Society And Its Problems

Society of Victims

"We will never, ever get rid of bullying. We should teach kids how to stand up for themselves and cope instead of wearing pink shirts and passing anti-bullying bylaws. We are creating a society of victims."

I was bullied when I was younger. My parents moved a lot, so I was always the new kid. When we went to England, I had a very thick accent that people could not understand me properly. I got picked on, mocked, made fun of, on a regular basis. It wasn't fun, and I wouldn't wish it on anyone. But the thing is, it's inevitable.

Just like war is the inevitability of individuality, bullying is the inevitability of unequal distribution of power. Except, that's what life is. You're not born on the same standard, some get a very good genetic pool and some get very crappy ones. Is it fair? Absolutely not. But it's not like everyone can be born with the same qualities. We're human beings, not robots.

Robots and machines are binary. Yes or no. We're human beings, complex and quantum. We are each unique and I can guarantee you that throughout time, from beginning to the end, there will only be one of you. Sure, people can be similar, startlingly similar, but they won't be you.

You have your own strengths and weaknesses that are unique to you. I don't mean the genetic makeup, I mean everything.

Now back to the original topic. I said what I did about human differences so that people understand that no matter how intensely you emphasise how wrong bullying is and how hard you try to stop it from existing, there will still be bullies.

The victims are not to blame. They never are. But holding someone's hand through their lives will make them inept when the times comes to let their hand go. It doesn't matter if they are your siblings, friends, children, etc.

You can only protect them best by teaching them to protect themselves. 

I can not emphasise this enough. I don't mean that punch the fucker that called you a bad word, I mean find non-aggressive ways to stop it. Telling people that you can only stop being victims by becoming bullies themselves is even worse.

We are all human beings thrown together in the world to live. It's our duty to protect those that can't protect themselves. And the best way to do that is to teach them how.

Stop bullying by giving people armour that makes swords useless instead of taking away swords.