Quote:
Originally Posted by Plan9
One of the big problems with modern bullying is how the touchy-feely Dr. Phil shit has prevented physical altercations so well... so well that it seems most bullies today rely strictly on verbal attacks to make their victims feel like garbage. It's very covert, a low-intensity emotional conflict. There are no shell casings ejected from a mouth, no gunshot wounds on the victims, and no evidence to collect after the damage has been done.
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I absolutely hate the touchy-feely approach as I find it usually makes the victim of the bullying out to be the bad guy. I hate to say it, but from my own personal experience, the touchy feely bullshit doesn't work and only reinforces the bully's behavior.
An example from my own life: I was bullied mercilessly in middle school. I was a bit awkward and not in the best shape, and it didn't help that I was part of a highly-gifted magnet program that encouraged dog-eat-dog behavior amongst its students. Anyway, one day I came to school to find that my friends had deserted me and that about five or six guys seemed to be at the forefront of harassing me and "putting me down with words." I tried to ignore them, but they kept coming. I tried firing back with words, but to no avail. Hell, even those who would hang out with me behind closed doors would disown me in public. So there I was friendless, depressed, and under way more academic pressure than any twelve-year-old should be under, and what did the school administrators do? Jack shit. They fed me the same lines about non-violence and walking away and ignoring it.
My response was to withdraw which only fed my depression. I contemplated suicide but realized I was too much of a pussy to go through with it which made me even more depressed. Then my depression turned to anger and anger to blinding rage. It ate away at me and I had wild fantasies of enacting the only solution left to me: murdering them. Hell, I was going to murder everyone involved. Mind you, this was in the wake of all of the school shootings by kids in my exact position. Luckily, I told someone one day about my plans and he told the administration.
So the aftermath? I got sent to counselling and therapy and have to bear the mental scars of three horrible years of middle school. What happened to my bullies? Diddly shit. They got off scott-free while I was painted as the bad guy. The school administration failed because they used the touchy-feely crap instead of taking the bullies out back and paddling them senseless. The only thing that will teach a bully is a sound ass-kicking, nothing less. Pain is the best teacher.
Fortunately, high school went a lot better. I started playing football and bulked-up to about 220 and could squat 440 pounds. Also, I was a rather popular fellow around campus with just about every clique, and those with whom I was not popular didn't dare mess with me. To this day though, I remember the faces and names of each of the bullies and for a long time afterward, I knew that should I meet them on the street I would have beaten them to within an inch of their lives. Thank God I've mellowed a bit in the last couple of years.