Opinion Bullies.

[Trouvaille]

You're attending middle school. You just happened to be the one that they all pick on. They whispered about you, they messed with your things, but you just ignored them. But they were going too far. One day, you found out who kept spreading chit-chats and lies about you. You got mad at that person. Eventually they started picking on that person instead of you.
And so you bullied that person too, out of anger. You regret it, because that person had a disease. She was going through a hard time.
But why did she spread rumors about you? They believed that person. So you made the mistake of bullying that person too.

The teacher caught you. But before that, you talked to that person and said sorry to him/her. You were friends.

But suddenly when the other bullies were caught, that person said that you also bullied her/him. She/he said you were the one who started all the mess, even though when you talked to her earlier he/she said you were friends and that she/he forgave you.

That was a lie. But the teacher believed that person.
You got expelled from school and was known as one of the worst people that ever attended there.


Sometimes, there are two sides of the story. Who do you think was wrong? some say both, some say the bully was wrong. But I just want your opinions.
(True story by the way, the "bully" was me. ;-; )

 

[Suggy]

I think everyone in that story was to blame at least partially. You should've gotten a suspension or detention or punishment like that for bullying the person, but not expelled because you understood what you did wasn't right. The person should've gotten similar punishment for lying to the teacher and being nasty to you, but not expelled either. The others in the story should've been punished worse for bullying both.

 

[Hige]

People say you shouldn't bully back, and this is why. (Also revenge doesn't make a pretty character.) I'm curious to what exactly you did because i have a hard time understanding what you could've done to be expelled. But you still deserved it (well, a suspension at least), you should've just gathered proof and told a teacher about what the other person was doing.

 

[Project Naiad]

When you are the one constantly getting bullied sometimes the only way to feel better is to move the target onto someone else (I speak for experience), it may be wrong, but what is really wrong is how kids that age are educated. Bullies aren't born.

 

[farewell]

I had a little trouble following, but ultimately, two wrongs don't make a right. Nobody's intrinsically "right" in your scenario and bullying is universally, unconditionally unacceptable. Hard times and other personal circumstances may explain why someone does bad things, but it never justifies or excuses those bad things.

 

[horsefan824]

I've been bullied my whole life due to my seizures and my speech and learning problems and I've also been made fun of my last name. One time in highschool I was at my locker and a student came up to me saying that I was stupid and that I'd never be able to do anything I wanted to do then another time a teacher told me a student was making fun of me because of my seizures

 

[Coreonysis]

"All men who hold a blade are at fault, even if that blade has an edge as dull as stone."
Anyone who begins to bully is at some sort of fault. Though often times the reasons someone begins are noble. There is no black in white in this circumstance, only grays.

 

[soundoftheatm]

Every person involved in that short story are partially at fault.
This is just my opinion but at times I feel like that when those who have special needs/deaf or partially deaf etc are always believed by teachers and authorities. So a boy that used to go to my school, who's in college now, was bullied by this one older boy in college, two other boys from my school and two other boys from another school. They made him run around public areas naked, they forced him to take drugs and they burned him with irons and literally rubbed lemon and salt into the wounds.

They were all taken into court, one of the bullies from my school had a disability of some sort and used that in court. He didn't say the boy bullied him because of it but he said the whole school bullied him, he was trying to gain sympathy because the witnesses were there, the evidence was there and all he had to do was pull that card. Even some other kids at my school who are partially deaf and require assistance, they all sit together on a lunch table and when we first started secondary school at age 11, my friends and I were trying to find a place to sit, we sat next to them and they told me to 'fuck off to my own country', 'kill myself' and they said that they would rape my mum and then they began laughing. Back then it was 2013 so I replied with one sentence, "It's 2013, that shit's really getting old now."

Some teacher/supervisor heard me and asked me to repeat what I said. I repeated it and then she asked the students who said those things if I was bullying them, they said yes. I told her the whole story, I got my friends to confirm it and even random students who were near us and heard the whole thing. The teacher finally replied with, "As if I'm going to believe anything that comes out of your mouth, leave the poor things alone." I obviously argued my case because she was going to bring the matter to my pastoral manager and the principal apparently. And then she said, "Even if they did say that, they don't understand." I just stood there silent. And then I said, "They obviously understand, they can't hear but they're not stupid."

I then took matters into my own hands and brought the situation to the principal, the other students were punished. Obviously this is not the case with all people who have difficulties or diseases, it all depends on the personality I believe. But the fact that you got expelled is ridiculous, what did your parents say?

 

[Trouvaille]

what did your parents say?

Oh... that's another story.

Well... long story short it lead to a divorce ; - ;

 

[soundoftheatm]

Trouvaille oh, I'm so sorry ;( And you didn't deserve to get expelled, especially since they didn't hear your side of the story. I just hope that you're settled into your new/recent school/college.

 

[Suum]

Realistically it does miss detail on what the two people are being bullied for in the story. Whilst bullying is unpleasant and not something I'd condone as a whole, there is a difference between causing problems for someone who really is just trying to live a normal life and causing problems with someone who is, in turn, causing problems for others. That would need clarification on what people were bullying both people for.

The jumped-to conclusion, I'd surmise, is that the person who reported the other is bad because they lied and pretended everything is OK, effectively manipulating the circumstances. That said, who's to say that the first person didn't apologise specifically to get out of trouble and never truly meant it?

I think questions like this really require motive and background to be fully explained, and at the same time people are often never fully honest about motive. This is true even when sometimes they think they are.

I find it strange someone would be expelled for a singular instance of bullying, however.

 

[Trouvaille]

Realistically it does miss detail on what the two people are being bullied for in the story. Whilst bullying is unpleasant and not something I'd condone as a whole, there is a difference between causing problems for someone who really is just trying to live a normal life and causing problems with someone who is, in turn, causing problems for others. That would need clarification on what people were bullying both people for.

The jumped-to conclusion, I'd surmise, is that the person who reported the other is bad because they lied and pretended everything is OK, effectively manipulating the circumstances. That said, who's to say that the first person didn't apologise specifically to get out of trouble and never truly meant it?

I think questions like this really require motive and background to be fully explained, and at the same time people are often never fully honest about motive. This is true even when sometimes they think they are.

I find it strange someone would be expelled for a singular instance of bullying, however.

Yeah... Christian school.

 

[Suum]

Yeah... Christian school.

Are Christian schools less tolerant of bullying? I can't say I've been to one to know.

 

[Trouvaille]

Are Christian schools less tolerant of bullying? I can't say I've been to one to know.

Well, there, bullying was a major offense. It was sort of a golden rule... but well, the teachers themselves never listened to the other sides of the stories there and only calls for "witnesses" smh

 

[Suum]

Well, there, bullying was a major offense. It was sort of a golden rule... but well, the teachers themselves never listened to the other sides of the stories there and only calls for "witnesses" smh

Ah, then it sounds like it's a structure of criticism avoidance. Effectively that structure for offences is very strict and often unfair, but the purpose of the system isn't to be fair as such, but actually so that if and when parents complain, they can show evidence of A, B, and C to make them unquestionable.

It sounds to me that parents got involved and to avoid criticism, they just went with whatever conclusion would reap the least criticism. Religious schools in particular get an insane amount of trouble from parents who aren't happy.

 

[Trouvaille]

Ah, then it sounds like it's a structure of criticism avoidance. Effectively that structure for offences is very strict and often unfair, but the purpose of the system isn't to be fair as such, but actually so that if and when parents complain, they can show evidence of A, B, and C to make them unquestionable.

It sounds to me that parents got involved and to avoid criticism, they just went with whatever conclusion would reap the least criticism. Religious schools in particular get an insane amount of trouble from parents who aren't happy.

That's true. ;-;