So.
Making fun of people for comments that seem smart-ass-y is. Not good.
Because either you’re making fun of an autistic person or someone else who doesn’t pick up well on jokes or you’re making fun of someone for an attitude that is frankly best ignored.
Those jokes aren’t funny, honestly.
It’s horrifying to me that some of you are only against bullying when
1) The victim is of a marginalized group and
2) They are being bullied specifically because of that marginalization,
And everything outside of that is fair game to y’all and “totally okay.”
❄💙 Aria 💙❄
Like, some of you will see a kid of color being bullied for their race or an LGBTQIA+ kid being bullied for their gender or orientation or a disabled kid being bullied for their disability or whatever, and you’ll be like “Oh no, that’s tragic, how horrible.”
But that same kids gets bullied for watching anime or playing a video game that isn’t popular or for “talking/walking/acting weird” or for not being a good dancer or for some other totally harmless thing, and suddenly you are all oh “Well, they did it to themselves basically. They deserve it. Maybe if they get shoved in a locker, they’ll grow up and be normal instead of some creepy freak.”
Some of you will even go out of your way to join the bullies! And you think this is totally okay!
“We should embarrass and humiliate kids more. That way, they won’t grow into weirdos.” Fuck no. We should be standing up against bullying instead of supporting it.
And then some of you will come in like, “Well, maybe we should be careful about who we bully, just in case they’re actually disabled and mentally ill or something. Like, maybe we should make sure we don’t accidentally bully someone who is marginalized.” And you think that’s noble. You’re basically saying, “Let’s bully these other people instead,” but you think you’re doing a good deed.
And you’ll write these posts like, “Hey, we should stop bullying people for being oppressed. We shouldn’t bully people specifically for having traits of their oppressed group.” And you’re not wrong, but you hear how that sounds, right? Like you’re saying if you bully them for any other reason, then it’s okay.
And honestly? Many of you think that. You absolutely do. And it’s terrifying.
Others of you? It depends on the age of the victim. Like, bullying a 10 year old for any reason might be wrong, but a 15 year old or an 18 year old or a 25 year old? That’s different, apparently.
I’m sick of it. It’s disgusting.
Can no one see how this rhetoric about bullying is dangerous?
Like, I’ve been bullied. I know how hurtful it can feel. It literally should not matter why it’s happening; it’s wrong and it kills and destroys people.
But I guess that doesn’t matter to you as much as weeding out the freaks, right?
❄💙 Aria 💙❄
Yes! This, so much!
You can’t justify bullying by saying “oh this is a good reason to bully them” – my bullies thought they had good reasons to bully me too!
You justify your behaviour in the same way as them, and you have to realize that and then stop doing it.
“if i knew you were autistic/adhd/mentally ill i wouldn’t have treated you that way”
haha okay i know this sounds pretty wild but hear me out buddy 😉 to humiliate invalidate and demean another person repeatedly is actually never okay so Fuck You Anyways
hot take: autistic people shouldn’t have to disclose that we’re autistic in order not to get mocked for our behaviour
what i mean is i’ve seen/experienced way too many times where someone’s being ridiculed over doing something harmless and when the people doing the mocking find out the person’s autistic they’re like ‘ooohhh…….. well i didnt know…’ and apologize. like? at that point it doesn’t even matter if the person is autistic or not, if you’re making fun of autistic behaviour you’re making fun of autistic people, period. either you’re an asshole or you’re not, and autistic people shouldn’t have to inform everyone that we’re autistic in order to get some sympathy and be allowed to exist as we are without getting made fun of
My word.
FUCKING. THIS.
yeah like.. mocking people for moving or speaking in an unusual way is shitty even if they’re not? autistic? and if you’re okay with mocking an nt person for those things then that shows you think those things are inherently bad and wrong, it’s just that autistic people get a free pass because they “don’t know better” or whatever. and that’s ableist!
also I don’t know how to tell you that bullying people is bad regardless of whether they’re secretly autistic!! don’t do that!!
No offense but when are these takes trying to provide some “defense” for bullying because the objects of the bullying were “too weird” going to stop. Like people don’t usually develop these kinds of “strange” or anti-social behaviors in a vacuum anyways. I knew a girl in middle school who did the growling thing and she had been bullied since the 3rd grade, long before she got into anime. She did the growling thing because kids would physically harass her and teachers wouldn’t do anything about it, but they stopped when she started doing that. She told me it was easier to stomach getting made fun of for doing “weird” things/having “weird” interests than it was to have inherit facts about herself mocked.
Like I know some Anime Kids in school were invariably dicks but you still can’t ultimately use odd or “cringy” behavior to justify the cruel choices of other people to mock and torment others. So many of these kids have tons of trauma from being mocked just for having a particular interest or sense of style. Was a kid wearing a raccoon tail to school because they thought it was fun and cute really worth mocking them to the point of self-hatred? If kids were getting bullied to the point of tears in this year because they liked to do Fornite Dances in the lunchroom would you think it’s funny and that the kids deserve bullying for being weird?
And this shit was also just like an excuse to even more safely pick on people who were already on the ‘to-bully’ list. Think about how many people from this group were fat or not white or gay or neurodivergent and how that played into how they were ostracized in the first place. A lot of these kids would’ve gotten bullied even if they weren’t into anime/doing These Particular Weird Things because that’s what bullies do. That’s what bullies were doing before they “got into weird stuff” and it’s what they would’ve continued doing. Stop trying to make it a funny joke that people decided to traumatize their classmates because their classmates tried to commit the crime of having “abnormal” fun or having “abnormal” ways of dealing with harassment.
maybe – and hang with me here this might be hard to swallow – just maybe, it’s wrong to bully anyone for literally any reason, no matter how “weird” they are
I think the fact that when I was being bullied as a kid the advice I got amounted to “just ignore it” and “don’t let them know it bothers you” contributed a lot to my tendency to avoid my problems and just make them worse and how I have trouble expressing negative emotions.
It’s also just shitty advice in general that puts the responsibility on the victim and does nothing to solve the problem.
all public school anti-bullying activism is extremely transparent and meaningless
faculty: BULLYING IS BAD!! ZERO TOLERANCE POLICY!! THIS IS A HATE FREE ZONE!!
me: hey this person called me a stupid dyke today
faculty: hmm that’s unfortunate. have you tried perhaps, not being gay?
I feel like everyone is against bullying until they actually look at the kids who are being bullied.
The cheesy anti-bullying tapes that they show in schools feature these skinny straight white neurotypical kids who get picked on for no reason. Usually the insults are something along the lines of “You’re a loser!” or “Get lost, freak.” All the kids watching immediately feel bad for the victim, and think “Aw! She didn’t deserve that!”
Then, ten minutes later, they go pick on some marginalized kid without thinking twice. As an autistic person, I was often this kid. The insults I heard growing up were not “You’re a loser!” or “Get lost, freak.” They were “Don’t let the retard work with us” or “Shouldn’t she be going to the special school?”
The problem is we teach kids that bullying occurs for no other reason other than just to be mean. This could not be further from the truth. Bullying occurs because as a society, we condition kids into hating fat, black, neurodivergent, queer, and disabled people. Kids don’t bully each other just to be mean. They do it because if something’s “wrong” with the person, it’s completely justified.
But of course, we can’t tell kids this kind of stuff. We can’t say, “Hey! Making fun of your gay classmate is bad!”
Because when we do, suddenly the phone calls come pouring in, each with a parent on the other end screaming “You can’t be feeding my son that liberal propaganda!”
There’s no excuse for bullying.
“They’re weird!/They’re not normal!”
That’s your opinion, not a fact. What you really mean is “They’re not like me”. They’re not hurting anyone by not being like you.
“They’re cringey!”
Again, it’s just your opinion, and they’re not hurting anyone. Cringe culture is pointless anyway.
“They’re annoying!”
Once again, just your opinion. If you think someone’s annoying, why not just stay away from them? No need to be rude.
“They’re autistic!”
Shame on you. Get out of my face.
“They’re fat!/They’re ugly!”
And you’re shallow. So what if you don’t like the way someone looks? It’s not your place to make them feel bad about it.
“They’re [any non-straight sexuality]!”
Get out of my sight. This is the 21st century.
“They’re trans!”
See above.
“They’re just seeking attention!”
You don’t know that for a fact. And even if they really are seeking attention, you don’t have the right to shame them.
“It’s funny to pick on them!”
Shame on you if you think bullying is funny. Get a life.
“I was just joking around!”
That’s no excuse. There are other ways to have fun that don’t involve putting other people down.
“Words can’t actually hurt anyone!”
Wrong. Words do hurt, and sometimes they can hurt more than actual physical injury.
“I’m not a bully, they’re just too sensitive!”
Not everyone reacts the same way. If you weren’t so rude, there wouldn’t be anything for the victim to be “sensitive” about.
“I’m just speaking the truth!”
Honesty is great. But you can be honest and say what you think without being rude about it. There’s a fine line between ‘brutally honest’ and ‘downright rude’.
“I have freedom of speech!”
You do. But if you’re using your ‘freedom of speech’ to bully and shame others, then you’re abusing it.
“But-”
No.
I don’t care what ‘reason’ you pull out of your ass to try to justify bullying, it’s invalid. Bullying, whatever the reason is, is unnecessary, cruel, and totally pointless.
If you bully someone, you’re basically telling them:
- “You don’t deserve to be happy”
- “You’re inferior to me”
- “Your feelings are a joke”
Is that really what you want to be telling people?
Is that really how you want to make people feel?
Lol like what fucking mental gymnastics do you have to through to justify behavior that literally hurts people and could effect them for the rest of your life just because haha the kid who doesn’t get social cues a majority of people find obvious is funny or whatever the fuck.. grow up. Bullying is bullying and isn’t okay in any way shape or form, it doesn’t matter what age you are. It’s not hard to treat people with some compassion, empathy, and just generally KINDNESS. Yeah you know.. just fuck off and don’t talk to me if you think that shit’s funny or okay. Other people exist for more than your cheap joke.
ifesbob 