" Bullying is always going to be a thing. Stop wrapping your kids in cotton wool, teach them to stand up and defend themselves and stop raising a society of victims."
Recently I read that quote on Facebook. It was laid over a picture of Tom Hardy in a fighting stance, with comments suggesting victims grow a pair, grow thicker skin, stop being offended so easily, and 'get over it' because sensitive people are what's wrong with society.
To anyone that believes in that philosophy: you're the problem.
This suggests that, you know, instead of raising your child to not be an asshole, you should raise your kid in a way that anticipates they are ridiculed and bullied. This suggests that instead of being a kind, genuine person that is considerate of other people, you should straight up not care about other people's feelings and be a dick. This suggests that it is better to raise your kid to be an ass, than a decent person.
telling parents that they need to raise their kids to be tougher so that they are tough enough to take harassment is bullshit. It tells parents that a really shitty, mentally, and physically scaring thing is going to happen to your kid no matter what, so instead of trying to prevent it from happening, teach them to deal with it.
It's too easy to tell a victim to rub some dirt in it and get over it than it is to get someone to stop being a nasty and abusive human being. And that's really f**king sad.
This mentality is victim blaming.
This is the same mentality that tells women that they will get raped because of what they were wearing. Clothes don't cause rape, rapists do. People that are victims of bullying don't cause bullying. They don't perpetuate bullying simply by existing. Bullying wasn't caused by the way the victim was raised. Bullying doesn't happen because there are 'victims'.
Parents raising their children with tender loving care, in a home where the parents love and take care of them, letting the kids know every day that they are loved, and wrapping them in 'cotton wool' are not the problem.
The problem is with the parents that teach their children to be disrespectful, rude, and inconsiderate jackasses. It shouldn't become some innocent kids problem having to deal with YOUR devil spawn because YOU don't know how to parent!
Telling people they shouldn't be so sensitive and telling victims they need to get over it encourages bullying! This lets people feel justified in being an unapologetic asshole their whole life, while they ruin someone else's life.
Please, look a scrawny 6th grader in the eye that is picked on, threatened, and beaten up mercilessly every single day by a group of guys twice his size, and tell him he just needs to stand up for himself, and tell me if you can live with yourself afterward. Because if you can, I don't want to know you.
Bullying is a disease. And instead of fighting the disease, you're fighting the symptoms.
