My Little Pony and a young Flammer

Recently saw this article relating how a young boy brought a "My Little Pony" backpack to school with entirely predictable results:

http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2014/0...-for-bullying/

Granted the kid shouldn't be bullied, but more than the other kids, I blame the kid's Mom for letting him go to school like this (in a way it reminded me of a movie from a few years ago "About a Boy").

I was wondering from the boards TS members if they were smart enough to avoid this bullying and stay on the down low. I say smart enough because even at the age of nine I would have known better than to bring "My Little Pony" paraphernalia to school. Not that I was a fan, but even at nine you could understand what was going to happen if you ventured too far out on the gender frontier.

That being said I guess some kids are clueless, I remember a kid who wore suits to junior high every day and carried his pocket watch collection around in his briefcase (I think the pocket watches were welded together for him in shop class by someone who was not a fan). Other kids are real SOBs at times, but some kids appear to ask for trouble (as unfair as it may be).

Sorry the link didn't work for me. But here are a few thoughts->

Yeah it’s the victim’s mother’s fault. WTF! No. It’s the fault of the bullies and their lax upbringing. We should have armed guards in schools so they can shoot asshole jerks who pick on other kids.

Okay, that's the over reaction of someone who's been bullied. But seriously. You should not raise a child to be ashamed of who they are and teach them to hide the proclivities that are characteristic of their fundamental identities. It’s not as if schools can’t be nurturing and that children can’t be taught to be understanding of their peers even when they're are different.

When I was growing up in white, rural Pennsylvania as an African-Korean American, geeky girl in a boy’s body, I defiantly dressed the part. Perhaps I was inspired by a Rocky and Bullwinkle DVD my Aunt gave me. In every show Mr. Wizard intoned in his heavy German accent,

“Tooter, Tooter. Always I tell you. Be just what you is, not what you is not. Folks that do this is the happiest lot.”

Yes, I had to contend with bullies. I got a few bruises and black eyes. But I also had family, friends, teachers and counselors who understood me. I knew who I was and I was determined in public to be just that.

Bullying is an attempt to gain social acceptance at the expense of another. Kids who bully do it out of a need to win the approval of their peers. If you can’t make friends with the bully, try engaging his peers.

Tooter Turtle_Fired Fireman (Tartaruga Biruta) - YouTube

Really? His mom's fault? All she did was let him have something he likes.....End of the world shit right there....
No,it's the asshole bullies and their asshole parents that are to blame.
These shitheads need to realize that making fun of people different than you is futile....EVERYONE is different. But since it's something out of the ordinary,this school decides to help the bullies by telling this kid what he can/can't bring to school...
GUARANTEED if it was say, a kid getting bullied for wearing a football backpack One,they wouldn't be telling him to leave it at home. Two,anyone that bullied him would be punished..... but NO...They take the easy way out and punish the kid being bullied....Worst part is this kid is going to get it a lot worse now that this story made the news.....

Let's back up and appreciate the irony of OPs post.

Perhaps at such a young age kids should not be so flamboyant.

To put it bluntly the kid's self preservation skills (and his mother's nurturing skills) are very poor. Sadly enough evidence of Darwinism in action. If you are stupid enough to paint a target on your back don't be surprised when people shoot arrows at you.

It may be unfair, but life often is. This whole episode seemed like a good occasion for the Mom to have a talk about public and private and what is appropriate and what is not. Most of the time you shouldn't be waving red flags at the bull.

To put this in a more adult example, perhaps Fred Phelps and his ilk should not be surprised if they demonstrate at a military funeral or in S.F. and then get roughed up a bit, tires slashed, etc. (the price of admission for some things).

While it is politically correct to say the kid shouldn't be bullied, a school administrator can't follow the kid around till he graduates high school.

You're an idiot. A nine-year-old liking a toy is flamboyant?

When I was a pre-adolescent, I got beat up and called a faggot because I was skinny and wore glasses. Why don't you go ahead and tell me I was asking for it for growing quickly and having bad eyesight?

Cretin. I hope to god your line dies out with you.

I was raised in a household where the word "faggot" was used regularly by my stepfather who had zero tolerance for little sissy boi's. I still don't know if he thought he was trying to help me or just enjoyed breaking my spirit. some of my earliest childhood memories were of me and my two sisters play; house, barbie, even dress up - it was fun!

needless to say that when you prance into the living room wearing a dress and holding your sisters hand at the same time - I learned the hard way that you will get your little fanny whipped and be grounded to your room forced to be naked the who time waiting for mom to come home. in my mind, I can still hear her laughing in the living room when my step dad told he why I was being punished.

so you learn early on in life what is and what isn't acceptable and how to hide your girly stash so that no one finds them. and how to hide your emotions, secrets and desires.

I truly hope society will one day wake up. odds are people will keep acting like Nazi's and trans people will keep becoming drug addicts to numb there emotions and conform to society.

it's fucked up, I know!

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Originally Posted by thombergeron

You're an idiot. A nine-year-old liking a toy is flamboyant?

When I was a pre-adolescent, I got beat up and called a faggot because I was skinny and wore glasses. Why don't you go ahead and tell me I was asking for it for growing quickly and having bad eyesight?

Cretin. I hope to god your line dies out with you.

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Sorry you got beat up and called a faggot as a kid, but I had nothing to do with that. Just imagine what would have happened to you if were prancing about with My Little Pony toys in tow.

Your heartbreaking childhood aside, my point was that this Mother and son were merely setting themselves up for even more problems. There are times and places for making stands, but 4th grade probably is not one of them.

I thought I made clear in the original post that the bullying was unfortunate but entirely predictable, and both Mother and offspring should have known better.

I was sharing my experience!

Here's an Idea how about I just keep my fucking mouth shut, will that work for you???

Only in the wrong social climate will bullying predictable happen. Fourth graders are only as mean and shallow as their influences. Regardless of your age or your circumstances, standing up for who you are is the only healthy choice available. The only choice that leads to self-respect.

Indeed, early on we are discouraged from disclosing our true natures to an uncomprehending world of bigotry. I would have thought HA was a place where at least we can find some support. But no. Here we still put up with chronic masturbators telling us that we should’ve known better than to be so flamboyant when we were nine. Our mother’s should’ve have told us.

You can fucking well leave my mother out of it, asswipe.

Seems to me that mildcigar as painted a flaming red target on his back. This whole episode seems like a good occassion for the Mods to talk to him about public and private and what is appropriate in this forum and what is not. That's just Darwinism in action.

Thank you Chaos, Tapatio, thombergeron and ashlyn for your contributions.

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Originally Posted by ashlyn

I was sharing my experience!

Here's an Idea how about I just keep my fucking mouth shut, will that work for you???

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Who is real and who is the sock-puppet? Ashlyn or Thombergeron?

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Originally Posted by mildcigar_2001

Sorry you got beat up and called a faggot as a kid, but I had nothing to do with that. Just imagine what would have happened to you if were prancing about with My Little Pony toys in tow.

Your heartbreaking childhood aside, my point was that this Mother and son were merely setting themselves up for even more problems. There are times and places for making stands, but 4th grade probably is not one of them.

I thought I made clear in the original post that the bullying was unfortunate but entirely predictable, and both Mother and offspring should have known better.

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You're pretty fucking thick, aren't you? On the contrary, you have everything to do with kids getting bullied. You are quite clearly the problem.

Kids get bullied for liking a certain toy, or being skinny, or being fat, or having a speech impediment, or coming from the wrong family because assholes like you excuse the bullying by blaming the victims. Bullying is not "unfortunate" nor "predictable." For those of us who are not sociopaths, it's entirely unacceptable.

The fact that you went out of your way to post this story on a forum for transgressive people, and then blame the victim of the bullying, is a pretty clear indication that you get your jollies by making people uncomfortable.

The fact that you keep coming back here to insist that the victim and his mother are really the ones at fault makes you a total, unrepentant asshole.

I really hope you don't reproduce. You would make an awful parent, and the world really needs fewer people like you.

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Originally Posted by ashlyn

I was raised in a household where the word "faggot" was used regularly by my stepfather who had zero tolerance for little sissy boi's. I still don't know if he thought he was trying to help me or just enjoyed breaking my spirit. some of my earliest childhood memories were of me and my two sisters play; house, barbie, even dress up - it was fun!

needless to say that when you prance into the living room wearing a dress and holding your sisters hand at the same time - I learned the hard way that you will get your little fanny whipped and be grounded to your room forced to be naked the who time waiting for mom to come home. in my mind, I can still hear her laughing in the living room when my step dad told he why I was being punished.

so you learn early on in life what is and what isn't acceptable and how to hide your girly stash so that no one finds them. and how to hide your emotions, secrets and desires.

I truly hope society will one day wake up. odds are people will keep acting like Nazi's and trans people will keep becoming drug addicts to numb there emotions and conform to society.

it's fucked up, I know!

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That's horrible. I'm so sorry that happened to you. I hope you take some comfort in the knowledge that your stepfather was a very unhappy person and clearly wasted his precious time on earth.

Whereas you are thriving.

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Originally Posted by trish

Fourth graders are only as mean and shallow as their influences.

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i have to say i completely disagree with this. personally i wouldn't speculate that every kid who was bullying grayson bruce was from a shallow and mean household but rather a lord of the flies group influence. humans by nature are feral. just look on this forum and you'd be hard-pressed to find a thread where people can't accept another's opinion if it's different (in fact, this very thread does just that)

so if we can't even accept one anothers differing opinions/styles etc. what makes you think these kids will? did we also come from mean and shallow influences?

as to what this kid can do. no idea. perhaps if he can explain to his tormentors why he likes my little pony in a way where they can identify with him then it's more likely they'd consider his feelings next time. but i'm no expert on child care or teaching so perhaps i'm coming from a naive place. the only thing i know is that telling them to stop bullying (or banning words like bossy) won't work. at least, it wouldn't have when i was in school

btw: glenn beck stands in solidarity with this kid, yet he's the type i'd honestly have considered as coming from "mean and shallow" influences

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humans by nature are feral.

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I don't even know what you could mean by this. Typically humans do not grow up feral. They're raised by parents and usually within a community. We are social animals. The children in Lord of the Flies are just as mean as Golding could imagine children can be. They are a testament to a writer's imagination, but they are not evidence of human nature.

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if we can't even accept one anothers differing opinions/styles etc. what makes you think these kids will?

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This plays directly into my claim. Children can do no better than their influences. But if we do better, provide better examples and guide them responsibly, they will do better as well.

But even if we can't eliminate bullying altogether, we can't tell children to hide their identities, to be ashamed of who they are, to slink away and conform on the outside, to be untrue to their fundamental natures and die on the inside.

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Originally Posted by trish

But even if we can't eliminate bullying altogether, we can't tell children to hide their identities, to be ashamed of who they are, to slink away and conform on the outside, to be untrue to their fundamental natures and die on the inside.

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It is just interesting to note who tried to bully whom on this thread and who resorted to name calling because they were uncomfortable with other's opinions.

I guess bullying is okay if you are a member of a certain group.

All I do is lurk, so that's why I have no posts.

The focus on bullying prevention is starting to switch towards aiding the victims instead of constantly punishing the perpetrators. By that I mean instead of punishing ten different kids who are all picking on the same kid for the same reason, they are trying to assist the one kid to either understand why he or she has been targeted or with developing various social skills that can overcome the issue. Please read on before you jump to conclusions.

On a school campus, at absolute best there is a 10:1 adult to child ratio (at absolute BEST). It is impossible to monitor behavior and conversations on every inch of the playground, cafeteria, hallways, RESTROOMS, etc. Even if you're an adult standing right next to the kids, you may not realize that one kid is silently mouthing the words "I'm going to beat you up" to another kid.

The shift in focus on the victims has largely been essentially teaching kids to ignore bullying behavior. Usually if they don't get a response they lose interest. Now if someone is shoving you around or physically assaulting you, that's a different story. But if it is mostly verbal or mental bullying and intimidation (which, as someone who has worked in public education at many levels for a long time, I can assure you it mostly is), it can go a long way if you aim to teach the victims to find ways to get through it.

A good example I have is this 5th grade kid I worked with in an elementary school a couple years ago. He was really quick tempered and all the students knew how to push his buttons. He was also tiny. The administration tried and tried a lot of different things with this class (mostly punishing half the class in various ways) but this kid was always getting into it with someone (girls, boys, much younger kids, etc.), but at the same time he and his parents were always claiming bullying, bullying, bullying. One day in the cafeteria a kid walked by him and asked him if a blind guy had given him a haircut. He completely lost his mind and a minor food fight erupted. Anyway, after this the administration finally got this kid set up to go hang out with the nearby high school football team everyday after school while they practiced. The team took him under their wing, blah, blah, blah, etc. Anyway he became a new person. It was pretty amazing. I talked with him a few months later and he said there was a single thing that changed how he reacted to things. He was telling one of the football players about the haircut incident and the football player said something along the lines of "you should have just said 'of course a blind guy gave me a haircut, is there any other way to get it cut?' ". Something like that. In other words: regardless of the intent, take it as a joke and move on. Interacting with the football team, and learning to not take himself so seriously quite possibly turned this kid's life around. Why wasn't this sappy story in the news somewhere? Because stuff like that happens all the time. It just doesn't make the news because it's not as exciting as some nonsensical thing about a backpack. More than anything though, this kid just stopped reacting to EVERY SINGLE THING. He just ignored it, and the kids stopped bugging him. He eventually got some friends, too.

The point is, there's always going to be someone telling you that you suck at something, whether you're Lebron James or a kid wearing the "wrong" backpack. Based on my experience working in schools I can guarantee you two things: 1) Regardless of how you feel about how the school handled this issue, I'm sure this was a last, last, last resort because this has been an ongoing issue that they are tired of dealing with--not a knee jerk reaction from school administration, 2) The media always gets school stories wrong. ALWAYS.

And how on earth, you ask, is it aiding the victim if you're taking away one aspect of his freedom of expression? Because sometimes you just need to make a decision for a 9-year-old child if he (or his guardians) is unwilling to figure out how to deal with it himself.

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And how on earth, you ask, is it aiding the victim if you're taking away one aspect of his freedom of expression?

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Indeed. How?

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Because sometimes you just need to make a decision for a 9-year-old child if he (or his guardians) is unwilling to figure out how to deal with it himself.

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This doesn't answer the question. It simply sidesteps it.

Thanks for reading my post.

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Originally Posted by trish

I don't even know what you could mean by this. Typically humans do not grow up feral.

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lol. no. humans, by nature are feral. how they grow up depends on how they're raised.

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Originally Posted by trish

But even if we can't eliminate bullying altogether, we can't tell children to hide their identities, to be ashamed of who they are, to slink away and conform on the outside, to be untrue to their fundamental natures and die on the inside.

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well, what about the bullies then? aren't we telling them to conform by accepting their victims? aren't well telling those who are naturally more aggressive and boisterous to curb their identity and to be untrue to their fundamental nature?

and i have to disagree with you on your literal assessment of lord of the flies although i'm unsure of how to expound on it as you seem to have taken the surface value of the text alone

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Originally Posted by thombergeron

That's horrible. I'm so sorry that happened to you. I hope you take some comfort in the knowledge that your stepfather was a very unhappy person and clearly wasted his precious time on earth.

Whereas you are thriving.

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At last, someone on here who isn't a fuckwit.

All the problems of the earth are shaped in our childhood. All the hangups. fuckwittery, learning difficulties, etc are formed in those early years. You want to play with a pink shiny toy and you are a boy, some cunt stops you because somewhere they have decided its "gender specific". Kids should just be able to grab stuff and play with it. You make a toy taboo for a boy or girl you cause all sorts of frustrations and issues later in life. Lines are drawn and rules are created. Wear a pink shirt to work and people call you a poof. Wear a pair of trousers men call women a dyke. "oh its just a bit of fun" - NO IT ISNT, it has far reaching implications throughout our society and somewhere we have likely all contributed to it. Look at football (soccer), how many teams have a pink strip? hardly any because men wont buy it because if they do then people will call them queer, and because thats a massive issue for most men because they "wouldnt want to be known as soft or faggoty". as if being gay makes you weak or something else retarded. Thats why theres virtually zero out gay players because people fear the shit cunts like some on here would give them.

Wouldnt it be nice to see boys getting barbies for xmas. Just by saying that I know you are reading this and laughing.. I can hear it. If you are then you are a cunt, a stunted retarded cunt of a being.

cunts..

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Originally Posted by bluesoul

humans, by nature are feral.

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No. They aren't. Their genetic makeup instructs them to raise their offspring in social groups. Their children are born neotenous and are genetically wired to be raised.

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well, what about the bullies then? aren't we telling them to conform by accepting their victims? aren't well telling those who are naturally more aggressive and boisterous to curb their identity and to be untrue to their fundamental nature?

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No. This merely conflates aggressive and boisterous behavior with bullying. The former might be part of a person's fundamental nature. The latter is not.

But let's say, you're right. Still one wants to ask, "Why side with the bully and not the target of their harassment?"

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Originally Posted by AdamCaligne

He just ignored it, and the kids stopped bugging him. He eventually got some friends, too.

The point is, there's always going to be someone telling you that you suck at something, whether you're Lebron James or a kid wearing the "wrong" backpack. Based on my experience working in schools I can guarantee you two things: 1) Regardless of how you feel about how the school handled this issue, I'm sure this was a last, last, last resort because this has been an ongoing issue that they are tired of dealing with--not a knee jerk reaction from school administration, 2) The media always gets school stories wrong. ALWAYS.

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completely agree with you on this subject. another thing is that, if a kid learns how do to deal with these kinds of attacks, they learn one of the most invaluable lessons in the world: making a negative thing positive.

when kids learn to deal with bullies in the way you explained in your example- i see it more likely that their attackers will respect them rather than being forced to accept them by an authority (like teachers or institutions) where they can still harbor malice.

the problem today is that many people want quick solutions so everyone is quick to "discipline the bully" or "ban the bad words" or "blame their parents".

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Originally Posted by trish

No. They aren't. Their genetic makeup instructs them to raise their offspring in social groups. Their children are born neotenous and are genetically wired to be raised.

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wrong. children are born feral.

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Originally Posted by trish

But let's say, you're right. Still one wants to ask, "Why side with the bully and not the target of their harassment?"

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because i don't think disciplining the bully/bullies is the way to stop the harassment. in fact, i think bullying is more natural than unnatural.

Here's Jamie French's take on it:

http://www.hungangels.com/vboard/showthread.php?t=83194

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Originally Posted by bluesoul

Wrong. children are born feral.

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You disagree that humans are hardwired to raise their children? You dispute that children are hardwired to learn from their social setting? The definition of a feral animal is one that is domesticated but born in the wild or has been returned to the wild. Humans are not generally born feral. Look it up.

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because i don't think disciplining the bully/bullies is the way to stop the harassment. in fact, i think bullying is more natural than unnatural.

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I agree, "disciplining" bullies won't help. But that's no reason to side with the bully against their prey. Bullies act to gain the approval of their peers at the expense of another. If you take the time to understand the source of this need for approval one might be able in particular cases interrupt their cycle of behavior.

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Originally Posted by bluesoul

wrong. children are born feral.

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I don't think that word means what you think it means. Nothing is born "feral," nor is anything born "domesticated."

If you had been born and left alone in the woods, you would become feral, if you didn't die. But being feral would not make you a bully; it would simply make you unsocialized or undomesticated.

Bullying is a social phenomenon. There are no "natural" bullies. Bullies are made. That's why the overwhelming majority of those exhibiting bullying behavior have themselves been bullied. They learn bullying as a coping mechanism.

And then, when shitheels like mildcigar_2001 tell bullying victims that they shouldn't act so flitty if they don't want to get beat up, the bullies see that their behavior is socially acceptable. Indeed, mildcigar_2001 is telling them that they're right, that they should beat up flitty kids. Flitty kids deserve to get beat up.

So they've been victimized themselves and they've been told that victimizing others is completely acceptable and justified. That's how we make bullies.

Thus, current evidence-based anti-bullying interventions target all children, emphasizing that bullying behavior is unacceptable, full stop. So victims feel empowered to say, This is unacceptable. And bullies themselves do not have their antisocial behavior validated.

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Originally Posted by mildcigar_2001

It is just interesting to note who tried to bully whom on this thread and who resorted to name calling because they were uncomfortable with other's opinions.

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Awwww, you feel bullied because I pointed out your despicable and antisocial attitude? Fuck you, asshole.

I hate bullies and have got myself into trouble more than once taking on bullies. I became so aggressive that at times I think i too became a bully......but I digress.

I get the point the OP is making: don't taunt the rabid dog if you don't have to or at the very least taunt it when you have might on your side. Sometimes being in the right makes no difference and I think that parent unnecessarily put her kid at risk. I feel bad for the kid.

I can't believe I'm agreeing with Bluesoul but bullies do have a purpose in society but having said that some of us also have the counter-purpose which is to slap them down.

Children are not rabid dogs, not even children who bully. They often have difficulty learning to socialize with their peers, and sometimes need adult help. This is especially so for bullies.

I do agree that bullying has a purpose. It is used by the practitioner to gain peer approval. But it is a purpose that serves only the practitioner while victimizing his target and degrading those who laugh and lend their approval.

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Originally Posted by trish

Children are not rabid dogs, not even children who bully. They often have difficulty learning to socialize with their peers, and sometimes need adult help. This is especially so for bullies.

I do agree that bullying has a purpose. It is used by the practitioner to gain peer approval. But it is a purpose that serves only the practitioner while victimizing his target and degrading those who laugh and lend their approval.

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I think the bully often is simply reinforcing the society's mores/morals. Obviously when you're on the wrong side of a beatdown (physical or emotional) you don't bother to notice these things. Believe me, when I was bullied for a) having better grades than my peers and b) for being an immigrant and c) for being non-white I soon came to realize that the people doing the bullying weren't acting out on their own. They were simply acting out their parents, teachers, and the other racist garbage that used to rule Toronto. So that grade 4 kid bullying the other kid is just acting out what's he/she has learned either at home or in the broader society around.

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Originally Posted by trish

You disagree that humans are hardwired to raise their children? You dispute that children are hardwired to learn from their social setting? The definition of a feral animal is one that is domesticated but born in the wild or has been returned to the wild. Humans are not generally born feral. Look it up.

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wrong. the problem is that you're introducing too many variables into your argument. most animals, feral or domesticated, are hardwired to raise their children. for example do lionesses abandon their young immediately after birth? do monkeys? aren't their offspring hardwired to learn from their social settings? eg. lion cubs imitating their mothers during a hunt?

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Originally Posted by trish

I agree, "disciplining" bullies won't help. But that's no reason to side with the bully against their prey. Bullies act to gain the approval of their peers at the expense of another.

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i wasn’t siding with them. i was acknowledging their response as i see it as a natural and primitive one.

also when you say bullies act to gain approval of their peers, it sounds like you're saying they don't have friends and do it to make friends. i've found most people who bully, do so when they're already in groups, and thus, with peers.
but i do agree it can be done to gain approval as well.

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Originally Posted by thombergeron

I don't think that word means what you think it means. Nothing is born "feral," nor is anything born "domesticated."

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i disagree with you too

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Originally Posted by thombergeron

Fuck you, asshole.

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in a thread about bullying, don't you think you really could've not resorted to insulting someone just because you disagree with them?

The only thing the mother failed to do was put a gun in the kid's back pack. Hate ponies? Bullet to the head. Who needs ya?

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Originally Posted by bluesoul

wrong. the problem is that you're introducing too many variables into your argument. most animals, feral or domesticated, are hardwired to raise their children. for example do lionesses abandon their young immediately after birth? do monkeys? aren't their offspring hardwired to learn from their social settings? eg. lion cubs imitating their mothers during a hunt?

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Yes. And do lion cubs bully other lion cubs and call them names? Of course not. Bullying is neither natural nor primitive. It is a learned social behavior. And that behavior can be modified.

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i wasn’t siding with them. i was acknowledging their response as i see it as a natural and primitive one.

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See above.

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also when you say bullies act to gain approval of their peers, it sounds like you're saying they don't have friends and do it to make friends. i've found most people who bully, do so when they're already in groups, and thus, with peers.
but i do agree it can be done to gain approval as well.

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Never said bullies don't have friends; only that they are desperate to win and keep the approval of their friends. They harass others because to divert attention from what they are afraid others will perceive as their own inadequacies. This is not a natural or primitive state. It is certainly not a feral state as the term is understood by lexicographers. It is an abnormal state full of anxiety and self-doubt that is redirected toward their targets. The focus of the institution (in this case the school) should be on helping the bully (not punishing the victim) because the bully is the one in need.

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Originally Posted by Jamie French

The only thing the mother failed to do was put a gun in the kid's back pack. Hate ponies? Bullet to the head. Who needs ya?

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Pretty close to my initial reaction. Great picture btw. I like the pink pony.

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Originally Posted by trish

Pretty close to my initial reaction. Great picture btw. I like the pink pony.

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So the "George Zimmerman" approach is okay as long as you are a sissy and people are making fun of you. Interesting.

Read my very first post in this thread. I gave my initial reaction, and then my serious reaction. Please don't conflate the two.

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Originally Posted by mildcigar_2001

So the "George Zimmerman" approach is okay as long as you are a sissy and people are making fun of you. Interesting.

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So, in the course of the last 24 hours or so, you, presumably an adult, have referred to a nine-year-old child as a "flammer" [sic], "clueless," "flamboyant," and "stupid." (The last is deliciously ironic, since most 4th graders know how to spell.)

Not content to leave it at that, you chime in yet again to call this child a "sissy."

And what did this child do to deserve such derision from a grown-ass man? He likes a particular toy that this grown-ass man thinks is silly.

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Originally Posted by bluesoul

in a thread about bullying, don't you think you really could've not resorted to insulting someone just because you disagree with them?

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It appears that you have an incomplete understanding of bullying, as well. I don't "just" disagree with this person. mildcigar_2001 is encouraging the ongoing victimization of children. In a civilized society, that is unacceptable. I will make no apologies at all for condemning unacceptable, antisocial behavior from grown-us who should know better.

It's just rich when bigots and bullies are called out for their disgusting behavior, and then they play the victim card themselves. I guess you buy the bogus argument that banning discrimination violates the "religious freedom" of bigots.

Hey bucko, in America you can go around carrying whatever friggin' toy your friendly neighborhood Walmart sells ya without the expectation of gettin' hassled over it. You hassle, you pay. Toys don't come with bully safety warnings because picking on someone over a worthless piece of plastic that just happens to be molded into a shape that queers your boner is an offense worthy of jail time. It's the American way. Pick on a kid, maybe you get to eat a bullet that day. Play the odds and find out if you get to star in tomorrow's headlines.

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Originally Posted by mildcigar_2001

So the "George Zimmerman" approach is okay as long as you are a sissy and people are making fun of you. Interesting.

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When you think about it, this argument is very similar to the one where women who dress seductively are just begging to be raped. Those women should have known better, and what the hell were their parents thinking?