Comments on: Bullying https://www.isegoria.net/2013/08/bullying/ From the ancient Greek for equality in freedom of speech; an eclectic mix of thoughts, large and small Thu, 21 May 2026 16:19:21 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.6.1 By: Spandrell https://www.isegoria.net/2013/08/bullying/comment-page-1/#comment-934996 Spandrell Sat, 24 Aug 2013 07:18:34 +0000 http://www.isegoria.net/?p=32534#comment-934996 What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger blablablabla

In the old days, a kid being bullied could summon his brothers and uncles and have a clean fight. Today he’s a scapegoat without allies in a bureaucratic environment where the teacher most of the time enjoys watching it.

It’s fucked up, and the stupid gung-ho conservatives who talk about being tough aren’t any less retarded that the Support the Troops retards who enable USG dysfunction to spread abroad.

]]> By: Isegoria https://www.isegoria.net/2013/08/bullying/comment-page-1/#comment-934784 Isegoria Fri, 23 Aug 2013 20:58:26 +0000 http://www.isegoria.net/?p=32534#comment-934784 Certainly too strong a stressor can make one weaker rather than stronger, but the answer is not to eliminate all stressors. Rather, it’s to make sure there’s enough stress to toughen one up, but not too much.

I think we all agree that physically beating up a kid who’s recovering from surgery is way too much stress.

]]> By: ASDF https://www.isegoria.net/2013/08/bullying/comment-page-1/#comment-934753 ASDF Fri, 23 Aug 2013 19:04:11 +0000 http://www.isegoria.net/?p=32534#comment-934753 The summer after fifth grade I had to have major surgery on my chest. Several ribs needed to be removed and they eventually regrew (this can happen before puberty because its still cartilage). I spent middle school having to wear what amounted to an ugly piece of armor over my chest, because without rips anything that hit me there would hit my heart directly. This did not make me too popular.

Before the surgery I got in fights every once in awhile and lived a normal life. After I was at the bottom of the hierarchy and got beaten constantly by bullies. Despite being told that hits to my chest could kill me one beating almost did just that.

When you think bullying you are probably picturing the kind of back and forth ripping that characterizes normal teenage males. When I think bullying I think back to the constant beatings that nearly killed me.

These bullies were not strong. The worst bullies in my life nearly always fit the stereotype of a middling nobody with an abusive father. The most athletic and popular kids I grew up with never felt the need to bully, they were secure in their position. If anything those people occasionally helped me out.

Was I weak, sure. I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do about being born with major health problems and requiring extensive surgery. You might as well claim Stephen Hawking is weak and blame him for it.

The sadism of the bullies I knew growing up with is not new. It has a long history. I’ll always see bullies as weak willed and scared men who ambush cripples:

“Commodus raised the ire of many military officials in Rome for his Hercules persona in the arena. Often, wounded soldiers and amputees would be placed in the arena for Commodus to slay with a sword. Commodus’s eccentric behaviour would not stop there. Citizens of Rome missing their feet through accident or illness were taken to the arena, where they were tethered together for Commodus to club to death while pretending they were giants.”

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