Things that make you lose faith in the human race...

[Username17]

I assume that you're kidding,

That's quite an assumption to make. I seriously don't think anything is going to be done to make it better until more students go on shooting rampages, and while I don't endorse or assist criminal activity, they still have my full support.

The thing is that school shootings are down from forty years ago, and so is bullying.

-Username17

[shadzar]

I thought christians had a rule or something about worshipping physical items?

-Crissa

Pretty much what Frank said.

Also they follow the Eragon method of thinking.

"It is better to ask forgiveness than permission." Because even if the person doesn't forgive you, then your false god will.

Also didn't you know that most Christians DO worship a physical item? Money. That is why they put "In God We Trust" on it. So when Chrsitians collect it at the expense of another's life or health, they can feel good about themselves because they are taking all that money to trust God to do the job they aren't doing.

But then again Christians stole many things from fiction to create a religion based on Judaism (Old Testament) and add in Pagan traditions (Easter/Xmas, Spring Equinox/Winter Solstice*), and a bunch of other things from 4000 BC - 400 BC to create their New Testament.

So don't worry with trying to figure out Christians too much. Just accept their book as another piece of fiction like the Harry Potter novels, a Salvatore novel, or Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny.

(*Lazarus came back to life also, and the Spring Equinox is the sign of rebirth when the crops will plant again in Paganism. The Winter Solstice of course happens to fall on a certain day lasting for a few days until another special day...Dec 22-25 hmmmm.)

I like the way it was all done in Stargate SG1 best myself.

@Frank, that is in part because truancy isn't really gone after anymore to force a lot of delinquents to go to the school to cause problems. I haven't even heard of my area having a Truancy Office for many years. They are now only Juvenile Detectives. Probably because the ones suspended form school, also end up in jail for longer terms than would allow them to return to school. Also teachers have done less bullying themselves in many cases, and also may have been helpful in removing many because they themselves were getting bullied.

Like unemployment, being down isn't the best, it needs to be stopped. Also like Michael Brewer, it could just come too late where things were scheduled to start the next day, and nothing was done to the people before to prevent it, because now there has to be something done before you can do anything about it, and that something has to be big.

BEing down a little means little to those who are still being bullied.

[Kaelik]

I think it's just that bullying has taken to be a psychological route rather than physical.

The put such a primacy on physical violence punishment in my school that any violence of any kind, even defending oneself constitutes grounds for expulsion.

I used to be bullied all the damn time, but I think it was rare for it to be physical. Sometimes they stole my shit. That was annoying. But the only time it was ever physical was in one PE class, and because it was PE, the coach didn't give a shit. So I shoved that asshole over the pseudo balcony.

But without the tactic endorsement of a PE class, I've never had anyone use physical violence to bully. And so, probably less reason to go on a shooting spree.

[Koumei]

Yeah, it seems to be mostly psychological. To the point where people feel so bad you never know what comment is going to turn them into the next Nevada-tan.

I was so miserable I finished high school with results that basically mean "Hahaha, no you can't go into uni or pursue any goals.", and got to be... well, a worthless failure ever since, and even now am unemployed.

Contrast: had I killed the first one, the others wouldn't have ever become relevant, I'd likely be out of prison now, and they even give you more support in job-finding for being an ex-con than for having a psychological (see: "Not real, because we can't see it") disability.

[shadzar]

And of course since psychological damage leaves no visible scars, then of course the people tormented are sen as crazy because they start acting in unusual or uncomfortable ways, and it is their fault for being that way rather than the fault of another for causing it.

Which means the bullying going on is still just met with "just take it", "just deal with it", etc even today.

I was once told to return in kind to them by someone in school, and got suspended for doing it, while the other party went unpunished in any way, but I was forever a trouble-maker for it, while they went on doing it to others, and causing them to end the same way.

One person ruining the lives of others is the problem in any form, and needs to be handled accordingly by whatever means. You don't punish the victim as is being done, but...pardon the cliche...you nip it in the bud, and stop the one starting it as a preventive measure for the future.

In the case of Michael Brewer, they knew these people to be problematic and did nothing for whatever reason about it until it was too late because they turned a blind eye to them. This is not how a school system should work when you are always hearing people whine "what about the children?".

Do something for them yourselves, and force the schools to.

Talk about creating jobs for the unemployed, have them hired in school as semi-guards in hallways wearing the orange armbands the students are given for the same thing, and give the some communication device to call the office in case of emergency and to break up fights or harassment when it starts rather than waiting until later for it to fester for both parties and escalate into something else.

On disabilities, even non-psychological ones don't mean squat unless you have no legs and wheelchair bound, have no arms, or are completely blind. Blind in one eye still means you are fully capable of doing everything a 2-eyed person can even without the depth perception. So they are also ignored in the case of getting help with ANYTHING, including jobs or being bullied....again the famous line "just deal with it".

"What goes around comes around" is another of their favorite responses. Maybe it should come back around to those thinking up these stupid lines and see if they want to do something about it then.

[Ganbare Gincun]

The problem with the US is that parents educators and others still think telling people that are beaten or anything else to "get over it", "deal with it", and "it builds character" are still ok.

We live in a Lawful Evil country. What do you expect? We're never going to get serious about bullying. All you can really do is teach your kids to fight and hope for the best.

[shadzar]

The problem with the US is that parents educators and others still think telling people that are beaten or anything else to "get over it", "deal with it", and "it builds character" are still ok.

We live in a Lawful Evil country. What do you expect? We're never going to get serious about bullying. All you can really do is teach your kids to fight and hope for the best.

You mean Capitalism itself, or just greed in general, be it for money or attention?

Teaching kids to fight isn't helpful because it perpetuates the cycle, and the cycle needs to end.

Bullying has gone up and unchecked really as people think it has gone away. They don't really get punished anymore since spanking it forbidden, and saying anything to them might be bad because it might emotionally scar the bullies.

Whatever happened to Juvenile Hall? It got filled with child criminals. So they need to find another way to place them. They have been needing that for years though since Juvi was also used to put people that ran-away from un healthy homes, where they could get further bullied by the criminal juveniles while waiting to be placed into foster care or back into their parents home.

If they can spend all this money and manpower in Iraq and such, then they could do something to fix what little use the educational system has.

[Crissa]

It's not like it was the bullies that were punished, anyhow.

-Crissa

[Kobajagrande]

Hey Shazadar,

just for curiosity's shake, how old are you?

[PhoneLobster]

They don't really get punished anymore since spanking it forbidden, and saying anything to them might be bad because it might emotionally scar the bullies.

Thats... just not true. At all.

The "waah we cannot spank and yell" scare campaign is a long running right wing propaganda lie.

It is intended to essentially be used as a line of attack against laws and other actions against parents and authority figures who badly beat and abuse children.

Because the right doesn't want to just spank or yell at a child (which you can totally fucking do pretty much anywhere in the world) they want to beat a child bloody and, frankly, maybe even rape it. And its their fucking kid/in their school/church so fuck of you nosy lefties.

It's also tough on crime bullshit again. It takes a TINY token slap to discipline a child. A few words with a raised voice. The tools the right is trying to defend are metal barbed belts as whips, hard sticks and beating rods, and "spankings" that deal concussions and broken ribs.

And the years of psychological terror that entails.

And by extension the other terrible forms of child abuse it shelters. (No, my the altar boy received a very thorough spanking, thats why he is bruised bloody, has a broken jaw and broken rib. He was certainly not raped... oh no...)

So don't fall for that shit. You CAN deal the minimal punishment you need to in order to discipline kids, with some reasonable leeway to boot. You just can't seriously injure them anymore and have people shrug and say "the kid musta had it coming to em!"

[tzor]

We live in a Lawful Evil country. What do you expect? We're never going to get serious about bullying. All you can really do is teach your kids to fight and hope for the best.

Bullshit; we are in a Neutral Evil country and don't you forget that!

In a Lawful evil country laws are always followed because through the law one gains ultimate power for oneself.

In a Neutral Evil country laws are followed if they provide the means to gain more power and are flat out ignored if they don’t provide the means to gain more power.

Still I’m not sure what that has to do with the problem at hand. This isn’t a question of laws; it’s a question of responsibility. Most school hierarchies are designed so that “rocking the boat” is never considered a good thing in their eyes. This often results in covering up things whenever possible and not dealing with those things. Oh sure they are all for everything if it involves more funds to the school, but other than that, what is not revealed doesn’t hurt them.

[tzor]

They don't really get punished anymore since spanking it forbidden, and saying anything to them might be bad because it might emotionally scar the bullies.

Thats... just not true. At all.

Here is a link with the laws on a state by state basis. Unfortunately what is in the law and what people say is in the law are often two different things. I know that in Florida there was a major attempt to convince people that anything harsher than a "time out" was illegal, and that is clearly not the case.

[Koumei]

PL is right about the right-wing scare. People were going crazy about a rumour or news article that said day cares are no longer allowed to say "no", they have to say "Please don't do that." for fear of traumatising the child. And that just... wasn't true. But people love to believe these things because it gives them something to complain about. "You pay no attention to the internal workings of your country for just twenty years and look what happens!"

And it's their own damn fault for reading the Mirror.

[shadzar]

It's not like it was the bullies that were punished, anyhow.

-Crissa

They should be.

Hey Shazadar,

just for curiosity's shake, how old are you?

are you asking me, shadzar, or someone else named Shadazar after and a misspelled version of the city in Red Sonja (Shadizar)?

If you are asking me, I am old as dirt; or at least older than dishwater.

[Kaelik]

If you are asking me, I am old as dirt; or at least older than dishwater.

So basically, six, and ashamed to admit it.

[shadzar]

If you are asking me, I am old as dirt; or at least older than dishwater.

So basically, six, and ashamed to admit it.

Yes, I am Falcon Hene.

Who the hell is wolf?

I don't get into the ageism game others like to play as age means nothing, only intelligence. I know some 6-year olds that are smarter than a lot of the people on here for example.

[Gnosticism Is A Hoot]

If you are asking me, I am old as dirt; or at least older than dishwater.

So basically, six, and ashamed to admit it.

Yes, I am Falcon Hene.

Who the hell is wolf?

I don't get into the ageism game others like to play as age means nothing, only intelligence. I know some 6-year olds that are smarter than a lot of the people on here for example.

Actually, age does matter. I was a total dipshit when I was 15; so were 99.9% of all the 15-year-olds I knew. So, for that matter, are 99.9% of all the 15-year-olds I know now.

Life experience matters. Perspective matters. Some people learn very quickly, others never seem to learn at all - but on the whole, age does fucking matter.

EDIT: For consistency's sake, I'm 20 years old. 21 on Saturday. If I know anything more than I did when I was 15, it is mostly that I have a lot left to learn.

[Koumei]

It's maturity. There are some things that, regardless of how smart you are, most people just don't learn or figure out. And when someone asks how old you are over the Internet (aside from chat room situations where they're probably just a paedophile hoping for an innocent sexual conversation with a 12yo, nothing to worry about), it generally means you just said something/tend to say things that show a certain lack of maturity. In other words, when they ask that, it's way too late to say "What does it matter?" or "But I'm mature/intelligent for my age!" Because they can tell.

Edit: and yes, you're damn right that, when I was 15, I thought I was "smart/mature for my age". I was smart, sure, but I had the same maturity and life experience of everyone else my age - and with it the belief that it didn't apply to me.

[shadzar]

OK so where you live is filled with dipshits. Not every age 15 is one, it just seems like something local to your area.

[Gnosticism Is A Hoot]

OK so where you live is filled with dipshits. Not every age 15 is one, it just seems like something local to your area.

Tell me, shadzar, where is 'my area'?

Is it Dewsbury, the Yorkshire mill town I grew up in? Is it Fullerton, CA where I spent my early teens? Is it London, where I did my GCSEs? Is it Oxford, where I am now lucky enough to reside?

I haven't had much of a life, but I like to think it's been pretty broad so far. Your attempt to dismiss my viewpoint duly fails. No matter where I go, shadzar, 99% of 15-year-olds have been dipshits. Is it hormones? Cultural expectations? A mix of both? I don't know. But seriously. 99%. Dipshits.

[shadzar]

Then it must be an England thing, cause I didn't define an area, you did by saying everyone in your area.

In my area it is not that way. Again a localized phenomenon, that can occur in many separate locales. But being what you see in YOUR area does NOT make it true for everyone, in every other area.

Like everything else that could be different across the pond no matter which side of it you are on.

[violence in the media]

In that case I feel sorry for you, shadzar. Is it tough being the dumbest person you know?

[shadzar]

In that case I feel sorry for you, shadzar. Is it tough being the dumbest person you know?

I should be asking you that Bill O'Reilly.

[violence in the media]

In that case I feel sorry for you, shadzar. Is it tough being the dumbest person you know?

I should be asking you that Bill O'Reilly.

It pays the bills. How's it working out for you?

[Maxus]

So basically, six, and ashamed to admit it.

Yes, I am Falcon Hene.

Who the hell is wolf?

I don't get into the ageism game others like to play as age means nothing, only intelligence. I know some 6-year olds that are smarter than a lot of the people on here for example.

Actually, age does matter. I was a total dipshit when I was 15; so were 99.9% of all the 15-year-olds I knew. So, for that matter, are 99.9% of all the 15-year-olds I know now.

Life experience matters. Perspective matters. Some people learn very quickly, others never seem to learn at all - but on the whole, age does fucking matter.

EDIT: For consistency's sake, I'm 20 years old. 21 on Saturday. If I know anything more than I did when I was 15, it is mostly that I have a lot left to learn.

Best part is, it's biological. The frontal lobe (ie. rational thought, responsibility, impulse control, etc.) of the brain doesn't finish developing until you're in your 20's. I'm 22, 23 in December, and when I think about what I was like at 15....Yeesh.

Try it. Find some people who are in their late 20's or in their 30's and ask them if they found themselves getting more responsible/insightful sometime in their 20's.