Bullying = evil

[Dezzick]

Bullys, those charming people who steal your dinner money and push you around. It's unfair why even slight differences can get you bullied, being clever, being stupid, fat, thin, the list goes on and on and what does everyone watching do, just ignore it or join in! That happens to me just because i have curly hair! And what do teachers do about it, just say stupid comments like ignore it, hang out where bullys don't! life at school is boring but now it has become a danger.

[TheGreatBrain]

Yes, bullying is an unfortunate reality for many kids (including, for a year in elementary school, myself), but it's just the way it seems to work in school, and it's something that some just have to learn to deal with, frankly.

[Moser]

I used to get bullied for having red hair.. then, people found out carrot top was funny, and had red hair. haha no thats not the reason they stopped.. but I just learned to deal with it.. And a little threatening kindda persuaded them. haha Slamming against walls, punching.. you get the general idea. NOTE: don't do this if your skinny or smaller then them.

[TheBB]

Yes, bullying is an unfortunate reality for many kids (including, for a year in elementary school, myself), but it's just the way it seems to work in school, and it's something that some just have to learn to deal with, frankly.

Well, I stubbornly refuse to live in a world where we "just have to deal with" things like this.

[Battlecruiser]

I don't get bullied at all, or atleast not yet, so I really don't know how it feels, but I do know it must suck. Yeah, the best way is to either ignore it, or have alot of friends who will support you.
Bullys, those charming people who steal your dinner money and push you around.
Just wondering, what is dinner money? I assume it is just like lunch money, but most people have dinner at their homes, so there isn't any money involved and there is no bullies in your own house, unless it is your sibling. So what do you mean by Dinner money?

[Moser]

Maybe Deezed is old, because alot of old people call lunch "dinner."

[Modred]

Dinner simply implies that a meal will be or has been eaten. It does not refer to a specific meal at a specific time.

Anyway, the key to overcoming bullying is to show the bullies that you will not stand for being treated in the way they treat you. But don't whine about how you're going to turn them in or get them arrested. First, stand up for yourself. If that doesn't work, just go straight to authorities. If that doesn't work...get a posse. ;)

[EdvardMunch]

Bullying is a major problem that seems underestimated. I figured after the Columbine shootings, bullying would have finally received some in-depth attention, but instead, all of the attention was focused on finding "at-risk students", who were arbitrarily defined as shy, quiet children (and preferably with emotional problems) and then giving those defenseless children the at-risk label, which only added to the amount of bullying they received. The news did their job by adding to the problem and giving themselves more to report. Then again, news doesn't exist to inform, it exists to entertain. Oh crap, I've just been switched to rant mode.

/me saves the news bashing for another day and struggles to stay on-topic.
Statistics show that victims of chronic bullying have higher rates of depression and mental illness, and research by Norwegian psychologist Dan Olweus shows that "60 percent of boys who bully had at least one conviction by age 24, and 40 percent had three or more convictions." (http://www.apa.org/monitor/feb04/research.html)

There are also quite a few myths surrounding bullying, and unfortunately these myths are incorporated into completely ineffective intervention programs (if you're lucky enough to be in a school that has an intervention program in the first place). The biggest myth is that bullies are lonely, insecure people, which, as anyone who has been bullied knows, couldn't be further from the truth.

Bullies tend to be strong, aggressive people, with a large group of friends who encourage or take part in the bullying. Originally, psychologists asked students questions like "Do you like a person who bullies?" Obviously, just about everyone answered no, thus making psychologists conclude that bullies had no friends. However, psychologists ask better questions like "how popular does the bully seem to be?" This results in the much more accurate conclusion that bullies can be rather popular figures. (http://www.apa.org/monitor/jun04/among.html)

Nonetheless, the stereotype that bullies are bullies because they lack self confidence has resulted in some intervention programs that have really blown up in people's face. Some programs have tried to counter bullies' "low self-esteem" by improving their self-esteem. The result is that we get more confident bullies.

Other inneffective strategies are mediation, which goes on the assumption that the bully and victim have equal power over each other (which of course they don't), and group therapy, which puts a lot of bullies in the same room together and somehow assumes they won't feed off of each other. Some ideas work though.

The most effective intervention program is the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program. 20 months after it was deployed in Norway in 1992, Olweus reported that bullying had been reduced overall by more than 50%. It works by bringing adults into the situation and using the entire school to change norms and bring people closer together.

I think anomie (a situation where nobody knows how they should act) is one of the main causes of bullying in the first place. My schools never struck me as caring one way or the other about bullying or much of anything for that matter (of course my school didn't like bullying, but they were more concerned about how well the basketball team did than bullying). Teachers ran their class rooms however they felt like running them, and for the student who attended 6-8 classes that day, that usually meant 6-8 different environments. Schools as a whole don't have an opinion about much, nor a sense of community. This could be a reason why the OBPP has shown results. It gives schools norms and community. It's tougher to bully somebody when you know them.

Unfortunately, I can't find anything about what the individual can do to stop bullying. In my own experience, ignoring or going along with the bully didn't do anything, because they can still read your body language that you're hurt. If you can cover your body language, you probably have a better shot.

[Markpyro]

Ed, i was anxious to read all of your post... *thumbs up* BTW

In the schools ive been to, ive never been bullied and i never see it for some reason. I have never even seen someone punch someone other than playfully. I, as a stronger person probobly have an advantage, but when someone even tries to bully me, i ignore it or i try to laugh along with it. Actually... someone who bullied me for a week or 2 last year, just insulting me rather casually, ended up being my friend... And still is. I hate all those 'bullying movies' we have to see at school. They do nothing for the kids, and they are plain, outright stereotypes and stupid stratigies. In my elementary school i knew everyones names and if givin a piece of paper and was told to write all their names down, i could have gotten at least 70%. I knew everyone and they knew me, i often had time to talk and i was never bullied. I do feel sorry for the kids who are... i dont know what to say. Eventually it will pass and from my standpoint, if they arnt doing anything physical to you, they shouldnt be that big of a deal

[SupremeBoredom]

i don't get bullied myself, but when i see little kids get bullied i get mad and start fights...i just dont think its fair that just because your smaller or something, that makes you "fair game"...ive stopped a couple of little kids from getting punked or beat up...makes me feel good making a small difference.

[Moser]

Yeah, in our high school I don't see bullying to much.. because most the people arn't afraid to stand to anybody. But when people always say crap to me about what i wear or my shoes (I wear alot of skating clothes and shoes but don't skate) I always have some sort of comment to make back at them, Or I just agree with them and go on with what I was doing. It's really not a big deal.

[Xx_bender_xX]

Where I live there realy is no bullying. The only reason i have ever been bullied is because im white (its a hawaii thing) and iv proven myself to be worthy of not being bullied(had to kick a few asses in the prosses;)). Just as a side note, some of the schools here use to have a day called kill howlie (white person) day, where all the white kids whould get beeten up.

[Radical_Edward]

ed just wants to kick bullies in the groin even though ed's bully is a girl..

[Grom_Icecream]

Never really been bullied. Im not a big guy either, just not a small guy.

Whenever something similar to bullying occured, my scathing tougue usually gets the better of the instigator. If you can give back whether physically or verbally it usually deters bullies.

[Whiteknight]

Pff, our school does nothing about bullying. We have a "bully box" thing to submit something if you get bullied, but we are quite a small town and few people do. I suppose the only way to not get bullied is to bully yourself, which, I'm sure, is what a lot of them think. Others do it for laughs, others do it for personal enjoyment.

Also, everyone seems to be forgetting that bullying is not only physical. There are usually several people who are picked on in class, words can also be called bullying.

I doubt there is that much to do about bullying. Even if the rules are increased, the chances of someone reporting a bully is slim because of repurcussions. You also can't change people's personalities. They will pretty much bully no matter what. However, if you can tough it out, the bullys almost always have a somewhat lower intellect. So by the time you get into the higher grades and the more advanced classes, they will start thinning out.

[Mr.Ric]

Heh i had talked about a topic like this on another site called inflash tell em to St*u get anrgy and shout loudly "will u just get off of me wats your problem u moron"!!!. dont take my word for it. If they consider there selfs a bully they are F****** morons.

[Uuugggg]

Heh, I had a great elementary school... Thenin middle school, I learned how sucky the world can be =P And now in my good ol' private high, there's quite a noticeable lack of jerks ( which sure is nice ) .
Lesse - I'm gonna point out a few idiots doing idiotic things that I encountered in Middle School (for no good reason as I think about it) -
• Riding my bike home from school, through a lil fenced-in off-the-road-sidewalk, some scum of the world sat at the end and didn't let me through for a minute...
• Then again, late after school, exiting at the bottom of an overpass, some other scum of the world sat and blocked my path...
•*This one guy, another scum of the world ( though I couldn't prove it ) stole one of my decks of DragonBallZ cards from my backpack in the locker room - really noticeable because I numbered them =P
• I had this cool lil' clipboard-suitcase that held all my stuff, and I could doodle on the front*of it... that guy wrote a naughty word in big bold letters on it, in the locker room again...
• Yea, someone let a stink bomb off in the locker room... many times, as I recall.

So anyway, Everything they ever did was cowardly and impersonal. Still are annoying to have around, though =/

[TheBB]

What it pretty much boils down to is this...

- If you know someone are being bullied (maybe you), do something about it. Keep doing something about it until something is being done.

- If you don't see any bullying in your school, do NOT assume that it doesn't exist!

[hammocksleeper]

That happens to me just because i have curly hair! I have curly hair also. Did you know that curly hair is a sign of royal blood (in white people)? All the old royal families in Europe established curly hair throuh breeding. In fact, the trend of wearing wigs during the colonial times came about as a result of people of non-elite descent who had straight hair, but did not want to reveal this fact to others.


Anyways, the key to beating bullies is making friends. It's as simple as that. :)

[spastic-ninJa]

Anyways, the key to beating bullies is making friends. It's as simple as that.
I could not agree more.

During intermediate (middle school), I was harassed pretty bad. And, just like ed, it was from girls. The bad thing about being harassed by the opposite sex is that you can't do much about it, rather than retaliate verbally (which I have no passion for). It also boiled down to the fact that there were only three people in my class of 30 that were my friends. That year was crap, but it got way better, as do most cases of being bullied.

For the next 3 years I've made heaps of friends, and, right now in high school, if anyone tries to pick a fight with of my friends, then everyone stands up for him. As such, there are a few bullies that don't like us, but no-one willing to aggravate us further.

So yeah, if you don't have many friends this year in school, don't worry, I'm positive that the years ahead will be brighter :)

If you have a decent amount of friends, but a few bullies that are out to get you, stay within close proximity to your mates; I can imagine it's a LOT more daunting fighting a bunch of ten than one.

[JenJen]

i've never really been bullied i guess i've been one, however. When i think of the word though those movies with kids going into garabage cans is what comes to mind. that doesnt really happen here though. My school has a anonymous hotline and bully reports you can fill out, but it even considers ignoring and leaving people out bullying. I mean seriously if some kid was like "johnny wont let me be in his group" what are they gonna say?