An incident where some nasty-spirited and heartless little twatwaffles from Greece, NY bullied their elderly school bus monitor without mercy has come to national attention. It’s awful. I’ve embedded the video of her harassment but don’t watch it if you have a sensitive nature … or a delicate stomach.
They are breathtakingly cruel. They taunt her for her weight, her poverty, her age, her gender, and even over the fact her son committed suicide. It is beyond appalling.
The interweb is baying for the blood of the children heard on this tape. Some asshats have carried it too far and have even made death threats. While I do not think these kids should have their lives ruined, I certainly want them to be punished in a way that is appropriate to the severity of their actions.
So, I think that the kids should definitely be punished … but I would also like to point out that they are a reflection of our culture. Culture has taught them that fat people are vile and should not be afforded the human dignity given to slender people. It’s taught them that poverty is the fault of the individual alone, with no systemic factors, and thus worthy of scathing ridicule. It’s taught them the myth that masculinity can be defined by cruelty, and that the “weak” or passive deserve to be hurt. They have been taught that mental illness is a character flaw, so the fact her son was depressed enough to kill himself is not something they should look at as a tragedy but rather something to be mocked. The elderly, especially old women, are rendered “transparent” (only a very few are visible in the media) so there is no reason to see them as ‘people’ like ‘us’. They are attacking her because she is almost the epitome of the Other — a fat, poor, elderly woman.
People are repelled by the actions of the mean little shits involved, but the public wants to call them deviant when they are not. They are practically paragons of our lowest common denominator cultural messaging. If people were really, truly disgusted by the symbolic violence directed at a fat, elderly woman whose son killed himself, then there wouldn’t be so much fat-hate, ageism, prejudiced against mental illness, and misogyny prevalent in our society.
The public seems shocked by the children’s actions, but I see their behavior as a symptom of the widespread cultural dynamic. Until we address these larger issues attacks like the one endured by the bus monitor will continue unabated.
“The public seems shocked by the children’s actions, but I see their behavior as a symptom of the widespread cultural dynamic. Until we address these larger issues attacks like the one endured by the bus monitor will continue unabated.”
You’re so right. I don’t even know how to start, except by talking about it, but we need to address the underlying issues rather than simply playing whack-a-mole with the symptoms.
There is even more to it than you addressed. Shows like Punked and Jack-Ass teach kids that being cruel to others is funny and acceptable. YouTube has tons of videos that show people laughing at the misfortune of others. Another problem is that many parents are so bad at coddling and protecting kids that the kids can do nothing wrong anymore. When a kid does something wrong, the parents are more likely to cover for the kid than hold them accountable for their actions. So what happens is that kids don’t learn how to accept responsibility or even apologize for their behavior. None of the kids are learning empathy or compassion. All they learn is ME.ME.ME.ME.ME.
Jesus wept.
It’s terrible. Why am I not surprised even a tiny bit?
Today they said they are sorry. Of course they are. They’re sorry they got caught.
They’re NOT deviants- because there were 4 of them verbally attacking this woman and another what? At least several dozen other kids on the bus? Even if the driver couldn’t hear what was going on, why didn’t the other STUDENTS stand up and say, “Hey, assholes- lighten up on the old lady! You’re not being cool- you’re just being dicks!”
(Actually, when I first heard the story I assumed it was girls doing the taunting- girls seem to have a better capacity for cruelty without remorse. I told Ward, “Geez- if this were the BOYS on the bus, what were the GIRLS doing? Sacrificing the first graders???”)
“The public seems shocked by the children’s actions, but I see their behavior as a symptom of the widespread cultural dynamic. Until we address these larger issues attacks like the one endured by the bus monitor will continue unabated.” Thirding this.
It’s ‘nice’ that everyone was outraged and they’ve collected over $500,000 for this woman. But will it actually change anything? Or is this just another 1 day wonder to be forgotten by this time next week? Some of the parents interviewed were shocked that their kids knew the ‘bad’ kids, but do they really get what’s going on and why? I heard tonight that some of the kids in the video were shocked at seeing themselves act like that and offered apologies. You know that would never of happened if that video hadn’t been put up on YouTube. They would have just laughed at what they had done. And you also have to wonder how safe the person who posted it will be for doing so.
I feel for that poor woman. And I don’t understand the whole bus monitor bit. What is the point to her being there if there isn’t anything she can do to stop behavior on the bus? Is she just there to observe and be a punching bag? And what about the bus driver? If that were happening on my kids’ bus, the bus driver would have pulled over and had at those kids. There is just so much here that bothers me.
“Founded in 1969, the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance (NAAFA) is a non-profit civil rights organization dedicated to ending size discrimination in all of its forms. NAAFA’s goal is to help build a society in which people of every size are accepted with dignity and equality in all aspects of life. NAAFA will pursue this goal through advocacy, public education, and support.”
http://www.naafaonline.com/dev2/
Pingback: Bullying : What Every Betty Said