Poll: Upsides to bullying?

[Scarecrow]

Well...bullying turned me into a jaded, hate filled reject...spending his days locked away from the world plotting revenge on not only those who wronged him, but the world as a whole.

So I don't know really...you tell me.

 

[DarkShadow144]

Ive been bullied so much that the things that I used to be bullied about, my friends and I have turned into positive things. ex: Im kinda overweight, but my friends and I see me now as a "mobile heater" as too all the extra heat I put off. Oh and im apparently very huggable
So I guess you could say I gained a positive outlook because of bullies

 

[SuccessAndBiscuts]

I was bullied, I suffered but I am now who I am because of that. I can't help but think if I had made the realisations I made post bullying in a relatively "normal" environment I would have had a much more stable period in my teen years.

There are no positives.

 

[Danpascooch]

nobodies opinion of me matters except my own

First off, let me say that is a bad lesson to learn, it's important to care about what other people think of you to some degree, it's that motivation that keeps us from being complete assholes who never shower, and spit on the floor.

Secondly, you left out the reason everyone treated you like crap, teachers aren't going to go out of their way to lie to get you into trouble unless the have a reason. It may happen once, but not as much as you're describing. The reason they have might not be a good one, but the fact that you're not telling us what that reason is makes me think it might be something that paints you in a negative light.

 

[Leg End]

Well, the bullying I have suffered for much of my life didn't really change me. I responded the best way I knew how from being a DBZ nut in my early childhood.

I beat the shit out of them. It worked flawlessly. Even made friends out of them in the process. Nanoha Style.

Well... the way I'm being bullied now? Well, considering it has been elevated to death threats(among other things, like castration) and odds are, the police won't care what happens to me(hell, they'd probably arrest ME), thinking that I am trash, well... let's just say I don't have the human race very high on the list of species that I would LOVE to save. Even funnier is that it usually is fully grown adults making these threats to me, a minor.

Let's just say I plan to buy guns. Lots and lots of guns. If the police won't do shit, I will.(For defense purposes only, of course)

[sub]Most of you know what said reason is though for the threats...[/sub]

EDIT: There are no true upsides. Show your bully who's boss and have them learn the imprint of your fist.

EDIT 2: What I mean when I say I'm going to get guns to deal with it myself, I mean I am going to buy guns to use in the event someone actually attacks me, not to just randomly fill people with lead. Such is mindless violence that solves nothing.

 

[Anarchemitis]

While there were aspects of my life and my Faith that were improved indirectly because I was bullied in Elementary school, I do not think the act of bullying (physically or emotionally) is analogous to vaccination. If it were implemented so, I think it would have a very low rate of success.

 

[The Funslinger]

Well... I was bullied, and now I know how I would want to prepare my kid, if ever I have one, for the world because of that, and other things. E.G. drill into him how much of a dick it would make him to bully, and make sure he knows to hit back if he's bullied, that people can't walk all over him. That kind of stuff. So, other than the fact it's made me probably more compassionate than I would have been, it's done little else than shape the kind of things I'd like to pass on.

 

[Seraniel]

after the first 4 years of being bullyed, i had completely mastered the powers of IGNORE!!!
2 years later i had mastered the art of making painfull remarks about the bullies.

the years also let me re evaluate the awesomeness of my friends who have supported me without second thought, trough all the bullying.

 

[Sneeze]

I was bullied quite a bit, some of it may have taught me lessons of life and the real world (I was a bit of a... 'noob' for lack of a better word), that is some though, a lot of it I could have done without but maybe without it I would be a completely different and possibly worse-off person. Maybe.

That being said if I was given half the chance I'd go back and punch every single one of them in the neck, maybe thats the point.

 

[Mr. Doe]

I got some good fights, I toughened up, and I ended up meeting the person I care most about because I was bullied, so I guess Ive gained a fair bit.

 

[AdmanUK]

I was bullied quite a few times throughout my life and it has made me a much stronger person for it.

 

[Umwerfer]

If by strength, you refer to becoming increasingly cynical, then yes. It does seem like there is a severe lack of naïve optimism on this here thread. Now, is that really a good thing?

 

[Ace of Spades]

I was bullied often in elementary school, and I did gain from it. I learned what I think is an important lesson. I often questioned why certain people enjoyed making my life difficult, and after several years of not receiving an answer to this question, I concluded that certain people are just naturally cruel, who possess some twisted desire to see other people suffer. This allowed me to acknowledge that I didn't have to listen to the mantra they repeated endlessly in school about treating everyone with respect and kindness, and from middle school on, I drew a very clear distinction between those who deserved respect and those who did not. I adopted an approach of treating my friends with kindness and respect, acquaintances and strangers with civility and politeness, and for those who treated me badly without cause, I treated with hostility. Not everyone deserves respect, and being bullied made that abundantly clear.

 

[lukeyboy270]

That would be a big fat no from me. I'm still in school and i have been bullied all the way through primary school and quite a bit in secondery. I think it has done quite the oppisite it has not helped me in any way it has just slowly eaten away at my self esteem so now im a socialy inept nobody (irl on the internet i get on fine with people) however the bullying has died down as i got older and i learned that the people who made fun of me just because of how i looked (I have ginger hair and am quite overweight) are complete and utter morons who will never serve any purpose on this earth. This, however would of been realised without bullying so that just says that bullying has only been a hindering thing for me and i dont understand how people could benifit from bullying. It's a strange concept that one of the worst and undertreated social crimes (by that i mean shouldnt happen but is not against the law) can benifit anyone in any way, shape or form. I also learned how to hate people and the world in general.

 

[Daveman]

Bullying turned me into the person I am today. A lonely, sad misanthrope with a nice heap of self-loathing.

It's not even like mine was that bad either.

 

[Mr Shrike]

I was bullied constantly, for 6 years, through 2 schools by the same (and often new) people for no forseeable reason. At times even those I considered my "friends" joined in.

Yes, I may be mentally and emotionally unstable, I may be depressed, bi-polar and mildly schizophrenic. Yes, I may have developed an eating disorder that still affects me to this day, but the actions of others made me who I am.

The actions of others have made me choose new friends and value old ones who never treated me badly. They have made me a stronger, passionate person with a love for all things living and a thirst for knowledge. Sure, I'm sensitive, insensitive, some call me eccentric, others think I'm a jerk, but I am who I am...

I love who I am.

 

[Jake the Snake]

Yes and no. It crippled me socially for years, which I guess on the upside lead me to the charter school where I met my best friends and became a very intelligent person.

But at the same time, I was outside "normal" public school life for quite a few years (4 and half to be exact).

So who knows?

 

[Cowabungaa]

No. It left me with some decentmental damage and I've only recently realised what kind of impact it's having on my life and future. I've been visiting psychiatrists for over a year now trying to get my life on the properly on track for the first time...well, ever. I'm a weak, spineless coward without passions or drives, all dreams vanished and pretty much nothing to live for.

So no, it didn't.

 

[Neonsilver]

no
There might be people who learned something good, but there are probably a lot more people who didn't.