Bullying: Is the US taking it too far?

[Rustika]

Im Italian and I live in Sri Lanka, I go to the Overseas School of Colombo, I love that school, most of the kids I hang out with are rebellious and were all pretty tough when it comes to dealing with bullies it also an english speaking school so I don't have to deal with learning yet another language

Hmm, wasn't there a civil war there recently?

I guess it's awesome though that you love your school... I hate mine, but more hating the country that it's in rather than the school...

Yeah it ended something like two years ago, it didn't affect the area I was living in very much, most of the fighting went on in the north, but a terrorist plane flew over our block once, how many people here can say they saw bullet go through one of their windows, I CAN fortunately no one was hurt and the plane was shot down

Also, its easy to like my school the teachers are really cool and its pretty easy to fit in unless your a jack ass

[Rhodmhire]

Get a toad.
A super-sapient one, if you want someone to talk too.

Hypnotoad!

But see, you don't talk with Hypnotoad like he's your pal.

You get brainwashed into doing whatever he wants you to by those mesmerizing eyes of his.

Next thing you know, you're washed up on a beach in West Africa, half clad, with a bottle of whiskey in one hand and a bloodied sword in the other.

[Eaglleia]

Get a toad.
A super-sapient one, if you want someone to talk too.

Am not making an arse. At his age i was in a similar situation (we moved to other country because of parents' work) and my cat was by far the most liked being to me overall - i hated pretty much everyone.

Oh well, at least i picked up maths , physics and chemistry thanks to the isolation.

I was referring to his post about mosquitoes, ot yours, sorry for quoting you and causing confusion....

[Arumdaum]

Get a toad.
A super-sapient one, if you want someone to talk too.

Am not making an arse. At his age i was in a similar situation (we moved to other country because of parents' work) and my cat was by far the most liked being to me overall - i hated pretty much everyone.

Oh well, at least i picked up maths , physics and chemistry thanks to the isolation.

Did the other country though speak a language totally different from what you spoke?

I mean really, I've just gotten dumber here.... especially in math and English.

[Rhodmhire]

You know, you all need to stop moaning and stand up for yourselves. Someone was trying to bully me and I beat him up... he's stopped ever since. Anti-bullying projects have all failed; the only way to survive is moving up the pecking order. I did that and I'm alright now.

What if you're handicapped and can't physically defend yourself?

Or what if you are exceedingly against resorting to violence?

Shouldn't there be ways to solve this problem without relying on children to defend themselves physically?

Because to be honest, there are a lot of slow-witted and slow-paced fatties in the United States...

[Eaglleia]

Hmm, wasn't there a civil war there recently?

I guess it's awesome though that you love your school... I hate mine, but more hating the country that it's in rather than the school...

Yeah it ended something like two years ago, it didn't affect the area I was living in very much, most of the fighting went on in the north, but a terrorist plane flew over our block once, how many people here can say they saw bullet go through one of their windows, I CAN fortunately no one was hurt and the plane was shot down

Also, its easy to like my school the teachers are really cool and its pretty easy to fit in unless your a jack ass

/me goes and knocks on your door. >_>

Am not making an arse. At his age i was in a similar situation (we moved to other country because of parents' work) and my cat was by far the most liked being to me overall - i hated pretty much everyone.

Oh well, at least i picked up maths , physics and chemistry thanks to the isolation.

Did the other country though speak a language totally different from what you spoke?

I mean really, I've just gotten dumber here.... especially in math and English.

And thats not enough to convince your parents?

[Central Slavia]

Am not making an arse. At his age i was in a similar situation (we moved to other country because of parents' work) and my cat was by far the most liked being to me overall - i hated pretty much everyone.

Oh well, at least i picked up maths , physics and chemistry thanks to the isolation.

Did the other country though speak a language totally different from what you spoke?

I mean really, I've just gotten dumber here.... especially in math and English.

Uh.. yes?
Given it was in an english - speaking school and i was a bloody Slovakian village kid.

[Eaglleia]

Did the other country though speak a language totally different from what you spoke?

I mean really, I've just gotten dumber here.... especially in math and English.

Uh.. yes?
Given it was in an english - speaking school and i was a bloody Slovakian village kid.

How old were you?

[Rustika]

Yeah it ended something like two years ago, it didn't affect the area I was living in very much, most of the fighting went on in the north, but a terrorist plane flew over our block once, how many people here can say they saw bullet go through one of their windows, I CAN fortunately no one was hurt and the plane was shot down

Also, its easy to like my school the teachers are really cool and its pretty easy to fit in unless your a jack ass

/me goes and knocks on your door. >_>

Well Im on vacation in Italy right now

[Central Slavia]

Uh.. yes?
Given it was in an english - speaking school and i was a bloody Slovakian village kid.

How old were you?

12-13
All my knowledge of english at that point was written tidbits picked up from game manuals and such.

[Arumdaum]

Did the other country though speak a language totally different from what you spoke?

I mean really, I've just gotten dumber here.... especially in math and English.

And thats not enough to convince your parents?

Unfortunately, no.

They claim it's my own fault, and that I'm not studying hard enough.

[Arumdaum]

How old were you?

12-13
All my knowledge of english at that point was written tidbits picked up from game manuals and such.

Did you love your life as a Slovakian village kid?

[Eaglleia]

How old were you?

12-13
All my knowledge of english at that point was written tidbits picked up from game manuals and such.

Ah well, guess you can't be blamed then. I wen't to my first English school at age 5.

[Prixtonia]

As soon as I turn on the radio -BAM!- I'm hit with some anit-bully speech and some new law in Ohio to do MORE speeches in our schools. As soon as I turn on the TV -BAM!- hit with something from some famous guy doing some speech about bullying as well. I believe the US is spending too much time on this subject and needs to move on to something more constructive. I say if a child commits sucide because of bullying, its because they couldn't take the psychological warfare the bullies were dishing out; stateing they wouldn't have made it in the real world, therefore making life a game of survival of the fittest. Let me hear your views on this matter!

The U.S. has lost track of what "bullying" is. They try to solve a false idealization of bullying when really they are doing nothing to solve actual bullying.

[Shikkago]

- Haha I'm a really nerdy & lame adult.

- the legal system does not provide enough protection to stop abuse. There's plenty of evidence of this. I'm one. When you make an individual helpless by granting all power to defend him to the state, you get end up with a lot of folks who don't get helped and can't help themselves.

- yes, there are problems in reality. That's the point, reality is always full of problems, don't restrict freedom to try and solve them. I'm not talking about a utopian ideal here. I'm talking about acknowledging that bullying and violence and bad parenting will always happen, and giving individuals more freedom to do something about it in their own lives if they feel they need to.

- the laws about USING a weapon still apply! You don't just get to fire it off with impunity, it's for defending yourself. And I'm not talking about unrestricted or unregulated weapons- certainly the schools can ban them if they want, or limit it to mace, etc.
The underlying idea is that individuals need to be ALLOWED to defend their own lives. Look at Columbine: guns were illegal, but they got in anyway. What if more students and teachers had been armed and able to defend themselves?

Well, the problem I see with the ideas is that more students would bully/be bullied. It isn't very black-and-white, especially in the most extreme of cases - A victim may fight back after years of torment, and, if they have a weapon on them, they could do some serious damage to the bully - And there'd be loads of cases of victums pulling off knives/baseball bats, or even something as 'clean' as a taser, and really causing serious damage like that.
Also, a lot of bullying cases don't have weapons, and, by allowing bullies and victims to have weapons, it'd just increase the number of more violent cases. In the case about Columbine, if all the students and teachers were armed, sure, it'd help in regard to the situation, but think about how many other situations would happen 'on impulse'. People who commit crimes like this need a lot of determination and forward thinking to get these weapons - If they had them already, messy events like Columbine could happen at random. Also, I swear the gunmen at Columbine were victims, so, uhm. Arming the victims may not be a good idea, because victims themselves can be pushed over the edge by other psycho-bullies, or, even by casual 'day to day' bullying that most people experiance.

Then you can have a school where weapons are not allowed. Or set community restictions like age limits and clean-record requirements on weapons. I'm not talking about NO regulation/restriction, I'm talking about LESS state restriction on self-defense.

yup, columbine kids were victims of bullying who were crazy and mean. crazy & mean people will always do horrible things like open-fire on crowds. No law will stop that. No amount of legislation has stopped people from getting guns and using them. What I'm saying is that in light of this fact, stop using so many laws to take so much freedom away from people.

[Eaglleia]

And thats not enough to convince your parents?

Unfortunately, no.

They claim it's my own fault, and that I'm not studying hard enough.

Just saying.

[Central Slavia]

12-13
All my knowledge of english at that point was written tidbits picked up from game manuals and such.

Did you love your life as a Slovakian village kid?

More so than time there. Though, the last few years were better - eventually i learned the language, there came time when we finally had subject choices (i sneaked mine past my mother by having my stepfather sign while he wasn't paying much attention.. there was some interesting stuff going on at home then ) and there began to be some czech kids around from other such working people, whom i was actually compatible enough with to be friends (well, two or three, but it counted0
First few years sucked cock and balls, though.

[Zarvarza]

The Real Story...

Pre-Columbine
-Those who were bullied, used to take it 'like a man', or step up and fight.
-Lower suicide rate for school aged children.

Columbine Happened
-Tragic
-White Schools became fearful, because guns in school was only supposed to happen in those 'inner city' (aka black) schools.
-Started treating the children like prisoners
-Started diagnosing 2/3rds of the children with some fake mental disease (ADD, ADHD, Bipolar, depression, whatever)
-Kids were encouraged to talk to counselors, rather than confront the bully directly. - Talking to counselors lowers self esteem because now, the child has to be interrupted in class, while some 'professional councilor' in a badly printed sweater comes and pulls you out of class to talk about your emotions, embarrassing you in front of the class, and only enforcing the fact that you really are as fucked up as you pretend to be. You go out, from all the 'pressure' and kill yourself, the second someone says something 'mean' to you.

These effects have lead to the 'pussification' of the American male' as George Carlin once put it. Naturally, when the male is weak, the female runs amuck. Hence rates in female sex, drinking, and other inappropriate behaviours has skyrocketed in recent years. The guys are all out killing themselves, or too doped up on some medication to care.

How to solve bullying

You cant. It will always happen, and Bullying is a good thing, not a bad thing. Bullying is a chance for you to prove yourself, to be stronger, to grow. Sure, its not fun, but momma should have taught you the 'sticks and stones' story. And just like in the movies, knock that bully out your senior year! You can walk away from school, knowing that you stood up to the bully, win or loose, that you tolerated it, and you'll likely never even see him again after school, OR, you can whine and complain, and declare yourself an 'emotional mess' and take pills, and mess up your thinking.

The Media
The media hype up bullying in school because they are masking other aspects of the school, like grades, and level of knowledge the kids learn. Knowledge quality has steadily dropped since Columbine (and more gradually earlier), allowing it to be easier for the student to get good grades. But every-time they lower the quality, and raise the grade expectation (the opposite of what it should be) the kids get dumber, and continue to do bad, to a point now where in some states teachers are teaching almost exclusively the content on the final state exams, just so they can get good marks. Bullying covers up this tragity, by forcing the parent to have sympathy for the students and the school, while handing over their rights to the school. That, and its a convenient front story to promote yet another mental disease.

[Arumdaum]

Unfortunately, no.

They claim it's my own fault, and that I'm not studying hard enough.

Just saying.

Well, I guess it's time for me to give up hope then.

[Arumdaum]

Did you love your life as a Slovakian village kid?

More so than time there. Though, the last few years were better - eventually i learned the language, there came time when we finally had subject choices (i sneaked mine past my mother by having my stepfather sign while he wasn't paying much attention.. there was some interesting stuff going on at home then ) and there began to be some czech kids around from other such working people, whom i was actually compatible enough with to be friends (well, two or three, but it counted0
First few years sucked cock and balls, though.

I can tell how my life will be for a while then.

[Eaglleia]

Just saying.

Well, I guess it's time for me to give up hope then.

Nooo! Never lose hope! Thats when it all goes downhill! Embrace what you have! You could be somewhere much much worse, like a starving kid in an African country with a dead father sick mother and 20 brothers and sisters to take care off and maybe get kidnapped and sold....(where have I heard this before?)
I have a feeling its a bit too late for you, though.

[Rustika]

Well, I guess it's time for me to give up hope then.

Nooo! Never lose hope! Thats when it all goes downhill! Embrace what you have! You could be somewhere much much worse, like a starving kid in an African country with a dead father sick mother and 20 brothers and sisters to take care off and maybe get kidnapped and sold....(where have I heard this before?)
I have a feeling its a bit too late for you, though.

[Arumdaum]

Well, I guess it's time for me to give up hope then.

Nooo! Never lose hope! Thats when it all goes downhill! Embrace what you have! You could be somewhere much much worse, like a starving kid in an African country with a dead father sick mother and 20 brothers and sisters to take care off and maybe get kidnapped and sold....(where have I heard this before?)
I have a feeling its a bit too late for you, though.

viewtopic.php?f=20&t=118643&p=6011600#p6011600

Found it.

I feel like it's already too late for me as well.... But I guess it's better for me to live off what I can still get in life instead of giving up on all my hopes and dreams.

[Wolfmanne]

People don't understand; there's a hierarchy. You bully people below you. End off.

[Arumdaum]

People don't understand; there's a hierarchy. You bully people below you. End off.

The hierarchy fortunately isn't very stable or strong. If there is one at all.