Welcome, folks, to my first official Soapbox Session here on Ramblin' Man. I suppose now I should apologize for my absence, as life has been dog-piling me with work and I barely got a chance to write anything here. That and I finally got a girlfriend whom I love with every iota of my being, so I hope that explains where I've been, but I promise more installments are on the way, including more Toys from the Darkside and any other segments that come out of the insane asylum I call my brain.
Now that my thinly-veiled excuse for my month-long absence is out of the way, time for the feature presentation of tonight's post. You may be aware of several news stories about bully victims standing up to bullies one way or another, only to be met with the cruel hand of fate for some BS reason or another. For instance, a disabled boy who was arrested for illegal wiretaps because he recorded his bullies tormenting him. Or the other kid who was told not to bring his My Little Pony backpack to school as a precaution for bullies? Maybe the simple fact that a victim can't defend himself/herself without incurring the wrath of society which may be equal or greater to the punishment an aggressor may or may not get. That is the theme for tonight, ladies and gentlemen: Self-Defense is Dead.
Going back to the examples I mentioned above, the disabled kid who tried to record his bullies tormenting him but got arrested for illegal wiretapping. Isn't that the biggest load of BS you've ever heard? Think about it; what if nobody believed that he was being bullied? What if they wanted proof? You mean to tell me a kid can't gather evidence that he/she's been tortured? I mean, what else will someone record bullying for, an underaged snuff film? It seems as though we've become a society where bullies and douchebags rule the world and anyone who dares defend himself/herself will be strictly punished and stricken down with an iron wedgie. I thought that children were taught to stand up to bullies, and personally I find that gathering evidence is a great way to deter a bully, but nope, it's now considered wiretapping.
As for the My Little Pony backpack thing, I addressed that in a previous article, but for convenience's sake, I'll summarize my thoughts here. In short, the boy, Grayson Bruce, was told not to bring his backpack as it triggered bullies, but that logic is full of holes because A. The same logic could apply to a rape victim (If you didn't want to get raped, you shouldn't have dressed like a hussy), and B. Chances are even without the backpack, the memory still remains and he'll keep getting mocked with or without the offending object, and if that's not the case they'll easily find something else to use as fodder. However, that problem is more or less quelled, but the fact remains.
Which begs the question: What else can be done? Obviously violence is a one-way ticket to proverbial Hell, and ignoring the bully clearly doesn't work and can in turn cause more bullying, so what other options exist? I honestly wish I had the answer. If you want my honest to goodness opinion, I'd say fight against the injustice any way that you can, of course as long as it's legal. Look up the laws and find a legal way to fight back, and when they try to throw the book at you, point out that you're well within your rights to stand up for yourself or for others who can't on their own. Play by their own game, using the law to your advantage.
And that's all I have to say on that matter. In short, if someone is giving you a hard time, don't stand there and take it. Do something, and keep our world from becoming a world of wusses.
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