I'm watching a movie right now with Ashton Kutcher and Michelle Pfeiffer in it, and it's on Lifetime. You know it's a good Lifetime movie when you can recognize the names of the people who are in it, let alone their faces. Ashton plays a depressed wrestler who gets revenge on the man who killed his twin sister.
He hasn't gotten violent or scary yet, but he's definitely a downer. Just now, I watched Ashton Kutcher's character stand up for a deaf boy that was getting the ass end of the stereotypical depiction of bullying: a crowd forms, chants start, and one asshole ends up being the ring leader, spitting out clever remarks like "retard" and "fucking freak."
Ashton, who is playing as Walter, watched for a minute and then decided to be the hero. Seemed like he calmed the waters until the deaf boy pulled out a gun.
There's a line we all need to be very careful of. With all this talk about bullying, we're all well aware of how treacherous bullies can be. ATTENTION TEACHERS and ADMINISTRATORS who happen to come across this post: Assholes will NOT go away. No matter how many assemblies, workshops, or punishments you give out to PREVENT bullying, it won't solve the problem. It's time to teach those who are victimized to stand up for themselves, and if this is ignored, then students who have been bullied will crack and end up being homicidal instead of suicidal. Pulling guns on bullies is not, by any means, okay; I liked that he stood up for himself, though, and if more kids learned how to grow a spine, we'd be out of this mess.
Let me clarify that I'm not blaming the victims for being bullied. Bullies suck, I would know (read more here). It's just pretty apparent by now, 11+++ suicides later, that telling assholes to be nice is not the solution.
Teach lessons on confidence building, teach self-defense, teach something worthwhile, for once. Because I'm sick of hearing, consistently it seems, that we've lost another one and you haven't woken up yet.
Those of you being bullied: Step out of the "victim" light and make the changes yourself. I don't think the board will get it for a while.
*S
