[video]http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/09/20/13986089-mom-who-smooshed-sons-alleged-bully-no-regrets[/video]
I think the anti-free speech sentiment from this movement is dangerous. Off the top of my head I recall Arizona and Virginia enacting BS legislation. People are getting too sensitive, imo.
When I was a kid, my folks were dead set against using physical violence. The one exception: Any crack about being Jewish. For whatever reason, personal insults could not be met with fists but anti-Semitic ones could. There was a girl named Karen who was in my class. We weren't friends as she was "in crowd" and I was definitely not. Our mothers, though, were friendly if not close; both were in PTA, League of Women Voters, Democratic Women's Club, and last but not least, Weight Watchers. Wherever Karen learned to be a bigot it was not from her mom. Anyway, one day I was walking home from school, this was 5th grade, and Karen came up behind me taunting "dirty Jew, ugly dirty Jew". So I turned around and slugged her. We both went home crying. I told my mom the whole store but Karen only told her mom I'd hit her, not the preamble. So her mother calls my mother all upset, "I can't understand why [crandc] hit Karen, [crandc] isn't the type of girl who goes around hitting", and so on. My mother waited until she was done, then said in her sweetest voice, the one that meant you were going to get your ass handed to you, "I'm very sorry [crandc] hit Karen, but you really should tell Karen it's not nice to call people ugly dirty Jews." That lady was so embarrassed! I don't know what she said or did. I do know Karen and I were in the same class all the way through high school. We never became friends. But she never called me a dirty Jew again.
Both my sons are taking taekwondo. Ages 5 and 7. It's helping them with discipline, balance, coordination and all kinds of other great things that I'm sure will help them in life. But I insisted on it so they could kick any bully's ass. Because bullying is bullshit, and the only way to deal with it is to smash it in the face. I caught my younger son bullying a little girl once at a Burger King play area. Made him apologize to the girl, to the girl's family, and I told him to throw his dinner in the trash because we were done and he could go home hungry. When they had some time to think about my reaction I talked to them at great length about how I felt about bullying. I won't tell them they can't get physical if a bully pushes them around either mentally or physically. I want to try to raise them with the judgement to think for themselves. If they get over-zealous in fighting back, well, I'll cross that bridge. I completely disagree with the idea that kids are a pain because of issues like this. Having kids forces you to confront your own issues you grew up with, and how you wish your own parents had dealt with them. That's a good thing. My sons have made me much more thoughtful about what it means to be a good person.
I always felt that growing up with an older brother really prepared me for any sort of fighting situations. My brother and I are best of friends, but two boys a year and half apart are always going to be at each other's throats growing up, and you better believe that there will usually be some knock down, drag out brawls. I can't tell you how many times my brother beat the hell out of me, and vice versa. It's inevitable. I had a roommate once that told me he'd never been in a fight, and my first thought was, "must not have had a brother." There is a positive flip-side of that though. As many times as we fought, we always had each other's backs if someone else was trying to mess with us. If your 5 year old is ever being picked on by a kid at school, it's good to know that he's got his 7 year old brother to help defend himself.
Same situation with me. Me and my brothers used to go rounds and my dad encouraged it as long as my mom wasn't around. It gives you a little hair on your chest so to speak. I can handle someone disrespecting and starting shit with me, but if you do it to my family its a whole new ball game. I also grew up in an area where you had to have thick skin and brass balls. I was prepared for it before I had to face it.
Good on you, mook. When my sister was in 6th grade a boy who lived up the street pushed her off her bicycle. His father made him put on a suit and tie, walked him to our house, assembled the entire family in the living room so the boy could apologize. A lot of bullies, reportedly, were themselves beat up on by fathers or others so they think that's what big strong people do. Showing them consequences, as you did, as this boy's father did, is far more effective. They don't feel so hot then.
I'm not sure this is always the cause. I think sometimes it's just kids that are lazy and realize they can exploit their advantage.
The fucking dad says "when I was watching that interview and he said he lost his 8 friends, i had a tear in my eye." WTF dad, shouldn't you know your son suddenly has no friends?
[video]http://www.upworthy.com/bully-calls-news-anchor-fat-news-anchor-destroys-him-on-live-tv?g=3&c=mrp1[/video]
I saw that vid, Maris. What a jerk, he doesn't watch the show, knows nothing about her but thinks he has some god-given right to abuse her over her looks. Shout out to this newswoman.
I didn't really view the email as bullying, just very insensitive and mean. I don't think the intent of the email was mean, though. It sounds as though the author was concerned about obesity in general and the role model that the newscaster was setting. I don't agree with the email at all, I just don't think the intent was to bully the newscaster. I could see though how the newscaster took the email as bullying. It probably felt very familiar and triggering.
Don't forget about 15 year old Amanda Todd who killed herself earlier this month. A 7th grader flashing her breasts on the internet? Bad decision on her part. But then again her parents should have disconnected the video cameras or made sure if she went to friends houses those parents wouldn't let her use the web cam. More on the story and her youtube clip......: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/11/amanda-todd-suicide-bullying_n_1959909.html#slide=1637674
25 police investigators are working on the Amanda Todd's case and they believe its a male citizen in the US. More info and Canada's anti-bullying system is being worked on. Amanda's mom speaks out in this link. http://www.vancouversun.com/videos/recommended/video.html?embedCode=81ZDM3NjpzEKPrtjmg0068_S8qydu7uE
Some of this stuff is just bad parenting, or unlikely scenarios playing out. Overall "Bullying" the way I understand it, refers to verbal/written criticism that is unsavory. In this typical case, I think people need to get over it. Not that big a deal.
Huevonkiller, my good man, is it not true that once a fortnight you partake in inhaling the pestiferous fumes emanating from the smallclothes of thine own materfamilias, and do so quite gleefully, you dog-faced rapscallion? In these cases it seems that the physical abuse isn't always present, especially with girls, in lieu of persistent social harassment. Gay kids seem to get it the worst. Obviously when it ends in suicide it is a fucking big deal.
