Boy's backpack blamed for bullying

[s_stabeler]

Fuck.

You're probably right.

of course- its' the easiest option for the teachers. ( I've many tales of teachers being incompetant in dealing with people who were bullying me. Inclusing one case where I was literally being seriously bullied right under a teacher's nose. The kid got away with it.)

[gremcint]

God this reminds of the shirt I had that said gatorade, in tiny letters on the sleeve and otherwise was plain. This developed into a bunch of people chanting gatorade at me whenever I was around them or tried to speak (years before the water boy movie) or the watch my grandma gave me, it was digital watch but had an analog face around that part. Too me it was just a watch to them at school it was an excuse to follow me around saying it was a fake rolex even long after I stopped wearing the watch. Then there is the fact I was a tall kid and so my feet would stick out from under my desk a couple inches and the students would pretend to trip over them and the teacher even pulled me into the hall asking what was going on. The list goes on and on of situation after situation where I mind my own business and bullies come over to me but somehow it's always the victims fault.

[mikoyan29]

this is the course of least resistance. It is likely that the parent of the bullies are bullies themselves.

[HEMI6point1]

Yeah, it was the bag that caused the kids to be assholes. Sure.

[Lace Neil Singer]

Reminds me of my childhood. "Well, maybe you'd fit in better if you didn't act so weird."

That's exactly what my headmaster said to me. -.- Seems ignorant minds think alike. I was also told to stop reading "boring" books all the time and try and find some common ground with the other girls, as if it was my fault that they were picking on me.

The parents of this boy ought to do what my parents did; take him out of school and enrole him in a new one, post haste. There's no point in hoping things will get better; now that the bullies know that they'll get away with their actions cuz it's all the boy's fault for wearing a MLP backpack they won't quit.

[Andrew B]

Looks like there might me a followup: http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014...bag-to-campus/

[Rageaholic]

That's exactly what my headmaster said to me. -.- Seems ignorant minds think alike. I was also told to stop reading "boring" books all the time and try and find some common ground with the other girls, as if it was my fault that they were picking on me.

Wow what a great teacher discouraging students from reading.

That reminds me of reading buddies in 5th grade. It just so happened that my class shared with my brothers class and my brother was assigned one of the kids who has been a jerk to me. I remember hearing some justification about how it might let us get to know each other or some bullshit. Fuck that shit! I don't want to become friends with some asshole who's been picking on me. What's wrong with just coexisting without conflict?

God teachers can be so naive.

[Lace Neil Singer]

In primary school, a teacher tried just once to try and force me to be friends with a girl I hated by making me sit next to her in class. After about ten minutes of this, I took out my compass and stabbed her in the arm with it. The teacher never tried again.

Funny thing is, twenty years on, I met her in the local pub and we got on. XD I can't even remember why I hated her in the first place.

[Greenday]

Come on, is anyone really surprised that a boy with a MLP bookbag got bullied? It's the equivalent of putting a kick me sign on his own back. Of course he was going to get bullied for it.

Doesn't make it right, but it shouldn't be shocking that a boy in middle school who watches something primarily aimed at girls would get teased over it.

[Rageaholic]

Considering how cruel kids can be, I would have been surprised if he wasn't bulled. What makes this a special case is the douchy way the school handled it. Essentially caving into the bullies.

[bara]

Bullies are going to find a reason to bully. Glasses, good grades, reading for enjoyment, being smaller, being socially awkward, not dating, not having had sex, not having a bf/gf, having family problems, being adopted, having red hair, wearing non-brand name shoes, liking to answer questions in class, having only one parent, having twp parents of the same sex, having no parents, having money, being poor, etc ad nauseum et infinity.

The point is simple, its the bullying that is wrong and that is what needs to be corrected. Yes, I was bullied. It was because I was smaller, socially awkward, and got good grades. I could have kicked the ever living crap out of either one of them except they never did it alone. I told the office personal and they told me not to tattle. I showed the massive bruise on my arm to my dad and he called the cops.

The cops visited the school the next day and apparently since neither boy wanted to go to juvie it stopped. Over the summer I shot up over a foot. Needless to say the bullying stopped after that forever till I got to basic training. I handled that one differently, layed that moron out on the floor. The Drill Sergeant thought it was hilarious. But not everyone has a dad that will take the matter seriously or ever grows tall and strong like me.

I had reported the incident several times before the bruise and nothing was done.

[s_stabeler]

Come on, is anyone really surprised that a boy with a MLP bookbag got bullied? It's the equivalent of putting a kick me sign on his own back. Of course he was going to get bullied for it.

Doesn't make it right, but it shouldn't be shocking that a boy in middle school who watches something primarily aimed at girls would get teased over it.

is it surprising? not particularly. ( although MLP is actually a poor example- there is a LARGE periphery demographic for MLP. Large enough for multiple large fan conventions in a year. It's arguably a show for everyone nowadays.) However, what IS unacceptable is that the school's reaction was to tell the kid to leave his backpack at home, while letting the bullies off scot-free.

[MrsEclipse]

I'm glad they did eventually let him bring his backpack again and focus on the actual problem. I just wish they could have done it on their own instead of being publicly shamed into it.

[Duelist925]

Come on, is anyone really surprised that a boy with a MLP bookbag got bullied? It's the equivalent of putting a kick me sign on his own back. Of course he was going to get bullied for it.

Doesn't make it right, but it shouldn't be shocking that a boy in middle school who watches something primarily aimed at girls would get teased over it.

Did you just skip the entire thread?

We're ticked about how the school handled it. No one here is shocked that kids picked an obvious way to bully someone.

Seriously, did you read anything other than the threads title? Just about every comment has been about how the school basically blamed him for the issue, rather than actually addressing the bullying problem.

[Hyena Dandy]

Yes, of course he was going to be bullied. Because unless you have a ridiculous amount of confidence, it's very hard to pull off something particularly different from the rest of your peers.

But different doesn't equal bad, and he's the one being punished here. Their actions were out of line, and they're not the ones getting in trouble.

It DOESN'T make it right. You're right on that. So I suggest that perhaps we shouldn't act like it does.