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[Morpheus Laughing]

^
It could still count as bullying. Teasing can be fairly mild but it can also be taken to considerable levels of cruelty. Some kids are just mean and you can’t always be sure how far they will go with their torments.

It’s also possible that she might be withholding details of more serious types of intimidation to prevent outsiders picking up on other ways to torment her.   

the fact that it 'could' be 'counted' as bullying means that it probably shouldn't be.  sure, teasing can be taken to extremes, but what i have to go on, which is the article in question, describes teasing behavior (and some very accurate criticism of what is widely known as a horrible song), not bullying.  in a world where a child can be prosecuted for bullying, it's very important to not throw around words that might have a harsher meaning than necessary.

so rebecca got tired of hearing people ask, 'what day is it?' and singing her song when she got close to them?  welcome to the world of being well-known for something.

I don't mind you taking the article at face value but I'm aware that bullying is quite under exposed and it's partly because people fail to act on the warning signs + kids are stupid and don't know where to draw the line. Parent's find out that their children were experiencing far more than mild teasing when it is too late.

It might just be teasing but teasing is disruptive if it is prolonged and it can easily constitute the "overbearing intimidation" that fits the definition of "bully."  How long and how intensely should people have to put up with something like that and be expected to perform well at school? And besides, she isn't prosecuting is she? Might be easier to call quits on school than to have to prove that specific incidences happened and risk getting sued for slander or something like that. That's the other side of litigation.       

I know that some people don't like the idea of verbal bullying or emotional bullying but it's out there. If you're not in an effective position to return the same kind of abuse you are receiving then you are far from being on equal footing with your peers.That power imbalance can readily become exploitative given how insecure kids can be. The line between a bit of fun and the creation of serious emotional problems is very fine.

[Agonistes]

^
It could still count as bullying. Teasing can be fairly mild but it can also be taken to considerable levels of cruelty. Some kids are just mean and you can’t always be sure how far they will go with their torments.

It’s also possible that she might be withholding details of more serious types of intimidation to prevent outsiders picking up on other ways to torment her.   

the fact that it 'could' be 'counted' as bullying means that it probably shouldn't be.  sure, teasing can be taken to extremes, but what i have to go on, which is the article in question, describes teasing behavior (and some very accurate criticism of what is widely known as a horrible song), not bullying.  in a world where a child can be prosecuted for bullying, it's very important to not throw around words that might have a harsher meaning than necessary.

so rebecca got tired of hearing people ask, 'what day is it?' and singing her song when she got close to them?  welcome to the world of being well-known for something.

I don't mind you taking the article at face value but I'm aware that bullying is quite under exposed and it's partly because people fail to act on the warning signs + kids are stupid and don't know where to draw the line. Parent's find out that their children were experiencing far more than mild teasing when it is too late.

It might just be teasing but teasing is disruptive if it is prolonged and it can easily constitute the "overbearing intimidation" that fits the definition of "bully."  How long and how intensely should people have to put up with something like that and be expected to perform well at school? And besides, she isn't prosecuting is she? Might be easier to call quits on school than to have to prove that specific incidences happened and risk getting sued for slander or something like that. That's the other side of litigation.       

I know that some people don't like the idea of verbal bullying or emotional bullying but it's out there. If you're not in an effective position to return the same kind of abuse you are receiving then you are far from being on equal footing with your peers.That power imbalance can readily become exploitative given how insecure kids can be. The line between a bit of fun and the creation of serious emotional problems is very fine.

to abolish it completely is almost impossible.  school is where kids learn from one another what is, and isn't, socially acceptable.  it is also where they learn not to care, if they are strong enough, about social acceptability.  i spent a great deal of time in school getting picked on.  i wouldn't trade it, however, because it gave me enough detachment from society to evolve into the kind of person i always wanted to be, anyway.  social acceptability would have retarded that immensely.

the social stigma of teasing vs bullying is important to keep separate, is my point.  when another child says, 'i dont like your sweater' that child should not have the full force of the law and media fall on them, nor a label applied to them, as is the dearest wish of our wonderful philosophy of political correctness.

and, no, she's obviously not litigating, which tells me that there was no physical bullying of any kind, which is in fact also assault.

[CeeGBee]

to abolish it completely is almost impossible.

Fixed...


Big/clever/popular kids will pick on smaller/"slower"/outcast kids...  It's what kids do.

Sure, there comes a point in the process where the teacher needs to tell Johnny to stop
picking of Frankie, but there also comes a point where Frankie either needs to learn to
stand up for himself or to start enjoying the wedgies....

If Rebecca B wants to be a singer, she needs to grow a thicker skin (and maybe some talent)...

[Morpheus Laughing]

The more I look into this separation of bullying and teasing, the more I see that the two are intimately related. There is a blending point but that only makes it harder to know when too far is too far. Sure, the occasional tease is not anything like a physical assault and that distinction is clear. I'm also not saying that a significant amount of verbal abuse should warrant prosecutions (of course, it's far more difficult to measure the impact on a mind than it is on the body)...  but when the verbal attacks are continuous onslaught day after day (by a large group of people) there is a major unbalance of power going on, which if large enough, can lead to a profound sense of social alienation (which is one of the three biggest indicators of potential suicide along with feeling burdensome to others and being competent enough to kill yourself). It can be a really big deal if it goes on long enough. Of course, much like depression, we are quick to ignore trauma that we can't see - we tell people to grin and get on with it.  

I don't think you need to experience a load of teasing to develop a detachment from society. That's just one way it can happen. Most of my detachment was achieved in the years after school and was mostly bought about by my lack of interest in society's superficial preoccupations. School screwed me up though - it made me dream of escaping situations rather than finding ways to enjoy them. In the right dose that might have done something for me but school is too much law-of-the-jungle to make you into something functional. (added: i.e you're functional if you're lucky and possibly barely functional in some cases).

If Rebecca B wants to be a singer, she needs to grow a thicker skin (and maybe some talent)...

whilst true, Who knows (at age 14) how much they can handle. This is damage limitation. Several hours a day of "Friday, Friday" would drive anyone insane (including Rebecca black). I wouldn't recommend trying to get famous to anyone at a school age because you've got to go back to the animals if it goes wrong.

[Agonistes]

an argument could be made that rebecca black, by making herself 'famous,' created enough of a disruption in the school that the attention she got was not unwarranted.

by the same measure, was amanda palmer then bullying her by doing a slightly mocking, humorous parody to the tune of 'friday?'  i don't see how she was, but it amounts to the same thing.  once one's name has reached a cetain amount of notoriety, there is also a certain amount of bullshit that is brought from the public with it.  she went to school with these kids.

[Morpheus Laughing]

^
Was it guaranteed to make her Infamous? The viral situation is somewhat dependent on the imagination of the traffickers of the attention. I've seen far worse than her output and it gets ignored. She had bad luck. She could have easily been ignored. 

AFP Bullying? Was she doing it for 5-6-7 hours intermittently? School is a pressure cooker - school has animalistic eyes on a kid.

[Mockery]

I started something again, didn't I?

[Agonistes]

I started something again, didn't I?

no, this conversation was going before your input, don't worry.  it wasn't you.

If Rebecca B wants to be a singer, she needs to grow a thicker skin (and maybe some talent)...

this.

[CeeGBee]

I started something again, didn't I?

Like, say, a thoughtful discussion?  

[Mockery]

I started something again, didn't I?

Like, say, a thoughtful discussion?  

Well I just heard that in the news that Rebecca Black is being bullied and she's leaving school.

[CeeGBee]

I started something again, didn't I?

Like, say, a thoughtful discussion?  

Well I just heard that in the news that Rebecca Black is being bullied and she's leaving school.

I'm assuming you don't attend that school?  ...and if you did, you wouldn't be among those
making fun of her?  So you didn't start it.

You saw the article, and thought it worth mentioning, and now people are discussing it...
...and isn't that kinda the whole point of a general-topics area on a message board?

[Cheddars Cousin]

When I was young, there was always someone around who wanted to Churn things up. 

I turned out alright.

[CeeGBee]

When I was young, there was always someone around who wanted to Churn things up. 

I turned out alright.

I heard you were a slicer.....   

[yosmark]

When I was young, there was always someone around who wanted to Churn things up. 

I turned out alright.

I always got picked on because of my name. I grew alright ... I think.

[imaginary friend]

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/ljbZKQIUZvM" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/ljbZKQIUZvM</a>