Bullying Must Become Illegal.

[Mushu]

It's somewhat of a fallacy to use percents because it's on a scale of 1-100 and were talking about millions. If 50million kids were bullied and 500,000 committed suicide, that's a large amount of kids.

[Holkeye]

I was typing a big exposition on my thoughts on this whole thing, and my beliefs in general, but I decided that you would all probably think I'm a monster. So I deleted it, and I'll write this instead:

I feel sorry for the boy's family, because their son is dead.

[Zylos]

Oh Holk, we already know that you are a monster. In bed.

[Acolyte]

It's somewhat of a fallacy to use percents because it's on a scale of 1-100 and were talking about millions. If 50million kids were bullied and 500,000 committed suicide, that's a large amount of kids.

Wow, that was actually well said scalinger. :o

[ForeverZero]

@Acolyte:
You need to re-read my post that got you started off on a tangent. I never said 99.999% of DEATHS were not suicides. I said 99.999 DO NOT COMMIT SUICIDE. That is a pretty accurate figure. There is an astronomical difference in the two. You are getting all in troll-mode because YOU didn't actually read what I said properly. You took it the wrong way, and now just instead of saying "Oh, my bad, I misread that.", you are hell-bent on "being right", no matter if has anything to do with the original reason or not.

@Zylos:
I am not "for" bullying. I am saying what can anybody realistically do to stop it?  I support harsher punishments in school for and increased awareness, but neither of them are problem solvers, they are a drop on a forest fire. If it saves a life, then its worth it, but criminally charging a child for name-calling is ludicrous.

[Acolyte]

I am not "trolling", nor am I "hell bent on being right". I'm saying suicide is a serious problem, and if you can't see that, then I'm guessing you've never been exposed to it, or contemplated it. You're concerned with making this into an argument. I'm going to stop posting now, because this is completely pointless.

[Zylos]

To STOP bullying... very little can be done, honestly. Just like there's little to be done to prevent one person from murdering another. But like committing murder, there are ways to handle the aftermath. There are ways of providing counseling or help groups for meeker students, there are ways for teachers to better keep an eye out in the future if they know that one student has been regularly picked on, there are ways bullies can be punished if there's sufficient accusations against them (ie, multiple people having been picked on, someone having witnesses, etc, etc).

As far as criminally charging... Perhaps, perhaps not. I'll let the courts argue that one, as extreme as it sounds. If one person abuses another to the point of suicide, there has been cases where the first person is charged with murder, and I believe there are several laws out there about cyber-bullying now.

[Mushu]

  Every harshness has a good and bad side. Look at the Spartans, they killed and weeded out specific infants to become warriors and, with a small group of people, accomplished amazing feats. NASA picks astronauts based on their height because of the physics of the crafts. Any time you weed out based on something you will get better results in what your looking for, at a price. In this case, some learn 'why should I care what they say' while others kill themselves. Imagine if, in boot camps for the military, the drill sergeant was nice to them, would that help train them for the rigors of combat? In this case though bullying can be said for the purpose of being emotionally tougher but some kids commit suicide so there is a cost in this also.

[Irock]

Why is it that almost every time there's an even remote connection to the government in a thread, Irock supports the government fully and takes almost the exact opposite stance of what sounds like the right thing to do?

But I rarely support the government and I always take the stance of what sounds like the right thing to do.

It's an issue that ought to be dealt with by schools, parents and individuals, not the law. Even if you want to be outrageous and get the government involved, it would make more sense for it to be handled at a state level, just as most laws (such as murder) are.

Bullying is bad, but Lady Gaga is misguiding her effort.

[tSwitch]

Bullying is a problem, yes.  Not the name-calling "haha fag" sort, but the brutal physical abuse, or the sort of utter psychological devastation that it seems little girls are so prone to causing.  Something should be done.

I agree to this sentiment.

However, I refuse to agree that the government should be giving stupid little teenagers criminal records because they were stupid little teenagers.  Teenagers don't understand consequences, or even think about what could be going wrong or any of that.  You'll never get them to, they're too young.  Treating stupid kids as criminals because they are stupid kids is not going to solve anything.

[Mushu]

Prosecuting kids for bullying is like giving them pills for being hyper in class, it doesn't solve the underlying issues.

[tSwitch]

There is no way to solve the underlying issue.  The underlying issue is that kids are brutal, always have been, always will be.  The best thing we can do is try to give age-appropriate punishments, and educate them.  Parents and teachers need to stop being passive, and the government needs to stay out.

[ForeverZero]

There is no way to solve the underlying issue.  The underlying issue is that kids are brutal, always have been, always will be.  The best thing we can do is try to give age-appropriate punishments, and educate them.  Parents and teachers need to stop being passive, and the government needs to stay out.

Well said. My sentiments exactly.

[Zylos]

I disagree, but then I'm probably being optimistic. I feel the government should get more involved, but not to the degree that Lady Gaga is suggesting. The government should be involved with positive reinforcement and support rather that with actual punishment or setting "standards of conduct". I mean, getting a criminal record for calling someone a faggot is idiotic; a detention or other suitable school punishment would be best depending on the severity of the actual cases. But it would make perfect sense if there were state laws forcing the schools to try harder to crack down on it, provide a better environment for the students and awareness of everything, etc etc etc.

[tSwitch]

I think schools can handle that themselves.

[Adrien]

punishing people or kids for being kids is not right. whats next some guy goes to jail for 5 years for calling some one a douche? all because he had a bad day and that persopn pissed him off?

[Acolyte]

That's like saying "Let's not persecute people for sexual harassment, it's just guys being guys!"
Physical and verbal abuse are not okay, no matter what age you are.

[Gracie]

Bullying is a part of life.

Its called humanity. We all do it, aware of it or not. It either kills you or makes you stronger. Having been through 13 years of physical and mental torture at the hands of other people, I learned that you either suck it up, fight back or die.

Harsh, but I wouldn't be who I was today without learning to defend myself against this and its made me stronger as a person.

Its sad when people kill themselves, but its not something you can just fix by making it "illegal". That would also be impossible, BTW.

[Adrien]

the more you make something not ok, the more people are going to do it

[pacdiggity]

the more you make something not ok, the more people are going to do it

Like trolling you?

[haloOfTheSun]

IRONY!

[Dwarra?]

That's like saying "Let's not persecute people for sexual harassment, it's just guys being guys!"
Physical and verbal abuse are not okay, no matter what age you are.

Sexual harassment isn't illegal either, it's just frowned upon in school and work environments.
Which is exactly the same treatment bullying gets.
Neither should be illegal and if you think so, you're retarded. Now if you want to sue the fuck out of someone for doing either, be my guest, but a kid should never go to jail for plain and simple bullying.

[Acolyte]

When did I ever say they should go to jail? Maybe you're the one with the bad reading comprehension?
Also, sexual harassment is illegal.http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/types/sexual_harassment.cfm

[tSwitch]

To address the sexual harassment point.

The difference between bullying and sexual harassment is that sexual harassment is enacted by adults who should know better.  Kids don't know jack shit about how their actions affect the world around them, and they will never come to that conclusion at such a young age.

You can't punish someone who doesn't understand the repercussions of their actions to the full extent of the law.  That's why murderers sometimes plead insanity.

[Dwarra?]

When did I ever say they should go to jail? Maybe you're the one with the bad reading comprehension?
Also, sexual harassment is illegal.http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/types/sexual_harassment.cfm

In work and school environments.
AND you were disagreeing with a post who only said bullies should not go to jail, had nothing to do with other forms of persecution. So in essence, yes you were condoning jail-time for bullying.