15: Understanding Violent Behavior Video
Transcript:
Chapter 15 Video
Footage of one kid harassing another
BYSTANDER (voice over): Oh man! Something’s going down! I think that kid’s about to get jumped!
VOICE OFF CAMERA (voice over): I think we should go tell somebody.
VOICE OFF CAMERA (voice over): Wait. Did you get that on video?
RESPONSE: I got picked on in elementary school. Kids would call me names. Make fun of how I dressed. That sort of thing. I almost had to switch schools.
RESPONSE: I don’t know if you would call this bullying, but there was a group of girls that always tried to exclude me. They never said anything mean to my face, but they went out of their way to ignore me. Which was hard, because they were the girls we all looked up to.
RESPONSE: It was pretty bad. This kid posted all of these embarrassing and mean stories online about this one kid in our class. A lot of the other kids in our class started making fun of him because of it. It went on all year.
RESPONSE: I don’t know. I guess it depends on what it is. If a kid’s getting pushed around, I try to stop or go tell a teacher. But honestly if it’s that stuff being posted online, I just don’t reply or try not to get involved.
RESPONSE: If I’m online and I see something mean or nasty being said, I flag it. And if it gets really serious, I tell somebody.
RESPONSE: I think it can be. I think it’s easier to get away with it. And it kind of snowballs. I mean one person will say a mean thing and then it will get passed around and other people will add to it.
RESPONSE: It’s not worse. It’s just different. It’s, like, easier to spread. You can say something, and in an hour, the whole school knows.
RESPONSE: ‘Cause in some messed up way it makes them feel better about themselves, I guess.
RESPONSE: I feel like a lot of those kids are just trying to get attention, or just trying to fit in with some other group. And they think the only way to do that is to put somebody else down.
RESPONSE: I think it’s worse because you can’t get away from it. People will text stuff or post it online so you’re surrounded by it. Even when you go home. It’s like there’s no safe place sometimes.
RESPONSE: I don’t know. I think it’s always gonna happen. I mean, that sucks, but it’s true. I think the best you can do is to have a way to deal with it. And consequences for the kids who do it so it doesn’t happen as much.