Bullying is becoming epidemic

[BDBoop]

So how are we as a nation going to combat it?

 

[Harry Guerrilla]

So how are we as a nation going to combat it?

As long as you group a butch of people into an environment, where they can't escape, there is going to be bullying.

School is like a prison in this regard, people group up to protect themselves.
About the best way to defray bullying.

 

[BDBoop]

As long as you group a butch of people into an environment, where they can't escape, there is going to be bullying.

School is like a prison in this regard, people group up to protect themselves.
About the best way to defray bullying.

That last sentence, is it referring to people should group up to ... then it becomes a gang mentality?

With the internet and social networking, it's become much, much worse. You can't make it safely home and that's it for tomorrow. Bullies have taken to the internet. I think laws need to become much more severe so there is some return to normal "cause and effect".

 

[Harry Guerrilla]

That last sentence, is it referring to people should group up to ... then it becomes a gang mentality?

Grouping up is a quasi gang but not the gang "pop a cap" type thing.
That has been the way it is since the dawn of time.

Grouping up for mutual protection.

With the internet and social networking, it's become much, much worse. You can't make it safely home and that's it for tomorrow. Bullies have taken to the internet. I think laws need to become much more severe so there is some return to normal "cause and effect".

You can only do so much, unless you take them out of the school, it will most likely continue until they decide to stop.

 

[RightinNYC]

I don't really buy the hype that bullying is somehow worse now than it was in the past. This seems like another example of the media just latching onto something new that perplexes the average 55 year old person who nightly network news.

"Oh lordy look at what the kids are doing on the facebooks!"

 

[soccerboy22]

You really can't combat bullying since people will always be asses. What you can do it look for signs when some one is being bullied and help them out as much as you can.

 

[Kali]

The first step is getting the majority to take it serious. There are so many people out here that seem to think it is just "kids being kids"

Next step is more programs in schools that try to stamp out this issue and make it totally uncool. Kids need to be taught to shun and report bullies.

 

[BDBoop]

You can only do so much, unless you take them out of the school, it will most likely continue until they decide to stop.

So the schools with a "zero-tolerance" rule are barking up the wrong tree?

 

[Harry Guerrilla]

So the schools with a "zero-tolerance" rule are barking up the wrong tree?

My ideas on this are considered "insane, unrealistic, crazy" so to be honest, I'm not sure there is much any school can do.

I was bullied some as a kid and depending on what group you were in, was part of the deciding factor on if the school would help.

I grouped up with some people and got violent, they stopped bothering me after that.

 

[BDBoop]

"Oh lordy look at what the kids are doing on the facebooks!"

I'm 52 and don't watch the evening news. I do remember my own past, though. I do not remember any suicides from bullying. What's up with that.

 

[RightinNYC]

I'm 52 and don't watch the evening news. I do remember my own past, though. I do not remember any suicides from bullying. What's up with that.

I doubt that the media covered things like that in the same way as they do now.

 

[BDBoop]

I doubt that the media covered things like that in the same way as they do now.

No - but I had eyes in my head. And I didn't watch the evening news then, either.

Good article Is the 'Bullying Epidemic' a Media Myth? - Newsweek

 

[RightinNYC]

No - but I had eyes in my head. And I didn't watch the evening news then, either.

The point is that even if your eyes were pinned open, you wouldn't have seen anything. These individual "bullying suicides" are scattered across the country. The fact that you say you didn't see any growing up doesn't mean anything.

Good article Is the 'Bullying Epidemic' a Media Myth? - Newsweek

From your article:

But forget, for the moment, the talk-show specials, the George Washington Bridge, the Florida dad who rushed onto a school bus to scare his 13-year-old daughter's bullies straight. The reality, say social scientists, is that bullying is neither more extreme nor more prevalent than it was during the days of pigtails dipped in inkwells—and in fact, over the past decade, prevention programs have been effective in lowering it. "The picture created in the media," says Norwegian psychologist Dan Olweus, a world-renowned bullying expert, "simply does not fit with the reality."

That's exactly what I'm saying.

This is also fitting:

We are a culture for whom bully-spotting has become a sport; bullying itself a ubiquitous label (and damning accusation) fueled by a breed of helicopter parents who want to protect their kids from every stick and stone, and of news commentators who whip them further into a frenzy. When it comes down to it, antibully crusading has become almost evangelical in its fervor. It's also a become a "cottage industry," says Suffolk University Law School's David Yamada, complete with commentators and prevention experts and a new breed of legal scholars, all preparing to take on an enemy that's always been there.

There are a lot of people who make a lot of money by overhyping things like this. The media isn't exactly losing out either.

 

[BDBoop]

That's exactly what I'm saying.

Yeah, I know. See - I don't just take a position and hold it.

Anderson Cooper to Hold Special 'Bullying: No Escape' Town Hall Meeting

 

[Dr_Patrick]

I don't think that bullying is somehow worse than it used to be. The only thing that has changed really is the means by which people bully each other. The internet opened a whole new arena for it. I'm not making excuses or trying to justify it, but it was bound to happen.

 

[RightinNYC]

Yeah, I know. See - I don't just take a position and hold it.

Anderson Cooper to Hold Special 'Bullying: No Escape' Town Hall Meeting

I'm not sure what you're saying here. You started the thread by arguing that there's a new bullying epidemic. Then you seemed to acknowledge that there's no such thing. Now you're posting about Anderson Cooper's attempt to cut back on this faux bullying epidemic.

 

[Kali]

I don't think that bullying is somehow worse than it used to be. The only thing that has changed really is the means by which people bully each other. The internet opened a whole new arena for it. I'm not making excuses or trying to justify it, but it was bound to happen.

I think instant in your face tech. crap has made bullying much worse

 

[BDBoop]

I'm not sure what you're saying here. You started the thread by arguing that there's a new bullying epidemic. Then you seemed to acknowledge that there's no such thing. Now you're posting about Anderson Cooper's attempt to cut back on this faux bullying epidemic.

Because all the facts are not in. Your perceptions are not necessarily the facts anymore than mine are.

 

[BDBoop]

I think instant in your face tech. crap has made bullying much worse

Exactly. So maybe there is not more bullying (maybe there is, maybe there isn't) but it's actually worse because of the in your face tech crap.

 

[RightinNYC]

Because all the facts are not in. Your perceptions are not necessarily the facts anymore than mine are.

The reality, say social scientists, is that bullying is neither more extreme nor more prevalent than it was during the days of pigtails dipped in inkwells—and in fact, over the past decade, prevention programs have been effective in lowering it. "The picture created in the media," says Norwegian psychologist Dan Olweus, a world-renowned bullying expert, "simply does not fit with the reality."

 

[BDBoop]

The reality, say social scientists, is that bullying is neither more extreme nor more prevalent than it was during the days of pigtails dipped in inkwells—and in fact, over the past decade, prevention programs have been effective in lowering it. "The picture created in the media," says Norwegian psychologist Dan Olweus, a world-renowned bullying expert, "simply does not fit with the reality."

And it would be just as easy for me to find an 'expert' to say the opposite.

 

[RosieS]

The fact is that most are not involved in the bullying, they are bystanders. And getting the bystanders involved will help. If they could talk to a counselor confidentially to say what they see more intervention could occur.

Placing the bullies in an alternative school and providing more help and individualized attention is a good idea, as well.

Whether or not there is more or less of it, whether or not it is worse or not worse has nothing to do with it. Having effective strategies to eliminate bullying is what matters most.

Regards from Rosie

 

[BDBoop]

Whether or not there is more or less of it, whether or not it is worse or not worse has nothing to do with it. Having effective strategies to eliminate bullying is what matters most.

So many of your posts I think "this is a very wise woman".

 

[RosieS]

<curtsey, tilt, fall over> Thanks, BD...but this is my area of expertise, pre-disability. When it comes to education, 'I coulda been a contendah'.

Re-Regards from Rosie

 

[Hoplite]

Curbing bullying would be a simple matter if schools had proper funding to implement proper changes and parents didnt have such a phobia about violence.

We need to make self-defense training a routine and required part of education, starting as young as possible. I'm a big believer in the positive force martial arts can be for people. Not only will you get kids out and moving around, you help build self-confidence and self-esteem as well as preparing them to defend themselves if necessary. Bullying works because the target doesnt feel they can or should stand up for themselves. A self-confident kid who is willing and able to defend himself is not easy prey for a bully and bullies are like any animal; they go for easy prey.

Another thing that doesnt help are zero tolerance policies towards violence in schools. My high school had one and while, yes, there were fewer fights, the fights we did have were far more brutal. One kid had his neck cracked and another got three broken ribs. Zero tolerance policies do more harm than good because kids draw the same conclusion I drew when I got in fights in high school; "I'm gonna get suspended for a couple of days anyways, might as well go out with a bang!" If you get in as much trouble for getting your face re-arraigned as you do for doing the re-arraigning, there's no point to trying to de-escalate a fight.