Bullying, damaging or helpful?

[1000 Cats]

Psychologically, it's undoubtedly harmful. You could said that paranoia is useful because it means you are always prepared, as you were in this case, but that doesn't stop it from being a Bad Thing™.

[1000 Cats]

For the record, I was also bullied, particularly physically threatened and assaulted. I took martial arts, I got in fights and I finished them, but it also made me a very paranoid and asocial individual until adulthood. My emotional and psychological development was incredibly stunted and I'm probably still feeling the effects today.

[1000 Cats]

For the record, I was also bullied, particularly physically threatened and assaulted. I took martial arts, I got in fights and I finished them, but it also made me a very paranoid and asocial individual until adulthood. My emotional and psychological development was incredibly stunted and I'm probably still feeling the effects today.

You took MA? Buddy you have teh advantage over me. I took Football XD

I've taken lots of martial arts throughout my life, since I was nine years old. I also have no problem owning and using firearms and bladed weapons. My goal is for people who aren't afraid of my partner to still be afraid of me.

[1000 Cats]

I've taken lots of martial arts throughout my life, since I was nine years old. I also have no problem owning and using firearms and bladed weapons. My goal is for people who aren't afraid of my partner to still be afraid of me.

Scaring a very small group of people there arent ya? XD

Yes, but I feel the need to be prepared for that small group of people.

[Aethelstania]

I was bullied from 8 to the age of about 13. I thank the bullies for it because it taught me how to use humor as a deffence mechanism and now I am downright HILARIOUS. I'm not saying its helpful for most but it helped me certainly. It also did genuinely help me grow up as I was a neurotic adolescent, to the extent I can say someone who bullied me at school is now one of my closet friends. I'm interested in the fact how any of us NS geeks managed to get through school without getting at least teased mildly

[Aethrys]

Bullying is undoubtedly helpful. Just look at how those kids at Columbine wound up.

[Agadar]

Only the strange, weird, out-of-place and insecure people are bullied. And they deserve it. See it as corrective treatment to get them to adjust themselves to the norm.

I bullied a lot of kids in my younger years. I taught them to act normal. They owe their future to me.

[Alameda California]

I was brutally bullied a few years back. Anyone who thinks its helpful is a bully themselves or a total jackass.

[Alikhaa]

Bullying is definitely damaging and adults should never take part in it, and attempt to stop it from happening in children.

This is really common sense.

Of course, it's impossible to stop it always because in order to get authorities involved as a child (if bullying occurs in secret) you have to become a "tattletale". And maybe the stubborn little kid who refuses to besmirch his/her honor by telling on his/her bullies, and instead learns to defend him/herself, has become stronger due to the obstacle he/she overcame.

But it should never be considered socially acceptable - especially among adults - to bully another person. The socially acceptable mores should always be clear virtues like kindness, bravery, generosity, etc.

I pretty much think global society is heading downhill, though. So the fact that people are beginning to consider bullying okay doesn't surprise me.

[Alterrea]

................

[Alterrea]

I think we should make a difference between bullying during childhood and bullying during adolescence.

[Alyakia]

and in about 4 years I had made the transition from the bullied little child, to the psychopath nobody dared touch

guys bullying helped turn me into a CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAZY PYSCHOPATH that is too badass and everyone is scared of

obviously bullying is helpful

[Alyakia]

"bullying turned me into a psychopath and that is why it is helpful"

no seriously that is literally what you just argued

please someone post the huge amounts of studies done on the extremly obvious fact that bullying stunts growth

[Alyakia]

It is a bad thing. As a child I was bullied - and I was raised by parents who believed it was a good thing and would "toughen me up." and so they did nothing (and, as I came to realise later in life, they bullied me too.)

For a while I believed the BS - indeed, being bullied did serve to make me a more compassionate person, and more inclined to stand up for the weak, but in the end it got to me and two years ago I had a full-scale nervous breakdown, complete with a night-in-the-nuthouse™.

The depressive illnesses I have suffered throughout my life are due in no small part to the bulllying and abuse I have endured in my youth.

...

Woah, that post was a real downer so here's a picture of a cat kicking a dog to cheer you up.

(Image)

you should have posted a picture of a kitten and a puppy hugging/sleepin ):

[Anthonaurobia]

It is psychologically harmful and one of the leading causes of depression, social anxiety, suicide, and various other problems. I didn't benefit me or anyone else I know in anyway.

[Arbites]

You can gain self-confidence without being bullied. In fact, systemic bullying usually undermines self-confidence instead of fostering it. It sounds like you simply adopted the bully's philosophy of "might makes right" and decided intimidation was the way to go. When bullies succeed in changing you, they win.

You know the Nazi's used to encourage fights in the Hitler Youth because it toughened the boys up for war, and if you look at how strong the SS were as an elite force, it might have done the trick!

I hate to break this to you, but...they lost.

[Arbites]

I hate to break this to you, but...they lost.

And they took out their aggressions on innocent people and POWs.

It wasn't a healthy culture.

"The Schutzstaffel didn't have a healthy culture."

Understatement of the year, right there

[Arbites]

"Bullying" is more than just physical violence, it is a sustained campaign of psychological warfare, where the victim is made to feel diminished. The more persistent bullies that I'm familiar with wouldn't have stopped just because of you working out. They'd talk about you behind your back, spread rumors, belittle and ostracize you, and make sure that you would look like the bad guy if you tried anything. And you'd never catch them alone.

[Arbites]

"The Schutzstaffel didn't have a healthy culture."

Understatement of the year, right there

Only of the year?

I'm almost disappointed.

I'd say understatement of the century, but we're not in that century anymore, and 12 years isn't really much of an accomplishment.

[Arbites]

damaging.

overcoming damage means you were damaged.

But if you fix something damaged and it works better, does that not then outweigh the damage? It certainly did for me.

You changed who you were because of the bullies. You gave into their intimidation. That in itself sounds like damage to me.

[Arbites]

Harmful to an extent, but I really think that all this anti-bullying shit is foolish. Kids need to toughen up, not wimp out.

Does giving into a bully's intimidation and stooping to his level really count as "toughening up"? That sounds more like wimping out to me.

[Arbites]

Does giving into a bully's intimidation and stooping to his level really count as "toughening up"? That sounds more like wimping out to me.

When did I mention giving in and/or stooping to his level? Crying and complaining abut bullies does no good nor do the ineffectual and out-of-touch anti-bullying programs. Just project an image of confidence and nothing will happen. If something does, fight back or ignore it.

When you said "toughen up," I assumed you meant physically, so that you can supposedly intimidate the bullies right back. That doesn't always help, in fact, probably won't help in a 5-on-1 beatdown. If you mean psychologically, how do you instill in a child the mental discipline of an adult without causing new issues? To an adult, the problems of a high school student are years in the past, and it's easy to tell them "Someday you'll look back on it and laugh." It's their day-to-day life, however, and aren't they entitled to an environment free of harassment? Besides, why should it be up to the victim to deal with bullies when it's clearly the bullies who have the problem?

[Arbites]

So if something is good for a minority of people, we should continue doing it and it's helpful.

There's no debate that war is good, even if it produced some of the best writers and scientists in the world. There's no debate that what Genghis Khan did wasn't horrific, even if he established the Silk Road. There's no fucking debate about any of these things and there should not be a debate on whether bullying is good or not.

Can you please refrain from overusing profanity to such an extent.

There is debate about anything that cannot be proven for goodness sake, and because bullying had had a positive effect on me, it is up for debate, if you don't want to participate, that's up to you, but if you are going to participate, get your facts right and stop being so bloody obnoxious.

Overuse? One swear word in the entire post? Oh boy, are you in for a rude awakening...

[Arbites]

I agree completely with the OP.
Bullying makes us stronger. Attempting to stop bullying will only make children less tough, which will increase the suicide rate when kids finally are confronted with the reality of bullying. Bullying is actually decreasing currently, but bullying-related suicides are going up. I think that has to do with the fact that schools are continually wussifying children. I hate to sound like a social darwinist, but it should be about survival of the fittest. Attempts to interefere with survival of the fittest is interefering with the laws of nature. And bullying is, and should be protected by the first amendment (physical bullying isn't, however)
btw, I was bullied as a kid. I got stronger. Then I beat the bullies up. Nobody ever layed a hand on me after that.
Point is, I got to learn a lesson, and I became stronger

Might makes right, after all. When life gives you lemons, BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!

Oh, and those suicide victims aren't a problem either. Khorne cares not from where the blood flows, only that it flows.

[Arbites]

I was bullied for the past several years, although it was mostly verbally and psychologically. It was excruciating. Several times I reached my breaking point and ended up hitting people. I've since found better ways to manage myself - generally involving shooting things on the Wii - but I believe that it has had long-lasting or even permanent effects on my social skills and psyche. For example, it's Easter, and rather than going to some church type thing with my family and talking to other people, I'm sitting here in my basement, watching an episode of Star Trek on Netflix, drinking a two liter bottle of Mountain Dew and posting on a thread on the Internet. I had friends before. Now I have one. I've been outside four times in the past week. I used to go outside every day. I guess what I'm trying to say is that the bullying psychologically ripped me to pieces, then put me back together in a very different - and in my opinion, much worse - way.
To all of you people who say that bullying is good, you make me sick. It is not possible to put into words how much you disgust me.

Well I managed, perhaps you just couldn't hack it.

I don't care about your personal stories because I know them all, I went through it and I stood up, just because you laid down and took it doesn't mean I'm wrong.

Victim-blaming is bad, mmkay? Bullying in the real world isn't like a fucking Disney TV show where some neanderthal gets his comeuppance at the end of every episode.