Hey guise. As you may or may not know, I joined an anti-bullying group a little while ago. We've done some work on reducing bullying around my school and community. I just want to propose a couple questions to all my Hawknet friends: Where do you stand on the issue of bullying? What does your area do about bullying? Are there any strategies you can think of to help reduce/end the bullying problem?

I know this is one of, if not the most edgy thing posted on Hawknet but I'd really like your opinions on this subject. Also if you're willing to share a story of when you or a friend has been bullied or has bullied another person it'd be greatly appreciated but not necessary if you don't feel up to it. Remember though, Hawknet rules apply with this as they do with all things.

Just wanted to throw this out there since I find that it's quite the issue nowadays.
-Satan360100

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I'm very much so against it as there is no reason to cause another human being trouble over differences in opinion, behavior, appearance, or what not. I'm assuming that by 'area' you mean school/city. My school has done very well with establishing that bullying and the like is unacceptable and that people should be accepted as they are. Overall, bullying at my school is very low. Some strategies that I could suggest would be to encourage people to get to know another person before they judge somebody. Educating on the difference between forcing an opinion/idea or what not onto a person and just bringing up a topic and that everyone is entitled to their own opinion.

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Hmmmm,
On the issue of bullying itself, I wished it would all just stop (cheesy eh?). I mean, what's the point of venting out all your anger on some random innocent kid and make them feel horrible? You think it's cool, or do you have home related troubles? Either way, you shouldn't act like that. My school district tries to encourage us to solve try to solve the problems ourselves; thus creating friendship amongst everyone. I honestly think that it can be a good solution in some cases, but in a lot, you just need an adult. In my opinion, I think that if you see or you are a victim of bullying, immediately contact a trusted peer. This said, my school district (Beaverton School District btw) or more of, the schools that I've gone through in the district, don't have much bullying.

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^ All credit is given to Belg for one heck of a sig :3


Castellan of the Timelords

Bullying around here is at an average level (Indiana), and I do see it quite often. I've also been in bullying situations myself. My opinion on it is telling an adult either makes it worse or better, one or the other. Usually bullying is just over someone who thinks it's cool to make fun of people. I've also seen the victim of bullying many times whoop the bully, which usually solves it (not saying you should do that), and the victim doesn't get in trouble. I myself have been in that situation more than once, most recent being this year.

Overall, I think bullying rates are going down now. Maybe I just think that because the higher grades you get into, the more mature people are. But there will always be people looking to pick fights, and always victims. I suggest you tell your parent first and ignore the bully unless it gets really bad, and always ignore their comments.

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I've seen this a million times.
1: Victims always hate the idea of informing authority of what's going on. They prefer to just let it happen and get it over with rather than getting the bullies more angry at them and making it worse.
2: Authority who try to deal with the issue usually make things even worse. This is because the bullies only act solemn and sorry in front of authority, but never like that to the victim themselves.
3: Stand up for the victims.

Now, my school is really low on bullying inside the school grounds. This is because no matter what, everybody at my school will always stick up for somebody being put down.
In my corridor, some guy was teasing a year 7 and saying some pretty rude things about his family and the next thing I saw was about 7 of the victims friends coming around and standing by the kid and telling the bully to shove off. It was pretty cool because the rest of the corridor went silent to watch the whole thing and we were going to back up the kid if it came to that.
Everybody at our school will back up a kid in need, and that's what I like about my school. I think this should be encouraged at all schools. Seeking unwanted help from authority can make things worse, but when it's your classmates and friends, it's usually a lot better and it (in most cases) goes really well.

Now I think cyber bullying is very easy to deal with. If somebody puts me down, I usually respond with 'cool' and just ignore it. I don't even give my time to such witty things as online insults. People may, but if you want my advice, just respond with 'cool' for everything they type at you and they'll eventually give up. I think this method works really well because it makes them want to stop teasing you instead of you having to block them and hide from them because you shouldn't even have to hide in the first place and they'll contemplate the idea of giving up their attempts of putting you down online because it's not working and it will annoy them when they don't receive the results they want.

In my school, we are very strict about bullying. But even though, it still happens. In my current school, I have never been a victim of bullying. No, I'm not a bully, people just know that they'd be messing with the wrong person. But if I see someone doing it to someone else, I obviously react and walk up to the person that is bullying and tell him to get lost.

in my school bullying is pretty much hapening to about half the school, i used to be bullied alot of the time, but it has stoped now, i am not a bully, i never have been, like xantos if i see someone getting bullied, i try to sort out the bully and see if the person getting bullied is ok, they usually are after a drink and a little talk, but it's a shame hardly anyone sticks up for the victims in my school, and the teachers bearly do much about it to be honest...

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Leader of the Might City of Varlos

Would you mind if I directed some people here to view what you've said? My anti-bullying club might benefit from viewing the opinions and strategies of people around the world.

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I wouldn't mind even talking to them ^.^
But yes, I don't mind them evaluating what I've said

Same as Chris, I don't mind anything at all

i don't want my messgae to be interviewed, sorry

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Leader of the Might City of Varlos

I don't mind, nor do I see why anyone would o.o

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Your wishes shall be respected Ender. What is said here will remain within Hawknet.

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In my school, bullying is pretty low. I don't see it to often and when I do see it, the victim usually ignores it and that ends it. Sadly though, many people would never stand up for someone since they may just get laughed at. I think one of the only problems my school has is explaining exactly what is considered bullying. People don't realize that what they consider 'minor' or 'normal' things are actually bullying. I also think there should be an easier way to inform teachers (what I mean is that there's usually no time to inform someone. You can't before/after class and at times like lunch they won't let the students out of the cafeteria. :b So if you were to inform a teacher everyone would know and there's no privacy about it.) I myself have only been bullied once or twice and it's usually resolved (like I said above) by ignoring it or making a joke about it.

Also, I'm fine with you sharing my post :3

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Well, my school is in NJ, nuff said. NJ just passed a huge bullying law which makes it so that bullying now has a 0 tolerance. I have seen a kid start a fight one day. He was then transferred to an anti bullying program somewhere a whole town over. To be honest, before the NJ program, our school was considered unsafe. The only reason that I ever remained untouched was because I do sports with most of the jocks, so they consider me one of them even though I never chill with them. Hopefully we will be able to end this program and kids will become mature enough to leave others alone. Oh, last thing. Even though it seems a bit pessimistic, bullying will never go away. There will always be that one kid who doesn't like another kid for no reason.

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~Ask not what your server can do for you. Ask what you can do for your server~

Yes I agree, but that anti bullying groups have to start working as if they are the victim, and not giving advice on what they're expected to do.

I'm fine with you sharing my bullying post. I think that more school districts should put anti-bullying as a priority.

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^ All credit is given to Belg for one heck of a sig :3


Castellan of the Timelords

They have to put bullying as a priority to avoid problems with police and media. I think instead of having to deal with bullying, they should act on their own free will to put a stop to bullying.

Loving the turn out for this topic. Thanks guys.

Allow me to pose a question for you guys. A couple weeks ago in British Columbia (Canada) the parents of a 12 year old homosexual boy pressured his school to hire him a personal bodyguard to follow him around the school yard. Do you guys think the parents and the school are acting correctly in this situation or is this just an embarrassing overreaction?

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I think they should have just came to a subtle solution, but it all boils down to weather the child is happy about it or not.

I think it would depend on two factors:
1) like chris said, if the child is fine with it then it's fine though it would prolly get in the way of the boy getting friends
2) how much actual bullying activity is present in the school. If the school is anti-bully (strong) it would be an overreaction though if the school wasn't then it would possibly be smart though it would have prolly been better to get a body guard if bullying did arise.

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It depends.
If the child was being bullied enough where he NEEDED a bodyguard, I think it matters about how much the parents cared about his safety. In other aspects, it is kind of an over reaction unless someone was seriously physically hurting the boy.

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^ All credit is given to Belg for one heck of a sig :3


Castellan of the Timelords

'cept bullying manifests in more than in just a physical form. It also comes in verbal which can be just as bad.

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Perhaps it is an overreaction, but whether it is or not is always decided by individuals. Personally, I think it is, but maybe the child and his parents think it's rational. I don't think anybody should have to resort to bodyguards because of who they are.