up to a runaway slave on his estate, whom he knows he's going to put to the death, but calling that out would bring up the lie that they all share: _they're celebrating human misery_.



Are you white?


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## HG 400 (Mar 24, 2017)

I like bullying.


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## cuddle striker (Mar 24, 2017)

I'm always going to be a bully to fucking pedophiles, rapists, rich bags of dicks, and people who are abusing others for attention.

because fuck them.

I'll laugh at tism but I won't get rude about it. that stuff is just human quirks that are hilarious.


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## _____ (Mar 24, 2017)

Bullying someone for little to no reason is genuinely fucking stupid.
Now, if someone is truly like a fucked up individual, calling them out is the best choice of action to avoid something from happening. 


those kids just shoot up the school though right


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## Yaoi Huntress Earth (Apr 7, 2017)

DuckSucker said:


> I think a lot of yall are going into this with the predisposition that bullying is done from some inherent position of altruism. Usually, bullying is not.
> 
> Yes, it is someone picking on someone's eccentricities, but it's not done as a way of society to say, "Hey cut that shit out." Bullying is done in order to gain status for oneself at the expense of others, usually. It's more of a long term, psychological thing, it goes on and on. Bullying isn't really like, "Hey fat fuck! Yo you look like a 20 lb bag of shit, did your MOM dress you?" It's not just a one off fight, or even a fight every day with one specific dude. It's more manipulative, singling out one person and exploiting their weakness to meet your own goals or make yourself look better. I think in a way it's kind of like what people here might call "troll shielding".
> 
> ...


I definitely understand that. Some kids will just use any little mistake another kid makes to go after them (let's say you accidentally leave your instrument case out a little far and another one almost trips over it).  As someone who'd subconsciously turn as white as a sheet when she had to go to school (being autistic didn't help), I can emphasize with the anti-bullying campaign.

Now that I think about it, I've noticed there are classes of bullies...

-*Classical Bully:* These are the kids who call you mean things and laugh at you. 
-*Physical Bully:* Think Scott Farkcus (A Christmas Story). They will use psychical violence and intimidation to get their way.
-*Sexual Harasser: *These ones will say perverted things to you, draw dirty pictures, call you a slut when you're not one and if they're really vicious, start touching you inappropriately (like rubbing their leg against your ass and moaning while you're kneeling down to get something).
*-The Back-Stabber: *Will be your friend and treat you with kindness only start treating you like crap, pretend you don't exist or betray you in front of others the second your novelty wears off. 
*-Social Bully: *This one will aim for your social standing by turning other class mates against you, spread rumors, try to humiliate you, etc. Arguably the most vicious, since they have friends/cronnies they can sic on you if you try to stand up to them.


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## BadaBadaBoom (Apr 7, 2017)

My issue with bullying has never even been with the bully but with society for not letting you even get back at them in any meaningful way. I've known some really great people who have been practically forced to go to psychiatry to get over the trauma of not being able to beat the shit out of their tormentors without themselves getting all the blame.


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## Un Platano (Apr 7, 2017)

Bullying either makes you cry or turns you jaded and bitter. The first one is funny and the second one is a lifestyle that lots already have come to accept, so I'd say no.


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## El Porko Fako (Apr 14, 2017)

Bullying is really fucking annoying and it can go way too far sometimes, but if you face your fears and try to address the problem, I think it helps later in life with other situations that could be uncomfortable.

I remember I got bullied a couple times in middle school. My dad kept telling me that if I don't at least mouth off to them or push back a little, they're never going to respect you or leave you alone. I followed that advice and sure enough, hardly anyone messed with me. You might take some licks, but most school bullies are fucking pussies in my experience and it takes one good injury to them to never make them want to mess with you ever again.

If you want some good ol' fighting back stories here you go.



Spoiler: Story Time!



1. Two fucking assholes kept bullying me in math and kept calling me a pussy in Spanish and making hand gestures in my face. I dealt with this for a few weeks (had the dad talk around this time), until I just had enough one day and while one of them was making a hand gesture in my face, I pinned his arm against the wooden table and what I can only describe as yell whispered into his ear something really fucking awful, probably that I was going to kill them both and I was going to break the pinned kids arm. Luckily for me, the teacher was out getting some paperwork, but the whole class saw this shit show. Didn't hear a peep from those guys the rest of middle school and didn't make to many friends in that class, but I made my statement. They didn't even try jumping me after class.

2. I frequently played basketball during recess and lunch periods. One day, this fucking douche kept chucking the basketball at me while we were playing a pick-up game to get the ball out of bounds. He started aiming higher and higher, until he hit me in the head with the ball. So I roundhouse kicked him into a chain link fence and he dropped like a rock, crying on court. It was really awkward for the rest of the year, considering I had homeroom with him, but hey, he never told on me.


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