A kid got beaten up at my school because his sister is a lesbian

[Princess Valhalla Hawkwind 39]

Once again, from what I've heard:

This kid has been bullied since the 5th grade. It wasn't "im gonna call this random kid a fag and beat him up" he was specifically targeted. And really, is it so hard to believe that the reason MAY have been related to his sister being a lesbian? Not saying it's her fault at all! But kids will look for an excuse to bully. "That kid is related to a fag, therefore he must also be a faggot!"

[Chase 390]

The bully is too unbelievably simple minded in this scenario.

[2356 23]

The bully is too unbelievably simple minded in this scenario.

...

I don't know what you want in this case? Like... A deeper reason for bullying?

There needs to be such a thing?

[Chimetals 344]

my kid brother got teased for being "gay", despite him being completely straight, and none of his friends having a clue i was bisexual.

some kids are just douches, and my brothers class/year was just /flooded/ with them. if theyre dumb enough to giggle over sexual body parts, theyre dumb enough to harass a kid for dumb reasons.

[2356 23]

Picked on for not being skinny.... since first grade. <--- such a deep reason my god they're not incredibly simple at all.

[Chase 390]

That's not what I meant, Sayuri.

[2356 23]

Then I do not understand and you are not helping me understand. Rectify this.

[Arachne 25]

I got picked on all the time for being socially awkward. I'd have gotten beaten up more if I hadn't been a girl. But as such I was just made fun of and ostracised to the point of attempted suicide when I was 10. These things happen. It makes me angry that kids get picked on for no reason at all, but there's only so much that can be done to prevent it.

[Chase 390]

There's always a reason. They'll get what's coming to them, though. That I guarentee.

[Princess Valhalla Hawkwind 39]

Are you saying that it's the victim's fault in anyway? I remember how a bully on my school bus made fun of me because I read comic books. Okay? TOTES MY BAD! Guess I should have better selected my reading material. He was totally in the right for beating me up.

[Chase 390]

You guys are so defensive.

[Chase 390]

In 1st grade, Michael Rook make fun of my shoes. I was then unpopular until about 6 or 7th grade. Michael was one of the "cool" kids. In 3rd grade at a church basketball game, Michael and I kept shoving each other down and getting fouls and just generally being mean. I was doing it because he had made fun of me; he was doing it for his own reasons. Later on in...8th grade? I think? We talked about how silly our fights had been and he said that he was just being a dick because his dad had been in a car accident and lost his leg, along with some other stuff. We both apologized and we're cool now. And most bullies are like this. Most bullies have some kind of turmoil or chip on their shoulder. Or maybe they have a terrible home life where their dad beats them. It's not an excuse, but it provides some perspective and can lead to rehabilitating them and giving them a better outlook on life. One where they don't have to bully people to feel secure.

I'm not saying everyone always has to have a reason. I'm not saying it's the victim's fault. I'm not saying any kind of bullying is "okay." I'm saying that you do not know the whole story, you do not know what the bully may have gone through in his life, and you can't automatically assume things without being majorly wrong pretty much all the time. That's what racists do. They assume all [insert race here] are [insert stereotype] and that will never change! Or sexists, men are pigs, women are weak, etc. Not all bullies are evil.

Now, taking all that in, yes, bullying is still wrong. Yes, the bully should be reprimanded for it. In this particular situation, the one in, you know, the topic, we do NOT have enough information to form an opinion and we should not assume anything about the "bully" or the "victim" and his sister.

[Chimetals 344]

its a case-by-case thing, sure, but it still irks me, since my brothers entire class couldnt have all had circumstances that led them to bullying. some of them might have had some sort of trauma, i guess, but that doesnt justify the other kids being general dicks and following suit.

we dont know enough, but we can still be entitled to being ticked off, to some degree. and bully's reasons aside, i still think being suspended for 5 days for giving a kid a concussion is p weak for punishment. when you give a dude a concussion, youve crossed the line from "angry fight" to "assault", imo.

[Fantasy Panda Dreaming 0]

Oh hey this went pretty quickly

My computer becomes a spasmatic dick for a few days and I come back and 4 pages

but yeah anyways

I understand what you mean, LL. I used homophobic in the way that I define it, which is admittedly wrong. It doesn't coincide with the literal definition of homophobic, but it's been misused a lot which is why I guess my definition of it got warped to mean the same as anti-gay.

But yeah, like Chimetals has been saying multiple times, giving someone concussions and putting them in the hospital deserves more than a 5 day suspension. That's like a tap on the shoulder, and gently telling them to not do it again. If they don't associate it with something immediately negative that restricts or hurts them (I mean this in more than a physical way), then they have less of a reason to stop doing it. Not to say that I wholly support corporal punishment, cuz that goes into a whole other issue, but if the punishment isn't that bad, they probably won't stop if they had a reason to do it. Whether it be for hatred or whatever floats their boat.

A lot of stuff's been going down the metaphorical shitter lately, and I don't enjoy being around the people that are instigating, allowing or causing the things to happen. Bullying, rude-ass hoes, or even beating other people up. I try to not assume that they're just mean people, because they probably have reasons or stress or some underlying factor that contributes to why they're acting this way. Like, the drama club director at my school. I've had a few schedule conflicts that made it impossible for me to perform in a show a few days ago. I had ended up being scheduled to perform on a Thursday, but I am completely unable to do anything past 5:30 on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I was literally scared to remind her that I couldn't perform, even though I had told her beforehand. She had been pretty mean, rude and blunt to a lot of people. It's just been a really unenjoyable experience, to say the least. However, there are a lot of factors that could make it understandable. This specific show had just this week been performed 3 times, once for a children's hospital and twice in the same day for a bunch of nearby elementary schools. This hasn't been done for, as long as I know, any time this specific theatre director has worked at my school. Even though one of the theatre students has helped her out a lot in the organization of it, it's probably-definitely caused her a lot of stress to try to put together. She's also had to break up fights (not the possibly anti-gay one that is the general topic of this post) and deal with her freshmen and study hall students. I've heard stories of some of her English freshmen classes, it doesn't sound very enjoyable -- at all.

Anyways, what I'm trying to say is, just because someone acts one way, doesn't mean they're just dicks. There's a definite possibility of some underlying cause that is causing them to act like this, whether it's intentional or not.

I still don't think that violence in any sense is justifiable, but I can't really say much because I don't know the whole situation behind it. There are a ton of possible factors that could contribute as to why the bully did what he did. Bad childhood, harassment by a family member, traumatizing events, mental disorder, indoctrination, there's a way-huge range of possible factors and motivations. I don't know the whole story, but putting a few pieces together like the fact that he had been bullied for a long time and his sister is a known lesbian might have contributed. Maybe the bully overreactingly contributed to the bullying, but pushed it too far. For all anyone knows, he himself could have been bullied into doing it, or harassment by the victim at the bully might have happened.

I don't know, but all I know is that shit happened and the punishment isn't severe enough to balance out with giving a kid a concussion.

[Fantasy Panda Dreaming 0]

I haven't heard anything about either party's identities, other than the bully and victim are freshmen.