Bullying

[Raikov]

Let's see... grade 3 to 6 (age 10 to 13) I was very much bullied. I was very different from the guys my age, I was overweight, I liked videogames and reading books, and generally using my head. So this guy, who was playing soccer at the time, went after me. And he had a whole gang of he's friends behind him, I think it was 6 guys in total.
i reported it to the teachers several times, but they were retarded enough to insist on having a 'debate' between me and my personal devils. While we were in the same room. Since I rarely raise my voice, I was more or less overrun by their screaming that I was a liar and what not.

So, I put myself away of sorts. Shut myself in. Became very quiet. Never initiate conversations, only talking when spoke to.

Eventually, I tried the teacher thin again. Same result. I actually thought about more or less killing myself, but my hope for a better life was stronger then my depression, so I continued living in my personal hell for 4 years. Oh, and the school was ofcourse free of bullies all the time, since I didn't want to take up the teacher's time.

Then I started drinking. I had an alcohol problem from age 13 to 16.

My 'luck' turned in 6:th grade, when I just got tired of the mental abuse from a guy that was smaller then me, and I figured that he's friends may beat me up if they want, as long as I would get a shot at the main asshole.

This is when I discovered that living on a farm, carrying wood every day after school and working in the forest several days a month builds alot more muscle then playing soccer.

I sent the guy flying 3 meters or so into a desk at school, and proceeded to punch him in the face repeatedly. It took 3 of his friends and the teacher present to get me off him.

After that, school was alot nicer. I got another asshole after me the next term, but he was so incredibly stupid that he couldn't get to me at all.

Sadly, I still carry mental scars now, 10 years later. But it's slowly getting better.

And the school still has no record of bullies ever existing there.

 

[agentspidersilk]

I always used to get bullied and picked on, till I started self hamring and then it was down hill from there..... sure i tried to killmyself and obviosouly failed and now all i'm left with is a head full of self doubt and depression, and I go to a school that claims to care.

 

[Keepitclean]

A kid in the year above me bullied a lot of kids in my year before I moved to the school. When I moved to the school he started to pick on me too. I then proceeded to beat the living shit out of him. He never gave shit to me again. Even through high school when he had his massive friends nearby he would make a smartarse remark all I had to do was give him a scary look and he would shut up.

Point is; nothing stops bullies better than beating the fuck out them.

 

[Ren3004]

Some advice I have for if you are in a physical confrontation:

Weird them out

Apparently when two kids tried to gang up on my brother, he asked them "who's the strongest". The two of them would then start fighting between themselves to settle who was the strongest and would leave him alone.

Sometimes, I think he's a fucking genius.

 

[SmartIdiot]

I can't stand bullying. Yet at the same time, harsh as it may sound, kids are allowing themselves to become victimised. There will not always be people around to watch your back or look after you so at the end of the day only the person being bullied can stick up for themselves.

I'm not saying leave them to it, by all means it should be eradicated. Bullies are just cowards at the end of the day, generally picking on someone they think won't fight back or roaming around in packs, heckling some poor kid. Then when you catch them on their own they're not so tough "aw mate it was just a joke eh" when their back is against the wall for a change. Pussies, that's all they are. Don't believe all this bullshit about "bullying stems from an insecurity or a need to make themselves feel better" or "they have a problem too, talk to them" mollycoddling lets fucking hold hands and sing and dance together bullshit they try to forcefeed you.

To anyone being bullied, I urge you to properly lash out at them and make them KNOW that if you're pushed far enough you can be a total fucking psycho. Maybe they'll think twice next time. Bullying is unnacceptable.

 

[vorlon010]

I had constant bullying all through school, though it petered off towards the end after I was found stalking through the corridors with a reinforced scaffold bar and a kid 2 years above me running for his life. Oh, and after the kids in my year found me looking up recipes for explosives on the net.

Oh, and people realised it was a bad idea to try and beat me up when the found out that I had no qualms about biting. Thus was earned the nickname 'Hannibal'

Fun times, fun times. My heart does go out to the family of that poor kid. Mostly. Kinda.

 

[Trebort]

All you need to know is this. I became homeschooled because of bullying and the teachers' inability to stop it.

Same here

 

[Valksy]

Much of my memory of school i lost to me. But I do know that when I was 11 or 12 someone tried to bully me over weight issues and I punched him right in the face for his trouble (I had plenty of enthusiasm but lousy aim, it hurt very much). I was totally confident in my belief that my folks would stand up for me if I got in trouble for it. He was not used to people pushing back. Some years after the incident I caught him and his mates tying a much younger and differently abled girl to a tree with some scarves and broke that shit up right away - I guess he didn't learn and I hate to think of how many kids he was cruel and brutal to in his years at school.

Reading some of your stories here today I honestly think that it is time we stopped using the word "bully" and call it what it really is - Assault. At what age do we decide that a kid hitting another kid is no longer OK? By what right to teachers and other adults just look the other way as young people are victims of violent acts? To be honest it makes me very angry indeed. Education is the best free gift we are ever given and it should be treasured. Those who bully should have that gift taken away from them and those who are harmed should be protected - but somehow we fuck up and get this the wrong way around because of the use of the word "bully".

 

[brodie21]

im betting that the kid had some psychological disorders that the bullying made more severe. because if someone does that there is more than one thing wrong in his life. he had to have had a lot of bad things happen to him to do that.

 

[Captain Picard]

A swift kick to the crotch or a sharp jab to the throat would probably tame your run-of-the-mill bully. When it's your sanity on the line, the wellbeing of the bully takes second place.

 

[Vondrakenhof]

In primary school I was bullied a lot, both physically and verbally. As I went into secondary school and got taller the physical side of it all but disappeared. Verbally, it got worse. Which sucked as at least in a fight I could strike back. I've never been good with insults. I couldn't say how often the idea of mass murder entered my head. Then I found rock music and rocker friends. I grew my hair and started hanging out with people I could relate to. The bullying lessened and I was able to get on with my life. That being said because of the bullying I'm still over sensitive to insults and take things to personally. And whenever I see a bully, or here about someone killing themselves because some fuckhead decided to make their lives miserable I get really angry.

 

[Mercurio128]

I sort of get bullied, but not physically, since i'm quite big. It's usually verbal. I deal with it by either
1) not caring
2)confusing them
3)standing up for myself
It tends to work, I'm not afraid, I try not to bully and go looking for fights. I'm a prime target for verbal bullying because I'm a gamer, intelligent and eccentric. But never physically, since i can kick most people's asses.

I had the exact same experience. I'm not a violent person, I would never hit anyone without serious provocation so people felt obligated to try and push my buttons just to try and make me react.
The one time I was physically attacked, a guy had been trying to start a fight for about half an hour, I tried to leave and he grabbed me by the door. He threw a long punch at me but I tilted my head out of the way and he put his hand through the plate glass window in the door. He had to go to hospital and the next day the bastard tried to blame it on me! He even tried to get some of his moron friends to say I started it!

Long story short, the things kids get away with doing to each other would land any adult in jail for a long time. It's a hypocrisy of the greatest magnitude that adults can use the law to protect themselves against violence and kids have no recourse other than 'telling the teacher'. If things were fair bullying would be treated as seriously as GBH and punishable by seriously heavy fines (or maybe a full criminal record, which would be visible to all colleges and employers for life).

 

[Xeros]

8th grade. Started out as the typical back and forth insults then it started getting physical. I got jumped a few times, pushed around in the halls, etc. Then I come in to school one day, I had just lost my grandmother, but I had mid-terms so I sucked it up and went anyway. Then he thinks it'd be funny to hit me over the head with one of those really thick history textbooks, so I countered with a desk... and another desk. They all thought I was out of my mind, and at the time I was, I fuckin' lost it. Never saw him again, no one ever fucked with me again, and from then on it was smooth sailing.

 

[Mercurio128]

im betting that the kid had some psychological disorders that the bullying made more severe. because if someone does that there is more than one thing wrong in his life. he had to have had a lot of bad things happen to him to do that.

Which is exactly why it needs to be taken more seriously. I can't count the times I've heard school officials or politicians proclaim that they will be treating bullying very seriously. It's always bullshit, their definition of serious falls far short of the actual reality of the situation. Talking to parents and sending letters home is not serious, shouting at bullies is not serious. Threatening their parents with jail time would be very fxcking serious, applying massive fines in line with the settlements/remedies available to adults in the justice system would be serious.

The problem with bullies is that they are in a position of authority, they are willing to use violence to get what they want and normal people aren't. they know that there is no serious threat to them and that they can do what they like. Unless we make the repercussions of bullying more extreme for the bully we leave reasonable people/children with no real way to stop what's happening without resorting to violence.

If you could report a bully and get him taken away from his parents or claim damages from his household, do you think he would be as likely to keep up the insults and abuse? Didn't think so.

 

[Gabanuka]

I was bullied from years 3-6 but now I'm In secondary school and I've learned to keep my head down and make snide coments which they soon forget.

 

[Cid Silverwing]

Bullies need to die.

I was always the first target in school for everything from A to Z.

 

[EeveeElectro]

Short, fat, ugly, geeky. Yeah, I got bullied a lot. From year 1 to 9 I think? year 10 we all sort of matured, and it started to die down. The problem is the guys in my year never mature.
I remember some girl who bullied me who looked like one of those little trolls, minus the crazy hair. Apparently she recently got married to my sisters friend; why you'd want to marry that ugly monster I don't know.
My school is full of idiots, a year 8 spat and swore at my friend because she told her off for smoking. Another year 8/9 decided to shout about his sex life in the corridors. Amazing parenting and good choice of friends.
I don't really care, it's made me more thick skinned, I can't get my head around why someone would want to upset or hurt someone else though.

 

[Liam1390]

I was constantly bullied because I was the only guy in the school system to have long hair. There were a couple of physical incidents in middle school. I was sent to the school psychiatrist a couple of times so the school could figure out why I kept my hair long. I had a guidance counselor pull me out of class for an hour so she could try and talk me into cutting it.

It pretty much eased up in High School after a sophomore in my gym class thought it was funny to tackle me during a game of flag football. I got to my feet as if nothing happened and continued playing.

 

[helldragonX]

I never really had a problem with bullies myself,I had a interesting defense mechanism i would slouch whenever I was just standing around talking but when ever someone tried to bully me I would stand at my full height and be looking down at them....they never had much to say after that...

 

[Jedamethis]

Croikey, I guess I've been bullied unsuccesfully...

These big chaps stole my hat a few times, made jokes about my name, and did all they could to piss me off without actually hurting me. Although one fat bugger who had stolen my hat first did push me into a lovely soft pile of leaves after saying I disliked fat bastards. He never did figure out that by taking offence he was calling himself a fat bastard...

Anyway, the moral of the story is: I didn't really care and eventually developed a sixth sense of when to duck out the way and elbow the hat-stealer in the groin.

I had bullies when I was younger.

Heh, you make them sound like fleas, or some kind of disease...