International I Hate Sports Club

Today, something frustrating happened at a school assembly. Our school has begun to have "Town Hall" meeting which are basically just assemblies about different topics. I'm unsure about why they call them town hall meetings as part of the same series instead of individual assemblies, but anyways, onto my story. Today, the first town hall meeting, was about bullying. It was mostly about cyber-bullying, but also about bullying in general. I noticed that one of the people who was speaking at, and in charge of, the assembly was wearing a shirt that had a Nike logo on it, and the word "Football". He was a big, athletic guy. I didn't have a huge problem with this at first because I didn't assume that he was a jock, but just an athlete, as he was one of the people speaking for the assembly. Later on in the assembly, they asked speakers to come to the front and tell any stories as a victim, witness, or the bully themselves. I was tempted to go up and tell my story, but most of the people who bullied me were at the assembly, and that would have led to negative consequences.

My good friend volunteered to go up and speak. He has been one of the biggest victims of bullying I have ever known, he has been bullied even before the social groups began to develop. When he came up he told a story about cyber-bullying on Facebook, but his introducing sentence was something along the lines of "I was recently a victim of cyber-bullying, and the bully was actually one of these speaker's brothers". At that moment, the guy wearing the football shirt completely changed his facial expression, which made me realize that the guy wearing the football shirt was the brother of my friend's cyber-bully. My friend told the story of what he was told by the cyber-bully, and much of it involved coarse language, although it was a bit hard for him to censor it as most of the words were swear words. Everyone was in shock as he said these things, but the negative aspect was not shown towards the bully, but to my friend, the victim, just because he repeated what he was told. The principal signaled to the speakers to cut him off, and they did.

At this point, I couldn't say for sure that the speaker wearing the football shirt was a jock, as perhaps he wasn't like his little brother. At least not until he grabbed the microphone from my friend and said "Okay then..." in a tone of voice that was clearly mocking him. At this point I knew that he was a completely hypocritical jock, as he was speaking at an anti-bullying assembly while mocking a victim of bullying.

On top of that, just like any anti-bullying assembly, they failed to adress the correlation between sports and bullying. Later on, I was speaking to my friend when he told me that the kid who cyber-bullied my friend was a kid name Andy, someone who I am familiar with, a huge a coward who is known in our school for losing in fights with people half his size, but foolishly picking on people who are socially inferior to him. He is a jock just like most bullies. I then realized that the speaker wearing the football shirt was Andy's brother named Ben, also known for being a foolish jock. His parents must have done a terrible job at parenting. A few seconds later, this Andy kid began talking to my friend who I was just talking to, and said something along the lines of "I was laughing my ass off the whole time he was speaking". I then told him that he was going to shut up and leave or I would fight him. As a coward, he quickly left.

This is a perfect example of how many of the anti-jock stereotypes are often valid, as the only prominently athletic speaker at the assembly happened to be a hypocritical jock, and happened to have a little brother who was a vicious, malicious, jock.

Wow, that was such a load of bs. I can't imagine what you and your friend were feeling. I honestly never had anything like that happen. What medium was he being cyber-bullied through? Facebook? Myspace?(I don't use either lol) Isn't there a feature where only friends can send you messages and you can block out everyone else? I'm suprised the jock took the time to cyber-bully a peer, I guess even he gets tired of chasing a ball and sweaty guys time to time. Great job, telling that ass off. Way to go to your friend for standing up and telling the truth. It's sad that the school seemed obviously on the side of the sports department or at least trying to protect them. Later.

Indurrago wrote:Wow, that was such a load of bs. I can't imagine what you and your friend were feeling. I honestly never had anything like that happen. What medium was he being cyber-bullied through? Facebook? Myspace?(I don't use either lol) Isn't there a feature where only friends can send you messages and you can block out everyone else? I'm suprised the jock took the time to cyber-bully a peer, I guess even he gets tired of chasing a ball and sweaty guys time to time. Great job, telling that ass off. Way to go to your friend for standing up and telling the truth. It's sad that the school seemed obviously on the side of the sports department or at least trying to protect them. Later.

He was being bullied through Facebook, and he was being told pathetic arguments such as "Fucking faggot" and "At least I jerk off (I don't understand how that is something to brag about and to be superior to someone)". He was told things that I would probably be best off not saying on this forum, as it would likely be too vulgar. I'm glad I don't use Facebook, as it would likely lead to circumstances similar to my friend's.

This "Town Hall" meeting was nothing but a feel-good exercise in hypocrisy. You see, if we merely talk about a problem, then that means that the problem is being dealt with and is actually solved. Of course, in this sort of hypocritical routine, any uncomfortable truths must be ignored because, after all, the whole point of these exercises in hypocrisy is to make us all FEEL GOOD. Also, there is a prime rule that governs many high schools. The athletes -- at least those in the popular sports (those in less popular sports can be slighted) -- are not subjected to the same rules as all the other students. After all, as a lot of coaches seem to think, athletes are better than nonathletes; so, why should the rules apply to them? If a high-school student is bullied by an athlete, who cares? As is so often the case, the principal and most of the teachers don't care. As the Washington Post reported not too long after the 1999 massacre, this was actually the norm at Columbine. It is the norm at many other sports-centric high schools in the United States and Canada.

Earl wrote:This "Town Hall" meeting was nothing but a feel-good exercise in hypocrisy. You see, if we merely talk about a problem, then that means that the problem is being dealt with and is actually solved. Of course, in this sort of hypocritical routine, any uncomfortable truths must be ignored because, after all, the whole point of these exercises in hypocrisy is to make us all FEEL GOOD. Also, there is a prime rule that governs many high schools. The athletes -- at least those in the popular sports (those in less popular sports can be slighted) -- are not subjected to the same rules as all the other students. After all, as a lot of coaches seem to think, athletes are better than nonathletes; so, why should the rules apply to them? If a high-school student is bullied by an athlete, who cares? As is so often the case, the principal and most of the teachers don't care. As the Washington Post reported not too long after the 1999 massacre, this was actually the norm at Columbine. It is the norm at many other sports-centric high schools in the United States and Canada.

I agree completely. In fact, the assembly caused more harm than good. Every single person who came up to tell their stories with bullying was laughed at after, or even during the assembly.

That's both sad and disgusting. Sometimes stupidity reigns supreme at high schools. When the leadership of a high school is irresponsible and crummy, even teachers suffer. I ought to know; I married into a family of teachers.

A jock, or a football coach speaking at an Anti-Bullying School Assembly is like trusting the fox to guard the hen house!

HugeFanOfBadReligion wrote:

Earl wrote:This "Town Hall" meeting was nothing but a feel-good exercise in hypocrisy. You see, if we merely talk about a problem, then that means that the problem is being dealt with and is actually solved. Of course, in this sort of hypocritical routine, any uncomfortable truths must be ignored because, after all, the whole point of these exercises in hypocrisy is to make us all FEEL GOOD. Also, there is a prime rule that governs many high schools. The athletes -- at least those in the popular sports (those in less popular sports can be slighted) -- are not subjected to the same rules as all the other students. After all, as a lot of coaches seem to think, athletes are better than nonathletes; so, why should the rules apply to them? If a high-school student is bullied by an athlete, who cares? As is so often the case, the principal and most of the teachers don't care. As the Washington Post reported not too long after the 1999 massacre, this was actually the norm at Columbine. It is the norm at many other sports-centric high schools in the United States and Canada.

I agree completely. In fact, the assembly caused more harm than good. Every single person who came up to tell their stories with bullying was laughed at after, or even during the assembly.

Absolutely pathetic behaviour here. I don't understand how people can take such delight in the suffering of their peers but it's no surprise some people lose such immense faith in the youth and fashion of today. I should know. Bullying is a subject far more appropriate for one-on-one discussion in a quiet, well-removed environment than addressed in front of a whole crowd of youths. Because when you get everyone together to hear about it, you're also talking to bullies themselves who will find stuff to laugh it. And when you get victims of bullying to talk about their issues in front of such people when all the intention is focussed on them you are just condoning and encouraging bullying actions from the perpetrators and making the victims feel even more helpless. Some people haven't a bloody clue how issues like this are to be properly addressed. This was never really a problem in my school but I understand things are different in America. Your bullies seem worse and your schools seem to show less opposition to their actions. I suppose this is not helped by the rough contact sport of American football having been elevated to such a high status.

Best regards,
i_like_1981

...Seriously, getting mad over cyber-bullying? It's not even bullying. Tell your friend to repeatedly spam, "You mad bro?" or, "Bro, are you mad?" or, "You are displaying symptoms commonly seen on individuals suffering from the condition commonly known as mad, bro." Usually if you spam it to them they get pissed, at which point you laugh. It is funny. Ha ha.

Also, I make fun of others on the Internet all the time. And I have trouble feeling sorry for victims of verbal bullying, because in my experience most of them are jerks, themselves.


...Also, why did he have this kid friended on Facebook? No friend and he can't be bullied, bro...

Nick wrote:I have trouble feeling sorry for victims of verbal bullying, because in my experience most of them are jerks, themselves.
...Also, why did he have this kid friended on Facebook? No friend and he can't be bullied, bro...

Are you kidding me? Most victims of bullying are jerks? Most victims of bullying I have known have been some of the smartest and kindest people I've ever known. A good example of this is one of my friends whose Mom died when he was in grade 4. He was born with several mental and physical conditions such as anger issues, but he escaped many of these conditions, even after the death of his mom. People would make fun of him because his mom was dead, and when he was younger, he would cry about it, but even though he was one of the biggest kids I've known, he wouldn't even try to harm them, he wouldn't even say a word back. I can't possibly imagine how you made this observation that victims of bullying are jerks. I don't think I've seen any of your posts, so I don't know if you're a troll or something, but how can you possibly call a large group of victims of a problem that occurs everywhere jerks?

And I don't know why he had him as a friend on Facebook.

HugeFanOfBadReligion, please don't let Nick disturb you. I suspect he's just a troll.

Nick wrote:Also, I make fun of others on the Internet all the time. And I have trouble feeling sorry for victims of verbal bullying, because in my experience most of them are jerks, themselves.

Wow, you've really helped your own cause with that, haven't you? I think it's time we got out the coveted "SPAMMER" rank again! Only joking. But Nick, seriously, nobody deserves to be bullied unless they have willfully and intentionally done wrong to another person. I really hate people who take out their anger and problems on those who really deserve better than it. Promising students have been disillusioned and ultimately ruined by such behaviour, like I nearly was. I don't like seeing people condone it and even indulge in it, like you've just admitted. There's not much use in having you as a member if you give no real reasons as to why you condone this behaviour. What makes a person deserve to be bullied? Why do you class all victims of verbal bullying "jerks"? You think all members of a certain group are the same? I'd like to hear more, otherwise you sound a bit trollish in my opinion.

Best regards,
i_like_1981

Nick wrote:Also, I make fun of others on the Internet all the time. And I have trouble feeling sorry for victims of verbal bullying, because in my experience most of them are jerks, themselves.

You know what Nick . . .

You're absolutely right!

All the nerds and geeks who study hard in school, and make high grades in science and math are real jerks and deserve to be bullied around.

You are sooooooooooooooo right.

So, I guess that when I was in school and was so interested in science and astronomy, then I guess that I deserved to get beaten and bullied around.

That is because science is a disruptive influence on our religious sports-loving society, after all, those of us who study science, we believe in evolution, we say the universe is billions of years old, so we deserve to get beaten and bullied around or being such a disruptive influence.

As all good religious sports-loving American citizens know, the universe was created in 6 days and is only 7,000 years old and evolution did not occur, but that animals magically popped up out of the ground, therefore, all the nerds and geeks who study science are jerks and deserve to get beaten and bullied around.

Thanks for setting me straight and showing me the error of my ways.

So, I repent, and I shall donate a tenth part of my monthly income to Pat Robertson and his 700 Club and watch football on TV every Sunday afternoon.

Praise de Lord!

IN YOUR DREAMS! MUTHA-FUCKA!!!

Fat Man wrote:As all good religious sports-loving American citizens know, the universe was created in 6 days and is only 7,000 years old and evolution did not occur, but that animals magically popped up out of the ground, therefore, all the nerds and geeks who study science are jerks and deserve to get beaten and bullied around.

Oh no Fat Man, a jock would never believe in that. They would believe that it is 6000 years old, 7000 years old is blasphemy to them. The Lenski experiments are also blasphemy to them, not just because it contradicts what they think, but also because our fellow nerds conducted those experiments. Both sports and fundamentalism have corrupted our educational system, I've only been taught evolution once in school, and it was only half a page about it (I have searced repeatedly in the index of science textbooks for words such as evolution, natural selection, Charles Darwin, and you just can't find them). And with sports teams that are funded by the school, we lose money for real education that doesn't support super-masculinity and a gang mentality of competition. It's sad that in a world with all this amazing technology, we don't use it for good reasons, when we could use technology to advance the educational system to a much better standard. But no, we have to waste our money on sports equipment.