Some things make us more mad than others. For me, it’s bullying. I absolutely cannot stand bullying or violence in my classroom.
Jonah Mowry made a video about being bullied. If you haven’t caught it yet, here.
But a scroll through YouTube shows that people are making response videos to Jonah and accusing him of lying. 
I know there’s bullying on the internet, but really? Why are people so hellbent on being cruel?
What do you think makes people prone to being picked on? And what kind of kid is prone to being a bully? As we can see on the internet, you don’t need a live audience to be a jerk.
This article says that kids who don’t pick up on nonverbal cues are more likely to be bullied. Maybe. But I remember being picked on in school and I tend to notice everything. I know when someone is sincere, when they’re lying, when they’re irritated, when ____.
I think kids who don’t subscribe to ‘group think’ tend to be targets. I also think that bullying can be like dominoes. One kid starts and then you’re history.
If a mother ever called me and told me my kid was picking on another, I’d pummel him myself. Where the hell are the parents?!
Self-fulfilling prophecy. He’s identifying himself as someone who gets bullied, and so…he gets bullied. The way you present yourself determines how other people treat you. Present yourself as a victim, and you’ll be victimized. Nobody will respect you.
This is why the recent anti-bullying campaigns will accomplish nothing. I really feel sorry for any kid who gets bullied today - he’s basically doomed. He can’t fight back, because then he’ll get in gigantic trouble. He can’t go to the authorities - then he’ll be a snitch. There’s really nothing he can do about the bullying except bend over and take it. Teen suicides will continue to go up; all of these bullying victims are going to require massive amounts of therapy and medication to cope with their issues.
Some parents don’t know how to council a bullied kid. My mother didn’t. She was the type of person who, if you came to her about being bullied, would ask, “What are you doing to make them pick on you?” She was never teased or bullied as a kid, so she didn’t get it.
I had a teacher who stuck up for me when I got teased in her class. I loved her for it, but you know what? It actually kind of made things worse. Sure, no one picked on me when I was in her class, but that was one hour out of the day. And in addition to being called all the other names, I had “teacher’s pet” added to the heap. Great.
I think teasing is something kids will always have to deal with. Bullying, a term connotes harrassment and violence, should be handled through strict rules and regulations, IMHO. But teasing is something no adult is ever going to “shame” away. Yes, it is an annoying, sometimes very sad thing. I hated being called “retarded”, and mean laughter still echoes in the back of my mind sometimes. But I developed a sense of humor in response to it. I learned how to stick up for myself because of it. I worked harder because of it. I think I am a tougher person because of it. So I admit that this mad push to make childhood a wonderful, happy, self-esteeming time annoys me. Some kids probably do learn how to conform because of negative peer pressure, and some also learn how to say “well, fuck you”. Both lessons are kind of important, IMHO. So I’m not sure where I stand sometimes.