School Bullying is Epidemic and Turning Deadly - ABC News Bullying has existed since school has existed. In the 50`s and 60`s you could get bullied for being a jew or muslim where i live (dearborn)pretty badly. My mom told me of a family who moved into her neighborhood and someone painted a swastika on their driveway and the kids got beat up at school. 70`s and 80`s you could probably get made fun of for being square geeky, gay , or whatever and pushed around. If in the south, you would get beat up for being black. But none of these people really killed themselves, or at least to the epidemic rate its at today ( or made out to be). But anywho, every time one happens, the media uses it to say that they are anti gay or anti whatever and thats why we need to change laws( like be pro gay marriage) as if this person stands for the opposing side. When in reality its a 14 year old punk who hasnt even developed into an adult. questions. 1. Do you think bullying is worse now then it ever has been before? And does that account for the higher count of suicides for it? Do you really think their are more suicides or is it just the mass media we have today? 2. Do you believe the media exploits these to push social agendas?
Yes, they do this with MANY, MANY issues. -School lunches -Abortion -Gas prices -Tea Party bashing -"Islamophobia" -SUVs -Sex Ed -School books -Race
I'm not American, so I'm not up to date with everything going on in American politics, but to answer your first question, no I don't think physical bullying has gone up. Like you said, in the past there were bigger issues and much more discrimination against more people than there is now, I think it may seem like there's more bullying because there's so much more attention on high schools in America in general due to the Columbine and Virginia Tech shootings. 20 or 30 years ago, the media wasn't paying any attention to what was going on in high schools. At the same time though, what with the technology today, it isn't a case of coming home from school and being safe from bullying because there are so many social networking sites that it's become easier to bully someone without physically doing anything. As for the suicide rate due to bullying, well I don't know. It's my personal opinion that kids today are wimps.
i'd agree with that. people just need to raise their kids right, that would take care of the bullies, and also the wimpy kids. but i also wonder about all these medications people are shoving down their kids' throats that cause "suicidal thoughts". wtf is up with that?
Funny....I didn't see any mention of gay marriage in the article you linked to. Gay marriage is just one instance of institutionalized bigotry (whether the individuals against it are bigots or not is irrelevant). When society appears to condone such bigotry, when our politicians speak out against tolerance towards homosexuals and still manage to get ahead in the polls the child is not just fighting against his own identity, or worry about his parents but every day sees himself rejected by society itself. No. I don't think that bullying is worse now than it ever was before any more than I think that cases of incest went up once it was actually reported on. In order to deal with the issue though we first have to bring it out into the light of day. I believe we are hearing more about it now because gay rights are in the news more and more these days due to issues such as Don't Ask Don't Tell as well as Gay marriage. It only makes sense that those that are growing up in an environment in which their equal status as human beings is treated like a political game would begin to get some attention as well. That smells just a bit of the "blame the victim" game for my taste.
Well you complain of no mention of gay marriage in the article which is correct, i just generalized what liberals stance on this issue was. And then in the very next paragraph, you proved that generalization by stating that all people against gay marriage are bigots. Ty4pmp
I didn't say that all people against gay marriage are bigots and in fact even stated that whether or not the individuals against gay marriage are bigots is irrelevant... the law is bigoted. Don't let actual words or points get in the way though. How exactly would my personal stance on the issue prove what the "generalized" liberal stance is? Although I am flattered that you seem to think that I am some sort of spokesperson for liberals everywhere I am afraid that you are mistaken.
"Gay marriage is just one instance of institutionalized bigotry (whether the individuals against it are bigots or not is irrelevant). When society appears to condone such bigotry, when our politicians speak out against tolerance towards homosexuals and still manage to get ahead in the polls the child is not just fighting against his own identity, or worry about his parents but every day sees himself rejected by society itself." Seems like your mind is made up on the issue.
You aren't even making any sense now. You highlighted the part where I stated that I was talking about the law not the individuals and yet still somehow think that proves your point. Or was that your way of apologizing for misrepresenting what I said?
shouldn't we have moved away from this 20 years ago? I believe that it's the liberal-conservative bickering that has kept perpetuating this intolerance. How can someone honestly say that they should decide who you can or can't marry, or what you decide to do with your own body?
I love how you blame the liberal media on this. FoxNews seems to plenty happy to milk the issue, but I suppose it was too much work for you (or Drone) to check that before you made (or supported) the claim. Families Sue Ohio School After Four Bullied Teens Die by Their Own Hand - FoxNews.com Did School Do Enough to Stop Bullying? - Fox News Video - FoxNews.com But yes, I think kids these days are overly pampered. That and there are too many lawyers.
Yes and no. There are better anti-bullying programs than they had in the 60's or whatever but the internet has made it worse. I'm lucky because I never had any type of severe bullying or anything and I knew that if it got bad I could just go home. Now there is this 'cyber-bullying' thing which just means that it's a constant amount. Everything the media shows is to push an agenda.
Answer this questionare to find the question: 1) Are they affliliated with any political party? If you answered 'yes' to any of these questions, then yes, they are trying to push an agenda.
Kids need to be taught how to stand up for themselves. Not go to a teacher and whine. That just pisses the bully off and they get it twice as hard. If kids were to learn how to stand up for themselves and to get a scene of confidence there wouldn't be a suicide rate for bullying. Especially something like cyber bullying. It's the internet...Get over it, if you commit suicide over something on the internet you obviously wouldn't stand a chance in real life.
I think it's a little closer to the parents fucked up their kid through their complete lack of ability to raise a child. I don't think anyone is claiming that victims of bullying are anything but victims but at the same time, I was bullied throughout most of my public high school years and I turned out just fine. Graduated 5th in my class in spite of being taunted on a weekly basis throughout most of high school and being punched in the face a couple times. Now, I'm surely no wimp and I was actually very angry at that age (teenage male hormones) about the kids who bullied me. Thankfully, I had a good support system (my family) and was able to overcome the idiots who felt a need to torment me. Now, if I instead had a shitty support system and was given pharmaceuticals to "help" my bullying problem, I'm sure things would've made a turn for the worse.
i don't doubt that the internet has made it worse, i just wish some people would teach their kids a little restraint when it comes to using their gadgets to keep in touch with all their "friends" 24/7. if you're being bullied on the internet, then get off the computer (or phone, or whatever)! i think we're gonna have to leave the teaching up to the parents. i doubt a government institution would teach young unshaped minds that it's ok to stand up for themselves, and that it's not always necessary to get a higher power involved to fix things and make it better. too bad there aren't really that many real parents out there...
Kids have always been bullied, why are they making it such a big deal now. Honestly I dont feel sorry for these kids, they are fucked up in the head. The media only makes the problems worse. The fuck with killing myself because someone is picking on me, if im determined to take my own life, im taking the son of a bitch down with me. Its sad it came down to suicide because of someone else, but they have some serious . Their parents did a shitty job raising them
Just as incest and pedophilia always existed but people used to not make it "such a big deal." Sweeping things under the rug and pretending that such actions do not have very real consequences solves nothing. So, you save your compassion for people that fit your parameters for mental health? Wonderful. I take it then that you consider those responsible for such occurrences as Columbine to be less "fucked up in the head" than those that only kill themselves? You have no idea what these parents did or didn't do. You also apparently have no idea what survivor's guilt does to a person left behind by a loved one's suicide. To callously dismiss their pain and their love for their children without knowing them is disgusting. As a parent I try to make sure every day that my children feel loved and that they can tell me anything. Every day I have to try to balance the desire to protect my children with my responsibility to allow them to learn independence and every day I have to pray that I have found that balance. If I were to some day discover (heaven forbid) that I had failed one of my children to the point that they felt that taking their own lives was the only answer I would drown in a wave of guilt so deep that it would likely consume me. To sit back and judge these children as "wimps" or their parents as lacking without knowing anything about them other than that they are facing the most unimaginable pain that a person can go through takes callousness to a level that boggles the minds of those capable of compassion and reason. I truly hope that those that have judged these children or their parents never has to face such a situation because I truly fear the consequences when such a smug worldview is challenged at it's most basic level.