Yesterday I ran across an article on TakiMag. The title was basicallt "In Defense of Bullying". I decided to perouse the article and try and ruminate over it. I thought "In Defense of Bullying"? Are you kidding? I would never be in defense of bullying. I won't lie. I looked at it with a very personal mindset. I take it personal for many reasons. I will get into detail later. I will agree that some people have lied about being raped. Yes, there are radical feminists as oppose to moderate feminists who just want things to be better. On that note, this article talked about the anti-bullying campaign being just a fad and some kind of crap shoot.
I am going to give my take on this. The Anti-Bullying campaign, at least in my view, in not some crap shoot to me. I am not annoyed by it at all. Is it some device to turn children into "weaklings"? Not really. Turning children into "weaklings" would be something like the school administrators punishing bullying victims for even "daring" to defend themselves. I am not saying "don't defend yourself". I'm saying bullying should be stopped in its tracks. I see it from a personal perspective for this reason:
I was bullied as a child. I remember middle school like it was the back of my own hand. I was the smallest kid in the class. I was the bookworm. I was the only Black kid in my homeroom(and maybe one of about 3 Black kids in my classes through the day except in gym class). I stood out alot in so many ways. I can remember specific things that happened to me in school. Sure, some eighth grade girls would try to make the bullies stop. What happened after they went onto high school? I remember when I was in a classroom, and two boys kicked the crutches from underneath me. Even after going to the principal's office, these boys got away with it somehow. Other things that happened to me included alot of harassment, some of it physical, including getting nearly poisoned by one kid, getting put in a garbage can, and rocks being thrown at me during gym class.
When demographics started to change and I went to high school, some of the bullying took on more different nature. In middle school it was mainly White kids who were bullying me. In high school, there are more Black kids who were bullies. I remember one morning being jumped by three Black students in the hallway. I never knew why they did that at that moment. All I know is that I had to fight three students, all of them bigger than me. Some of the students(some Black, some White) would makes jokes about the fact that I wasn't "Black enough". Apparently, speaking with proper grammer, not dressing like a hood rat, and being 'nerdy" and being a Black kid could get you called names like "Carlton". I still remember a few kids who threatened to "lynch" me. Why they would never try this with some of the other Black students, it is beyond me. Or did they? I don't know what went on with every kid. I had an element of reclusiveness to me. Sure, there were kids I talked to and had friendly terms with, but I never did much socializing outside of school, and much of the time, I wasn't listening to the stuff that went on in school. I pretty much existed in my own world, even when I did extracurricular activities. How did other kids get bullied? What happened to them?
Bullying has been a problem for many years. It is only now that people are addressing it. Only now, when people are committing suicide, is when the anti-bullying campaign is coming in? Or were kids committing suicide beforehand? Maybe there are just things we haven't been made aware of. Maybe the anti-bullying campaign should have come in sooner. I have no problem with this campaign. I think it should have been done sooner.
One thing to look at is the effects of bullying. All I have to do is look at some people I know who got bullied. My little sister was harrassed by Black girls for "not being Black enough". It did a number on her self-esteem. Bullying did a number on me. I went from a naive 6th grader to a morose, angry, spiteful adolescent. For some kids, bullying made them stronger because of what they had to go through. For some other kids, bullying took a toll and them. Some kids turned into bullies themselves, further continuing a hateful cycle.
There is one glitch I should mention. The anti-bullying campaign has its wonderful intentions. There is one problem: A bully is usually a bully for a reason. If a bully has been told "quit bullying", he or she might have been told that before. Or, that bully may have not been caught yet.
Bullying is a disturbing phenomenon that has been going on for as long as school children have been going to school. It shouldn't go on at all. A child should be able to go to school and feel safe and wanted. I find no defense in bullying. I see it as repugnant behavior that should be dealt with harshly. Yes, if a kid has to defend himself in school, then he'she should not be punished for it. He/She should not have to deal with bullies in the first place.
I am going to give my take on this. The Anti-Bullying campaign, at least in my view, in not some crap shoot to me. I am not annoyed by it at all. Is it some device to turn children into "weaklings"? Not really. Turning children into "weaklings" would be something like the school administrators punishing bullying victims for even "daring" to defend themselves. I am not saying "don't defend yourself". I'm saying bullying should be stopped in its tracks. I see it from a personal perspective for this reason:
I was bullied as a child. I remember middle school like it was the back of my own hand. I was the smallest kid in the class. I was the bookworm. I was the only Black kid in my homeroom(and maybe one of about 3 Black kids in my classes through the day except in gym class). I stood out alot in so many ways. I can remember specific things that happened to me in school. Sure, some eighth grade girls would try to make the bullies stop. What happened after they went onto high school? I remember when I was in a classroom, and two boys kicked the crutches from underneath me. Even after going to the principal's office, these boys got away with it somehow. Other things that happened to me included alot of harassment, some of it physical, including getting nearly poisoned by one kid, getting put in a garbage can, and rocks being thrown at me during gym class.
When demographics started to change and I went to high school, some of the bullying took on more different nature. In middle school it was mainly White kids who were bullying me. In high school, there are more Black kids who were bullies. I remember one morning being jumped by three Black students in the hallway. I never knew why they did that at that moment. All I know is that I had to fight three students, all of them bigger than me. Some of the students(some Black, some White) would makes jokes about the fact that I wasn't "Black enough". Apparently, speaking with proper grammer, not dressing like a hood rat, and being 'nerdy" and being a Black kid could get you called names like "Carlton". I still remember a few kids who threatened to "lynch" me. Why they would never try this with some of the other Black students, it is beyond me. Or did they? I don't know what went on with every kid. I had an element of reclusiveness to me. Sure, there were kids I talked to and had friendly terms with, but I never did much socializing outside of school, and much of the time, I wasn't listening to the stuff that went on in school. I pretty much existed in my own world, even when I did extracurricular activities. How did other kids get bullied? What happened to them?
Bullying has been a problem for many years. It is only now that people are addressing it. Only now, when people are committing suicide, is when the anti-bullying campaign is coming in? Or were kids committing suicide beforehand? Maybe there are just things we haven't been made aware of. Maybe the anti-bullying campaign should have come in sooner. I have no problem with this campaign. I think it should have been done sooner.
One thing to look at is the effects of bullying. All I have to do is look at some people I know who got bullied. My little sister was harrassed by Black girls for "not being Black enough". It did a number on her self-esteem. Bullying did a number on me. I went from a naive 6th grader to a morose, angry, spiteful adolescent. For some kids, bullying made them stronger because of what they had to go through. For some other kids, bullying took a toll and them. Some kids turned into bullies themselves, further continuing a hateful cycle.
There is one glitch I should mention. The anti-bullying campaign has its wonderful intentions. There is one problem: A bully is usually a bully for a reason. If a bully has been told "quit bullying", he or she might have been told that before. Or, that bully may have not been caught yet.
Bullying is a disturbing phenomenon that has been going on for as long as school children have been going to school. It shouldn't go on at all. A child should be able to go to school and feel safe and wanted. I find no defense in bullying. I see it as repugnant behavior that should be dealt with harshly. Yes, if a kid has to defend himself in school, then he'she should not be punished for it. He/She should not have to deal with bullies in the first place.
The fact you hate bullying will not make it go away. If you think the current anti-bullying campaigns will stop it, then you are naive. Bullying will always be a fact when children are together in groups. The answer is to learn to deal with it personally when it happens to you. Might not work but that's life. What Ms. Shaidle is defending is the reality that bullying is a fact. Your dream of a world without it is sweet but will never happen.
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