# Bullied Grandmother...really? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 21, 2012, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullied-grandmother-really/625854 "2012-06-21T16:26:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullied-grandmother-really/625854/101 "2012-06-22T19:40:08Z")
Why the fuck are people still donating? Really- there’s 10 times enough already to take the best frigging vacation she’s ever had and to buy lots and lots of souvenirs and the best digital camera and then have two years salary when she comes home. Why do they keep giving? Plus she really hasn’t endured any more rudeness than millions of others have had to endure- she’d probably have been over it in a couple of weeks if this hadn’t gone viral. Find other causes to contribute to- a general non-profit counseling program in your area perhaps, an animal shelter, whatever, but I think Granny Klein has got more than enough; there are people who have gotten smaller windfalls from wrongful deaths. Plus, for all you know this woman might belong to the Greece, NY chapter of the Aryan Nations, or have an “IF YOU CAN READ THIS THEN I HATE FAGS!” bumper sticker on her car, or be planning to give everything above the price of Ramen Noodles to the Church of Scientology. Whoever opened the account should freeze it with a “goal more than exceeded, thanks, go find someone else” message. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullied-grandmother-really/625854/102 "2012-06-22T19:41:15Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > I hate to think where those kids’ social paths are \*leading \*to, though. Not sure, I sure don’t want to be the monitor on it. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullied-grandmother-really/625854/103 "2012-06-22T19:50:50Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Plus, for all you know this woman might belong to the Greece, NY chapter of the Aryan Nations, or have an “IF YOU CAN READ THIS THEN I HATE FAGS!” bumper sticker on her car, or be planning to give everything above the price of Ramen Noodles to the Church of Scientology. I’ve heard she is going to use the money to sew together a wig made of \*live, screaming kittens. \* ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullied-grandmother-really/625854/104 "2012-06-22T19:51:24Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > I hate to think where those kids’ social paths are \*leading \*to, though. Curse my poor typing. . . ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullied-grandmother-really/625854/105 "2012-06-22T19:56:30Z")
> [@Kenm](#): > > Because the U.S. Marines and a 68-year-old woman on a school bus are the same. You’ve obviously never met any nuns. I knew some that could reduce fucking Navy SEALS to tears. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullied-grandmother-really/625854/106 "2012-06-22T20:05:06Z")
> [@DiosaBellissima](#): > > Curse my poor typing. . . ☹ I actually like it better than what you _meant_, though! ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullied-grandmother-really/625854/107 "2012-06-22T20:09:58Z")
> [@A Monkey With a Gun](#): > > Yes, yes it does make it less horrific. The reason I don’t like calling this instance “bullying” is where do you draw the line if you start expanding the definition? Bullying should mean picking on those that are weaker, not verbal abuse to those in power. If a few twelve year olds saying mean things to a bus monitor is bullying, is a few twelve year olds saying mean things to a teacher also bullying? What if it’s just one twelve year old saying vile things to a teacher? Is that bullying? Where is the line drawn now? I’m unsure, but if the person on the receiving end of the meanness is basically powerless to stop it, despite being nominally in a position of authority or at any rate responsibility, then I don’t think the word “bullying” is being misapplied. You don’t have to be _physically_ weaker to be a victim of bullying - not if both you and the aggressor know it’s out of the question for your physical strength to be even taken into consideration. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullied-grandmother-really/625854/108 "2012-06-22T20:10:07Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Why the fuck are people still donating? Really- there’s 10 times enough already to take the best frigging vacation she’s ever had and to buy lots and lots of souvenirs and the best digital camera and then have two years salary when she comes home. Why do they keep giving? The schoolbus bullying is over; now begins the 24x7 harassment from donation solicitors, scammers, long-lost relatives suddenly keen to reconnect… and who knows, she might end up in hot water with the IRS. Everyone’s lining up to take a swing! ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullied-grandmother-really/625854/109 "2012-06-22T20:26:29Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Dumb, to which I will add ‘clueless’ and ‘self righteous’, pretty much everything you bring to this and several other threads. You do realize that > > 1- This is a thread specifically about, almost exclusively about, a particular incident and not about “bad things in northwest New York state in general” > 2- Not a single solitary person on this thread seems to be of the opinion, in so far as I can tell or in so far as is evident, that this is the worst thing that has ever happened or could possibly happen and thus needs their perspective broadened > 3- Nobody is truly calling for physical violence against the kids > Neh? You’re adding nothing in your posts, and if you can’t recognize sarcasm, then go… well, really, I don’t care where you go, but please do go there. I’m sorry you’re embarrassed. You were the first person to make an obvious and lame comment fantasizing about violence against them, and I pointed how dumb it was, as I thought that your attitude is maybe the reason why these kids and their parents have received thousands more death threats than the guy who raped a baby. You don’t think it was lame and obvious, that’s fine. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullied-grandmother-really/625854/110 "2012-06-22T20:36:24Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > Drill sergeants don’t touch cadets and they have no problem keeping discipline. What mother doesn’t develop the ‘stink eye’? The circumstances are different. Like the Stanford Prison Experiment and Stanley Milgram taught us, surrounded by circumstances where you are expected to obey, most people fall into stereotypical roles. Rare is the person who can go against the tide and stand out. The kids knew the lady was old and couldn’t hit them, they had no fear of her. They were being egged on by each other, trying to one up the previous taunter with crueller words. Maybe if she was known as a mean old lady, they would have been quiet, but she didn’t project that image and the bullies took advantage of that ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullied-grandmother-really/625854/111 "2012-06-22T21:15:05Z")
> [@saoirse](#): > > I’m sorry you’re embarrassed. You were the first person to make an obvious and lame comment fantasizing about violence against them, and I pointed how dumb it was, as I thought that your attitude is maybe the reason why these kids and their parents have received thousands more death threats than the guy who raped a baby. Saoirse, were you born this fucking stupid or did your brain get deprived of something it needed at some point? No matter; any functional organs in your body are wasted and yet more evidence to the universe’s complete indifference as regards distribution, but even so, if you’re wanting me to make a statement against baby raping, I will: ON THIS DAY DO I JONATHAN, KNOWN ON THESE BOARDS AS SAMPIRO, DENOUNCE THE RAPING OF BABIES. I’ll even [link to a song about how raping babies is wrong](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ud3UOCu96zY). That said, do you not see a difference in making a joke on a message board and actually texting a death threat? And, do you really and truly think more people think this is worse than a raped baby? Really? No, really? To which I’ll add, really? Or is the point that if more people would text death threats to people who rape babies then maybe it would stop happening and people would stop and think before they raped that baby that “gee, this is is even worse than calling an old woman bad names”? Or, using Saoirsian logic, perhaps the point is “Before you rape a baby, go be mean to an old woman until the need goes away!” Perhaps the point is that we need a “Like my status if you think raping babies is worse that being mean to old women?” Whatever the point is, stop playing with it and it should come to a head and pop on it’s on in a couple of days. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullied-grandmother-really/625854/112 "2012-06-22T21:22:12Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > ON THIS DAY DO I JONATHAN, KNOWN ON THESE BOARDS AS SAMPIRO, DENOUNCE THE RAPING OF BABIES. > > . I’d be careful there partner. You do know that SkaldtheRymer could easily come up with a hypothetical were the raping of babies was the right thing to do. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullied-grandmother-really/625854/113 "2012-06-22T21:22:15Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > ON THIS DAY DO I JONATHAN, KNOWN ON THESE BOARDS AS SAMPIRO, DENOUNCE THE RAPING OF BABIES. If you’re going to come into these discussions with your mind already made up, I guess there’s really no point in debating. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullied-grandmother-really/625854/114 "2012-06-22T21:26:23Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > If you’re going to come into these discussions with your mind already made up, I guess there’s really no point in debating. We’re not in Debates anymore, so I can hoist my true colors. I’ve been against baby raping, in most instances, since 1994 and I am not afraid to say it. I even sent a text about it once. ---
**Author:** ![Omega\_Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7c8e57/32.png) [@Omega\_Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omega_Glory)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullied-grandmother-really/625854/115 "2012-06-22T22:41:16Z")
> [@PoorYorick](#): > > That’s great, but I would have been more impressed if he’d have made his kid do the apologizing. To the monitor, in person. She doesn’t want to see the kids in person. No cite. I saw it on the local news. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullied-grandmother-really/625854/116 "2012-06-22T23:16:12Z")
> [@Chicagojeff](#): > > No.. no kudos.. not at all.. You’re a parenting fail. If your animal you are rearing acts like this.. thinks of things like this to do then you’ve failed as a parent. Please take a box of trojans and your appointment to the local urologist as your parting gift. We who actually parent wish to exclude you from our ranks. Is this a fucking joke? Even the best of parents can have kids that fuck up like this. One kid starts something, and the others join in, if only because they’re afraid of looking like wimps by their peers. They may not be the ones doing the really nasty stuff, but calling her “fat, ugly, etc”, that, sadly, isn’t out of the realm. I’ve been bullied, and I’m ashamed to say, I’ve been a bully\*. Middle school kids can be some of the nastiest little shits in the world. (Mostly middle school girls.) This isn’t a “kids will be kids” excuse. But don’t blame everything on bad parenting. Unless your kids were little angels, shut the fuck up. \*I’ll never forget the nasty letter some friends and I wrote to another friend we were fighting with, over some stupid crap or another. REALLY nasty shit. Her mother found it before she did, called our parents, and we were all grounded the rest of the summer. To this day, I wish I could take it back, and wince when I think about it. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullied-grandmother-really/625854/117 "2012-06-22T23:17:40Z")
I wouldn’t want to hear their apology. Apologies usually suck. **Sampiro** , I share your puzzlement. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullied-grandmother-really/625854/118 "2012-06-22T23:31:03Z")
> [@Omega\_Glory](#): > > She doesn’t want to see the kids in person. No cite. I saw it on the local news. I just had visions of Granny in the front yard. Ole dad is holding one of the little shits by the arms/shoulders. Saying “one free kick in the balls…honestly ONE FREE KICK”. ---
**Author:** ![Ibanez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a4c791/32.png) [@Ibanez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibanez)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullied-grandmother-really/625854/119 "2012-06-22T23:35:58Z")
The only sad part about this spectacle is that grandma didn’t get up, go over, and kick one of those kids asses at the end of the video. I never saw kids acting like that when I was growing up, probably has to do with all of us getting our ass kicked if we disrespected grandma . ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullied-grandmother-really/625854/120 "2012-06-22T23:44:24Z")
I bristled at the use of her first name. I thought kids were still expected to use titles when addressing their elders. Is this not the case? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullied-grandmother-really/625854.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullied-grandmother-really/625854.md?page=7)