Support NeoGAF

[Jawmuncher]

Sad indeed.
Simply terrible that kids just see the need to bully for anything.

 

[TheOddOne]

Makes me scared to ever have kids if we're living in the kind of world that makes kids this young try to kill themselves.

This was my exact though when reading the article

Poor kid.

 

[WanderingWind]

Christ, kids can be the cruelest forms of life on the planet. This is so sad, I really hope he pulls through and gets the help he needs to be able to deal with his issues. I don't even know what to say about the bullies.

 

[Lafiel]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2av9SQsMIi8

I'd imagine even IF you tried your best to fit in, became the most blandest, uninteresting person on earth, someone somewhere would find some reason to bully you. All the -ism's of the world really hold us back as a society

Well, we can all try certainly. But it turns out that most 13 year olds didn't get that memo about being nice and accepting, and are judgmental little shits. We try to keep our prejudices in check, but to expect children to be enlightened and accepting is asking rather a lot imo.

As a education student whose studying a bit of Psychology - from my limited understanding of what I've learned so far - it's kind of a combination of our irrational nature as human beings eg the infallible nature of children and how they can be influenced by culture/society etc, in the context of a system that encourages normalization.. and school can be a very indoctrinating process when it comes to that process of normalization.

I'd imagine it's far more complex than that though. With plenty of variables to keep in check.

 

[BobbyRobby]

Jeeze, hope he is able to recover.

I don't want to start a circle jerk, but when I see stories like this I just wish these kids had a site like GAF in their lives. The communities here are so accepting.

I am not sure this deeply religious kid would feel accepted by this community.

 

[MarkMclovin]

So sad, I hope he pulls through.

Unfortunately, at that age, I don't think you're going to be able to get away with wearing that stuff and not expect some form of ribbing. It's a sad reality.

 

[Lafiel]

I don't want to start a circle jerk, but when I see stories like this I just wish these kids had a site like GAF in their lives. The communities here are so accepting.

For what it's worth - I kind of admire the existence of the internet for being a place where people with poor social skills or niche interests are able to find someone to relate to and make a connection with.. even if they'd be better off with more physical social interaction.

It has certainly helped for me honestly growing up in a small town of 1000 people with literally no-one to relate to and share my interests with.

 

[HP_Wuvcraft]

11? Jesus Christ.

I hope the little fucks that bullied him understand how they affected him.

 

[oconnomiyaki]

Two things that make me sad about this:

1) Gender roles. In a way, it's lovely that his parents supported him gay or straight. On the other hand, it's sad that simply loving Pinkie Pie could put that thought in their minds.

2) Without trying to be offensive, the Bible probably isn't the best book to read if you are feeling guilty about being gay/effeminate behaviour.

I'd say there's a third, that kids are shitheads, but that's sort of just an axiom right now. Thing is, I got bullied to shit throughout my school years and suicidal thoughts didn't even start entering my head until I was 15. At 11, I was just sad that no one wanted to be friends with me. EDIT: Like even the geeks/nerds shunned me because I didn't know FF3 stood for Final Fantasy 3 and because I only had a Game Gear. (((

 

[DXLelouch153]

holy shit i never realized he had the same medical condition as me(ADHD)
man now this news sucks even more(i was bullied at that age as well)
i watch the show as well, but i dont give 2 shits what people think of my hobbies

 

[Jedeye Sniv]

As a education student whose studying a bit of Psychology - from my limited understanding of what I've learned so far - it's kind of a combination of our irrational nature as human beings eg the infallible nature of children and how they can be influenced by culture/society etc, in the context of a system that encourages normalization.. and school can be a very indoctrinating process when it comes to that process of normalization.

I'd imagine it's far more complex than that though. With plenty of variables to keep in check.

tbh I just think that bullying is a natural, if unfortunate, means by which children find their place in their social order. I really don't think there's a way to eradicate it totally, especially when there are many many subpar parents who will raise cruel children.

I agree that children are very much shaped and molded by the society around them as well, but they often can/will take the most extreme negative bits and incorporate them into their social world. So I think intolerant parents will raise very intolerant children who man/may not grow out of it as the intensity of youth begins to wane.

School is very much about normalisation, but I wonder if there's ever a way to do anything about that? Trying to fight human nature is a bit of an uphill struggle I reckon.

 

[DXLelouch153]

tbh I just think that bullying is a natural, if unfortunate, means by which children find their place in their social order. I really don't think there's a way to eradicate it totally, especially when there are many many subpar parents who will raise cruel children.

I agree that children are very much shaped and molded by the society around them as well, but they often can/will take the most extreme negative bits and incorporate them into their social world. So I think intolerant parents will raise very intolerant children who man/may not grow out of it as the intensity of youth begins to wane.

School is very much about normalisation, but I wonder if there's ever a way to do anything about that? Trying to fight human nature is a bit of an uphill struggle I reckon.

so bullies exist because their parents are assholes?
it all makes sense now

 

[astroturfing]

Man, this poor kid.

Children at 11-13 are sociopaths. My buddies and I did some horrible, horrible bullying at that age - until we got caught and were dealt with pretty severely. It just doesn't enter into your head what you're doing is tremendously cruel and painful to the victim.

umm.. speak for yourself. plenty of kids aged 11-13 are smart and empathetic enough to understand that hurting others is wrong. most children don't actively bully, you know.

 

[Trickster]

So sad, I hope he pulls through.

Unfortunately, at that age, I don't think you're going to be able to get away with wearing that stuff and not expect some form of ribbing. It's a sad reality.

While I think you're right. I also think A LOT of bullying would prevented if schools, teachers and parents ( of the bullies ) actually bothered to treat bullying like the serious issue that it is. Often when reading about this sort of thing, it just seems like something that couldn't possibly be something that managed to no be known by anyone other than the bullies, victim and victims parents.

From personal experience, the parents of bullies seem to do nothing to change their kids bullying, and the teachers and schools only handle bullying in a non efficient manner. I was in a class where we were basically split in 3 groups, the nerds, the girls and the "cool kids". The cool kids group bassically spend the 6 years i was there, bullying and harrassing me and my friends daily. One of the biggest bullies had a dad who was the headmaster at another school, and he didn't change one bit during the 6 years, despite his parents obviously being told about their sons behaviour and his dad seemingly being one of the most ideal people to have for dealing with an issue of bullying. And several of the kids got send to the headmaster of the school many times for their behaviour, but litterally nothing was ever done to dissuade their behaviour outside of being told that what they did was bad.

In my mind, bullying is a very solvable problem, it would simply require bullies to feel some consequences if they resort to systematic bullying. Which it currently seems like is something exceedingly few bullies experiece.

 

[eXistor]

Fuck this world for not accepting people for who they are man, fuck 'em. Makes me so mad.

 

[Chariot]

Well, we shouldn't focus on the brony part so much. When we get to the core, its about a kid wh ogets bullied because he likes a show that isn't accepted by society for boys (also by homphobia). We should work to have a world where boys can wear pink clothes and watch colorful ponys and girls get toys that doesen't only prepare her for the housewife carrier. Also we should trust the intelligence of kids more and don't throw dumb, repetitive shows at them, avoiding issues like homosexuality ("they won't understand~").

Stuff like that is just sad.

 

[Jedeye Sniv]

so bullies exist because their parents are assholes?
it all makes sense now

Yes, I think so. Learned behaviour, intolerance from their family, poor moral compass. I don't think children's personalities are created in a vacuum. What do you think?

 

[Mistouze]

And this is why you don't rail on people liking things that you don't when they're not putting that stuff in your face. Just let people enjoy the things that they enjoy.

 

[Mistel]

What a horrible thing to happen to such a young child, no one should be made a victim for any reason.

I did horrible things to the people that bullied me, I'm disgusted at what I did to get them to stop.

 

[FrozenCell]

Asking openly, what can a parent do to deter these bullies?
Finding out their names? Getting in touch with their parents? Talk with the school? What power does a parent have when school kids are pushing their child to suicide?

prepare your kid to be able to retailate hard both mentally and physically

 

[hat_hair]

prepare your kid to be able to retailate hard both mentally and physically

So, teach your kids to be bullies back? I can see this working out well for everyone.

 

[Chuckie]

So, teach your kids to be bullies back? I can see this working out well for everyone.

Retaliation =/= bullying. If some kids punch you and you punch you back, that does not make you a bully.

I am not saying it is the best solution (I honestly don't know) but it worked for me when I was 11. However it seems this only works with physical bullying, not mentally bullying.

 

[WanderingWind]

So, teach your kids to be bullies back? I can see this working out well for everyone.

You're not bullying back to stand up for yourself. Not that is really an issue in this case.

 

[Mr.Wreckless]

Makes me scared to ever have kids if we're living in the kind of world that makes kids this young try to kill themselves.

You think this is new? We just live in an age where news of these incidents is easily spread.

 

[Cheerilee]

How would you punish the bullies? How do we teach our children NOT to bully?

It's not a perfect solution, but my preference is... increased manliness.

I know some kids grow into power and feel the need to explore it, they need to taste destruction, but kids need to be taught that true strength is not found in defeating a weaker opponent. True strength is taking a blow that was meant for the person next to you.

Undermine bullying by pointing out how pathetic it truly is, and increase the number of people willing to stand against it.

 

[hat_hair]

Retaliation =/= bullying. If some kids punch you and you punch you back, that does not make you a bully.

I do understand that, but I'm worried that preaching violence as an acceptable solution will lead to more violence in the future. If a kid knows that punching a dude gets them what they want, what's to stop them from starting to beat on other kids themselves?

There are other issues as well. Kids can vary in size considerably, and the bullies could be a couple of years older. If a kids punches back, they might get a severe beating out of it, or the bullying could just get worse. The bully in this situation is unlikely to be acting alone. They also might get punished by the establishment for instigating a fight.

This can also lead to an escalation of bringing knives or even guns to school to try and defend yourself. A worst case scenario, but it's less likely to happen if you convince the kid to stand up for himself with further violence.

 

[WanderingWind]

I do understand that, but I'm worried that preaching violence as an acceptable solution will lead to more violence in the future. If a kid knows that punching a dude gets them what they want, what's to stop them from starting to beat on other kids themselves?

There are other issues as well. Kids can vary in size considerably, and the bullies could be a couple of years older. If a kids punches back, they might get a severe beating out of it, or the bullying could just get worse. The bully in this situation is unlikely to be acting alone. They also might get punished by the establishment for instigating a fight.

This can also lead to an escalation of bringing knives or even guns to school to try and defend yourself. A worst case scenario, but it's less likely to happen if you convince the kid to stand up for himself with further violence.

And I'm more that raising people to pretend that violence is never the answer is going to lead to those people being bullied their entire life. Violence exists and there will literally always be people willing to use it to enforce their will. Sometimes, it requires violence to stop it.

Turning point in my young life was breaking this kids nose that was bullying me. I learned that some people just won't learn otherwise. That doesn't mean I walked around looking for fights after that, but throwing a punch did what talking to teachers, trying to avoid him and all kinds of other shit adults tell their kids about didn't. Got me left alone by bullies.

YMMV, of course, and again, it's hardly relevant to an 11 year old kid getting picked on verbally and emotionally, but still.

 

[jaxword]

Sad story, hope he pulls through. Were a lot of people on gaf bullied as kids?

 

[UberTag]

Sad story, hope he pulls through. Were a lot of people on gaf bullied as kids?

Of course. Only people that were bullied themselves would have sympathy for someone else that was bullied to the point of wanting to commit suicide.

<rolls eyes>

I think it's a common enough occurence that even if we weren't bullied ourselves we have friends or family members that have encountered it at some point in their lives. It's a serious issue that still remains needlessly overlooked.

 

[jaxword]

Of course. Only people that were bullied themselves would have sympathy for someone else that was bullied to the point of wanting to commit suicide.

<rolls eyes>

I was asking a question about the community as a whole.

Why are you reading things I didn't say and deliberately trying to pick a fight? That's unnecessary.

 

[McLovin]

Thats so sad! But I have to wonder why anyone would hang themselves. It seems like such a terrible way to go

 

[FrozenCell]

I do understand that, but I'm worried that preaching violence as an acceptable solution will lead to more violence in the future. If a kid knows that punching a dude gets them what they want, what's to stop them from starting to beat on other kids themselves?

There are other issues as well. Kids can vary in size considerably, and the bullies could be a couple of years older. If a kids punches back, they might get a severe beating out of it, or the bullying could just get worse. The bully in this situation is unlikely to be acting alone. They also might get punished by the establishment for instigating a fight.

This can also lead to an escalation of bringing knives or even guns to school to try and defend yourself. A worst case scenario, but it's less likely to happen if you convince the kid to stand up for himself with further violence.

I'm against physical violence, but after putting up with physical bullying for a while, I hit the main kid as hard as I could in the face. He bled from the nose and for a couple days promised to get back at me, never did and later on we got along pretty well - others barely caused trouble then.

 

[Coreda]

Kids at that age... Almost anything remotely interesting someone likes is called 'gay'. Get over it kiddos.

Yes, I think so. Learned behaviour, intolerance from their family, poor moral compass. I don't think children's personalities are created in a vacuum. What do you think?

Eh, some kids are just spoiled and have developed bad characters from never having to confront the issue due to lack of concern from parents or teachers. Others may have legitimate family or personal problems.

Also, it's one thing to tell a kid to stand up for themselves, but some children will never be the type to 'fight back'. It's a tragic turn of events.

 

[AdventureMike]

This story is heartbreaking to say the least. Everyone should be allowed to like what they want to like as long as it doesn't harm another individual. This includes everything from liking a show about ponies to being able to express his fondness of religion.'

I really wish as a society this could be the case for every age, not just children. As much as I love GAF's community and on the whole most are tolerant of people's interests, every now and then there will be a "What band do you not get how people can like?" thread. Then we just have a thread of individuals chucking insults and calling other people's interests, garbage.

 

[MacNille]

When I think of bronies, I don't think of kids at the age of eleven. It is ok if you like a children show. I still that it is fucking creepy if you masturbate to them.

 

[ElyrionX]

A group of his peers at school have been taunting and bullying the boy about his fandom. His stepfather, Shannon Suttle, said, “Michael was upset because the kids were calling him gay for liking a girls’ TV show. His mom and I, well, we told him that it didn’t matter what other people think. It only matters what he thinks.”

You see, this is the shit that gets me. It's a whole bunch of new-age parenting bullshit. Why does it not matter what other people think? We live in a society and whether we like it or not, society will always judge us for the things we believe in. I mean, it's fine for adults to actually believe this (and only to a certain extent) but a kid wouldn't necessarily have the judgment to know when this matters and when it doesn't. It's not a hard and fast rule to life, especially when you are already socially awkward to begin with. Wearing brony stuff to school at 11-years old is just literally asking to be bullied. Kids will be kids, after all. If the parents had tried to rein him in a bit, maybe he wouldn't have got bullied so much. Let him watch all the cartoons he wants to at home but there's really no need to broadcast his interest to the whole school. I'm not saying it's his parents' fault or anything like that, but they could have helped with stuff like this.

 

[Sheroking]

Retaliation =/= bullying. If some kids punch you and you punch you back, that does not make you a bully.

Bullies are insecure cowards and will almost only pick on people they can dominate physically and emotionally. The victim getting their ass kicked will only give the bully one more tool to bully.

And in the real world, bullying isn't one kid picking on another. It's a school wide ostracization. There may have been one person or a small group doing the damage, but the consequences are felt across the whole student body.

This can only change with grassroots education and a shift in pop-culture, just like we're seeing with homophobia and just like we saw with racism in the 70's and 80's. It's not going to resolve like the end of a Wonder Years episode, where the victim knocks the abuser on his ass and everything will be fine from now on.

 

[CadetMahoney]

Teens go through a stage where they are rebellious and every second word is a swear word. To them these Bronies are easy targets to call "gay" and so on.

drtfa so I don't know if the bullies can be identified.

 

[Village]

You see, this is the shit that gets me. It's a whole bunch of new-age parenting bullshit. Why does it not matter what other people think? We live in a society and whether we like it or not, society will always judge us for the things we believe in. I mean, it's fine for adults to actually believe this (and only to a certain extent) but a kid wouldn't necessarily have the judgment to know when this matters and when it doesn't. It's not a hard and fast rule to life, especially when you are already socially awkward to begin with. Wearing brony stuff to school at 11-years old is just literally asking to be bullied. Kids will be kids, after all. If the parents had tried to rein him in a bit, maybe he wouldn't have got bullied so much. Let him watch all the cartoons he wants to at home but there's really no need to broadcast his interest to the whole school. I'm not saying it's his parents' fault or anything like that, but they could have helped with stuff like this.

Jesus christ what a terrible post, victim blaming and the whole nine

 

[WanderingWind]

Bullies are insecure cowards and will almost only pick on people they can dominate physically and emotionally. The victim getting their ass kicked will only give the bully one more tool to bully.

And in the real world, bullying isn't one kid picking on another. It's a school wide ostracization. There may have been one person or a small group doing the damage, but the consequences are felt across the whole student body.

This can only change with grassroots education and a shift in pop-culture, just like we're seeing with homophobia and just like we saw with racism in the 70's and 80's. It's not going to resolve like the end of a Wonder Years episode, where the victim knocks the abuser on his ass and everything will be fine from now on.

Uh, sure it can. Bullying is often an issue of self-confidence. Once you gain that, you'll refuse to be bullied again. And the herd will move on to somebody else. And pop-culture as we see it as adults is so vastly different than what we view as kids and teenagers. Remember the great affect DARE and other school programs that adults thought were such a great idea had on issues facing youths?

 

[Village]

Uh, sure it can. Bullying is often an issue of self-confidence. Once you gain that, you'll refuse to be bullied again. And the herd will move on to somebody else. And pop-culture as we see it as adults is so vastly different than what we view as kids and teenagers. Remember the great affect DARE and other school programs that adults thought were such a great idea had on issues facing youths?

That isn't true doe.

Some people will try and harm you more for defending yourself.

 

[The Technomancer]

Man guys, there's a time and place to talk about the older Brony fanbase and this thread really isn't it. Like really fucking isn't

 

[WanderingWind]

That isn't true doe.

Some people will try and harm you more for defending yourself.

And some won't. It's absolutely true. I hope I'm getting roped into trying to find the singular solution to an incredibly complex issue with many causes, some of which are contradictory to one another. There is no one reason why bullies do what they do, there is no one way for them to bully, there is no one solution that will always make them stop. But I think there is always something to be said for teaching kids to not stand for bullying and to fight back if being physically attacked.

 

[gwynplaine]

As a education student whose studying a bit of Psychology - from my limited understanding of what I've learned so far - it's kind of a combination of our irrational nature as human beings eg the infallible nature of children and how they can be influenced by culture/society etc, in the context of a system that encourages normalization.. and school can be a very indoctrinating process when it comes to that process of normalization.

I'd imagine it's far more complex than that though. With plenty of variables to keep in check.

You see, this is the shit that gets me. It's a whole bunch of new-age parenting bullshit. Why does it not matter what other people think? We live in a society and whether we like it or not, society will always judge us for the things we believe in. I mean, it's fine for adults to actually believe this (and only to a certain extent) but a kid wouldn't necessarily have the judgment to know when this matters and when it doesn't. It's not a hard and fast rule to life, especially when you are already socially awkward to begin with. Wearing brony stuff to school at 11-years old is just literally asking to be bullied. Kids will be kids, after all. If the parents had tried to rein him in a bit, maybe he wouldn't have got bullied so much. Let him watch all the cartoons he wants to at home but there's really no need to broadcast his interest to the whole school. I'm not saying it's his parents' fault or anything like that, but they could have helped with stuff like this.

Ok important stuff about shame and guilt ahead I agree with this and it's sad to see so many banned for that opinion.

This is a armchair reading from my experience with reading about shame / guilt. Pure theory crafting.

This kid obviously was raised the right way to be an adult. The parents were right to not shame him in his upbringing. He probably had strong principles and an internal sense of right and wrong (ie. which leads to feelings of guiltyness when doing something wrong).


But they should also know that society isn't as gentle. If you don't care what other people think about you that means you have no shame. That's disaster when together with other kids because they're all about shaming and embarrassing. You read the bit about the lack of prefrontal cortex in kids? Well that's what leads to poor self-control and bullying. Kids and teens will go overboard. It's not until you're an older adult that you can better control what you feel and think.



If he didn't care what people thought - why'd he kill himself? All that teasing eventually got to him internally and he probably felt VERY guilty for who and what he was.

This is not Asian culture - there I hear the cliche that I have brought shame to my family and I must kill myself. He killed himself because of internalized guilty feelings. He's probably got a strong sense of right and wrong. It's not victim blaming but advice on maintaining the balance between shaming at home (you shouldn't do it, instead you should teach him right and wrong and why things are right and wrong) versus shaming and humility in public from other people and the fact that society is a lot more complex than the home.

Because the world is a mean place.



if you need an illustrated example - Most people feel very guilty if they litter. That's why you don't do it. At all.

But let's say your toddler or younger brother picks up a piece of garbage. If you have a strong sense of community you'd probably feel bad about throwing it back. On the other hand, it's not your fault so you have no drive to throw it away at a garbage bin that's far away.

But look there's a bunch of other parents around - wouldn't you be embarrassed if you threw it away in front of them? That's shame.

Now take this one step further - imagine how you feel about littering - for me it's a lot stronger than what others think of me if i litter. Now imagine if you felt that guilt about yourself? That's a horrible, horrible feeling. No 11 year old should go through that.

 

[The Technomancer]

You see, this is the shit that gets me. It's a whole bunch of new-age parenting bullshit. Why does it not matter what other people think? We live in a society and whether we like it or not, society will always judge us for the things we believe in. I mean, it's fine for adults to actually believe this (and only to a certain extent) but a kid wouldn't necessarily have the judgment to know when this matters and when it doesn't. It's not a hard and fast rule to life, especially when you are already socially awkward to begin with. Wearing brony stuff to school at 11-years old is just literally asking to be bullied. Kids will be kids, after all. If the parents had tried to rein him in a bit, maybe he wouldn't have got bullied so much. Let him watch all the cartoons he wants to at home but there's really no need to broadcast his interest to the whole school. I'm not saying it's his parents' fault or anything like that, but they could have helped with stuff like this.

Jesus christ what a terrible post, victim blaming and the whole nine

The "kids will be kids" part is absolutely horrible deflection away from the real issue, but the "just be yourself is terrible blanket advice for an 11 year old, its the parents job to help guide them into understanding social dynamics"? I actually agree with that, mostly because I had similar issues with social awkwardness and my mother knew it and gave me firm advice and it worked. That advice was crucial to making my entire adolescence go much much much smoother then it could have. I look back on the person I might have turned into and I'm immensely grateful.

 

[ElyrionX]

Jesus christ what a terrible post, victim blaming and the whole nine

You can either choose to accept the realities of the society we live in today or you can continue living in an idealistic bubble and and end up with tragedies like this. It's not rocket science. There is absolutely nothing parents can do about the behaviour of other kids. They can, however, influence the behaviour of their own kid to a certain extent. Them telling the kid that it doesn't matter what other people think is not doing the kid any favour at all. It's called being street smart.

 

[Arkos]

This pisses me off and is horrible. I hope he didn't hurt himself too badly.

That said, I don't know what I'd do with my kid. I've been on both sides of the situation, and in the one case I knew better but did it anyway, and in the other case I could have avoided it but chose not to to my own detriment. It's a complicated situation and probably pretty unique to every case (as far as how good enforcement is at the school, how the other kids have been raised, what the kids are doing outside of school, etc). Kids can be really mean.

 

[FairXchange]

Putting a bunch of kids together into an institution called 'school' can clearly have disastrous effects if you fall outside the accepted norm. I hope this little boy recovers and gets to live a happy life.

 

[Arkos]

You can either choose to accept the realities of the society we live in today or you can continue living in an idealistic bubble and and end up with tragedies like this. It's not rocket science. There is absolutely nothing parents can do about the behaviour of other kids. They can, however, influence the behaviour of their own kid to a certain extent. Them telling the kid that it doesn't matter what other people think is not doing the kid any favour at all. It's called being street smart.

You realize that this also includes teaching your kid not to bully other kids for being "gay," don't you?

 

[Trickster]

You see, this is the shit that gets me. It's a whole bunch of new-age parenting bullshit. Why does it not matter what other people think? We live in a society and whether we like it or not, society will always judge us for the things we believe in. I mean, it's fine for adults to actually believe this (and only to a certain extent) but a kid wouldn't necessarily have the judgment to know when this matters and when it doesn't. It's not a hard and fast rule to life, especially when you are already socially awkward to begin with. Wearing brony stuff to school at 11-years old is just literally asking to be bullied. Kids will be kids, after all. If the parents had tried to rein him in a bit, maybe he wouldn't have got bullied so much. Let him watch all the cartoons he wants to at home but there's really no need to broadcast his interest to the whole school. I'm not saying it's his parents' fault or anything like that, but they could have helped with stuff like this.

You see, stupid views like this shit is what really gets me. We'd never be able change or make things better if we just ignore them and excuse them as being expected or unavoidable. Plenty of kids don't resort to bullying, and certainly not systematic bullying that would drive other kids towards suicide.

So instead of spouting crap like "oh well, kids will be kids". How about if something was done about the problem. Because like I've already stated, bullying is a major issue in schools. And for some reason, the people that are in the best situation to actually do something to prevent it, they often do little or nothing about it. I mean isn't that what we do? If someone does something bad, we deal with it. We don't let criminals run lose and go "oh well, criminals are gonna commit crimes *shrug*". Why is it different just because we're talking about the behavoiur of kids?