On perceptions of prejudice

[Tweek]

Bullies are not positive, but they are a fact of life. They exist in nature in all forms...it would be great if we could all just get along in this world, but that's not gonna happen anytime soon.

Best advice I ever got....don't surround yourself with assholes. Not always easy, but not totally out of reach at times either. My life improved greatly when I stopped trying to understand the jerks, and put my energy towards seeking out and spending time with the people who really cared about me.

 

[Dreamerr]

oops to be edited
You learn from all situations positive or negative and that is a great thing.
Everything think you do has consequences both pos and neg it is just part of life.

 

[djonkoman]

my problem was that I was surrounded by people at a different wavelength. they all loved soccer, I hated it(well, a few games for fun was ok, but after that I wanted to do another game, and I wasn't interested at all in professional soccerteams and championships). I got a 10 on everything without any effort, they assumed I loved school and was putting a lot of effort in it(some of them called me calculator, while ironically maths has always been my worst subject). I didn't like the games they usually played on the school-playground, so I rather stood at the side waiting till recess was finally over and I could go back to reading (comic)books.
but since I was in elementary, and this was the only school in the village, I didn't really have an option to surround myself with other people. I did usually gravitate towards the new kid, but we didn't get those that often. (ironically, how I remember it, I was the first to say hi to that bully that transferred from another school. he was assigned the desk next to mine)

but in our schoolsystem(in the netherlands), there are different highschools based on intelligence. so I went from an elementaryclass where everyone but me and 1 other were adviced the lowest of the three kinds(I don't really know how to describe it otherwise, although lowest sounds negative, while it's just for people with a different skillset), while I went to the 'highest'(wich has the possibility of going to university when you have finished it), so my new class were a lot of people from different schools, and people I could relate to much better.

 

[kingofnull]

Best advice I ever got....don't surround yourself with assholes.

Good advice. Guessing that's why we only get one.

 

[vape4health]

Wow, some of you (or worse your babies) have really been thru some shit, much love guys.
I don't believe OF meant any harm at all and I do understand the comment, in reality maybe it was OF with the disadvantage in that situation. Not to offend you OF but YOU was the dumbass paying HIS mortgage. (Hope my comment comes off right, seriously no offence to anyone)

 

[misanthrope]

I've never understood people telling kids to ignore being bullied, it just seems like lazy parenting/teaching to me.

I understand both sides of the ugly coin of bullying. There was a time when if another kid had a speech impediment or something, I would be right there turning it into a big comedy routine for the entertainment of myself and others. Why did I do this? Well, firstly I drastically underestimated the emotional pain this sort of thing causes - having never been on the receiving end I didn't know. Secondly I thought I was some sort of Jr stand up comedian, I had found a way of making people laugh and it was my only source of self esteem. The guilt for inflicting emotional pain on others will follow me for a long time, but one day something happened which I believe really helped me...

I was mocking another boy for being effeminate (a bit of mimicry as I recall - the standard of humour was not clever or subtle). This guy had taken a lot of shit over time and just snapped, he threw a chair at my head as hard as he could and the leg hit me in the eye giving me a proper shiner. The second I felt the pain I knew I was in the wrong - it was as if the injury jolted my brain into reality. Later in life I faced more Karma and learned to be a better person.

All I can say now is thank you Ed, thanks for teaching me such an important life lesson.

So, my advice to the kids would be this: If you happen to meet a creature as pitiable and wretched as a bully - BEAT THEM AS SEVERELY AS YOU CAN. As well as helping yourself, you might be helping the bully as well... I hate to think how long I would have been an arsehole if that boy had ignored me.

BTW I hope you guys don't think I'm evil, I'm talking about ten or eleven years old. A looong time ago. I learned my lesson and was nicer after that.

mod note: You're definitely evil. You made back-to-back posts instead of using edit. Two posts merged.

Apologies, my bad