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Culture

Bully and Wrath of the Titans

Kidville.

Kurt Loder | 3.29.2012 6:00 PM

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The new documentary Bully takes you straight back to school days—and they're still every bit as awful as you might remember. Here once again are the cool kids, the pretty people, the jocks; and over there, the loners and the losers on whom they often prey. This wretched divide may fade in memory the farther away we get from our own school years, but Bully brings it back—from the loners' and the losers' point of view this time—with a harrowing power.

One of the miserable kids we meet is Alex, who's 12 years old and just starting middle school in Sioux City, Iowa. Alex is a classic misfit: the lost look, the awkward manner, the glasses. He has been bullied by other kids all his life. Because of his prominent fleshy lips, they call him "fish face." They steal his clothes when he's in the gym shower room. They push him around, slam his head into walls, sometimes cheerily throttle him. On the bus to school they reach over across the aisle and start punching him to pass the time. (The days when school-bus drivers would put a stop to this sort of thing are apparently long gone.) In the cafeteria, out in the schoolyard, Alex is always alone. He has tried to convince himself that his tormentors are just "messing around." After all, he says to his heartbroken mother, "If these people aren't my friends, then what friends do I have?"

In Yazoo County, Mississippi, we meet a girl named Ja'Meya. One day, after years of being mocked as "stupid" by her schoolmates, Ja'Meya boarded the school bus with a pistol she'd taken from her mother's closet and started waving it around. When we meet her, she's at a juvenile psychiatric lockup awaiting a hearing on what has turned out to be a total of 45 felony charges. Ja'Meya is 14 years old.

In Tuttle, Oklahoma (population 6000), we meet a boyish-looking 16-year-old girl named Kelby. After years of peer-group ostracism, Kelby recently came out as a lesbian. Before that, she says, "I was a cutter. And I tried to commit suicide." Coming out in this very small town, however, has stoked fresh extremes of hostility. Kelby remembers the time she opened her school locker and found a note inside: "Faggots are not welcome here." She recalls sitting down in a new classroom on the first day of school "and everyone around me switched seats." But Kelby has a sweet smile and a sunny disposition, and she has found a small group of friends who stand with her against the troglodytes. "I don't want to back down," she says. "I don't want them to win."

In Murray County, Georgia, we might have met a boy named Tyler—if he were still alive. Tyler was a loner, another kid who didn't fit in. His schoolmates called him a "geek," beat him up, told him he was worthless. "He had a target on his back," says his father. "He would cry sometimes. But then he didn't cry anymore." Tyler was 17 years old when he hanged himself in his bedroom closet. The next day, some of the kids at his school came to class wearing jokey nooses around their necks.

Bully puts a virtual hammerlock on your heart. You marvel at the film's terrible intimacy. Director Lee Hirsch was greatly aided by the Sioux City School District, which has instituted an anti-bullying program and agreed to let him shoot in its classrooms and buses. He utilized one of the inconspicuous Canon 5D cameras – which look like regular still-photo cameras—and after the initial novelty of his presence wore off, he was able to sink quietly into the lives of the kids he was chronicling, and into the sorrows of their tormented families.

Some of the parents we see, frustrated by the inability of school officials and police to do anything about the victimization of their children (school choice, anyone?), speculate about the possibility of legal measures. But the key to the bullying problem would have to be kids themselves—the natural audience for this picture. Unfortunately, as is now well-known, the mysteriously constituted ratings board of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) slapped Bully with an R rating—which would keep kids away, and disincline schools from screening the film for their students. The board's concern, predictably, was with the word "fuck," which crops up in a few passing variations (as when one bully snarls at Matt, apropos of nothing, "I'll shove a broomstick up your fuckin' ass"). One wonders what genteel universe these anonymous movie-raters inhabit, and how much weight their opinions should carry in this one.

Hirsch and the Weinstein Company, which is distributing the film, rejected the R rating, and so Bully is being released this weekend unrated—and the large and very mainstream AMC theatre chain has vowed to run it. Can the MPAA really be unaware that the days when newspapers were the main conduit for movie publicity—and their refusal to accept ads for unrated movies insured those films' commercial doom—are over? Bully, a picture whose message rings out like an emergency alarm, may be more than one kind of wakeup call.

Wrath of the Titans

Wrath of the Titans stands tall in the pantheon of schlock—it's schlock with brio, the best kind. And if I were a contemporary lad with no memory of Ray Harryhousen's stop-motion Sinbads and Argonauts of 50 years ago, I think I might be pretty tickled by this clamorous CGI myth-fest.

You might wonder at first why anyone would feel it necessary to mount a sequel to the 2010 Clash of the Titans—itself a remake of the 1981 original—until you checked the box-office stats: Clash, universally reviled for its dark, junky 3D conversion and general silliness, pulled in nearly half a billion dollars worldwide. Thus, inevitably, this.

Sam Worthington is back, a little less slab-like this time, as Perseus, the half-human son of mighty Zeus (Liam Neeson) and nephew of Zeus' estranged brother Hades (Ralph Fiennes), god of the Underworld. As you'll recall…well, no you won't, let's skip that. Perseus has renounced his godly heritage and is now living the simple life of a Greek fisherman. One day, after a long absence, Zeus turns up in his village, trying to make nice. "You just passin' through?" Perseus actually asks. Not exactly.

Zeus brings news that the old gods are losing their powers because of mortals' waning faith in them. In order to whip the puny humans back in line, Hades is plotting with Zeus' resentful full-god son Ares (Édgar Ramírez)—Perseus' half-brother, if you're keeping track—to free the hugely fearful Kronos (CGI) from the Underworld dungeon of Tartarus, to which his own deeply estranged sons Zeus, Hades and Poseidon long ago consigned him. This must not happen, of course, and Poseidon (Danny Huston) pops up to tell Perseus that only he can prevent it. Perseus says this seems unlikely, since "I'm only half a god." Fortunately, there's another half to help out—Poseidon's estranged half-human son, the demigod Agenor (Toby Kebbell), a wisecracking scalawag currently detained as a thief by the warrior queen Andromeda (Rosamund Pike). Perseus pays a visit to Andromeda, she agrees to free Agenor ("Fetch my lucky cape!" he crows), and all three set sail for the island home of Hephaestus (Bill Nighy), the barmy codger who built Tartarus, and presumably knows where the hell it is.

Most of this garble can be disregarded. Apart from some low-tech fist-fights and sword-clanging, the movie is mainly a celebration of special-effects overkill, thick with three-headed monsters, winged horses, sizzling fireballs, and more explosions than one might have thought possible in ancient Greece. A towering, one-eyed Cyclops is a tip of the hat to Harryhausen, and there's a rampaging Minotaur who strongly recalls the rampaging Balrog of the Lord of the Rings movies. There's also a pretty terrific labyrinth – a vast maze of shifting rock walls that definitely justifies whatever it cost to concoct. And the dialogue is incomparable throughout. Neeson and Fiennes, wily pros, have fun with it: In the midst of torturing his brother, the disgusted Hades tells Zeus, "You're sweating like a woman—next it'll be tears." Worthington has a tougher time of it: Confronted by a trio of earth-shaking behemoths, he can only say, with a sigh, "You gotta be kiddin' me."

Wrath of the Titans is big-budget 3D junk, but director Jonathan Liebesman (Battle Los Angeles) has a flair for it, and most of the actors appear to be having a juicy good time. It's a movie practically designed to draw critical derision. A worldwide legion of contemporary action lads may once again ignore it.  

Kurt Loder is a writer living in New York. His third book, a collection of film reviews called The Good, the Bad and the Godawful, is now available. Follow him on Twitter at kurt_loder.

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Kurt Loder is a New York writer who also hosts the SiriusXM interview show True Stories.

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  1. Episiarch   13 years ago

    Hirsch and the Weinstein Company, which is distributing the film, rejected the R rating, and so Bully is being released this weekend unrated

    Ah, a fuck you to the MPAA. Excellent. I'd like to see a lot more of this.

    1. Joe M   13 years ago

      How much you wanna bet Titans is PG-13?

      1. Tulpa   13 years ago

        Poor comparison, since the cerberus never says the f-word to Perseus.

      2. Episiarch   13 years ago

        A lot.

    2. Tulpa   13 years ago

      You can bet that it would have gotten PG-13 if Michael Bay had been directing.

      1. Paul   13 years ago

        Abandon thread!!!

        1. Scroll-Wheel   13 years ago

          Can't...stop!
          Must...comment!

    3. Apatheist ?_??   13 years ago

      It was an easy fuck you. Documentaries aren't generally shown in the big theater chains that won't show unrated films.

      1. Joe M   13 years ago

        the large and very mainstream AMC theatre chain has vowed to run it.

      2. Episiarch   13 years ago

        AMC has promised to show it. If it wasn't for the fact that watching the movie will drive me into a rage, I would go see it at the AMC at Pacific Place.

        1. Apatheist ?_??   13 years ago

          Damn that's nice. I'll still see it at an Alamo Drafthouse or Sundance Theater since they sell booze.

        2. End Child Unemployment   13 years ago

          I'm going to do just that. It helps that I have 4 or so AMC movie ticket coupons to use up.

          1. Episiarch   13 years ago

            Ha, you bought that Groupon too?

            1. End Child Unemployment   13 years ago

              Negative, I stole them from a shitty roommate. He left his crap at the house 2+ weeks after his agreed upon move out date, so I boxed it up to make room for the new roommate and helped myself to a few things. The great part is to hear him tell it I'm the bad guy for refusing to give him unlimited free storage.

              1. Episiarch   13 years ago

                So he bought the Groupon, then.

                1. End Child Unemployment   13 years ago

                  I think he actually got them from his work.

                  So his boss bought the groupon.

                  1. Episiarch   13 years ago

                    Just as long as we determine who bought the Groupon. Because it's extremely important.

                    1. End Child Unemployment   13 years ago

                      Don't worry, top men are working on it.

                    2. Internet Cliche Committee   13 years ago

                      top men

                      Win!

    4. Commentariat   13 years ago

      fuck you

      We have spoken.

      1. Joey Lawrence   13 years ago

        Whoa!

    5. Godfrey   13 years ago

      I'm with ya. The MPAA are a bunch of motherfucking cock-sucking stupid-ass sons of shit-eatin' fuckwad bitches, in addition to which they're also meanie heads.

      They need to go the way of the buffalo.

  2. Joe M   13 years ago

    Tyler was 17 years old when he hanged himself in his bedroom closet. The next day, some of the kids at his school came to class wearing jokey nooses around their necks.

    Wow. Holy fucking shit, we're raising a generation of devil children.

    1. Tonto   13 years ago

      What's this "we" shit, Kemosabe?

      1. Episiarch   13 years ago

        It takes a village, Tonio! Hillary said so!

        1. Joe M   13 years ago

          The obvious solution, of course, is to ban rope.

          1. Episiarch   13 years ago

            Or children.

            1. Joe M   13 years ago

              No, we still need them to pay for entitlements.

              1. Episiarch   13 years ago

                Right, right. I keep forgetting that.

          2. Warty   13 years ago

            I thought you said ban rape. Whew.

            1. End Child Unemployment   13 years ago

              I lol'd

            2. STEVE SMITH   13 years ago

              IF RAPE IS OUTLAWED, ONLY OUTLAWS WILL RAPE.

      2. We   13 years ago

        We're raising a generation of devil children...

        What's this "we" shit, Kemosabe?

        Um, we, the (libertarian, for example) blogging, tweeting, knee-jerk collective?

        Discuss.

        1. You   13 years ago

          There is no "we".

          1. Libertarian Chat Room   13 years ago

            There is no "we".

            We beg to differ.

          2. wii   13 years ago

            Hey now!

      3. Anonymous Coward   13 years ago

        Exactly. If these "devil children" were any part mine, I'd beat the hide off of them for thinking that mocking the kid who hung himself was funny.

        1. AlmightyJB   13 years ago

          And because you would do that you would not have kids that are assholes like those.

        2. kbolino   13 years ago

          If you knew. Any kid capable of this is more than capable of keeping it hidden from anyone in authority who would do something about it.

    2. James C. Bennett   13 years ago

      Suicides are assholes and should be mocked vigorously. Or burried at a crossroads in an unmarked grave and never spoken of again. I'm good either way.

  3. shrike   13 years ago

    Behindertsein ist sch?n

    1. Kramer   13 years ago

      That's soooo played out.

  4. Paul   13 years ago

    Can the MPAA really be unaware that the days when newspapers were the main conduit for movie publicity?and their refusal to accept ads for unrated movies insured those films' commercial doom?are over?

    They advertise movies in the newspaper?

    1. ChicagoTom   13 years ago

      They advertise movies in the newspaper?

      Companies still sell newspapers?

      1. End Child Unemployment   13 years ago

        Not for long, if they don't get some urgently needed government bailouts. You know, to preserve the public good of telling you what to think.

      2. Johnny   13 years ago

        Companies still sell newspapers?

        There's a sale at Penny's?

    2. LarryA   13 years ago

      Absolutely they advertise movies in the newspaper. Our semi-local almost-daily has an ad that says something like, "Movies at the Plaza 10. See [website] for schedules." It's about the size of a business card.

      1. Spartacus   13 years ago

        It's targeted marketing, toward retirees.

    3. Loki   13 years ago

      What are these "newspapers" you speak of?

  5. End Child Unemployment   13 years ago

    The Hunger Games, which is about 24 people under the age of 18 murdering each other in a battle royale fight to the death at the insistence of a totalitarian government, was rated PG-13. Obviously that's way less traumatic than hearing the word fuck. Way to go MPAA.

    1. Tulpa   13 years ago

      It might have to do with Bully being an indie film and THG being from a big studio.

      1. Benjamin   13 years ago

        Just watch the 2006 documentary, This Film is Not Yet Rated, to see how stupid and biased the rating process is. Just as when the Comics Code was ignored, the industry needs to jettison the rating system and just tell people what's in the movie so they can make their own decision.

        1. Typical Douche Parent   13 years ago

          But if they did that then I might have to actually think about what kinds of stuff my kids can handle seeing and hearing. That's a lot of work. It's way easier to just rely on an alpha-numeric disignator determined seemingly at random by TOP MEN.

          1. hk   13 years ago

            lol

    2. A Serious Man   13 years ago

      It's all a matter of presentation and style. The violence is THG is obscured by camera angles and such.

      But I do agree that the MPAA is ridiculous in its rating decisions.

      1. End Child Unemployment   13 years ago

        I actually prefer the way that they presented it, because it allows me to fill in the violent blanks with my vivid imagination. When movies try to illustrate the violence gory detail THEY ARE NEVER GORY ENOUGH for me.

        1. Episiarch   13 years ago

          Try Braindead and see if it's not gory enough.

          1. MP   13 years ago

            Bring on the lawnmower!

            1. Episiarch   13 years ago

              "I kick ass for the Lord!"

              1. MP   13 years ago

                That used to be my Windows startup sound. 🙂

                1. End Child Unemployment   13 years ago

                  Sold. I will torrent this film post haste when I get home.

                  1. Episiarch   13 years ago

                    Be sure that you do. Also, you might want to try Cannibal Holocaust.

                2. sidebottom   13 years ago

                  "So you found your dad's old stag movies, oi? Is that the one with the donkey and the chambermaid?"

  6. MP   13 years ago

    What am I not understanding about "modern day" bullying that makes it any different in any way to any bullying ever? Or is it simply just a proportional increase due to the overwhelming amount of limp-wristed pussy parents who don't lift a finger to deal with their asshole children?

    1. Ice Nine   13 years ago

      What you are not understanding is that now "bullying" (supposedly) comprises many more things than actual bullying did in the past. More things, more "bullying".

      1. MP   13 years ago

        You mean like autism?

        1. Autims is so many things   13 years ago

          enough to become meaningless.

          1. R C Dean   13 years ago

            So dyslexia is autism, now?

            1. Groovus Maximus   13 years ago

              Give psychiatry a few months, RC, and the next DSM will have autism as the Primary DX replacing dementia to broaden the scope by eliminating age as a diagnostic criteria.

              Complete with a total rewrite and re-classification of the ICD/CPT DX's.

        2. Ice Nine   13 years ago

          Precisely.

    2. Hades' profane mouth   13 years ago

      Modern day bullying is just the next step in the evolution of the grievance industry, specifically authorizing the government indoctrination system to bully students into right-think.

      People seem found of saying "kids can be so cruel" as if adults can't be cruel as well.

      is it simply just a proportional increase due to the overwhelming amount of limp-wristed pussy parents who don't lift a finger to deal with their asshole children

      I would say it is more likely the result of replacing traditional values with nihilistic philosophy. More angst-filled, depressed, despondent, emo-kids in a world with more kids who are no longer taught that picking on the weak is a sign of weak character.

      It's a result of the culture war.

      1. kbolino   13 years ago

        If you have a problem with the war, why are you still fighting it?

      2. J_L_B   13 years ago

        Maybe it's just me, but in my middle school days I notice a pattern among bullies: most were the product of single parent households where the mother was often some hot shot lawyer type. The fathers were rarely mentioned but there was a constant mention of mom's 'boyfriend.'

        I've come to think they suffered neglect from these mothers who saw them more as status symbols (the whole woman + career - husband = feminists' ideal woman thing) and wanted little to do with the actual raising.

        1. scarcity   13 years ago

          Wow, you know a lot of details about all the home lives of the bullies from your childhood.

          1. Anna   13 years ago

            Because no kids know anything about their classmates' home lives, right?

    3. LarryA   13 years ago

      When I was in jr high (c1959) another kid and I played keepaway with a girl's purse. It ended up on the roof.

      My teacher caught us. She turned my partner over to his teacher, took me back to her classroom, and called my mother. I doubt the vice-principal ever heard of the event. Police? Don't be silly.

      But between the teacher and my mother I am still a bit paranoid around a woman's purse.

      When my kids were in school, parents were out of the loop. Teachers were allowed to refer a situation to the vice-principal. If it was serious, he called the "school resource officer." The only authority any of them had was either ignore the incident, or impose the mandated zero tolerance penalty.

      Beside student bullying kids also had to take institutional bullying. The faculty constantly beat them down with "We don't trust you enough to let you keep Advil in your purse" etc. [/rant]

  7. Tyrion Lannister   13 years ago

    Let me tell you something, Bastard. Never forget what you are, the rest of the world will not. Wear it like armor and it can never be used to hurt you.

    1. Hades' profane mouth   13 years ago

      Shutup, footstool.

  8. ChicagoTom   13 years ago

    What am I not understanding about "modern day" bullying that makes it any different in any way to any bullying ever?

    The use of the Internet makes bullying and bullies more sophisticated?

    Seriously though, I think it's not a matter of modern day bullying being any worse, I think that in modern days there is less acceptance and tolerance of it by schools, peers, parents etc.

    Attitudes have shifted bullying being something that happens and is accepted to something that can be deterred and dealt with better.

    I also think there is an "bullying can make a young person go postal" belief that is held by some that compels them to try and nip bullying in the bud.

    1. Jordan   13 years ago

      I really don't think it's less acceptance of it in schools these days. You pretty much have to murder someone to get in trouble.

      1. Hades' profane mouth   13 years ago

        I agree. If anything, bullying is more tolerated nowadays. No values, no rules.

        1. hk   13 years ago

          I think people are freaking the fuck out. People need to eventually get over the Bullying (if not seek professional help) and parents need to remind people that High School is not the be-all, end-all.

  9. HeroicMulatto   13 years ago

    OT: Is it OK to masturbate to this?

    I'm not sure.

    1. End Child Unemployment   13 years ago

      Meh, asians don't really do it for me. I can't come up with any morality based objection though.

      1. HeroicMulatto   13 years ago

        Ok thanks.

        1. JW   13 years ago

          I approve of this masturbation.

    2. Mint Berry Crunch   13 years ago

      If you're on some bizarre quest to find the most spankable thing on Youtube, I recommend the videos of Miss Hannah Minx

      You might need to use Mute to make it through an entire vid, but my god, that RACK!

      1. End Child Unemployment   13 years ago

        She definitely knows how to tits.

      2. Joe M   13 years ago

        Okay, thanks for that disclaimer. I stumbled upon her vids a couple months ago, and found her annoying as hell.

      3. DesigNate   13 years ago

        That would, quite possibly be THE BEST WAY TO LEARN A LANGUAGE EVER!!!!!

        To bad her voice is annoying.

      4. Anonymous Coward   13 years ago

        Are her tits Minxy, or Jinxy?

    3. Coeus   13 years ago

      Is it OK to masturbate to this?

      Tell you what, I'll go first and let you know.

    4. Godfrey   13 years ago

      It is. Twice, apparently.

  10. A Serious Man   13 years ago

    Tyler was 17 years old when he hanged himself in his bedroom closet. The next day, some of the kids at his school came to class wearing jokey nooses around their necks.

    Okay, that kind of cruelty is just plain disturbing. I think there is something to the argument that kids are becoming crueler, or at the very least highly desensitized.

    1. nono   13 years ago

      Didn't their teachers say anything? Or were they afraid of the bullies/bullies' parents too?

  11. Xenocles   13 years ago

    I'm sick of these video game adaptations.

    1. Joey Lawrence   13 years ago

      Whoa!

  12. Stormy Dragon   13 years ago

    Bully takes you straight back to school days?and they're still every bit as awful as you might remember.

    But I DON'T remember this. I wasn't popular in high school, but I was never bullied, nor do I know anyone who was. Unpopularity just took the form of indifference. This wasn't that long ago, either (I graduated in 1995), but I as I read stories like this I seem to have gone to the only public school in the US that didn't have a big problem with this.

    Did I just luck out by going to school in some alternate reality before being dumped into this one at graduation, or is it the case where bullying isn't actually universal and there's a large number of similar schools? It's an important question because if there are schools that don't have bullying problems, this naturally leads to the question of what causes it in some places but not others.

    1. Old Mexican   13 years ago

      Re: Stormy Dragon,

      But I DON'T remember this.

      You lucky bastard.

    2. End Child Unemployment   13 years ago

      I was picked on and made fun of a bit, like everyone else. I was never bullied though, or at least what I would consider bullying. I think this is extra remarkable considering I'm not a big guy (now 5"8", 158 lbs) and was very much a late bloomer. I think I weighed 140lbs at the end of high school at the same height.

      I think my willingness to fight people if I had to was probably what did it. There were a few times I backed down or apologized because a guy was calling me out for being a loudmouth (when I was) and a few other times I fought guys who were bigger than me and trying to push me around. Having a fair amount of lower socioeconomic class friends who were not afraid to fight probably didn't hurt either.

      1. Xenocles   13 years ago

        Willingness to fight does help. My dad was set in high school after smashing a chair and using it to fend off four guys. I bit a kid on the arm in fourth grade when a fight went to the ground. You make it enough trouble and people stop fucking with you.

      2. Fatty Bolger   13 years ago

        Pretty much the same here. It's funny, but a willingness to fight even if it means a sure ass kicking means you rarely have to.

        1. radar   13 years ago

          ^^^^this^^^^^

          I was never one of the cool kids, and I got fucked with quite a bit, but it generally didn't go to far because I was always willing to fight, even though I rarely did particularly well in them. Bullies want the easiest targets they can find.

          1. hk   13 years ago

            Hmm I agree.

      3. Ryan   13 years ago

        I've never been in a fight because people feared I might be psychotic.

        1. Ryan   13 years ago

          The fact that I laughed at any attempt at intimidation might've been what did it... I can't help it if it's funny though.

      4. Tim   13 years ago

        Me too, fighting back and acting crazy when you are bullied helps, even when I usually got beaten. Also being friends with the tough kids helped. I was also 5'6" and 120 lbs.

        When I was in school early 80's, it wasn't zero tolerance. The one who started the fight got like 5 days detention and the one who defended themselves got like 2. In other words they punished fighting but recognized legitimate self defense.

    3. Pain   13 years ago

      Right there with you. I never really saw any nasty stuff. Graduated in '92. An occasional fight here and there. Some open taunting from time to time. But mostly it just resulted in ostracizing if a person wasn't liked.

      This stuff seems kind of crazy. And I'm pretty sure if that stuff (kids coming to school with nooses) had happened in my school those pulling that shit would probably have got their ass beat by a number of other students.

      1. Ashlyn   13 years ago

        I graduated a public high school in '07. The place wasn't all happy sunshine (there were plenty of kids with terrible home lives, one rather nasty graffiti incident, and we had an overdose death my senior year) but bullying was not an issue. At all. If you didn't like someone, you left them the hell alone.

    4. Hades' profane mouth   13 years ago

      To some extent, "bullying" is just the latest manufactured crisis being used to justify greater social engineering by the state. It sounds as if Bully is a propaganda tool to help with the effort.

      A population in excess of 300 million makes it always possible to find a few atypical, heart-tugging examples to promote any political agenda.

      Bullying is part of human existence. It's part of establishing the social hierarchy and it doesn't end with childhood or adolescence.

      1. Ashlyn   13 years ago

        Bullying is part of human existence. It's part of establishing the social hierarchy and it doesn't end with childhood or adolescence.

        There's some truth to this. But we don't generally let adults sort out their place in the pecking order through violence, petty theft, and harassment. When they try it, the police take an interest.

        Why should adults have more protection from these things than children, who are expected to suck it up because "boys will be boys"?

        Now I have no idea what a school administration could do about gossip, social ostracism, etc. If the kids are little shits, they're little shits. If they don't like the weird kid, you can't make them like the weird kid.

        1. Ryan   13 years ago

          How could anyone like that kid?

        2. hk   13 years ago

          Dude we're talking about people exercising the first amendment though. I'm not sure Bullying is such a big deal unless people put their hands on you, etc.

          For the most part I always learned something in school and I toughened up.

    5. R C Dean   13 years ago

      Same here. A geek my whole life, skinny, thick glasses.

      Personally, I think bullying was minimal because the schol and parents wouldn't tolerate it.

      I guarantee, there would have been serious consequences if anyone pulled that noose stunt.

  13. Old Mexican   13 years ago

    The new documentary Bully takes you straight back to school children's prison days

    There, much more accurate. The only difference between a public school and a prison is that the jail cells are more crowded... in the school.

    1. Joey Lawrence   13 years ago

      The only difference between a public school and a prison is the jail cells

      Whoa!

      1. Dyslexia c'est moi!   13 years ago

        The only difference between a public school and a prison is that the jail cells are more crowded... in the school.

        =/=

        The only difference between a public school and a prison is [...] the jail cells

  14. Old Mexican   13 years ago

    Wrath of the Titans is big-budget 3D junk, but director Jonathan Liebesman (Battle Los Angeles) has a flair for it, and most of the actors appear to be having a juicy good time.

    Sniff! You had me at "big-budget 3D junk!"

  15. Scroll-Wheel   13 years ago

    Discuss!

    1. Libertarian Chat Room   13 years ago

      ths place is so cool whn im drunk!

  16. AlmightyJB   13 years ago

    After growing up in happy carefree loving environment where you learned trust and respect from your family, you need bullys to teach you the truth. That everyone is an asshole and you should buy a .45 at the earliest opportunity and never trust anyone ever again. Also, that revenge is dish best served cold.

  17. nono   13 years ago

    Part of the problem is a kind of non-judgementalism on the part of the school authorities. If the bullied kid fights back, BOTH the bullies and victim get in trouble.

    My younger daughter was bullied when we first moved back to the States and she started high school. I told her two things, always walk as tall and straight as you can to project confidence, and try to stay with your older sister or another friend when you know these little creeps are around.

    Finally she was with her sister, and one little shit said something to her and she took a swing at him with her bookbag that would have knocked him cold had it hit him. It came about half inch from his nose. Because her sister was there to back her up, they scurried. And no more problems after that.

    1. Fatty Bolger   13 years ago

      We've always told our kids that they're not to start a fight, but if they're attacked then they can fight back, and we'll stand behind them and there will be no punishment from us, even if the school punishes them. I think that just knowing that they CAN fight back if necessary makes kids a little thicker skinned about the teasing.

      1. ChicagoTom   13 years ago

        Thats how it was with me, and that's how I will raise my kids too.

        Don't start a fight and don't be an asshole, but if someone does start a fight, hit em hard and fast -- don't waste time pushing or talking shit....just pop em in the nose as hard as you can and dont let up until they tap out or someone breaks it up.

        If someone starts with you, and you defend yourself and get in trouble, I got your back.

        1. Michael Ejercito   13 years ago

          If someone starts with you, and you defend yourself and get in trouble, I got your back.

          School punishment, like school, is temporary.

          In 2052, who is going to care whether or not someone was suspended in 2012 for fighting back against a bully?

      2. Tim   13 years ago

        I tell my kids the same thing, do not start a fight. Leave the scene if a fight might start, if you are cornered you MUST fight back, and you will NOT be in trouble with me. And they watch me practice Krav Maga, so they can throw a punch.

    2. Michael Ejercito   13 years ago

      Part of the problem is a kind of non-judgementalism on the part of the school authorities. If the bullied kid fights back, BOTH the bullies and victim get in trouble.

      That can be countered by reminding kids that getting in trouble in school for fighting back will not have any effects past school.

      Is there anyone living today who still suffers the consequences of getting in trouble in school for fighting back against a bully in 1965?

      1. Tim   13 years ago

        No, the school loved to threaten about your "permanent record", but who cares.

  18. Applederry   13 years ago

    Old Mexican's comparison to prisons is pretty apt. Even if some areas are starting to take measures, bullying seems to be tolerated and accepted by the general population just like prison rape. Many times I've heard people excuse bullies saying "kids will be kids" as if daily physical assault is a part of being a kid.

    The way to fight bullying? Treat bullies as who they truly are: criminals. You beat someone up, punch them, slam their head against the wall every single day at school? 180 counts of assault and battery. Shit will stop real fast. But no, it's only when victims like Ja'Meya bring a weapon or defend themselves after years of being harmed that we take it seriously and no longer appreciate the "kids will be kids" line.

    Convenient, yes?

  19. Adonisus   13 years ago

    Why does bullying seem to be on the rise?

    Simple. Zero-tolerance policies.

    Basically, if you get bullied and try to fight back....YOU GET DISCIPLINED IN TURN.

    This is no joke. It happened to me TWICE, once in junior high and once in high school.

    An otherwise good kid can get disciplined and have the incident recorded in his permanent record because he tried to defend himself against some asshole tried to smash his face with a locker door (or, in my case, get locked in the school greenhouse).

    1. LarryA   13 years ago

      +1

      And the excuse is that they're "treating the children the same." As if suspending the bully, who already has eight suspensions and doesn't want to be in school anyway, is the same as giving an honor student a suspension that will screw her application to college.

    2. Michael Ejercito   13 years ago

      An otherwise good kid can get disciplined and have the incident recorded in his permanent record because he tried to defend himself against some asshole tried to smash his face with a locker door (or, in my case, get locked in the school greenhouse).

      What practical impact do permanent records have?

      1. R C Dean   13 years ago

        Given the way college admissions are done these days, I could see them being a problem on that front.

  20. LP   13 years ago

    I'm homeschooling my kids. Public schools are basically minimum security psych wards with no screening.

  21. Harvard   13 years ago

    Much ado about nothing.

    The limp wristed little shits can come to school with some real wrath under their black raincoats and put a stop to this shit the way any real man would.

  22. heller   13 years ago

    Human beings form social hierarchies like any other intelligent animal. Nothing can be done to stop it.

    1. R C Dean   13 years ago

      Sure. We're pack animals, at heart.

      But that doesn't mean we just wave off violence.

      Personally, I think that violent bullying should be treated as what it is: violent crime.

      Unlike the kids who got busted for drugs by that undercover cop, I won't shed any tears for kids who get busted for being violent thugs.

      1. hk   13 years ago

        Dude I am getting a feeling that people want to stop verbal bullying.

        I have never been in a school that condones violence. I'm not sure there's much more that can be done aside from eliminating public schools, and encouraging the private sector.

  23. LIz Makers   13 years ago

    Dude that Bully looks like its gonna be a great movie. WOw.

    http://www.Anon-Nets.tk

  24. KW6   13 years ago

    "The days when school-bus drivers would put a stop to this sort of thing are apparently long gone."

    The days when school-bus drivers COULD put a stop to this sort of thing are long gone. A bus driver who attempts to do so will be thrown to the wolves.

  25.   13 years ago

    Best Laundry Detergent

  26. Bryan Chambers   13 years ago

    i agree that's really very useful for us..

  27. emily12   13 years ago

    New Era Hats
    "it is released by http://www.hatbrandshop.com/ 2012.06.15"

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