I'm not saying Cho-the-psycho was justified in what he did. The bullying only enhanced and encouraged the psychotic ravings in his mind. Too bad people were too cruel to notice and get a counselor involved when it could have made a difference.
I was bullied in school being the smallest girl in the class. What stopped it was when my circle of friends told the bully that if she hit me, she would have to fight all of us. That stopped it, but today, we'd be labeled "gang members" and expelled.
Common sense solutions or taking matters into your own hands are not encouraged in today's schools. Tell the teacher or the principal and they only make life worse for you. More kids suffer in silence more often than not. No wonder kids beg their parents to be homeschooled.
Until the root cause of bullying is addressed, we are going to see more shootings. The bullying today is not like it was when we went to school. Some of it is downright terroristic in their threats.
I think that the kids who decided to pick on Cho and the teachers and schools who did nothing about it have some blood on their hands. And I sure hope that they fell guilty about it.
When my daughter was in jr. high school she was bullied by a female classmate. I told her to suck it up. “Don’t take any crap from anyone” was my message and instruction. She dealt with her antagonist.
When she was in high school she was bullied by a boy. She did her best to deal with him, but he wasn’t dissuaded. When he ultimately assaulted her I was working in another nearby city. I called the school to find out what was being done about this. Unfortunately (for them) the administrative staff blew me off. I walked off the job and drove home. I stormed into the school and demanded to see the Principal. Again I was given the brush instead of a response. So I gave her five minutes to call the police. She wanted to sweep it under the rug so I called the cops myself and demanded that the boy be arrested for sexual battery (he tried to feel her up). They walked the boy out of the school in handcuffs.
I succeeded in getting the boy arrested and expelled from school (he was able to avoid prosecution - another story), and the Principal and her teacher suspended for failing to supervise and protect.
They despised me for the rest of the time my daughter was enrolled there, but she never had to endure another incident. They were also too scared of me to take it out on her. In that scenario, was I the bully?
There is EXPONENTIALLY more being done about bullying now than at any time in memory. There has NEVER been a time when there weren’t school bully’s (or bully’s in life). So why are there more (and more severe) problems now than ever before?
In my mind there is a failure to use common sense. The feminization of public school systems have substituted policies, regulations, and “zero tolerance” for common sense. Liberals invoke moral relativism instead of moral strength. But the first casualty of liberalism is personal responsibility. The local news just featured another story about the Virginia Tech shooting incident. The theme of this one (like so many others) was “What is it going to take to keep us safe?”.
The answer is beyond liberals’ comprehension. The answer is, Nothing can “keep you safe”. The best that you can hope for is to “keep yourself safe”. When we depend on others for our protection, we choose subjugation. I don’t know about you, but I refuse to be herded like sheep!