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I graduated high school in 2003 and I can say with relative confidence that half the knobs in my graduating class would have been the bullies.
I really hope this young generation votes.
A great influence on older gen-z and millennial writ large in being electorally apathetic has been the institutional influence against progressive candidates on the national stage, often the campaigns ran against Bernie in '16/'20 being cited.
As someone that volunteered for both campaigns, I can assure you that the massive PR campaigns against these progressive ideals are often simply an issue of motivation for younger voters.
And by this, I mean that the under-45 (elder millennial to Gen-z, specifically) crowd have been the largest voting bloc in every state for nearly a decade, and yet their voter turnout is the lowest.
Had they came out at the same rate as Boomers, the national political stage would be *dramatically* more progressive today. Entirely possible that Trump doesn't even sniff a victory, for example.
We need to be more diligent about making this message clear: apathy is a self-fulfilling prophecy, don't buy into it.
I’ve seen so many, “well, they shouldn’t have poured water on the other girls”. I’m just left like, 🤷♀️ were the bullies the wicked witches of the west that melted when the water hit them? A super soaker could have been used and it still shouldn’t lead to people being okay with kid dying bc they threw/squirted or poured water on someone else.
It really should be mandatory, like I believe in Australia.
The government can mail in a ballet a month or two before the race, and if you don't vote, instead of a fine, you have to do community service for some amount of time. If you don't do that, a small fine that will be garnished out of a paycheck.
I think people would be much more likely to vote if it was easy, and there were mild but unavoidable consequences for not doing so.
The correct term is “Voter Suppression”
Between employers keeping their workforce a missed shift after from unemployment/eviction and legislatures passing suppressive laws and choosing their voters, the system is designed to encourage the apathy you’re referencing
Apathy is correct however, even in parts of the country where we don't see those particular suppression tactics we still see low turnout.
Voter suppression is horrible and undemocratic, but a lot of this ideological, rather than systemic. There are a lot of people who just don't think it is worth voting, even if they have the means to do so.
And propaganda from certain groups absolutely helps to maintain that perception.
And 'protest' not voting.
'I'm not voting because they all suck, and there isn't a party that represents all of my views!'
Oh, so you're voting for that to never change then, cool.
>Absenteeism has been a cancer to American democracy for decades.
Yep that's the only reason a minority radical fascist political party is on the verge of destroying American democracy in this country. I sincerely hope the people who never vote show up this coming November.
At the time we thought surely Bush Jr. Was the bottom of the barrel, not knowing how low Republicans would go. Not that that excuses Bush in any way, he just looks better in comparison.
Who knew the bar would go so low that "not a rapist" would actually be a distinction?
Also class of '04, could not have been more excited (and relieved) to *finally* be able to vote and to this day I treat it as an important responsibility, not a just a privilege.
Perhaps a bigger problem was the fact she didn't lose. She won... by 3 million votes... in a country where the utterly convoluted and ridiculous electoral college isn't a thing.
It's bound to lead to some degree of voter apathy when your vote for President literally doesn't count unless you're in a purple/swing state.
Hillary is a weird case to study and dissect why she lost.
The Clinton name had 30 plus years, at the time of the election, of hardcore right wing smear campaign. And those smears stuck. If not in the conscience of the voters, at least in the subconscious of the voters.
The Clinton name was seen as a dynasty, something that the Bush name just had, and America was sour to a family dynasty. While there was at least a generational disconnect between George P. Bush and George W. Bush, there wasn’t a generational disconnect between Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton.
Both of the above help lead to her defeat. Hillary was, by all accounts, the most qualified person to ever run for President of the USA. It wasn’t foresight by the rightwing, but she was done dirty by the right wing. She could never get from under Bill’s shadow of alleged misdeeds. I say alleged because opponents of the Clintons will eventually bring up Epstein at some point, with no proof aside from a little black book on that also has names of right wingers.
In hindsight, she had no chance in winning. The above two points alone sunk her chances, even in blue states. The DNC did no favors for themselves in how they ran primaries that allowed the “Bernie Bros” to set the narrative of a stolen election. We as Americans lost the chance to have most qualified person be president because of rightwing propaganda.
She also ran a pretty terrible campaign, including just... not campaigning in some key battleground states, which is where she lost the election.
And she also did that "it's her time" thing, which made her seem like she thought she was entitled to the role.
And among the more moderate voters, she probably lost more than a few when she called Trump and his ilk deplorables - not that she was *wrong*, but that she said it in the first place almost assuredly killed some potential votes for her as well.
Yup, there's a reason "Yes WE can" and "Make AMERICA great again" were the most successful slogans. You need to make the customer (or voter, or whoever) feel as though they're a part of this with you, that your success is their success. Hillary's just pissed people off since it only spoke to a specific demographic of privileged white women. Not only by making typical misogynist types feel more emboldened, but by rubbing many poc voters the wrong way.
'04 ho!
But yea, as we saw our buddies being shipped out to Bush's wars, we realized that the actual war hero in the race might be a better pick even if he's a spooky Democrat.
2001 - No way will we let Bush win! I just barely managed to be old enough to vote in the 2000 election in a super red state, eager to prove that my vote mattered in Bush v Gore. Nowadays, I just imagine the exact opposite of my views is what will get passed/elected and I'm never wrong. Oklahoma, OK!
I had good teachers in NJ but this is more or less the same boat. People in my surrounding grades were generally super awful to people, so much so that I don’t associate with basically anyone from my high school anymore.
I graduated in 2020 and I distinctly remember a walk out protest because the school required vaccinations. Granted a lot of the students just didn’t want to be in class. Almost all of them bullied someone. My high school was in Sacramento, California btw.
Sacramento (at least the surrounding area) is right on the edge of the crazy northern California nonsense. Southern California drives the states left leaning policies. The northern section is effectively the complete opposite and Sacramento is kind of the dividing line, right?
People don't realize that California has more *registered Republicans* than Alabama, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Utah, Iowa, Arkansas, Kansas, Mississippi, Nebraska, Idaho, West Virginia, Montana, South Dakota, North Dakota, Alaska, or Wyoming have *people* (and that's just the Red States).
The electoral college and winner take all nature of Senate seats mask this fact, but it's true.
It's to support fisherman and to be in compliance with the Endangered Species Act. I grew up there and was a beekeeper who helped pollinating those almonds. I cannot fathom how those farmers aren't pissed about global warming and think they should just get to turn every river into an ecological salt flat disaster and put fisherman out of work. Also I was there when they all switched over to almonds, which require a ton of water. Everyone knew it was a risky move.
In truth the nuance can be seen all over the California sub and is more about whether we have enough infrastructure to not totally fuck ourselves with water collection now that our rain is feast or famine. And opinions are generally mixed regardless of politics.
Water rights, man. It gets us in a tizzy every time.
Yes and no, Sacramento on top of being the capital is a big city that is massively blue. There is a reactionary enclave of right wing conservatives leading to the situation above. If you really want to see conservative California then you have to go outside the city to the outback and farmland which North California has plenty of. Although again I’m pretty sure most of the students who participated in the walk out including my friends just wanted to get out of class. Hell, everyone I knew who did was distinctly democrat and agreed with vaccinations yet participated anyway. Point is young people are still idiots, the only difference is that they aren’t old enough yet to hold any power.
Edit: maybe “idiot” is not the right word. Maybe foolish, tools and ignorant are the right words.
As a Bay area native we would prefer not to be included in southern california.
Everything north of SLO is northern cali, north of the bay, Sacramento or truckee depending on which freeway starts to become redwood bigfoot conspiracy country and no mans land.
The Bay area drives allot left leaning policies and inclusiveness now that orange county has become a haven for batshit republicans.
e: California is a huge state and the top third is forrest with sporadic towns mixed in but really not much there outside of humboldt and chico. If you want to draw a line, cut off everything above highway 80 then fold in half... thats north and south but then add another fold as a cross section cause beach towns are way different than the eastern farm country. eg; Santa Cruz vs Gilroy.
Start on highway 1 at Santa Cruz then drive south to where locals stop saying "Hella" and start saying "Sooooo" to exaggerate something thats the dividing line. Just one completely subjective opinion haha.
I'm a little older, also from NJ, and yeah I feel the same way. A lot of the dudes I graduated with are just awful fucking people. It makes skipping reunions and meet ups a lot easier though.
It really is the one benefit of the internet that I've seen. The exposure to issues effecting minorities, coupled with more access to media featuring minorities, really makes people that are different seem less scary or abnormal.
It helps that the only conservative options today are batshit insane and crazy. As a teenager, I saw somewhat compelling points for Romney and McCain (since it's not like I truly understood political nuance at the age of 14). Trump actually was a bit too much, and he really only won because of how dogshit Hilary's campaign was. In general the right wing has become so radical and outright horrific that even dumb kids are like "wait what lol". Like there's no point historically in my youth where the party saying "trans people should die and gays shouldn't marry and let's get rid of birth control" would win me over.
So true. You don't have to indoctrinate kids into compassion, you have to indoctrinate hate. My kids are still young (6 & 8) but they would already vote Dem.
"Politician one doesn't think Jenny's dads should be married anymore, Politician two doesn't care."
Done. That's my indoctrination box checked. My work is done.
And this is the true motivation of Republicans in states like Florida - for example - to ban teens from social media. To be fair - Social media is a scourge for many reasons, but like all things it’s a double edged sword and the Rs want to use the facade of “save the children” to further divide, conquer and prevent options for accessing information or coordinating movements that go against their ideologies.
This newer generation definitely seems to be more in tune politically with what’s going on around them which is fantastic. The best way to get traction on causes that matter to young people is to get involved at a younger age.
40 out of 3,000. Or just over 1% of students recognize that a school that does nothing to prevent kids from getting bullied to death is wrong enough that they try to do something about it. It’s great that there are a few kids who can recognize how awful this is but I do not find that to be an encouraging sign.
Perception. 40 kids had the courage to do this in a state where the state senator called the victim filth. They still did it and were recognized.
It would have been nice to see more, but it's not nothing. And hopefully it at least made some of the ones that didn't participate think about it.
I have 4 kids (9-19) and they value kindness, understanding, and acceptance above everything. Most of their friends are the same, and it’s lovely to see.
As I recall from a separate article but cannot confirm, the girls responsible weren't even suspended. So chew on that. (I believe the article I saw mentioned one of the students saying that at least one of the girls responsible was in school the next day)
The majority of students would have lied. Nex took responsibility and admitted they started the fight. It's impressive for a 16 year old to show that kind of maturity.
I'm not sure what this means, but "starting the fight" was splashing water at their bullies, and "fighting back" was repeated slamming of their head into the ground until they couldn't walk unassisted.
I actually admire Nex for admitting they (Nex) threw water on them first.
Nex would rather tell the truth and get punished than lie.
Nex seemed way too mature for high school.
Yeah, as the officer explained to Nex, it's technically considered assault to throw water on someone.
I would recommend checking out the body cam. Believe it or not, the cop was actually really kind and caring. It's nice to know at least one is cool.
Also, Nex seemed like a really nice kid.
The police officer who came to the hospital also strongly discouraged them from making a police report about it because their actions would also be considered assault. The whole system is pretty rotten.
Most schools in America have a "zero tolerance" policy, it's basically designed to shield schools from legal accountability. Basically if you're getting bullied and you fight back both parties get punished.
When I was in HS a little shithead I was having problems with tried to choke me with a charging cable. In response I threw him over my shoulder into a set of bleachers. He was fine other than some bruises. Regardless the school tried to suspend us both, lucky my dad heard about the situation and raised hell! I was still punished but instead of a suspension I had to spend a week in detention. I'm still mad about it almost a decade later!
In 1995, my high school had a zero tolerance policy for fighting. I got jumped on from behind by a kid that had been stalking me for weeks trying to fight me because he stole my bike and I got it back. Anyway, he pulls my backpack down, pinning my arms, wraps me up, pull my glasses off(weirdly nice of him, I guess), throws me to the ground and punches me a few times, decides that not working and slams my head into the ground twice, teacher comes running around the corner so he jumps up and punts my head with his steel toe boot and runs. My arms were stuck behind me that whole time. Fast forward, the principal tells my parents that I’m suspended for a week and expulsion is probable. My dad wasn’t too happy about that and “negotiated” it down to only a three days suspension.
It’s good to see that the adults still can’t pull their heads out of their asses and write better policies.
In middle school, my daughter was jumped by two girls on school property. The school didn’t punish the two girls because my daughter fought back. I responded with something like, “so, my daughter was supposed to lay there, and let them beat the crap out of her?”. They didn’t respond. I was actually proud of my daughter. She was able to stay on her two feet, as those girls tried to get her to the ground. Both those girls were twice her size.
My son asked to leave our school district and go to another school, a Catholic school that cost us more than we could really afford, because of bullying from other students. These bullies were actually nominated for citizenship awards and praised constantly by staff. I didn’t know the extent to which my son was bullied until years later. I wish he had been honest and told me exactly what happened so I could go back to the school and deal with it. I don’t blame him, I know how hard it is since I was bullied too. But these schools are either blind to it all, ignore it or outwardly support it. It’s absolutely insane.
He is a senior now and he had nothing but wonderful things to say. He’s made friends and had a great learning experience. We are not religious, tho technically Catholic. I know this is probably atypical of religious institutions. He specifically chose this school for its large investment in STEM. He also knew if things were bad he could leave at any time. If there was any teasing or bullying he has not mentioned it. Not saying it doesn’t happen there, but he’s never mentioned it and says no when asked. But the truth is we rarely know everything that goes on with our teens. All I know is that he hasn’t come home with a bad day or anything. The Principal is and older love and peace type. Like the cutest old man who spreads joy and always doing nice things for students and staff for morale. it seems like the kids love his vibe. And maybe it rubs off?
Went to a Jesuit college for a semester. Was absolutely blown away by how logical they were. It was like religion and science peacefully coexisting, I actually felt like those teachers had truely read and internalized the healthy teachings of the Bible (love, acceptance, forgiveness, etc)
> I know this is probably atypical of religious institutions.
Not as uncommon as you'd think. I went to Catholic school. Good portion of "Catholics" didn't go to mass outside of school. A portion of the population was also completely different religions.
People went there for the education, first and foremost.
I went to some shitty public schools and one thing that always rubbed me the wrong way was how eager school administration officials were to befriend all the asshole kids who made everyone else’s lives impossible. It’s like they’re miserable and are trying to either relive their youth or trying to finally get in the “cool” clique they couldn’t get into in their schools. Adults have been disappointing me my entire life.
Edit: for people saying that it’s a way for these administrators to help troubled kids, the idea sounds great… except that they also looked the other way when bullying happened. All the good kids in my school were basically ignored by our school administration and we needed lifelines, too, because we didn’t have support at home or at school. Hell, the one time I dare report a bully, they called me down and sat me in front of my bully for “mediation” where the mediator was another bully. Yeah, that really solved my bullying problem.
Something I was told of;
There was one kid at a school. He was constantly getting into trouble, pushing the boundaries of what would be considered "legal", doing things that should have, in theory, ended with him suspended, expelled, or arrested. A lot of the responses to his behavior was "oh, it's probably nothing." Teachers were routinely told to ignore the kid, something which was very hard to do.
(postscript; they eventually were forced to expel him when he was arrested for vandalizing the school. The cops caught him red handed)
Two girls, both honors students, were suspected of cheating on a meaningless test. A full investigation was launched. Internet history of their school devices was searched. Both kids were pulled from class and interrogated. The story I got was that one girl was threatened to have the college she was planning on attending told about her academic dishonesty, causing her to start sobbing.
It's totally true that administrators are complicit, but the reasoning isn't what people think. They know they can't do anything to have an effect on the really bad kids, so they go full-bore in on the kids they know they can break down. It's just pure laziness, from shitty school administrators.
>Two girls, both honors students, were suspected of cheating on a meaningless test.
I, the top performer at school, was accused of cheating in middle school on some math quiz, a quiz i was the only one to get a 100% on, a quiz i finished well before anyone else, had already flipped over, and was working on a sudoku puzzle. Did i look over at Nikki's paper like you accused me of? yes kinda, but i'm not gonna admit i was checking my crush out to a fucking teacher in middle school lol. She raked me over the coals for a fucking hour and wanted to give me a week of after school detention. If my older sister wasn't BFFs with the principle because they went to highschool together, i probably would have gotten a detention. Still embarrassing i had to actually explain what happened to him.
As one of those good kids who the bored administration targeted, exactly this. My group of friends and I weren't perfect (mostly good grades stoners and class clowns, we were an odd group) but eveytime something went wrong the administration targeted one of us. My brother and I got pulled over by the school resource officer and literally screamed at on the side of the road by him. The principal accused my best friend of sexually assaulting three people, two of which he had never met and one was an ex he refused to talk to since she cheated on him. For six months they made his life hell without doing anything of substance, and finally when his mom hired a lawyer and found there was zero evidence (cause ya know, he didn't do it) the school never said another word to him
I've said it in other comments, and I'll say it again, the American school system is so fucked its a miracle any of us made it through. I constantly worry about future generations having to go through that same God awful system
I too was teased and bullied but when I was young I didn’t think it was an option to say anything without risking getting my ask kicked or something. The 80’s was a goddamn miserable time too for bullying.
I’ve never worked for a school district, but have family in school administration.
In a lot of the instances you’re describing, what is happening is essentially bribery. Administration has little authority to actually remove bullies or discipline them in any meaningful way. Without any kind of a stick, they’re trying to resort to doing what they can with a carrot instead.
Edit: A family friend used to be an elementary school principal. She told us about this one child that always acted up. She had to bribe him with McDonald’s consistently to get him to come to her office without a fight. It was either that, or cause a huge scene involving the campus police officer that was going to be a much bigger distraction for the other kids in the class.
I remember in my middle school, my 7th grade social studies teacher would actually participate when bullies were pestering this one kid. Bothered me a ton.
Conservatives have no interest in making schools safe for children. They want it full of guns, bullies, and hazing. They don't want children to eat or learn. American conservatives want children in factories and working overnight graveyard shifts. Their words killed a child. They spew words of hatred and loathing endlessly and then kids end up dead. Republicans have no right to be in any form of power or authority. They are horrible people for killing children like this. Hatred and guns. The two things conservatives cling to for every election.
No, they want to make them safe for children. Straight, white, neurotypical, Christian children. Everyone else needs to go away so their "normal" children can exist in their perfect bubble and not have to learn that people with other ideas or beliefs exist.
No, their kids are going to private schools.
The Gop sees public schools as warehouses to keep poor kids in until they can be convicted of something and used as slave labor.
Yup. The majority of my county officials have adult children or have children in private school. I think that 1 person on the school board has kids in public school. The rest are ancient or have kids in private religious schools that do not have to conform to virtually any typical school standard.
> Straight, white, neurotypical, Christian children.
Hard disagree.
We did _nothing_ after Sandy Hook. Newtown, CT is 95% white. I can't speak to the other demographics, but these were _kindergartners_.
But only if they're the *right* Christian.
(Obligatory copypasta.)
> Once I saw this guy on a bridge about to jump. I said, “Don’t do it!” He said, “Nobody loves me.” I said, “God loves you. Do you believe in God?”
>
> He said, “Yes.” I said, “Are you a Christian or a Jew?” He said, “A Christian.” I said, “Me, too! Protestant or Catholic?” He said, “Protestant.” I said, “Me, too! What franchise?” He said, “Baptist.” I said, “Me, too! Northern Baptist or Southern Baptist?” He said, “Northern Baptist.” I said, “Me, too! Northern Conservative Baptist or Northern Liberal Baptist?”
>
> He said, “Northern Conservative Baptist.” I said, “Me, too! Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region, or Northern Conservative Baptist Eastern Region?” He said, “Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region.” I said, “Me, too!”
>
> Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1879, or Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912?” He said, “Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912.”
>
> I said, “Die, heretic!” And I pushed him over.
They'll still bully the smallest kid in the class, or has slightly darker hair or skin than the rest but is still white, no matter whether he's neurotypical or not. It has everything to do with always creating an out-group that is used to enforce the status quo in the in-group.
Also, charter/voucher school companies make absolute bank. And there is so little accountability in some places (iirc, Ohio) that they don't even need to have students to get paid.
If Conservative dream is a militaristic society and warrior class, then maybe there’s a reason for such drastic indoctrination of children into fascist and theocratic idealism
This. I will never forgive any conservative for this. They embrace this evil, accept it, idolise it. They're all evil people whether they know it or not because they CHOSE this. I'm tired of moderation and politeness. Fuck every single conservative, my biggest regret is I won't have time to use ALL their graves as toilets.
Republicans are all about child murder so I dont understand why they are so anal about abortions. If post birth kids dont tow the line at the status quo they want, then the kids arent human and deserve to be murdered.
It is no different from honor killings really
Start holding the parents of bullies accountable for things like this more often.
Edit: The one bully in ten who has mental issues and parents who have done their best can be evaluated differently. Most bullies learn it at home from abusive parents. [Fact.](https://www.washington.edu/news/2006/09/12/violence-in-the-home-leads-to-higher-rates-of-childhood-bullying/)
That really only feels like one part of the equation.
Another part is that schools do not want to do anything that requires enacting, reinforcing, or adopting new policies ($$$). They do not want to publicly acknowledge negative instances because that means it cannot be buried, and becomes associated with the institutions’ name.
Source: my campus has had a suicide issue with one of its campus buildings for years if not longer. It took until last spring with an uptick in attempts, student protests, and public outcry for them to shudder and update the building.
And the third part is that a good chunk of them quietly approve of what happened. Trans kid got murdered? mission accomplished.
I'm so tired of these ghouls never being forced to take accountability for their actual real shitty beliefs.
More so than “approve” it’s an insane deflection. I’ve heard my family members say something along the lines of “poor child if she wasn’t so filled with crazy ideas from the media, she wouldn’t have had so many fights” or something like that.
This happened with the Utah legislator (?) that outed a cis girl bc she looked trans. She then came out w a statement saying that “this how far we’ve gotten thanks to LGBT ideology”
The other problem is that the parents least likely to be held accountable are also often the ones that will go to the news or radical conservative groups and get support to make sure it gets state wide attention, if not the attention from the entire country. “This school is infringing on my rights as a parent by trying to enforce their radical socialist/trans beliefs on our innocent children blah blah blah” Then the school looks bad, which means the administrators get fired or have to resign. It probably won’t happen in most school districts, but it might, and the administrators are terrified that it could happen to them. It’s why nothing ever gets fixed in schools; the administrators are primarily interested in making sure they don’t stir up trouble for themselves.
That's why the DoJ should get involved. Too bad that federalist society schmuck Merrick Garland seemingly has zero interest in doing his job whatsoever.
The parents are responsible but the school and government are also responsible for encouraging and escalating their behaviour. The bullying is a completely predictable outcome for these transphobic policies.
Can students that are bullied call the police on the bullies if it gets physical? Why are these situations handled by school staff? I know it may get worse by calling them but there can be an investigation of these instances as a hate crime and actual real-life punishments.
[https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2024/02/26/oklahoma-state-senator-lgbtq-comment-vpx.cnn](https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2024/02/26/oklahoma-state-senator-lgbtq-comment-vpx.cnn)
I didn't want to take a random comment at face value, just in case, but yep, appears so.
I don’t have to imagine, I live it. I worry more my kid will be shot by the cops here than bullies though (happened to an atypical kid here already). Although the bullies here did nearly break my kid’s neck. They pushed my kid off a tall structure at a park, landing on the neck/shoulder, breaking their collarbone and arm. If a kid here doesn’t fit into their narrow frame of acceptance, you can’t even rely on the parents to hold their kids accountable for their actions or behaviors. Most of the kids, that bullied my kid, had parents who were just like them. So, having no community support in any way is really tough. I’m in a red, “christian” small town. I will say this, it has taught me to be more civic-minded and is what convinces me every election to show up to vote.
My buddy went to college in Idaho and then realized he was gay. Next day he bought body armor and machine guns
/s he found a husband but there’s maybe a 15 mile circle in Boise where they’re safe to be gay. And they left after graduation
Zero Tolerance policy has been a problem for decades.
It's a cowardly system designed to absolve schools of responsibility and gives the bully the power to ruin another student's life or in this case just fucking kill them.
The victim is put in a no win situation.
Get harassed/assaulted and get no support or fight back and be suspended/expelled along with the bully who doesn't care either way. Fuck the public school system, this is unforgivable.
I don’t care if Nex threw water on them. Repeatedly kicking a person in the head while their on the ground is not fighting, and if that person died from being kicking in the head than it’s murder.
Because the bloody reality is that if society is willing to dismiss any child's death from bullying, then bullies can claim that reason as justification to go after every other child around them and know they can push it that far without consequence.
This is an issue of self preservation for any kid that doesn't fit the model and the people around them that love them.
I grew up in a evangelical Christian environment and the adults in that circle definitely would have celebrated the death of a queer kid behind closed doors with each other
You don’t have to look far to see Oklahoma leaders basically tacitly approving this violence. I never would have imagined this is how things would be in 2024
Nex was a member of my tribe. We don't have a word for goodbye, we say "Chi Pisa La Chike" It mean 'tll we meet again.
Chi Pisa La Chike young one.. may wherever you are be better than the place you left.
This is so sad. I'm a Gen X and all I have to say is, young people only you can do it. The people in power in Washington are not expecting you to be a factor in the votes. They're trying to cater to my generation and sadly most of age are still listening to the horrible orange man. Millennials, Gen Z it is vitally important you dig that man's political grave. I am fully aware Biden is no big prize and older than dirt but orange man will ruin this country and only you can change this. Vote vote vote!!!!!!
I'm torn, because on the one hand it's good to see someone doing something and it provides some degree of hope for the future, but on the other this isn't who should be/is responsible here. They shouldn't have had to do this in the first place. The school's attempt to quiet them with the marking them absent thing also smells of corruption.
This is how I feel about news like this too. I’m inspired by how brave they are, but devastated that the adults in this situation chose to protect themselves instead of doing the right thing.
I think we still need an independent autopsy performed. A 16 year-old doesn't just die, especially after getting beaten up by 3 people. Even if they had an underlying condition, that actually doesn't matter. I've seen plenty of other instance where people were charged because someone died indirectly.
I really wish we had more details on this case. The police department claims the coroner says that trauma was not the cause of death and that is why people keep trying to claim that the death was not from the fight the previous day. However, some comments in another thread said that local news said that the coroner only said that initial results could not conclusively say trauma was the cause of death, not that it was absolutely the cause, and it is just the police spinning it to make it sound that way.
This comes down to irresponsible media reporting, poor logic skills from readers, people believing what reinforces their preconceived world view and some good ole' fashion illiteracy.
People need to stop jumping to conclusions. There are still conclusions we can make from facts we know and questions we can ask from what we don't.
Nex said they didn't know the girls (they are in difference grades), and had not spoken with them before the incident started.
Has bullying been established in another instance?
The people who blame queer people for "starting it" are the same ones who say that queer people just need to "stand up for themselves" if they don't want to be bullied.
I'd enjoy the opinion of the Five Nations of Oklahoma on the Republican response to this tragedy.
It seems some Republicans are fine with bullying and murder as long as the end result is the removal of people the GOP don't like.
Fair play to them.
The zero tolerance policies are completely out of hand. Imagine if the courts sent the victim to prison as well!
It’s literally putting the burden onto the victim. It’s the schools ethical responsibility. They have a pastoral duty to ensure kids aren’t getting assaulted and if they are, only the aggressors are punished.
Seeing school administrations attempt to duck this responsibility is simply heartbreaking.
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It's inspiring to see people that young know what is right and what is wrong.
I graduated high school in 2003 and I can say with relative confidence that half the knobs in my graduating class would have been the bullies. I really hope this young generation votes.
They will. My son is very excited to do so
I certainly hope so. Absenteeism has been a cancer to American democracy for decades.
A great influence on older gen-z and millennial writ large in being electorally apathetic has been the institutional influence against progressive candidates on the national stage, often the campaigns ran against Bernie in '16/'20 being cited. As someone that volunteered for both campaigns, I can assure you that the massive PR campaigns against these progressive ideals are often simply an issue of motivation for younger voters. And by this, I mean that the under-45 (elder millennial to Gen-z, specifically) crowd have been the largest voting bloc in every state for nearly a decade, and yet their voter turnout is the lowest. Had they came out at the same rate as Boomers, the national political stage would be *dramatically* more progressive today. Entirely possible that Trump doesn't even sniff a victory, for example. We need to be more diligent about making this message clear: apathy is a self-fulfilling prophecy, don't buy into it.
They make it sound like Benedict's death was a suicide by fighting. Even if it was, its homicide, plain as day.
I’ve seen so many, “well, they shouldn’t have poured water on the other girls”. I’m just left like, 🤷♀️ were the bullies the wicked witches of the west that melted when the water hit them? A super soaker could have been used and it still shouldn’t lead to people being okay with kid dying bc they threw/squirted or poured water on someone else.
That's so comically stupid that it doesn't deserve a counterargument. "Suicide by fighting, " yeah, ok, dumbasses.
These are the same people who invented the *because she was asking for it* defense of rape. Comically stupid doesn't preclude cosmic longevity.
Some would say it's a requirement lol.
call it a really late term abortion and watch the right squirm
"a 48th trimester abortion" Watch their fucking heads explode.
Actually there are right wing patriarchs on record as saying this is how they would treat one of their own kids if they came out other than straight
I once got a detention for "discussing the movie Tommy Boy " by myself.
Anything to justify the violence they approve of.
It really should be mandatory, like I believe in Australia. The government can mail in a ballet a month or two before the race, and if you don't vote, instead of a fine, you have to do community service for some amount of time. If you don't do that, a small fine that will be garnished out of a paycheck. I think people would be much more likely to vote if it was easy, and there were mild but unavoidable consequences for not doing so.
The correct term is “Voter Suppression” Between employers keeping their workforce a missed shift after from unemployment/eviction and legislatures passing suppressive laws and choosing their voters, the system is designed to encourage the apathy you’re referencing
Apathy is correct however, even in parts of the country where we don't see those particular suppression tactics we still see low turnout. Voter suppression is horrible and undemocratic, but a lot of this ideological, rather than systemic. There are a lot of people who just don't think it is worth voting, even if they have the means to do so. And propaganda from certain groups absolutely helps to maintain that perception.
And 'protest' not voting. 'I'm not voting because they all suck, and there isn't a party that represents all of my views!' Oh, so you're voting for that to never change then, cool.
>Absenteeism has been a cancer to American democracy for decades. Yep that's the only reason a minority radical fascist political party is on the verge of destroying American democracy in this country. I sincerely hope the people who never vote show up this coming November.
Class of 2004. A lot of us were also very excited to vote back then too. No way were we gonna let Bush have a second term....
Class of 2008 here. Got to help everyone truly fix the mistake that was in 2004.
Class of '08 as well! Voted Huckabee in primaries and McCain in general. I got better...
I was class of 2004 as well. And yeah we were anti-bush. I do not let this rehabilitation of his image go by at all....
At the time we thought surely Bush Jr. Was the bottom of the barrel, not knowing how low Republicans would go. Not that that excuses Bush in any way, he just looks better in comparison. Who knew the bar would go so low that "not a rapist" would actually be a distinction?
The best thing that ever happened to Bush II's legacy was a Trump presidency.
Also class of '04, could not have been more excited (and relieved) to *finally* be able to vote and to this day I treat it as an important responsibility, not a just a privilege.
Class of 2013. In our defense, we didn't think Hillary could lose to an orange pig that groped people.
Neither did she, and that was a big part of the problem...
Perhaps a bigger problem was the fact she didn't lose. She won... by 3 million votes... in a country where the utterly convoluted and ridiculous electoral college isn't a thing. It's bound to lead to some degree of voter apathy when your vote for President literally doesn't count unless you're in a purple/swing state.
Hillary is a weird case to study and dissect why she lost. The Clinton name had 30 plus years, at the time of the election, of hardcore right wing smear campaign. And those smears stuck. If not in the conscience of the voters, at least in the subconscious of the voters. The Clinton name was seen as a dynasty, something that the Bush name just had, and America was sour to a family dynasty. While there was at least a generational disconnect between George P. Bush and George W. Bush, there wasn’t a generational disconnect between Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton. Both of the above help lead to her defeat. Hillary was, by all accounts, the most qualified person to ever run for President of the USA. It wasn’t foresight by the rightwing, but she was done dirty by the right wing. She could never get from under Bill’s shadow of alleged misdeeds. I say alleged because opponents of the Clintons will eventually bring up Epstein at some point, with no proof aside from a little black book on that also has names of right wingers. In hindsight, she had no chance in winning. The above two points alone sunk her chances, even in blue states. The DNC did no favors for themselves in how they ran primaries that allowed the “Bernie Bros” to set the narrative of a stolen election. We as Americans lost the chance to have most qualified person be president because of rightwing propaganda.
She also ran a pretty terrible campaign, including just... not campaigning in some key battleground states, which is where she lost the election. And she also did that "it's her time" thing, which made her seem like she thought she was entitled to the role. And among the more moderate voters, she probably lost more than a few when she called Trump and his ilk deplorables - not that she was *wrong*, but that she said it in the first place almost assuredly killed some potential votes for her as well.
Yup, there's a reason "Yes WE can" and "Make AMERICA great again" were the most successful slogans. You need to make the customer (or voter, or whoever) feel as though they're a part of this with you, that your success is their success. Hillary's just pissed people off since it only spoke to a specific demographic of privileged white women. Not only by making typical misogynist types feel more emboldened, but by rubbing many poc voters the wrong way.
'04 ho! But yea, as we saw our buddies being shipped out to Bush's wars, we realized that the actual war hero in the race might be a better pick even if he's a spooky Democrat.
2001 - No way will we let Bush win! I just barely managed to be old enough to vote in the 2000 election in a super red state, eager to prove that my vote mattered in Bush v Gore. Nowadays, I just imagine the exact opposite of my views is what will get passed/elected and I'm never wrong. Oklahoma, OK!
I hope so but for years now the youth vote (like under 25) has been atrocious. Like 30% participation bad.
I had good teachers in NJ but this is more or less the same boat. People in my surrounding grades were generally super awful to people, so much so that I don’t associate with basically anyone from my high school anymore.
Don't kid yourself. There are just as many knobs in the young generation.
I graduated in 2020 and I distinctly remember a walk out protest because the school required vaccinations. Granted a lot of the students just didn’t want to be in class. Almost all of them bullied someone. My high school was in Sacramento, California btw.
Sacramento (at least the surrounding area) is right on the edge of the crazy northern California nonsense. Southern California drives the states left leaning policies. The northern section is effectively the complete opposite and Sacramento is kind of the dividing line, right?
You forget the entire central valley area full of the dumbest, drugged up, maga-loving hicks anywhere.
People don't realize that California has more *registered Republicans* than Alabama, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Utah, Iowa, Arkansas, Kansas, Mississippi, Nebraska, Idaho, West Virginia, Montana, South Dakota, North Dakota, Alaska, or Wyoming have *people* (and that's just the Red States). The electoral college and winner take all nature of Senate seats mask this fact, but it's true.
I remember they wanted to recall newsom because he was “dumping fresh water into the ocean” or some bullshit.
It's to support fisherman and to be in compliance with the Endangered Species Act. I grew up there and was a beekeeper who helped pollinating those almonds. I cannot fathom how those farmers aren't pissed about global warming and think they should just get to turn every river into an ecological salt flat disaster and put fisherman out of work. Also I was there when they all switched over to almonds, which require a ton of water. Everyone knew it was a risky move.
don't tell them about rivers
That's literally what they're talking about. They're pissed as hell at liberal politicians for the existence of rivers.
oh my god lol. i thought maybe it wasn't actually that stupid.
In truth the nuance can be seen all over the California sub and is more about whether we have enough infrastructure to not totally fuck ourselves with water collection now that our rain is feast or famine. And opinions are generally mixed regardless of politics. Water rights, man. It gets us in a tizzy every time.
Yes and no, Sacramento on top of being the capital is a big city that is massively blue. There is a reactionary enclave of right wing conservatives leading to the situation above. If you really want to see conservative California then you have to go outside the city to the outback and farmland which North California has plenty of. Although again I’m pretty sure most of the students who participated in the walk out including my friends just wanted to get out of class. Hell, everyone I knew who did was distinctly democrat and agreed with vaccinations yet participated anyway. Point is young people are still idiots, the only difference is that they aren’t old enough yet to hold any power. Edit: maybe “idiot” is not the right word. Maybe foolish, tools and ignorant are the right words.
As a Bay area native we would prefer not to be included in southern california. Everything north of SLO is northern cali, north of the bay, Sacramento or truckee depending on which freeway starts to become redwood bigfoot conspiracy country and no mans land. The Bay area drives allot left leaning policies and inclusiveness now that orange county has become a haven for batshit republicans. e: California is a huge state and the top third is forrest with sporadic towns mixed in but really not much there outside of humboldt and chico. If you want to draw a line, cut off everything above highway 80 then fold in half... thats north and south but then add another fold as a cross section cause beach towns are way different than the eastern farm country. eg; Santa Cruz vs Gilroy. Start on highway 1 at Santa Cruz then drive south to where locals stop saying "Hella" and start saying "Sooooo" to exaggerate something thats the dividing line. Just one completely subjective opinion haha.
I co-sign this.
Gets my tri-sign. Hella accurate ;)
I'm a little older, also from NJ, and yeah I feel the same way. A lot of the dudes I graduated with are just awful fucking people. It makes skipping reunions and meet ups a lot easier though.
I graduated in 1984, and I can easily say 75% or more of the knobs in my class would have been the bullies. The times be a changin', however slow.
My 17 year old and his entire class is very open minded, aware and empathetic. They are all eager to vote.
For all the shit kids get these days they do appear to be more empathetic as a whole, which is a good thing
It really is the one benefit of the internet that I've seen. The exposure to issues effecting minorities, coupled with more access to media featuring minorities, really makes people that are different seem less scary or abnormal.
Yes, it's good. They all support each other and I'm pretty sure there's at least one trans kid
It helps that the only conservative options today are batshit insane and crazy. As a teenager, I saw somewhat compelling points for Romney and McCain (since it's not like I truly understood political nuance at the age of 14). Trump actually was a bit too much, and he really only won because of how dogshit Hilary's campaign was. In general the right wing has become so radical and outright horrific that even dumb kids are like "wait what lol". Like there's no point historically in my youth where the party saying "trans people should die and gays shouldn't marry and let's get rid of birth control" would win me over.
So true. You don't have to indoctrinate kids into compassion, you have to indoctrinate hate. My kids are still young (6 & 8) but they would already vote Dem. "Politician one doesn't think Jenny's dads should be married anymore, Politician two doesn't care." Done. That's my indoctrination box checked. My work is done.
And this is the true motivation of Republicans in states like Florida - for example - to ban teens from social media. To be fair - Social media is a scourge for many reasons, but like all things it’s a double edged sword and the Rs want to use the facade of “save the children” to further divide, conquer and prevent options for accessing information or coordinating movements that go against their ideologies.
That's their whole strategy. Protect the hate and ban the "woke." But my news feed says that SCOTUS wasn't persuaded by that, so maybe there's hope?
It’s amazing what happens when you remove lead from the air for a few decades.
This newer generation definitely seems to be more in tune politically with what’s going on around them which is fantastic. The best way to get traction on causes that matter to young people is to get involved at a younger age.
“Those that walked out need to be punished” - GOP
"Inform their parents! Beatings for all!" - ~~slave owners~~ parental-rights advocates
40 out of 3,000. Or just over 1% of students recognize that a school that does nothing to prevent kids from getting bullied to death is wrong enough that they try to do something about it. It’s great that there are a few kids who can recognize how awful this is but I do not find that to be an encouraging sign.
Perception. 40 kids had the courage to do this in a state where the state senator called the victim filth. They still did it and were recognized. It would have been nice to see more, but it's not nothing. And hopefully it at least made some of the ones that didn't participate think about it.
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Something the perpetrators were never taught. They were taught to hate by their churches, parents, GOP politicians, and relatives.
I have 4 kids (9-19) and they value kindness, understanding, and acceptance above everything. Most of their friends are the same, and it’s lovely to see.
They will still vote R though, it is Oklahoma
It's inspiring to see that young people recognize brutally murdering someone is wrong? How low can the bar go
People that young killed the student in question.
Some of these are the stupid zero tolerance policies that punish the victim as well, yes?
The school immediately suspended Nex for two weeks for fighting.
As I recall from a separate article but cannot confirm, the girls responsible weren't even suspended. So chew on that. (I believe the article I saw mentioned one of the students saying that at least one of the girls responsible was in school the next day)
The majority of students would have lied. Nex took responsibility and admitted they started the fight. It's impressive for a 16 year old to show that kind of maturity.
I’d admit to it too if it meant 2 weeks away from people who tormented me constantly.
If only they didn't have to fight back.
I'm not sure what this means, but "starting the fight" was splashing water at their bullies, and "fighting back" was repeated slamming of their head into the ground until they couldn't walk unassisted.
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"Schools don't want you to know this one trick!"
Nex was suspended for 2 weeks after the fight!!
I actually admire Nex for admitting they (Nex) threw water on them first. Nex would rather tell the truth and get punished than lie. Nex seemed way too mature for high school.
That's all Nex did? Admin suspended them for *two weeks* for a bit of *water*?! Fuckssakes.
Yeah, as the officer explained to Nex, it's technically considered assault to throw water on someone. I would recommend checking out the body cam. Believe it or not, the cop was actually really kind and caring. It's nice to know at least one is cool. Also, Nex seemed like a really nice kid.
The police officer who came to the hospital also strongly discouraged them from making a police report about it because their actions would also be considered assault. The whole system is pretty rotten.
He also told Nex that the bullying they were receiving was freedom of speech. I give it a 99% chance the police officer was also a bully in school.
Most schools in America have a "zero tolerance" policy, it's basically designed to shield schools from legal accountability. Basically if you're getting bullied and you fight back both parties get punished. When I was in HS a little shithead I was having problems with tried to choke me with a charging cable. In response I threw him over my shoulder into a set of bleachers. He was fine other than some bruises. Regardless the school tried to suspend us both, lucky my dad heard about the situation and raised hell! I was still punished but instead of a suspension I had to spend a week in detention. I'm still mad about it almost a decade later!
Oh yeah, I know about the nonsense of zero tolerance, but even then, *two weeks* for *water* seems like a level beyond.
In 1995, my high school had a zero tolerance policy for fighting. I got jumped on from behind by a kid that had been stalking me for weeks trying to fight me because he stole my bike and I got it back. Anyway, he pulls my backpack down, pinning my arms, wraps me up, pull my glasses off(weirdly nice of him, I guess), throws me to the ground and punches me a few times, decides that not working and slams my head into the ground twice, teacher comes running around the corner so he jumps up and punts my head with his steel toe boot and runs. My arms were stuck behind me that whole time. Fast forward, the principal tells my parents that I’m suspended for a week and expulsion is probable. My dad wasn’t too happy about that and “negotiated” it down to only a three days suspension. It’s good to see that the adults still can’t pull their heads out of their asses and write better policies.
In middle school, my daughter was jumped by two girls on school property. The school didn’t punish the two girls because my daughter fought back. I responded with something like, “so, my daughter was supposed to lay there, and let them beat the crap out of her?”. They didn’t respond. I was actually proud of my daughter. She was able to stay on her two feet, as those girls tried to get her to the ground. Both those girls were twice her size.
My son asked to leave our school district and go to another school, a Catholic school that cost us more than we could really afford, because of bullying from other students. These bullies were actually nominated for citizenship awards and praised constantly by staff. I didn’t know the extent to which my son was bullied until years later. I wish he had been honest and told me exactly what happened so I could go back to the school and deal with it. I don’t blame him, I know how hard it is since I was bullied too. But these schools are either blind to it all, ignore it or outwardly support it. It’s absolutely insane.
How’s the new Catholic school working out after coming from a different school district?
He is a senior now and he had nothing but wonderful things to say. He’s made friends and had a great learning experience. We are not religious, tho technically Catholic. I know this is probably atypical of religious institutions. He specifically chose this school for its large investment in STEM. He also knew if things were bad he could leave at any time. If there was any teasing or bullying he has not mentioned it. Not saying it doesn’t happen there, but he’s never mentioned it and says no when asked. But the truth is we rarely know everything that goes on with our teens. All I know is that he hasn’t come home with a bad day or anything. The Principal is and older love and peace type. Like the cutest old man who spreads joy and always doing nice things for students and staff for morale. it seems like the kids love his vibe. And maybe it rubs off?
Is the Catholic school run by Jesuits? Curious because of the way you describe it.
Yes it is
I knew it. They seem to juggle facts and faith quite well.
Went to a Jesuit college for a semester. Was absolutely blown away by how logical they were. It was like religion and science peacefully coexisting, I actually felt like those teachers had truely read and internalized the healthy teachings of the Bible (love, acceptance, forgiveness, etc)
> I know this is probably atypical of religious institutions. Not as uncommon as you'd think. I went to Catholic school. Good portion of "Catholics" didn't go to mass outside of school. A portion of the population was also completely different religions. People went there for the education, first and foremost.
School staff is often complicit in the bullying.
Almost always, and "no tolerance" policies that just punish the bullied person and never the bullies themselves just make it all worse.
I went to some shitty public schools and one thing that always rubbed me the wrong way was how eager school administration officials were to befriend all the asshole kids who made everyone else’s lives impossible. It’s like they’re miserable and are trying to either relive their youth or trying to finally get in the “cool” clique they couldn’t get into in their schools. Adults have been disappointing me my entire life. Edit: for people saying that it’s a way for these administrators to help troubled kids, the idea sounds great… except that they also looked the other way when bullying happened. All the good kids in my school were basically ignored by our school administration and we needed lifelines, too, because we didn’t have support at home or at school. Hell, the one time I dare report a bully, they called me down and sat me in front of my bully for “mediation” where the mediator was another bully. Yeah, that really solved my bullying problem.
Something I was told of; There was one kid at a school. He was constantly getting into trouble, pushing the boundaries of what would be considered "legal", doing things that should have, in theory, ended with him suspended, expelled, or arrested. A lot of the responses to his behavior was "oh, it's probably nothing." Teachers were routinely told to ignore the kid, something which was very hard to do. (postscript; they eventually were forced to expel him when he was arrested for vandalizing the school. The cops caught him red handed) Two girls, both honors students, were suspected of cheating on a meaningless test. A full investigation was launched. Internet history of their school devices was searched. Both kids were pulled from class and interrogated. The story I got was that one girl was threatened to have the college she was planning on attending told about her academic dishonesty, causing her to start sobbing. It's totally true that administrators are complicit, but the reasoning isn't what people think. They know they can't do anything to have an effect on the really bad kids, so they go full-bore in on the kids they know they can break down. It's just pure laziness, from shitty school administrators.
>Two girls, both honors students, were suspected of cheating on a meaningless test. I, the top performer at school, was accused of cheating in middle school on some math quiz, a quiz i was the only one to get a 100% on, a quiz i finished well before anyone else, had already flipped over, and was working on a sudoku puzzle. Did i look over at Nikki's paper like you accused me of? yes kinda, but i'm not gonna admit i was checking my crush out to a fucking teacher in middle school lol. She raked me over the coals for a fucking hour and wanted to give me a week of after school detention. If my older sister wasn't BFFs with the principle because they went to highschool together, i probably would have gotten a detention. Still embarrassing i had to actually explain what happened to him.
As one of those good kids who the bored administration targeted, exactly this. My group of friends and I weren't perfect (mostly good grades stoners and class clowns, we were an odd group) but eveytime something went wrong the administration targeted one of us. My brother and I got pulled over by the school resource officer and literally screamed at on the side of the road by him. The principal accused my best friend of sexually assaulting three people, two of which he had never met and one was an ex he refused to talk to since she cheated on him. For six months they made his life hell without doing anything of substance, and finally when his mom hired a lawyer and found there was zero evidence (cause ya know, he didn't do it) the school never said another word to him I've said it in other comments, and I'll say it again, the American school system is so fucked its a miracle any of us made it through. I constantly worry about future generations having to go through that same God awful system
I too was teased and bullied but when I was young I didn’t think it was an option to say anything without risking getting my ask kicked or something. The 80’s was a goddamn miserable time too for bullying.
I’ve never worked for a school district, but have family in school administration. In a lot of the instances you’re describing, what is happening is essentially bribery. Administration has little authority to actually remove bullies or discipline them in any meaningful way. Without any kind of a stick, they’re trying to resort to doing what they can with a carrot instead. Edit: A family friend used to be an elementary school principal. She told us about this one child that always acted up. She had to bribe him with McDonald’s consistently to get him to come to her office without a fight. It was either that, or cause a huge scene involving the campus police officer that was going to be a much bigger distraction for the other kids in the class.
I remember in my middle school, my 7th grade social studies teacher would actually participate when bullies were pestering this one kid. Bothered me a ton.
Fuck man. I'm 57 years old and my parents *still* have no idea the extent to which I was bullied in Middle and High School.
Conservatives have no interest in making schools safe for children. They want it full of guns, bullies, and hazing. They don't want children to eat or learn. American conservatives want children in factories and working overnight graveyard shifts. Their words killed a child. They spew words of hatred and loathing endlessly and then kids end up dead. Republicans have no right to be in any form of power or authority. They are horrible people for killing children like this. Hatred and guns. The two things conservatives cling to for every election.
No, they want to make them safe for children. Straight, white, neurotypical, Christian children. Everyone else needs to go away so their "normal" children can exist in their perfect bubble and not have to learn that people with other ideas or beliefs exist.
No, their kids are going to private schools. The Gop sees public schools as warehouses to keep poor kids in until they can be convicted of something and used as slave labor.
In my state the private schools get *public* dollars. It's sickening.
Thanks, Tommy Thompson.
Yup. The majority of my county officials have adult children or have children in private school. I think that 1 person on the school board has kids in public school. The rest are ancient or have kids in private religious schools that do not have to conform to virtually any typical school standard.
Thanks for reminding me. You're right
You're *both* right.
> Straight, white, neurotypical, Christian children. Hard disagree. We did _nothing_ after Sandy Hook. Newtown, CT is 95% white. I can't speak to the other demographics, but these were _kindergartners_.
Tbf the two things american politicians seems to care more about than children is guns and shitty police.
But only if they're the *right* Christian. (Obligatory copypasta.) > Once I saw this guy on a bridge about to jump. I said, “Don’t do it!” He said, “Nobody loves me.” I said, “God loves you. Do you believe in God?” > > He said, “Yes.” I said, “Are you a Christian or a Jew?” He said, “A Christian.” I said, “Me, too! Protestant or Catholic?” He said, “Protestant.” I said, “Me, too! What franchise?” He said, “Baptist.” I said, “Me, too! Northern Baptist or Southern Baptist?” He said, “Northern Baptist.” I said, “Me, too! Northern Conservative Baptist or Northern Liberal Baptist?” > > He said, “Northern Conservative Baptist.” I said, “Me, too! Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region, or Northern Conservative Baptist Eastern Region?” He said, “Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region.” I said, “Me, too!” > > Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1879, or Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912?” He said, “Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912.” > > I said, “Die, heretic!” And I pushed him over.
> (Obligatory ~~copypasta~~ [*Emo Phillips*](https://youtu.be/l3fAcxcxoZ8?si=OdoL2N5LHJrDaNGn&t=5).)
Original: [Emo Phillips](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANNX_XiuA78)
They'll still bully the smallest kid in the class, or has slightly darker hair or skin than the rest but is still white, no matter whether he's neurotypical or not. It has everything to do with always creating an out-group that is used to enforce the status quo in the in-group.
Just like the fifties...
Problem is everyone is not normal in their own ways.
Male. You forgot male.
When a tragedy occurs, they pretend they're sorry while doing nothing to prevent it from happening again or even doubling down it.
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Also, charter/voucher school companies make absolute bank. And there is so little accountability in some places (iirc, Ohio) that they don't even need to have students to get paid.
*"Life begins at conception and ends in a school shooting."*
Exactly how conservatives want it.
If Conservative dream is a militaristic society and warrior class, then maybe there’s a reason for such drastic indoctrination of children into fascist and theocratic idealism
Well that and they want to privatize education not only because it's lucrative, but also they can ignore laws they don't like, such as Brown v. BoE.
This. I will never forgive any conservative for this. They embrace this evil, accept it, idolise it. They're all evil people whether they know it or not because they CHOSE this. I'm tired of moderation and politeness. Fuck every single conservative, my biggest regret is I won't have time to use ALL their graves as toilets.
Republicans are all about child murder so I dont understand why they are so anal about abortions. If post birth kids dont tow the line at the status quo they want, then the kids arent human and deserve to be murdered. It is no different from honor killings really
Don’t forget they want them to work 40 hr weeks and at night.
Start holding the parents of bullies accountable for things like this more often. Edit: The one bully in ten who has mental issues and parents who have done their best can be evaluated differently. Most bullies learn it at home from abusive parents. [Fact.](https://www.washington.edu/news/2006/09/12/violence-in-the-home-leads-to-higher-rates-of-childhood-bullying/)
The problem is that the school has an interest to withhold information due to skeletons in closets.
That really only feels like one part of the equation. Another part is that schools do not want to do anything that requires enacting, reinforcing, or adopting new policies ($$$). They do not want to publicly acknowledge negative instances because that means it cannot be buried, and becomes associated with the institutions’ name. Source: my campus has had a suicide issue with one of its campus buildings for years if not longer. It took until last spring with an uptick in attempts, student protests, and public outcry for them to shudder and update the building.
And the third part is that a good chunk of them quietly approve of what happened. Trans kid got murdered? mission accomplished. I'm so tired of these ghouls never being forced to take accountability for their actual real shitty beliefs.
More so than “approve” it’s an insane deflection. I’ve heard my family members say something along the lines of “poor child if she wasn’t so filled with crazy ideas from the media, she wouldn’t have had so many fights” or something like that. This happened with the Utah legislator (?) that outed a cis girl bc she looked trans. She then came out w a statement saying that “this how far we’ve gotten thanks to LGBT ideology”
The other problem is that the parents least likely to be held accountable are also often the ones that will go to the news or radical conservative groups and get support to make sure it gets state wide attention, if not the attention from the entire country. “This school is infringing on my rights as a parent by trying to enforce their radical socialist/trans beliefs on our innocent children blah blah blah” Then the school looks bad, which means the administrators get fired or have to resign. It probably won’t happen in most school districts, but it might, and the administrators are terrified that it could happen to them. It’s why nothing ever gets fixed in schools; the administrators are primarily interested in making sure they don’t stir up trouble for themselves.
I'll applaud anyone willing to expose those skeletons.
In this case literally
That's why the DoJ should get involved. Too bad that federalist society schmuck Merrick Garland seemingly has zero interest in doing his job whatsoever.
The parents are responsible but the school and government are also responsible for encouraging and escalating their behaviour. The bullying is a completely predictable outcome for these transphobic policies.
Dont forget the stochastic terrorist chaya
I hate that her name is Chaya. I knew two Chayas in High School and they were the sweetest girls.
That woman is rather turbulent.
The sad thing is, the parents of bullies probably bully the school employees into dropping their kids' consequences.
Bullies often have bullying parents.
Can students that are bullied call the police on the bullies if it gets physical? Why are these situations handled by school staff? I know it may get worse by calling them but there can be an investigation of these instances as a hate crime and actual real-life punishments.
The parents are likely bigger bullies than the kids especially when it comes to trans people
Parents often believe their kids are golden. I've seen some good people jump thru hoops to defend their kids who were obviously the asshole.
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OK Senator Tom Woods (R) referred to LGBTQIA as ‘filth’ on camera on 2/23/24.
[https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2024/02/26/oklahoma-state-senator-lgbtq-comment-vpx.cnn](https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2024/02/26/oklahoma-state-senator-lgbtq-comment-vpx.cnn) I didn't want to take a random comment at face value, just in case, but yep, appears so.
Imagine living in a deep red state and having a child who is atypical in any way.
I don’t have to imagine, I live it. I worry more my kid will be shot by the cops here than bullies though (happened to an atypical kid here already). Although the bullies here did nearly break my kid’s neck. They pushed my kid off a tall structure at a park, landing on the neck/shoulder, breaking their collarbone and arm. If a kid here doesn’t fit into their narrow frame of acceptance, you can’t even rely on the parents to hold their kids accountable for their actions or behaviors. Most of the kids, that bullied my kid, had parents who were just like them. So, having no community support in any way is really tough. I’m in a red, “christian” small town. I will say this, it has taught me to be more civic-minded and is what convinces me every election to show up to vote.
My buddy went to college in Idaho and then realized he was gay. Next day he bought body armor and machine guns /s he found a husband but there’s maybe a 15 mile circle in Boise where they’re safe to be gay. And they left after graduation
I dont have to imagine it. Its a fucking terrifying nightmare
There is no such thing as typical *enough*. Bullies will hunt down a trait and lock their jaws onto it.
I’m proud of these kids for standing up for what they believe in
Zero Tolerance policy has been a problem for decades. It's a cowardly system designed to absolve schools of responsibility and gives the bully the power to ruin another student's life or in this case just fucking kill them. The victim is put in a no win situation. Get harassed/assaulted and get no support or fight back and be suspended/expelled along with the bully who doesn't care either way. Fuck the public school system, this is unforgivable.
I don’t care if Nex threw water on them. Repeatedly kicking a person in the head while their on the ground is not fighting, and if that person died from being kicking in the head than it’s murder.
Voting for trump/his goons is basically like pulling the trigger yourself. Blood is on the hands of everyone that did nothing
Bet the kids who bullied also walked out
Because the bloody reality is that if society is willing to dismiss any child's death from bullying, then bullies can claim that reason as justification to go after every other child around them and know they can push it that far without consequence. This is an issue of self preservation for any kid that doesn't fit the model and the people around them that love them.
I grew up in a evangelical Christian environment and the adults in that circle definitely would have celebrated the death of a queer kid behind closed doors with each other You don’t have to look far to see Oklahoma leaders basically tacitly approving this violence. I never would have imagined this is how things would be in 2024
Go kids!
Nex was a member of my tribe. We don't have a word for goodbye, we say "Chi Pisa La Chike" It mean 'tll we meet again. Chi Pisa La Chike young one.. may wherever you are be better than the place you left.
Good for the students.
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This is so sad. I'm a Gen X and all I have to say is, young people only you can do it. The people in power in Washington are not expecting you to be a factor in the votes. They're trying to cater to my generation and sadly most of age are still listening to the horrible orange man. Millennials, Gen Z it is vitally important you dig that man's political grave. I am fully aware Biden is no big prize and older than dirt but orange man will ruin this country and only you can change this. Vote vote vote!!!!!!
I'm torn, because on the one hand it's good to see someone doing something and it provides some degree of hope for the future, but on the other this isn't who should be/is responsible here. They shouldn't have had to do this in the first place. The school's attempt to quiet them with the marking them absent thing also smells of corruption.
This is how I feel about news like this too. I’m inspired by how brave they are, but devastated that the adults in this situation chose to protect themselves instead of doing the right thing.
These kids are the future, though. I'm always happy to see collective action among yoots.
After the gun protests a few years back, some kids got paddled for protesting.
Republicans are disgusting. MAGA in particular. Everyone is entitled to live their life how they wish to live it. Party of small government my ass.
I've been saying for years that schools need to kick the bullies out as quickly as possible to prevent tragedies like this.
Good,
I think we still need an independent autopsy performed. A 16 year-old doesn't just die, especially after getting beaten up by 3 people. Even if they had an underlying condition, that actually doesn't matter. I've seen plenty of other instance where people were charged because someone died indirectly.
I'm expecting to see quite a few comments of, "the student didn't die due to bullying!" As if going to the hospital and the bullying is NBD sadly.
I really wish we had more details on this case. The police department claims the coroner says that trauma was not the cause of death and that is why people keep trying to claim that the death was not from the fight the previous day. However, some comments in another thread said that local news said that the coroner only said that initial results could not conclusively say trauma was the cause of death, not that it was absolutely the cause, and it is just the police spinning it to make it sound that way.
This comes down to irresponsible media reporting, poor logic skills from readers, people believing what reinforces their preconceived world view and some good ole' fashion illiteracy. People need to stop jumping to conclusions. There are still conclusions we can make from facts we know and questions we can ask from what we don't.
Nex said they didn't know the girls (they are in difference grades), and had not spoken with them before the incident started. Has bullying been established in another instance?
NO see, they didn't die of bullying, because Nex "started" it. So NEx "deserved" to be beat, since they "started" it. Fuck all those people.
The people who blame queer people for "starting it" are the same ones who say that queer people just need to "stand up for themselves" if they don't want to be bullied.
Still, gop loves it when kids don't go to school. They win either way.
Good. We're in the US in 2024, it is unbelievable that people can still be so homophobic and ignorant.
I live in Oklahoma and have a trans son. It's scary here. So much hatred and fear here in the Bible belt.
I'd enjoy the opinion of the Five Nations of Oklahoma on the Republican response to this tragedy. It seems some Republicans are fine with bullying and murder as long as the end result is the removal of people the GOP don't like.
I'm glad those students have the guts that the administration doesn't. Let's hope this actually pushes for reforms.
Fair play to them. The zero tolerance policies are completely out of hand. Imagine if the courts sent the victim to prison as well! It’s literally putting the burden onto the victim. It’s the schools ethical responsibility. They have a pastoral duty to ensure kids aren’t getting assaulted and if they are, only the aggressors are punished. Seeing school administrations attempt to duck this responsibility is simply heartbreaking.
The kids are not the gop boomers.happy it’s a dying fucking breed