Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

After watching an interview with Casey Heynes and then another with the kid who bullied him and it brought back memories of when I was bullied. Reflecting on these memories I realised that we never stop being bullied in some form or another throughout our lives. Also that we all, inevitably bully someone else, even if we do not realise and see it as bullying. I am ashamed to say that upon thinking on it, I have indeed bullied without realising it.

Is it a part of being human that we bully others for being different? In one of the interviews, can't remember which, a parent says they want to eradicate bullying altogether. I think this task is impossible because I feel it is a part of being human. If I go back to the last time I could think of being subjected to some form of bullying, it would not be that long ago and I am sure that most on here could say similar. What do you guys think?

Here is the video if you haven't seen it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziIfZx0XX5I

Why? Bullying is just nature's way of letting you know you're at the bottom of the pack. Don't you like nature? What do you have against Gaia???

I think bullying is human nature; and striving to eliminate this undesirable behavior is also human nature.

Why is it undesirable?

"Bullying" (in my opinion there is no such thing), prepares children for adult life.

Trying to eliminate these social interactions between children will just help to reinforce the "reward everything, even failure" society that we live in!

PhantomViper wrote:Why is it undesirable?

"Bullying" (in my opinion there is no such thing), prepares children for adult life.

Trying to eliminate these social interactions between children will just help to reinforce the "reward everything, even failure" society that we live in!

Haha that's hilarious!

...

oh shazzbot... you're serious aren't you?

PhantomViper wrote:Why is it undesirable?

"Bullying" (in my opinion there is no such thing), prepares children for adult life.

Trying to eliminate these social interactions between children will just help to reinforce the "reward everything, even failure" society that we live in!

Bullying also affects people going into adult life, and it continues as an adult as well. Not in positive ways, that is from personal experience and watching others. If you have experienced bullying you would know why it is undesirable.

Azza007 wrote:

PhantomViper wrote:Why is it undesirable?

"Bullying" (in my opinion there is no such thing), prepares children for adult life.

Trying to eliminate these social interactions between children will just help to reinforce the "reward everything, even failure" society that we live in!

Bullying also affects people going into adult life, and it continues as an adult as well. Not in positive ways, that is from personal experience and watching others. If you have experienced bullying you would know why it is undesirable.

So what are those examples of bullying that go on in adult life?

streamdragon wrote:

PhantomViper wrote:Why is it undesirable?

"Bullying" (in my opinion there is no such thing), prepares children for adult life.

Trying to eliminate these social interactions between children will just help to reinforce the "reward everything, even failure" society that we live in!

Haha that's hilarious!

...

oh shazzbot... you're serious aren't you?

In a sense Phantom has a valid point. Although I don't quite agree with it fully. Bullying is something that is never going to be eliminated altogether, and I think that attempts to do so are doomed to failure. As others have said in this thread, it seems to be a part of human nature. But there should be a limit. Everyone has a tolerance, a gentle ribbing every now and again doesn't really hurt anyone, it's when bullying gets physical, or is repeated frequently that something needs to be done about it.

We can stop it, all it takes is some time, effort, and education.

And bullets

PhantomViper wrote:Why is it undesirable?

"Bullying" (in my opinion there is no such thing), prepares children for adult life.

I sincerely hope that you are being sarcastic.

I could not hope to recall every instance of bullying that happened to me during just 5 years in High School, but if you call leaving someone suicidal enough to attempt it, or leaving someone so petrified of the concept of going to school every day, or leaving someone mentally scarred to the point where they required psychiatric help before they'd even reached 16 years old, and how it's worsened over the years to the point where even the simplest tasks are difficult, 'preperation for adult life', then you are not someone I wish to even share the same planet with.

Don't bother replying either; my ignore list just a got a little larger.

PhantomViper wrote:Why is it undesirable?

"Bullying" (in my opinion there is no such thing), prepares children for adult life.

I'm currently in middle school, going into high school. A boy on my soccer team committed suicide as a result of bullying, and 2 other girls I know have attempted it as a result of bullying. One had to be sent to a mental hospital for rehabilitation.

Want to reconsider a bit of what you just said?

Tibbsy wrote:

streamdragon wrote:

PhantomViper wrote:Why is it undesirable?

"Bullying" (in my opinion there is no such thing), prepares children for adult life.

Trying to eliminate these social interactions between children will just help to reinforce the "reward everything, even failure" society that we live in!

Haha that's hilarious!
...
oh shazzbot... you're serious aren't you?

In a sense Phantom has a valid point. Although I don't quite agree with it fully. Bullying is something that is never going to be eliminated altogether, and I think that attempts to do so are doomed to failure. As others have said in this thread, it seems to be a part of human nature. But there should be a limit. Everyone has a tolerance, a gentle ribbing every now and again doesn't really hurt anyone, it's when bullying gets physical, or is repeated frequently that something needs to be done about it.

I agree that bullying is something that will never go away. Put plainly, there will always be jerks.

Bullying does not "prepare a child for adult life"; it has nothing to do with the "reward everything even failure" gak that he's spewing. "A gentle ribbing every now and again" is also not bullying, and bullying need not be physical. Bullying does nothing more than allow one gak to feel good about their gakky self at the expense of someone else; it serves no useful purpose. It doesn't toughen kids to the reality of adult life. It doesn't teach them skills or lessons beyond "some people are gaks", which isn't something that's hard to figure out. There is not a single upside to bullying, not one. The downsides become evident, when a smart and loved 12 year old hangs himself.

Azza007 wrote:

PhantomViper wrote:Why is it undesirable?

"Bullying" (in my opinion there is no such thing), prepares children for adult life.

Trying to eliminate these social interactions between children will just help to reinforce the "reward everything, even failure" society that we live in!

Bullying also affects people going into adult life, and it continues as an adult as well. Not in positive ways, that is from personal experience and watching others. If you have experienced bullying you would know why it is undesirable.

So? There's the way things ought to be and the way things are.
"This sword is too heavy!"
"Get stronger!"


Here's how you deal with bullies. This weekend, TBone the Terrible (8 lb of nearly blind RAAAAGE!)backed off a dog 10x his size by getting in his face and snarling (helps that he was on the sofa and thus face to face). When you can back off a predator who's mouth is as big as your body and in fact tried to eat you a few months ago, you've learned how to deal with bullies.



Automatically Appended Next Post:

Avatar 720 wrote:

PhantomViper wrote:Why is it undesirable?

"Bullying" (in my opinion there is no such thing), prepares children for adult life.

I sincerely hope that you are being sarcastic.

I could not hope to recall every instance of bullying that happened to me during just 5 years in High School, but if you call leaving someone suicidal enough to attempt it, or leaving someone so petrified of the concept of going to school every day, or leaving someone mentally scarred to the point where they required psychiatric help before they'd even reached 16 years old, and how it's worsened over the years to the point where even the simplest tasks are difficult, 'preperation for adult life', then you are not someone I wish to even share the same planet with.

Don't bother replying either; my ignore list just a got a little larger.

Why?
Its a valid discussion point. If you can't handle bullies in high school, you are never going to be able to handle many events in real life. Its not that being bullied is good. Its how you handle it that helps strengthen and define you.

And I am not saying this from someone who handled bullies well. "Over the top" response might be understating it. However it helped prepare me for life, and in a direct real way kept me alive one night.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

DarkCorsair wrote:

PhantomViper wrote:Why is it undesirable?

"Bullying" (in my opinion there is no such thing), prepares children for adult life.

I'm currently in middle school, going into high school. A boy on my soccer team committed suicide as a result of bullying, and 2 other girls I know have attempted it as a result of bullying. One had to be sent to a mental hospital for rehabilitation.

Want to reconsider a bit of what you just said?

Why?
Should tthreats of physical violence be permitted in school? Of course not. What else?
Name calling? Suck it up. That truly is life.

While an extremely unfortunate and sad occurrence, people who have committed suicide "because of bullying" would have done so also because of any other number of reasons. It just shows that they either had a mental imbalance in the first place or had other sever issues going on that are masked by the "because of bullying" reason: parents going through a difficult divorce, physical or sexual abuse at home, etc.

DarkCorsair wrote:

PhantomViper wrote:Why is it undesirable?

"Bullying" (in my opinion there is no such thing), prepares children for adult life.

I'm currently in middle school, going into high school. A boy on my soccer team committed suicide as a result of bullying, and 2 other girls I know have attempted it as a result of bullying. One had to be sent to a mental hospital for rehabilitation.

Want to reconsider a bit of what you just said?

Why?

I agree some bullying does help to teach kids how to deal with problems. However, at that level, it's not really "bullying", more getting picked on. I see bullying as it being where it reaches the point that the kid no longer wants to go to school or do other things in fear of being bullied, which then leads to suicidal thoughts.

PhantomViper wrote:While an extremely unfortunate and sad occurrence, people who have committed suicide "because of bullying" would have done so also because of any other number of reasons. It just shows that they either had a mental imbalance in the first place or had other sever issues going on that are masked by the "because of bullying" reason: parents going through a difficult divorce, physical or sexual abuse at home, etc.

He was 12. 12. Noone is emotionally stable at 12, that's part of being a 12 year old. He was picked on because his father had died, because he was smart, and because he was small. There was nothing to show he would have killed himself, had a bunch of gak kids not bullied him constantly at not one, but TWO fething schools.

But please, blame the victim more.

streamdragon wrote:

PhantomViper wrote:While an extremely unfortunate and sad occurrence, people who have committed suicide "because of bullying" would have done so also because of any other number of reasons. It just shows that they either had a mental imbalance in the first place or had other sever issues going on that are masked by the "because of bullying" reason: parents going through a difficult divorce, physical or sexual abuse at home, etc.

He was 12. 12. Noone is emotionally stable at 12, that's part of being a 12 year old. He was picked on because his father had died, because he was smart, and because he was small. There was nothing to show he would have killed himself, had a bunch of gak kids not bullied him constantly at not one, but TWO fething schools.

But please, blame the victim more.

So you're now about thought control. Sounds like you're not talking physical threats, just words. What he needed was help ind ealing with his grief. Anything else really is nature and you can't stop it.
Life sucks in the Real World. When you're an adult, it will continue to suck.

streamdragon wrote:

PhantomViper wrote:While an extremely unfortunate and sad occurrence, people who have committed suicide "because of bullying" would have done so also because of any other number of reasons. It just shows that they either had a mental imbalance in the first place or had other sever issues going on that are masked by the "because of bullying" reason: parents going through a difficult divorce, physical or sexual abuse at home, etc.

He was 12. 12. Noone is emotionally stable at 12, that's part of being a 12 year old. He was picked on because his father had died, because he was smart, and because he was small. There was nothing to show he would have killed himself, had a bunch of gak kids not bullied him constantly at not one, but TWO fething schools.

But please, blame the victim more.

I'm not blaming the victim. He killed himself because he was mentally unstable due to his fathers death, that was the main reason, the bullying was just the catalyst. He could easily had done it if he had flunked at school (because he was smart and smart kids are usually very conscious of their academic results), his girlfriend had left him or had some other serious setback at that critical moment of his life. Changing schools probably didn't help his mental state as well.

Frazzled wrote:

streamdragon wrote:

PhantomViper wrote:While an extremely unfortunate and sad occurrence, people who have committed suicide "because of bullying" would have done so also because of any other number of reasons. It just shows that they either had a mental imbalance in the first place or had other sever issues going on that are masked by the "because of bullying" reason: parents going through a difficult divorce, physical or sexual abuse at home, etc.

He was 12. 12. Noone is emotionally stable at 12, that's part of being a 12 year old. He was picked on because his father had died, because he was smart, and because he was small. There was nothing to show he would have killed himself, had a bunch of gak kids not bullied him constantly at not one, but TWO fething schools.

But please, blame the victim more.

So you're now about thought control. Sounds like you're not talking physical threats, just words. What he needed was help ind ealing with his grief. Anything else really is nature and you can't stop it.
Life sucks in the Real World. When you're an adult, it will continue to suck.

I said nothing about thought control; no idea where you're getting that. I've already said that there will always be jerks, no changing that.

What I have said is that bullying serves no purpose. It doesn't "toughen you up", especially at 12 when the brain hasn't fully developed emotionally in the first place. He needed help, I will agree with you there. What he needed help dealing with, was a bunch of gaks in, again, TWO separate schools, who felt the need to systematically destroy him because he had no father, was smarter than then, and smaller than them.

As an anecdote proving nothing, I am an adult. I have a job and responsibilities. Nothing I endured at the hands of other children in middle and high school prepared me at all for adult life; not a single thing. I am not tougher for it, emotionally or physically. If anything, I have a complex about a few things because they were so maliciously pointed out when I was young, but are completely ignored as an adult.

I know you're a parent Frazz, of both canine and human. Can you honestly say to me you'd expect your daughter to take on a kid 10x her size if she were being bullied? I can't imagine you would. (I imagine T-Bone would be slipping into some girls bedroom at night to slit her throat...) Bullying is not the same as a child hood disagreement or enmity. In many cases, the "lesson" being taught is that those who are supposed to protect you, won't. That might be fine if you expect the police to save you from a bar fight you picked with a biker gang, but it's not okay for a child to learn that parents, teachers and other grown-ups that are supposed to protect them won't do anything.

Frazzled wrote:Why?
Its a valid discussion point. If you can't handle bullies in high school, you are never going to be able to handle many events in real life. Its not that being bullied is good. Its how you handle it that helps strengthen and define you.

And I am not saying this from someone who handled bullies well. "Over the top" response might be understating it. However it helped prepare me for life, and in a direct real way kept me alive one night.

It is not a valid discussion point. Being all ITG and saying that bullying is harmless is like saying that wife beating should be an olympic sport; surely it only helps prepare them for later aspects of married life? Surely if they can't handle being beaten, then they're never going to be able to handle married life.

Also bear in mind that this isn't American High School, it's British High School. I was bullied constantly from age 11 to 16, and attempted suicide near the end of the first year. How can you possibly say that someone who can't handle being tormented at 11 years old will never be able to handle real life events when they're older? There is absolutely no base to the absurd claim that if I were not bullied, i'd enter real life at 18 and fail miserably.

I tried to handle it as best I could, but there are limits, and there's only so much I could do. The school declined to help at every turn, whenever I tried to strike back i'd be called up on it, and there was nothing I could do about it, especially when the bullies were all friendly with lots of the teachers. In year 8, I had a heavy maths book thrown at the back of my head. The student was later expelled, but not for that (although I like to believe it was in part), but because he was doing other things like smoking. In the same year, we were on a trip for RE, and the same witch and one of his witch friends pulled my trousers down for all to see. I kicked the other witch after I pulled them back up, got reprimanded, and one of them was told to walk at the front with the teacher. Nothing else.

Tell me, using your obviously infinite wisdom, how any of this, any of it at all, could be handled better by myself? Bearing in mind that I suffered from, and continue to suffer from, Osgood Schlatter's disease, and so my right knee was a weakspot that was often targeted by physical attacks, and I could not run or even move very fast. Also bear in mind that I weighed nothing, and was often picked up from behind and rendered completely unable to do anything.

But don't you dare try to tell me that bullying helped me, or that I would not have been able to succeed in anything regardless. There is absolutely no proof that being tormented at 11 means you'll fail in life at 21, or 31 if it hadn't happened.

PhantomViper wrote:Why is it undesirable?

"Bullying" (in my opinion there is no such thing), prepares children for adult life.

Trying to eliminate these social interactions between children will just help to reinforce the "reward everything, even failure" society that we live in!

So making a kid who is gay feel horrible enough to kill himself is good?
Also newsflash, a teens brain isnt the same as an adults brain, many times they cant think past the moment.
And no it would reinforce that idea, it would make things fair.

PhantomViper wrote:

streamdragon wrote:

PhantomViper wrote:While an extremely unfortunate and sad occurrence, people who have committed suicide "because of bullying" would have done so also because of any other number of reasons. It just shows that they either had a mental imbalance in the first place or had other sever issues going on that are masked by the "because of bullying" reason: parents going through a difficult divorce, physical or sexual abuse at home, etc.

He was 12. 12. Noone is emotionally stable at 12, that's part of being a 12 year old. He was picked on because his father had died, because he was smart, and because he was small. There was nothing to show he would have killed himself, had a bunch of gak kids not bullied him constantly at not one, but TWO fething schools.

But please, blame the victim more.

I'm not blaming the victim. He killed himself because he was mentally unstable due to his fathers death, that was the main reason, the bullying was just the catalyst. He could easily had done it if he had flunked at school (because he was smart and smart kids are usually very conscious of their academic results), his girlfriend had left him or had some other serious setback at that critical moment of his life. Changing schools probably didn't help his mental state as well.

I'm not blaming the victim.

He killed himself because he was mentally unstable due to his fathers death

Yes. You are. The boy's father died when he was 4 years old; 8 year prior.

Source:
Kids chased Joel, and threw sticks at him, and hurled pipes at him, and teased him because he was smart and was 4-foot-9. He seemed able to handle it, until the kids began taunting him about his father, who died when Joel was four years old.

Joel was just one example. There are plenty of other stories of children, teenagers, killing themselves because of the emotional and physical abuse they sustain on a daily basis, and for no reason. If a parent or sibling talked to these children the way a bully talks to someone, we would call it emotional child abuse; something considered grossly unacceptable in today's society. Why should it be any different just because the tormentor is unrelated?


edited to fix code tags

streamdragon wrote:

Frazzled wrote:

streamdragon wrote:

PhantomViper wrote:While an extremely unfortunate and sad occurrence, people who have committed suicide "because of bullying" would have done so also because of any other number of reasons. It just shows that they either had a mental imbalance in the first place or had other sever issues going on that are masked by the "because of bullying" reason: parents going through a difficult divorce, physical or sexual abuse at home, etc.

He was 12. 12. Noone is emotionally stable at 12, that's part of being a 12 year old. He was picked on because his father had died, because he was smart, and because he was small. There was nothing to show he would have killed himself, had a bunch of gak kids not bullied him constantly at not one, but TWO fething schools.

But please, blame the victim more.

So you're now about thought control. Sounds like you're not talking physical threats, just words. What he needed was help ind ealing with his grief. Anything else really is nature and you can't stop it.
Life sucks in the Real World. When you're an adult, it will continue to suck.

I said nothing about thought control; no idea where you're getting that. I've already said that there will always be jerks, no changing that.

What I have said is that bullying serves no purpose. It doesn't "toughen you up", especially at 12 when the brain hasn't fully developed emotionally in the first place. He needed help, I will agree with you there. What he needed help dealing with, was a bunch of gaks in, again, TWO separate schools, who felt the need to systematically destroy him because he had no father, was smarter than then, and smaller than them.

As an anecdote proving nothing, I am an adult. I have a job and responsibilities. Nothing I endured at the hands of other children in middle and high school prepared me at all for adult life; not a single thing. I am not tougher for it, emotionally or physically. If anything, I have a complex about a few things because they were so maliciously pointed out when I was young, but are completely ignored as an adult.

I know you're a parent Frazz, of both canine and human. Can you honestly say to me you'd expect your daughter to take on a kid 10x her size if she were being bullied? I can't imagine you would. (I imagine T-Bone would be slipping into some girls bedroom at night to slit her throat...) Bullying is not the same as a child hood disagreement or enmity. In many cases, the "lesson" being taught is that those who are supposed to protect you, won't. That might be fine if you expect the police to save you from a bar fight you picked with a biker gang, but it's not okay for a child to learn that parents, teachers and other grown-ups that are supposed to protect them won't do anything.

We are pack animals. We are constantly fighting with each other to "reach the top of the food chain" as it were and this starts as children with the so called "bullying" and progresses through our entire adult life. Its human nature and it will never disappear.

You are kidding yourself if you think that how you dealt with bullies in your childhood doesn't affect the way you deal with adversity and competition in your adult life / career, even if in an unconscious way.

I was always a smallish child and a smart one to booth. I was also always a prime target for bullies and I learned to deal with them, most "normal" children do. And that IS one of the lessons that bullying is supposed to teach a child, that sometimes she has to deal with these problems herself. The most a parent can do is give her the "tools" to do so.

Who's saying bullying isn't horrible? It can be.
Its also life, unless you want to live in some PC thought control gulag. Thats the only way you can stop it, but even then you can't stop it.

Schools, like everywhere should be free from physical assault or threat thereof. Everything else...put on your big girl panties and just deal with it.



Automatically Appended Next Post:

hotsauceman1 wrote:

PhantomViper wrote:Why is it undesirable?

"Bullying" (in my opinion there is no such thing), prepares children for adult life.

Trying to eliminate these social interactions between children will just help to reinforce the "reward everything, even failure" society that we live in!

So making a kid who is gay feel horrible enough to kill himself is good?
Also newsflash, a teens brain isnt the same as an adults brain, many times they cant think past the moment.
And no it would reinforce that idea, it would make things fair.

Saying its the bullying is not the only factor. Again no one said its good. Its just life.

In case no one ever told you...life sucks, then you die.

Just PArt of life? The cold is just part of life, Bullying is something we can control. But im sorry frazz, bullying is something you obviously never dealt with on a deep unrelenting level to the point where you had no friends in schools because everyone thought you whee a freak.

streamdragon wrote:

PhantomViper wrote:

streamdragon wrote:

PhantomViper wrote:While an extremely unfortunate and sad occurrence, people who have committed suicide "because of bullying" would have done so also because of any other number of reasons. It just shows that they either had a mental imbalance in the first place or had other sever issues going on that are masked by the "because of bullying" reason: parents going through a difficult divorce, physical or sexual abuse at home, etc.

He was 12. 12. Noone is emotionally stable at 12, that's part of being a 12 year old. He was picked on because his father had died, because he was smart, and because he was small. There was nothing to show he would have killed himself, had a bunch of gak kids not bullied him constantly at not one, but TWO fething schools.

But please, blame the victim more.

I'm not blaming the victim. He killed himself because he was mentally unstable due to his fathers death, that was the main reason, the bullying was just the catalyst. He could easily had done it if he had flunked at school (because he was smart and smart kids are usually very conscious of their academic results), his girlfriend had left him or had some other serious setback at that critical moment of his life. Changing schools probably didn't help his mental state as well.

I'm not blaming the victim.

He killed himself because he was mentally unstable due to his fathers death

Yes. You are. The boy's father died when he was 4 years old; 8 year prior.

No, I'm not blaming the kid. And I understand the whole "seemed able to handle it, until he killed himself" scenario allot better than you could ever imagine, but if bullying led to suicides there would be thousands of cases every year. Heck, we are all nerds in this forum (apart from mattyrm apparently), that means that ALL of us have been bullied during our school years, and we are all still here!

Like I said, bullying can be the catalyst, but the underlying cause to the suicide is always something else.

hotsauceman1 wrote:Just PArt of life? The cold is just part of life, Bullying is something we can control. But im sorry frazz, bullying is something you obviously never dealt with on a deep unrelenting level to the point where you had no friends in schools because everyone thought you whee a freak.

1. Pray tell me how you are going to control it. First you should define it.
2. If you knew me you would know how wrong you are and how its really excellent you're not physically here as I might have thrown you out of the window as an instinctive response.
Wait. I post pictures of wiener dogs on an internet forum not dedicated to wiener dogs and you think I don't know what it is to be called a freak? I think there is a long list of people just on that board who line up in agreement that I'm not right in the head. DUH!

Ok how about this then? not everyone has the emotional resources to deal with bullying, some many have parents or teachers that cant help them deal with. even if its the father that teaches them boxing or such many today do not have the resources.
Also wwe have defined bullying

bul·ly 1 (bl)
n. pl. bul·lies
1. A person who is habitually cruel or overbearing, especially to smaller or weaker people.
2. A hired ruffian; a thug.
3. A pimp.
4. Archaic A fine person.
5. Archaic A sweetheart.
v. bul·lied, bul·ly·ing, bul·lies
v.tr.
1. To treat in an overbearing or intimidating manner. See Synonyms at intimidate.
2. To make (one's way) aggressively.
v.intr.
1. To behave like a bully.
2. To force one's way aggressively or by intimidation: "They bully into line at the gas pump" (Martin Gottfried).
adj.
Excellent; splendid: did a bully job of persuading the members.
interj.
Used to express approval: Bully for you!

hotsauceman1 wrote:

PhantomViper wrote:Why is it undesirable?

"Bullying" (in my opinion there is no such thing), prepares children for adult life.

Trying to eliminate these social interactions between children will just help to reinforce the "reward everything, even failure" society that we live in!

So making a kid who is gay feel horrible enough to kill himself is good?
Also newsflash, a teens brain isnt the same as an adults brain, many times they cant think past the moment.
And no it would reinforce that idea, it would make things fair.

In what planet do you live in?

Real life is anything BUT fair! If a kid is gay, name calling is the least form of adversity that he will have to deal with while growing up.

You people seem to live in some fantasy land where everything is rosy and perfect and everyone is nice to each other... Guess what? When you become an adult you will get beaten, robbed, lied to, stealed from, back stabbed and will generally have a whole lot of very unfair stuff happen to you. Better that you learn to deal with it when its just a big dumb jock trying to take your lunch money and calling you names.