Little Starpuff
Back when I was in grade school, bullying was ignored and was seen as "Oh he/she is just playing", my personal favorite, "they're only doing that because they like you." And of course, "Ignore it, they'll stop." But it never stops. Self-esteem plummets, suicides happen, people bring knives and guns to school and that victim is seen as the problem. Not to mention, teachers/counselors, etc, tend to take the other person's side. Trying to stick up for myself or for my friends ended up getting me suspended or after-school detention.
I was tortured throughout my school years. I loathed having to go to school. Being beat up on, spit on, trash thrown at, tripped, pushed down the stairs, and shoved against lockers wasn't exactly my idea of a school life. I had to go through psychiatric treatment because it got to the point I wanted to commit suicide, let alone, hurt my "fellow schoolmates" .
Just in the more recent years, First Lady Michelle Obama, Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, Megan Fox and whomever else in the celebrity world is trying to put a stop to that. It's interesting and disbelieving that someone like Megan Fox was bullied but in any case...
Apparently, people are now caring because bullying has gotten much worst and has spread throughout social internet webpages. Cyber bullying didn't just start over night. It's been happening for years. It is very upsetting that nobody did anything back in the day, or thought nothing of it. Now all of a sudden, it's "a criminal offense" to bully other people?
Thinking more about it, it pisses me off that nobody gave a damn then. What makes now so much more of a big deal?
i seriously could not agree more with you!
i was a very happy child until the fourth grade when all my peers began to go out of their way to let me know how ugly and fat and wrong i was.
i recently committed myself to a mental hospital for severe depression and started an out-patient program. i believe i do have a chemical imbalance causing my depression, BUT i also vehemently blame my peers of middle and high school for my depression and social anxiety problems.
i will never be the person i could have been, because of bullying.
people tell me to let it go but i literally can NOT. My peers DESTROYED my self confidence and self image.
even with anti depressants and intense counseling for the rest of my life, i repeat i will never be who i could have been.
i will never be able to sing or dance in front of people, i will never feel attractive or confident of my appearance.
bullying ruined my life.
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as for your question of why they are just starting to care: i think it's a combination of many things like:
~i think it's always been bad, but i think it really is getting worse.
~ my mom and grandma tell me that they used to not talk about incest and child sexual abuse very much when they were growing up, even tho it was happening then just as much as it does now. So i think it's similar to that. A problem literally needs to fester, become infected and boil over before society finally decides to do something about it.
Just like how a person has to get their face torn off by a gorilla before they pass a law making them illegal to own as pets. i guess the suicide rates are finally getting high enough for us to take notice.