Response to David's Post about bullying

I found this quote on David Su’s Blog about bullying and how it should be stopped.

“Everyone should speak up when someone is in trouble. Students shouldn’t be afraid of the bully at all. i also suggest that teachers and the principle should pay more attention to each student. When using the internet, i suggest staying away from signing up for websites where random people can comment anonymously. When using Facebook or Myspace, make sure that the friends that you approve aren’t strangers.

Building a comfortable education where young adults are happy is important to their educational career. if bullying cannot be stopped, kids will live through their educational career in fear and depression similar to those in the civil rights movement and the girl that committed suicide. i understand that stopping bullying takes a large amount of time and effort. But, as long as everyone puts in some effort, it can be stopped permanently.”

    I think bullying is a big problem in schools today. Bullies make life miserable for their targets and I think it should be stopped. David’s suggestion that teachers and principals should pay attention to each student is a good idea except that at most schools there is not enough people to watch every student. Another one of David’s suggestions is to stay away from anonymous forums because people often troll on them. “In Internet slang, a troll is someone who posts inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum, chat room, or blog, with the primary intent of provoking other users into a desired emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion.” It is important to set privacy settings on sites such as Facebook or Myspace so not everyone can comment on you pictures or posts.

    Bullying anonymously over the Internet can feel like a shield to bullies but it still really hurts the people that get bullied. If bullies dont see their victim face to face then it doesnt seem real to them. I would assume that most bullying happens online between people that dont even know each other in real life.

Response to Bianca`s Odd Girl Out Reflection

     I am responding to Bianca`s post because she applies what she read to in the excerpt to current events. I especially enjoyed reading her post because the exact same thought crosses my mind every time I hear a commercial promoting a candidate for governor.    

     From my point of view, this type of bullying happens when with the two California Governor candidates, Meg Whitman and Jerry Brown compete against each other through the media. Meg Whitman uses numerous and repetitive commercials to make citizens believe that Jerry Brown will lead California to destruction, while she will lead it to success. Whitman uses an underhanded way to make herself look better by making her opponent look worse. Like the girls who turned others against one girl, yet another question arises: If she has time to shoot all these commercials, why not put that energy into planning how to give teachers back their jobs. Also, commercials costs money, and she has several commercials too, so why would she waste her money on making Jerry Brown, when she can donate to the California Treasury. In my mind, doing all of this unnecessary stuff is a waste of time and money.  

     In her Reflection, Bianca addresses how bullying doesn't stop in the adolescence stage and it continues on to adulthood even in the political world in the form of mudslinging. I think this violates the ASTI Constitution in many ways. The biggest thing that aggressive commercials violate is Think before you speak or act. When politicians, such as Meg Whitman, make up or personify things that the other candidate has done to make them look bad to possible voters. As explained in the essay, Meg Whitman spends millions and millions of dollars just so she can put down her opposing candidate when she could be doing something productive. This can also happen in a school setting when students spread rumors, they usually are not thinking before they speak. By spreading a rumor that can really hurt a persons feelings and affect what other people think of them. To an unsuspecting kid, bullying seems like something that ends when you get older, but in reality, bullying is a never ending cycle.

Reflection on Odd Girl Out

    In Odd Girl Out, Rachel Simmons talks about the science of girls ganging up on each other. Though I am a boy, this applies to some extent. Whenever I was in an alliance it made me feel really bad after the fact. When I was in an alliance it was very small and was composed of people that didn’t like the target or people that the target was mean to. In that situation, my options were to just walk away or to settle the conflict civilly. In that case I did neither, we had a small confrontation but then were able to talk it out peacefully.
    My sister had a different story. She was ganged up on when she was in elementary school by a group of her “friends”. She was playing on the playground with her friend when they were approached by some of the girls my sister considers her friends. They came and gave hugs to the girl my sister was playing with and left my sister standing there by herself. After that, they left with my sisters original friend and my sister feeling very sad.
    I think people bully other people because they want to attract attention to themself and away from the victim. Bullies think that because they make themselves seem strong and powerful then people will respect them. This only works at attracting the types of people who like to follow some sort of leader. That is how most alliances are formed. Another reason people bully is because they are jealous of the person that they bully. People that bully want to be in control of the situation and they feel if they are feared then they are in control.