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Saviolo

(3,282 posts)
Tue Jun 19, 2012, 01:59 PM Jun 2012

Can we please stop calling it bullying?

And call it what it really is? Assault and violence.

As WillParkinson posted a little earlier, a 14 year old child was blinded in one eye when students from the grade below held him down and beat him around the head and face until his glasses broke and damaged his cornea. He now needs a transplant. The family is now suing the school:

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/brooklyn/brooklyn-family-sue-city-son-blinded-bullies-brutal-assault-roy-h-mann-junior-high-school-article-1.1098129

But they bandy the word "bullying" around again and again. Listen, I was bullied in high school. Kids can be cruel and mean little shits, but this is not bullying. We keep hearing that kids will be kids and that children need to stand up to bullies... I agree. But these kids that beat this 14 year old up are not bullies. They are dangerous, violent people. This is a separate problem from bullying, this is children that have gone completely wild, and are out of control.

How bad have things gotten when we can see something like this and call it bullying? Or shake our heads and say that kids will be kids? Kids are -dying- out there. Kids are being maimed, injured, blinded. Bullying is losing your lunch money, not your eye.

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msongs

(67,406 posts)
1. losing your lunch money is robbbery, not bullying, and you are right on here. Romney attacked a
Tue Jun 19, 2012, 02:06 PM
Jun 2012

student while he was in school and his reward is to be republican nominee for president

 

hrmjustin

(71,265 posts)
2. Bullying is evil? We need to do a better job educating kids on what it means...
Tue Jun 19, 2012, 02:07 PM
Jun 2012

...to be apart of the human family.

RandySF

(58,832 posts)
3. It IS assault.
Tue Jun 19, 2012, 02:08 PM
Jun 2012

I was told that if you have to seek medical treatment for your child after a "bullying" incident, you have every legal right to call police and report it as an assault.

YankeyMCC

(8,401 posts)
4. I was bullied
Tue Jun 19, 2012, 02:08 PM
Jun 2012

I was once held up against a tree and punched in the face and stomach repeatedly. Teachers saw the last moments of this incident and all of other incidents as well as administrators.

The worst that happened to the bullies was they were told to stop, sometimes had to sit in the principal's office.

And whatever they got in terms of punishment so did I. After all it must take two. When I started fighting back I got threatened with more severe punishment. When I complained to the principal's face that he and the school at large was not helping me, I was so angry I used curse words.

I got suspended for swearing and grounded for same at home.

I will call it bullying because bullying is not the normal social teasing and challenges young people go through. It is assault. The effort is to change the perception of the word I think that that is the proper thing to do because that is what so many had to deal with in the past and that is the term that was used. It was not ok then and we didn't call it assault, whether we should have or not, so bullying doesn't get to remain an innocent word any more.

Auggie

(31,169 posts)
5. K&R. It's assault and battery, and/or assault and aggravated battery
Tue Jun 19, 2012, 03:24 PM
Jun 2012

Aggravated battery in criminal law is a more serious form of battery, and is considered a felony.

Aggravated battery can be punished by a fine or more than a year in prison in some countries. Simple battery which is a misdemeanor in some countries can only be punished by less than one year in jail in those countries, or by a fine.

Acts most often defined under aggravated battery are:

• use of a deadly weapon
• battery in which serious bodily injury occurs, and
• battery against a child or police officer.

LINK: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aggravated_battery

KurtNYC

(14,549 posts)
6. Yes - use whatever word(s) you would use if the actions were perpetrated by adults
Tue Jun 19, 2012, 03:38 PM
Jun 2012

on other adults.

And report it to police as such.

The boy in Brooklyn was assaulted with a deadly weapon (broken glass) by 2 people. Charge them as minors (if they are) but don't call it by some quaint outdated euphemism.

 

stevenleser

(32,886 posts)
10. I argue that it should be called 'Stalking' and prosecuted that way
Tue Jun 19, 2012, 05:32 PM
Jun 2012
http://www.democratsforprogress.com/2011/12/13/repeated-harassment-is-not-bullying-its-stalking-lets-prosecute-it-that-way/

Repeated Harassment is Not Bullying, It’s Stalking. Let’s Prosecute It That Way.

By Steven Leser, on December 13th, 2011

When teens, preteens and children harass each other, even when that harassment rises to the level of utter cruelty and violence, we have this desire to give it a cutesy name that suggests the idea that this is “just something that kids do.” There is nothing cutesy about the repeated, willful and malicious following and/or harassing of another person. I use that description for this kind of behavior because it both fits what some people refer to as bullying and also is the most common description for stalking.

What we refer to as bullying is not a one-time act. If it were a one-time act, it would be mere simple assault and/or battery, or perhaps not a crime at all. No, the behavior we are really talking about when we refer to bullying or stalking is repeated and unwanted acts by one person or group against another person or group for the purpose of creating an ongoing climate of fear for the target person or group. There are many reasons a particular person or group can be singled out for harassment. It can be because the target person or group dresses a certain way, acts a certain way, is of a certain economic background, nationality, religion or ethnicity, or is perceived to be a member of the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual or Transgendered) community.

Horrific Stalking of the LGBT community

The young members of the LGBT community and those who are perceived to be members of that community have experienced and endured some of the most vicious stalking behaviors of any group. Suicides of LGBT children who have lost hope of their lives ever becoming better have become a nearly weekly occurrence. The stalking of these children needs to be stopped. Ideally, all children and all people should be educated and receive training, much as the military has given to its members, that the members of the LGBT community are human beings, equals, and should be treated as such. Regrettably, the government does not have the right to compel people outside of the military to receive such education and training. The only thing the government can do is prosecute unlawful behavior.
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(More at above link)
 

Smarmie Doofus

(14,498 posts)
11. YES! Fuckin' A!
Tue Jun 19, 2012, 07:39 PM
Jun 2012

"Murder" is closer to the mark. We shy away from that because of the implications.

But it ain't "bullying".

The terminology we choose is *everything*.

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