bullying

[_Robert_]

Damm it, yet another school shooting….Have we elevated bullying to be such a terrible crime that those who get bullied feel they have the right to kill their torturers?

[JadeBlackOlive]

Yup, the answer to everything…..guns, shooting, & more guns.

[.]

My son threatened to kill a teacher an no one believes me.

[_Robert_]

Social media seems to be a great tool to receive confirmation bias for bad ideas. Everything is relative. We have conclaves of those feeling repressed; consorting with each other about plans to get even. I cracked a bully’s head with a brick in grade school and got in considerable trouble but nobody died and the issue was resolved. I can remember the rage I felt but it was not shared with others. I also remember that besides being scolded for using violence there was a sort of wink, wink, good job boy message….

[jakelafort]

In college i stood up for a kid in my dorm who was being bullied.  Told the swarm of assholes they had to go through me to get to this kid.  And they backed down….lucky for me.  But in schools it is usually the case that others are quite aware of the bullying and don’t do jack shit about it.

[Unseen]

The GOP/NRA Complex has used a very effective tactic of putting off doing anything about school shootings until we slowly (much like the frog in the increasingly hotter pot of water) simply take it as the new normal. Another school massacre? Hmm, what’s on the other channel.

There was another massacre in a Texas high school on Friday, but this weekend CNN was all about talking about the Harry/Meghan wedding, a wedding of almost no actual import to Americans. (And, what the hell, Spain, The Netherlands, and I believe all of the Scandinavian countries have royal families and, presumably, occasional marriages, but for some reason even many Americans are obsessed with the British royals!)

By now, the massacre is all but forgotten.

And now, the NRA’s new leader, Oliver North (if you don’t know who he is historically, there’s Google) in typical GOP fashion, blames the shooting on Ritalin (why he overlooked flu vaccine is beyond me) and the same video games that kids all over the world play without going out to kill people.

[_Robert_]

This kid was rejected in front of the class by a girl he wanted to go with. He spared kids he liked. He wanted to send a message. I bet there are 1000’s of kids who probably show more ominous sign of losing it than this kid. His family is bewildered. No AR15 this time either. If the press doesn’t focus on it this time, maybe it’s a good thing. Could this be a media fueled fad?

[Unseen]

I had a friend who was very into a New Agey kind of feminism. She said she didn’t believe in being aggressive but rather in being assertive. I told her “But aggressiveness beats assertiveness every time.”

[Simon Paynton]

@unseen – “aggressiveness beats assertiveness every time”

– it depends what you mean by “beats”.  Assertiveness gives a better long-term outcome than either submissiveness or aggression.

[Strega]

Kids aren’t taught to lose, any more. Everyone wins. Competitions do not have losers. Everyone gets a medal.  This sort of philosophy denies the kids the lessons they need in life, where failure exists and coping with a failure defines your ability to exist in society.

[_Robert_]

I agree, Strega. Now they say he was stalking her. That the signs were there and nobody did anything. I think almost every teen shows signs of doing something drastic !

[jakelafort]

Am betting there are obvious signs each and every time….bullied, alienated & withdrawn, association with right wing nuts…

[tom sarbeck]

Strega, ten cents says that every kid’s getting a medal fools no one.

Winning is nice, but losing and having helpful parents can teach a valuable, “Your abilities lie elsewhere. Let’s find them.”

My parents didn’t close any paths. An occasional low grade told me I had low desire and suggested a path change. I changed my major subject twice before an improbable event put me on a path to graduate studies and a career.

[Simon Paynton]

Mr T says, the only failure is the failure to try.

[Simon Paynton]

How does one deal with a bully though?  It’s not necessarily easy.  They play very dirty.  I guess it takes assertiveness.

[Author]

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