Cyber Bullies or, The younger generation more WIMPY than I thought

[c_yeager]

But how does a modern day kid who has grown up believing that the label on the pant's seat, the shows they watch, the phone they carry, etc are the measure of who they are deal with someone determined to note they lack these things? Answer is, you can't. There is no inherent self-worth present by definition.

The same way kids have ALWAYS done it. What you wore, who you knew, and what your parents did for a living was important to our Grandparents when they were in school too. This is NOT by any means a new thing. The way kids deal with it is by learning that what idiots think isnt important. That is a SIGNIFICANT part of growing up and if we insulate children from this they will never learn it. The internet has contributed enough to stunt the social development of children without our schools becoming just another extended "safe zone".

That is largely the problem with electronic communication, there are no consequences, so people behave in ways that they could never get away with in person. Its as if people were living their lives in disguise where they could do whatever they wanted without fear that it would catch up with them. I have seen groups of kids standing next to each other sending text-messages back and forth because they couldnt even communicate face to face. Heck, the very concept of phone based text-messages boggles the mind; you are holding a phone THEY are holding a phone, so your typing to each other?

Sorry for the rant but, people my age were maybe the last generation to grow up without complete and utter dependance on electronic communication and it is SCARY to see what it is doing to children. On the other hand i wish bullies had AIM when i was in school, it would have saved me a few bruises.

 

[thorn726]

WELL- here's how it goes sometimes

the thing i see as scary about this is jsut the increased threats. now all day , even in class, threats can be made.

Kids not dealing with these threats as soon as they start - that i dont get,
but i didnt go to a very tough school either. there's a huGE differnce between an inner city school and a suburban/rural one.

i dunno, these phones and things should be OFF during class anyway, its all pretty stupid..

but OK= one idiot threatens a younger friend of mine (i was already out of school then).

kid is like 15-16. dad has a .45 at home. kid gets sick of threats, brings .45 to school. shows it to someone , they tell teacher, kids life is totally twisted for a bunch of years , and school gets security guards.

kids are really stupid sometimes when it comes to being threatened. i mean come on a GUN? these were young idiot suburban kids.......

point is most people are laughing it off, blaming the phones, etc, but reality is kids are really really good at scaring and tormenting each other, and really especially in light of Columbine= it's not the guns, it's only partly the crazy kids= a lot of the problem is all these lame BULLIES being allowed to keep on picking on kids.
i hated getting picked on. its always people who are jealous and cant handle it, and no one really tries to stop it.

 

[RevDisk]

The student accused of videotaping what authorities say was a sexual assault of a developmentally disabled student at Mifflin High School should be allowed to return to school, a family spokesman said yesterday.

Unless he was gathering evidence for the cops (which I gather he wasn't), this kid should be sent to prison, not kicked out of school. As for the "persons" actively involved in sexually abusing a developmentally disabled student, .45 ACP to the base of the skull is the appropriate course of action.

The result is since there is no avenue of revenge available to the victim, he or she is forced to endure the Bully until the stress builds up to the point the only recourse turns into a "Columbine" followed by the wailing and knashing of teeth, and wringing of hands, followed by assinine Zero Tolerence rules where pointing a finger at someone in school and going "BANG" results in automatic expulsion, and the carrying of a nail file is chargeable as carrying a deadly weapon.

You're missing part of it. The kids being harassed usually get the most "attention" from the school officials, not the people doing the harassing. It's a self-sustaining loop that will only cause more bodies. I fail to understand why alleged "educators" cannot understand cause and effect. "Student is harassed. Student is punished equally as or more than aggressor (bully) if he defends himself. Student has no recourse and no outlet for anger. Student goes postal." So school administrators find other students that fit the likely-to-go-postal profile, and single them out in ways that cause more stress. Cycle repeats.


My suggestions to kids in high school these days? Phonebooks don't leave marks. Rolls of coins are not suspicious and make excellent substitutions for brass knuckles. A good sized textbook makes an excellent offensive weapon and defensive shield. Put in a bookbag and swung with enough force, it will break bones. Know where the nearest fire extingisher is, they tend to have metal rods on flimsy chains to break the glass. Certain types of plastics hold an edge well. And lastly, the best defense is a good offense.

I don't make these comments lightly, they saved my life. Public education is becoming something worse than "Lord of the Flies". The "leftists" are not the only problem either. The education system needs an overall at a fundimental level without partisan bickering or ideology. If it continues to crumble, a significant portion of our future generations will be ruined before they even had a decent chance at life.

 

[Chrontius]

Public education is becoming something worse than "Lord of the Flies". The "leftists" are not the only problem either. The education system needs an overall at a fundimental level with partisan bickering or ideology. If it continues to crumble, a significant portion of our future generations will be ruined before they even had a decent chance at life.

Damn straight. I'd rather not go into the list of unpleasantness, but suffice to say private school is worse. Especially when they mix sixth graders with twelfth graders. Especially when those 12th graders are big enough to pick those sixth graders up by their throats one-handed.

I will say that that list is the big reason I'm looking into getting a CCW permit, however.

You're damn right about self-fulfilling prophecies, though. I had the police called on me for reading RPG stuff online. Anyone familiar with Cyberpunk2020? (Failing that, see Shadowrun. Failing that, see Dungeons and Dragons) I'm amazed I made it through HS reasonably sane.

 

[Byron Quick]

In my senior year in high school; I decided to listen to idiotic adult advice for some reason. Kicking bully butt had worked pretty good up till then but I was really kind of tired of fighting, I guess. You ever heard an adult tell a child who's being harassed,"Just ignore them and they'll get tired and leave you alone."? Well, six months into the school year this bozo hadn't gotten tired of it. So I beat his butt right there in class...about ten feet in front of the teacher. He had sat behind me to goad me with verbal taunts when I finally had engough. I stood up, turnd around, and grabbed him by his larynx. I bent him double over the backrest of his desk and pounded him in the face for about ten seconds. Mrs. Jackson paused in her lecture until I finished and sat down. Then she resumed her lecture. She didn't even ask if he was OK. She had witnessed what was going on all year. 1972. Times have sure changed.

 

[CleverName]

Byron -

The problem is that if I did that to somebody my senior year (last year), I'd be in County, trying to fight off the gangsters and situationally-homosexual rapists and join the Asian gang for protection, and charged with assault and/or battery (not sure of the difference).

The news would be full of how a promising young student suddenly snapped and how I frequented gun forums and played violent video games. The mother of the bully describing me in words Art's Grammaw wouldn't like and her son as a perfect, minimum-wage dead-end job bound angel.

I'd likely be charged with a felony, be sentanced to years of mandatory counseling, and the only way I'd ever touch a gun again is if I joined the French Foreign Legion or something similar, or moved to Georgia (the central Asian state, not the home of CNN Georgia).

 

[Vernal45]

Times have indeed changed. For the worse. Cause = Lack of parenting.