So, after hearing about http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2014/03/17/thugs-win-again-my-little-pony-edition/ yesterday, I'm curious to hear CD's opinion on this topic of bullying.

If this kid is telling the truth (I mean, let's face it, kids lie to make themselves look the victim.) and was pushed and called names or otherwise bullied, is this not the fault of the kid or his mom? I don't condone what those kids did, but let's be real here. He went to school with a My Little Pony backpack with a little doll in it. I mean, if you like MLP and you're a guy, that's generally you keep to yourself and/or on the internet. Most times I see a guy walking around with an MLP shirt or something just as childish, I'm sure I'm not the only going 'geez, what dork/loser.' I mean, I'm not going to act I'm too cool for school here, I mean, I wear a few nerdy shirts I love, but when you're wearing stuff outside your demographic range in public, you kind of should have realised there will be people who respond with funny looks or laughing at you. I mean, most people won't BULLY someone over it IRL outside of schools, but still, it just seems like this kid is way too coddled if he sees NOTHING wrong with walking around with an MLP backpack at School. That'd be like me not expecting weird looks for walking around in a shirt for Tangled or some other kids movie, you know?

Anyway, what's your opinion on this story CD?

Maybe he just needs some better friends. I like wearing my animal ear hat, and I have a pair of short shorts, and if someone were to make fun of my clothings and call me a pack of british cigarettes, he'd shove them up against a locker and threaten them with physical violence. Kids know their place when someone with physical authority is in the room. Which is nice, since I wouldn't be able to defend myself. Even if I could, I'd end up saying "sorry" after every swing.

Besides, pink was a MAN'S color once, so perhaps pretty pink pony princesses are no exception. They are very manly.

Thats right if you want to be different in school you gotta live with the [censored] you get with it.

I guess he could of kept it to himself, but I can't really say for sure since no one knows the real side of the story. I only watch it for the show, I don't really bother with all the merch, pictures, etc. as that is too awkward for me IMHO. What the kid could of done was maybe show some humiliation and make fun of himself as I have done that before in embarrassing situations in school that did not result in a bad day.

That seems kinda contradictory, because in school we were always told "BEE YERSELF! BE WHO YOU WANNA BE! UNIQUENESS! INDIVIDUALITY!!" but in reality it's the exact opposite. Way to confuse the youngins and give them false hope

advlts lie. You can be yourself just remember the [censored] that goes with it.

Really? Huh.

-----

As for the article.... that seems like a pretty poor way of handling things, school administrators! Way to fall down on the job.

Yes, there are school dress codes, and shirts (typically ones with rude sayings, or explicitly provocative/antagonizing sayings on them - like hostile religious or political comments) that are banned because they "cause disruption". But kids being bullying idiots and not being punished for it, isn't the kind of disruption they're talking about there.

You're blaming the victim here? It's his fault he got bullied? Seriously? I honestly cannot believe you are thinking that train of thought is even remotely justifiable.

We already got a thread about----oh wait a this is a different story ....I have to say I'm a bit at ends with this article I mean the kid has a right to show off his love of My Little Pony: Friendship and the school is telling him to not bring his MLP Backpack, yet we live in society that shoving equal rights down our throats to the point of it being called "Tyranny of Masses" and that's okay, yet it's not okay for a little boy (or grown men or women) to show off their love of a pretty damn good tv series....?

I {BEEPING} HATE HYPOCRISY !!!!!

It would be like dangling a baby wrapped in bacon in front of a pack of pitbulls.

Okay there's a difference between kids girl shows and kids boy shows

In my eyes it's okay to watch what ever you like. But not everyone in this world is like me and you may get the crap beat out of you. So don't fo it unless you like being kicked.

More like a "baby wrapped in bacon in front of dingoes" they're more known for it . My real beef with this is---when people go on public tv or in front of any media and "come out of the closet" everyone is like "Let's give this person a medal" or "Let's throw them a parade" or "Freedom of Speech and Expression at it's finest . Yet a person who likes MLP are still shunned, bullied and tormented by the same people....Like I said I hate hypocrisy.

Yeah, there might be shows we identify as 'boys' shows and 'girls' shows, but at the same time, those who beat people who dislike that you dislike something out of the social norms is never okay. I mean, this is a show, but beating someone for something harmless to them isn't very far off in context to beating someone over their religion, their sixual/gender lifestyle or their race. Bully by any name is bullying. Things need to change before it's 'acceptable' to wear things like MLP and be seen with barely an eyelash batted. CONVERSELY, change needs to come from people, so perhaps this kid is one of those martyrs for the cause. But it still doesn't justify the bullying.

I too am LGBT friendly. lisbian, Gay, Brony, Transgender.

I jest, of course

When I was little I owned barbies...I [censored] you not I told my mom that Gi Joe needed a wife to come home to. That got me royally beat as a seven year old. It's not right no but people won't change

And I'm cool with that .

"But it still doesn't justify the bullying."

I'd love to see "justified" bullying. Anyone care to offer up an example?

Same, but I was under the assumption that EVERY action figure/doll ever made was actually created for the sole purpose of fighting. Barbie had to get her fair share of combat of Sith Lords and crappy Cracker Jack Sailors!

That's not true at all. People change all the time. In the last 200 years of American history we've gone from slavery to sitting next to various races as equals and gender/sixuality equality is rapidly sweeping our country. This is progress, slow yes, but it's a show that people can, do and will change for the better. Not all people, I know, but in general, we learn to accept others for their differences and appreciate them. This is just a path on the road to change of accepting others for being different.

Bootcamp?

The guy who bullied me for 12 years said when I asked why do you do this and his reply was "because you are mentally [censored] [censored]"

Bootcamp is ENTIRELY different. It's meant to break you down from civilian and rebuild you up as a basically trained soldier/sailor. You can't really compare being trained to fight in wars and defend your country to any civilian moment.

People volunteer for bootcamp. And many military forces actively say that bullying is wrong - http://www.army.mil/article/71315/Dempsey__Hazing__bullying__intolerable__in_military/

That wasn't really what I meant by "justified".

The kid should be able to hold any interest that doesn't harm others in any way without being harmed in return for it. I've always been a weird one but I've also always been very thick skinned so I could take the bullying I got as a kid (although I certainly didn't appreciate it) but thick skinned or not no kid should really have to experience being bullied for something as harmless as liking MLP and the bullies in question should have been the one to receive punishment for their actions rather than the kid being punished by not being able to take his bag to school.

Kids will always be kids so I'm not surprised to hear about kids bullying kids, but I am surprised by the advlt community that doesn't seem to know how to handle the situation appropriately.

I have a 2-year-old son myself. It breaks my heart to think of him getting bullied at school for any reason, and as a parent it's kind of impossible for me to view these things dispassionately or objectively. There's just never an excuse for bullying. I don't go in for the "everyone's a winner, let's coddle our children and protect them from everything," but bullying is bullying.

I didn't have all that much trouble, myself, while I was in school; and I went to what by any description would be termed pretty tough public schools. I had my share of bullies but I was able to deal with them. Still, it seems to me that what happens is you get groups of bullies and they're going to decide who their targets are. Just because this kid can no longer wear that backpack to school, I don't see that as changing the situation very much. It's not like those kids are suddenly going to ignore him now that he's not wearing a particular backpack to school.

Also - that article is about 9-year-olds. Maybe I could see the situation being somewhat different if we were talking about highschool kids or something (though I still wouldn't view the school's response as viable, justified, or particularly effective.)

No, I just can't view any of that article as acceptable, personally, from where I'm coming from. It just kind of makes me sad, really.