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A Mega Lesson On Bullying

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Author Comments

Okay. A school project. Approx. one month to create. Hope you like, I'll put a better version up when I feel like it.

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Entertaining

Hey, its Airman/Narrator voice! Just to throw some stuff out there, yes, bullying is a federal offense, oddly enough. And I have to agree, some of the voices, including my own, were a tad meh. Overall though, this whole thing still is fun to watch.

The Problem

Humans evolved where the strongest survived. You were responsible for taking care of your own safety, and proving you were worth a damn by showing you had some physical prowess to help a tribe or clan. But these days, we're not hunting animals or protecting ourselves from other tribes. We're taught that "violence is bad", that "police" or other security-by-proxy types should handle our safety (even though they're not around most of the time, and they're mostly there to prevent liability to property owners, not protect you from harm). We've also moved to an economic system where money, not strength, is power.

But, in general, humans haven't evolved that much, biologically. We're still the same primitives we used to be, trying to solve all our problems with whatever "hammer" we have on hand. (the old saying is "when you own a hammer, all your problems look like nails". The "hammer" is whatever you are good at..jocks being physically inclined, nerds mentally inclined, etc).

Humans are instinctively inclined to cull the flock if it grows too big. We live in cramped cities, and by natural design we're programmed to try to make others prove their worth. When we don't have any greater threat to join forces against (which is why folks fantasize about alien invasions or zombie apocolypses), we turn upon ourselves...culling ourselves of the "weak".

But, there's a difference between bullying someone, and defending yourself. But teachers and others view it all as "violence", and shun it, so the person defending themselves usually gets into as much trouble as the trouble-making bully that's trying to make others "prove themselves to the tribe". So kids are given negative reinforcement. They are punished for protecting themsevles, for standing up for themselves, etc. So they get pussified.

Likewise, they're given mixed signals by society in general. Assholes are rewarded. The guy who cuts you off in traffic or steals your parking spot or yells at others ... they usually get what they want. Sure, they're a dick, but they're rewarded for being a dick. Most people on top of the world...are assholes. They got there by being cut-throat assholes. Bill Gates is not a nice guy. He can act like one, but if you ask anyone that's worked closely with him, they will tell you he's an asshole. So is Steve Jobs. Warren Buffet may be one, too, although he seems to be up on top due to smarts.

But another thing these folks have in common...they're not pinnacles of physical prowess. They played the economic game, which is still a convoluted, confused mess for most of us to understand, and came out on top. They were rewarded for being assholes, bullies, and now they have tons of money to buy whatever they want.

I guess maybe I'm rambling now, but the point I'm trying to make is that in a way, bullying was a useful function in the past b/c it forced members of a tribe to prove their worth or gtfo. But we're transitioning into a species where pacifism, cooperation and intellect is trying to be rewarded. But since we still see assholes getting to the top, it sends mixed signals. We have a long way to go.

... This isn't how it works in the real world.

I can commend you for trying to put the message across (in a quite detailed and slightly humerous flash) but in reality this is not what happens in most bullying incidents. I've had to live with the failures of other people stopping these situations from happening and will likely have to do such for the rest of my life.

Whenever you tell someone about the bullying incident, one of three things can happen:

The first is what you've shown and unfortunately it's rare. In this day and age, it is usually about how many grades someone can get, or how much money someone can earn. If that means ignoring someone in need then they likely would.

The second is that they can spin the story to make you look like the bad guy the whole time, which happens frequently in society these days and has actually resulted in several people taking their own lives because no matter what they did, they were always the cause the problem even when they truely weren't. A tell tale sign of this happening is when you can clearly see the victim's own family calling them liars, even if they arrive at home with injuries or missing belongings/money.

The third situation is that the people who are being told what is happening shrug it off as a 'one time thing' or a 'phase' and just pretend to do something, but honestly don't. This situation has also caused people to eventually take their own lives because the bullying in question got worse and worse to the point where the people who were the victims could not take it anymore.

What makes situations two and three worse is that the people (the bullies) who caused the problem will have no guilt about their actions, and even after their initial victim is gone or dead, they will just keep doing it, choosing a new victim and eventually in adulthood teaching their children to do the same, thus causing a new era of bullies and another generation of victims who may or may not die with no real people to care about what happens to them.

It is also made worse by the people who are in authority (teachers, parents and/or police) to actually stop the situation standing by or even accusing the wrong people of the problem, even after the victim has died. If there's any school teachers, parents or police officers reading this, I must request... PLEASE... get the full story on these situations and DON'T leave it until it's too late. A bully who isn't stopped will continue to bully and will progressively get worse and worse... so please, think about the people who are the victims, who could very well die because of these situations.

A person who is bullied may end up never being able to live a normal life, constantly in fear of being attacked, harmed or looked upon as trash on the face of the earth... even long after the original bullies have left them alone. It can even lead to new bullies picking on them simply because of a reputation they earned at school.

IN CLOSING:

For the sake of a better future, I hope you all have read this message and taken on board the real depth of what bullying is, and what it can end up doing to the people involved.

Jaedowg responds:

The only reason I couldn't develop the story into something better was because the due date for the assignment was soon. But I'll take that to heart, thanks. :)

Understandable....

I was expecting the Airman Wont Die song. Plus I doubt a ending like that would happen in real life, but what can I say, you have to show something good to get the teach off your back.

nice

Not the best animation or voice, but I like the non violent way of solving the situation. Well I'm a teacher so what could I say

Jaedowg responds:

At least the voice wasn't all done by me... :P

Credits & Info

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Uploaded
Feb 19, 2011
10:32 PM EST