Bullying

[JohnnytheSkin]

Re: Bullying

I always think about the kid in Australia who beat the **** out of his bully. That truly made me happy and proud.

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[Jr.]

Re: Bullying

I was bullied pretty badly in high school. I was a "late bloomer" so I was a small, white kid in a mostly African-American part of town. I went to an inner city school that had some gang issues. For the most part, I walked around school with my eyes on the floor because making eye contact with the wrong person was cause for getting jumped. I got in my fair share of fights in my neighborhood because I was an easy target. I learned pretty quickly how to defend myself but it was never a fair fight (got jumped by 4 people at once, two different times). I was called all kinds of things in school and guys would try to get me into a fight. Since our school was zero-tolerance for fighting, if you threw a punch it was a 10 day suspension no matter what, so I refrained from doing anything.

Anyway, in a situation like your cousin is in, there really isn't much he can do if there the people aren't confronting him physically. Like someone else said, community college is essentially an extension of high school with the maturity level of the majority of the students. He can try going to the school's counselor to talk, and I'm sure if there is something the school can do to help, they will figure it out.

Hopefully he's able to get through it. One thing that helped me is understanding that the people doing the bullying have their own self-confidence and personal issues that cause them to take it out on others. I actually grew to pity the people that made fun of me. If your cousin focuses on school, does well, and goes on to earn a degree, he'll be in a good place and ideally won't have to deal with dumb **** like bullying anymore.

[letsgopens66]

Re: Bullying

Surprisingly, I never really was bullied.

Only one dude ever tried. He was a freshman (I was a junior at this time) who apparently thought high school was what you see on TV shows. So, trying to make a name for himself or something, he decided he wanted my chair at lunch (despite the fact that there were plenty others). So he walks up, tries to yank the chair out from under me, but I hold onto it and remain in the chair. So he just starts dragging the chair (with me in it) around the lunchroom trying to fling me off (all the while, I'm yelling "WHEEEEEE!!!! FASTER!"). After like 20 seconds of that some senior that I'd never met or talked to walked up to him, said "Stop. We don't do that here." and then sure enough, he stopped and I went back to my lunch.

It was hilarious.

WOW the same thing happened to me. Except I was a senior and the kid was a sophomore. And I fell out of the chair. And there was almost an absolute brawl. But it was funny looking back on it. Man those sophomores thought they were so tough.

[mgoblue]

Re: Bullying

I wasn't really bullied, but there was one kid who picked on me. He'd steal my bio notebook (freshman year of HS at a private catholic HS)...I'm now 6'2, but was a late bloomer so was an easy target for this stupid short kid.

Eventually he stopped (I tried telling parents and teachers and stuff), but now I know that I should have just manned up and stood up for myself (ideally not getting into a fight, but that's a risk).

I was a bit wimpy cause fights scared me, and while I haven't really been in a fight (not a real hardcore one) I know now that I can handle myself if need be...

[Herky]

Re: Bullying

My parents were high school teachers and I got bullied pretty badly during the summer before 7th grade. Those kids had older brothers who had my parents as teachers and didn't like them. My dad was one high school football coaches too and they didn't start so they hated him.

I wasn't a violent kid but I just got fed up one day and beat the crap out of one of the kids. Then found the second one and did the same thing.

That stopped it right there. They were bigger than me but I had just had enough.

[bkrich83]

Re: Bullying

I never got bullied, and I had friends across many different cliques. HS should be fun, it's the most carefree time in your life, where you are old enough to enjoy it. There's no reason for bullying, and social networking has just made the bullying easier and that much more brutal.

There's no place for it imo, I've been donating to one of the local anti-bullying campaigns around here, and volunteering my time. Unfortunately I don't think there's a silver bullet out there to solve the problem, and I think a lot of it stems from plain old bad parenting, and lack of discipline.

[mgoblue]

Re: Bullying

I never got bullied, and I had friends across many different cliques. HS should be fun, it's the most carefree time in your life, where you are old enough to enjoy it. There's no reason for bullying, and social networking has just made the bullying easier and that much more brutal.

There's no place for it imo, I've been donating to one of the local anti-bullying campaigns around here, and volunteering my time. Unfortunately I don't think there's a silver bullet out there to solve the problem, and I think a lot of it stems from plain old bad parenting, and lack of discipline.

No doubt...I was lucky to mostly escape it even though I was a quieter nerdy kid, but even in my private HS there were kids who got pretty badly bullied. I'm glad schools are at least trying to solve the problem.

[gerg1234]

Re: Bullying

I had a bully in 7th grade. It started when I was walking from one class to another (there were two separate buildings) talking to another kid (I always talked to everybody regardless of clique). Bully comes up from behind and tries to trip the kid I was talking to, but slips on some ice and falls down. I have a little chuckle which angered the bully who tried to get into my face.
This is kind of funny because the bully is about 6-7 inches shorter than me. I told him I thought it was funny how karma bit him.
Well long story short...I was always afraid of getting into trouble at school until the 9th grade, so I really didn't do anything about it. A friend of mine who was also a friend of the bully told the bully that if he kept it up he was going to give him a beat down and the kid quit.

I actually ended up becoming friends with the bully in HS.

I've often wondered if there was anybody I bullied when I was in High School without really knowing it. I can think of one kid who would probably consider me a bully because one day we were driving around throwing snowballs at random people and he happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time...

[TheMatrix31]

Re: Bullying

People just need to nut up and realize that other people don't matter. Sure, words can be hurtful, but stand up for yourself. Good Lord. Have respect for yourself and the rest will follow.

[Fresh Tendrils]

Re: Bullying

I never got bullied, and I had friends across many different cliques. HS should be fun, it's the most carefree time in your life, where you are old enough to enjoy it. There's no reason for bullying, and social networking has just made the bullying easier and that much more brutal.

A lot of people don't realize that until later, though. HS seemed like the end of the world to me because they're pushing you into making decisions that will shape your life and trying to brainwash you into thinking the four years in HS are gonna be the greatest years of your life. Not to mention the social network of a high-school is like a tour de force trying to navigate.

[GAMEC0CK2002]

Re: Bullying

Every year they make the freshman and sophomores go to a cyber-bullying assembly at the high school I teach at. With social networking, it has made teacher's/administrator's jobs harder trying to police it.

At some point though, you'll have to stand up to a bully. Win or lose, they'll probably leave you alone because they want an easy mark that won't fight back.

Long time ago, I got bullied in the 4th or 5th grade. Always happened at the local basketball court by one kid. After about a week of it, I finally grew a pair and fought the kid. Got my tail handed to me but earned the respect for taking on a kid twice my size. Didn't get bothered again.

[FlyingFinn]

Re: Bullying

I think you are making a mountain out of a mole hill here. So some people are whispering behind his back, big deal. I wouldn't call that bullying. it shouldn't even bother him unless he is uncomfortable in his own skin... but that is something he needs to work out for himself.

However, if he wants them to stop, he should just stand up in class while they are doing it and ask them out loud if they have a problem with him. 9 times out of 10 they will be embarrassed and shut up.

[TheNumber35]

Re: Bullying

Thought this fit in here, full article can be found here

Last week, The Hunger Games rode enthusiasm for Suzanne Collins' young-adult novels and a carefully orchestrated PR campaign to the best opening weekend of the year. Now comes the documentary Bully, director Lee Hirsch's sensitive look at anguished kids who've been cruelly targeted by their peers — which isn't going to do anything remotely like that kind of box-office.
Still, a dispute between its distributor, The Weinstein Co., and the Motion Picture Association of America's ratings board — more about the latter in a moment — has at least raised awareness of the picture. In fact, an online petition asking the MPAA to reconsider its rating generated more than 450,000 signatures, which suggests that someone will show up wherever the picture is actually able to get play dates.


That's a good thing: Bully is a wrenching, potentially transformative look at an epidemic of adolescent cruelty and adult paralysis in the nation's public schools.



Bully weaves together five stories from different parts of America's heartland.

I'm curious about this documentary, I haven't heard too much about it. Only reason I did hear about it was because it came up when I was listening to NPR this morning...why isn't something like this being more publicized, or is it? I honestly don't know lol.

[Fresh Tendrils]

Re: Bullying

Thought this fit in here, full article can be found here


I'm curious about this documentary, I haven't heard too much about it. Only reason I did hear about it was because it came up when I was listening to NPR this morning...why isn't something like this being more publicized, or is it? I honestly don't know lol.

It got a lot of press because they wanted it to be rated PG-13 so grade school kids could go see it, but apparently its been threatened with an R and then later NC-17 for language from some of the interviewees. Last I heard they were going to release it as an unrated film, which basically limits it to the art/indie cinema houses, but AMC theaters said they would play it and allow children in as long as a parent was with them. I think Regal might play it, too, but they're treating it as an R movie.

[khaled]

Re: Bullying

I would say that as long as it's not direct, try to ignore as best as possible. Honestly, that's what I would do. Now, if they say things directly to him? Speak up and make em shut it. If it gets too bad go to the dean/counselors. Tell him to hang in there, but if it's direct, confront them. (Not physically of course.) The good thing is that there's only a month left this semester.

I know what it's like being bullied, I was bullied in elementary school, but when they came to fight me, I wooped them haha. I was always made fun of until high school because of my weight. It sucked, but I eventually got used to the "jokes" and it didn't bother me. High school and now to college I've had no problems.