Stand with Grayson

Here's a thought... maybe if the kid's parents didn't want their kid being bullied, maybe they should have have told him that he couldn't have the lunchbox.

Kids are cruel. It's an unavoidable fact of life.
If Grayson's parents are unwilling or unable to teach their son to stand up for himself, then they should never have allowed him to put himself in a position to be bullied.
This entire situation is unfortunate, but it was also completely avoidable.

 

He'd be bullied either way. It'd come up in conversation, and they'd still shun him.

Schools need to do more to help provide a safe and nurturing environment for kids, and slowly build them up. Not force a ****ton of responsibilities onto them at once.

 

I kind of agree with Ridley. I don't know the kid, but being in the position he's in, doing something like that is literally asking for trouble. Some kids get bullied, other kids are the bullies, schools don't ever put enough effort in preventing that, and it never will stop. If you get bullied often, bringing an MLP lunchbag to school is the last thing you should be doing...

And if you bother fighting back, you'll be the one who gets in trouble and won't get a chance to explain, while the bullies are allowed to walk away just like that. Back when i was in school, if i could have punched the friggin teachers for pulling that crap on me, i would have.

Teachers won't ever give a crap because of their constant stress in dealing with these situations, and their low salary doesn't motivate them enough to care. It'll never change.

 

The only way nothing will change is if nobody tries to change it.

I'm so tired of people saying 'Don't bother, it won't work.'

It sure as hell won't work if nobody does anything. But there is always a chance that someone can make a difference with enough evidence or support.

 

I... agree with Glen Beck about something. This is surprising.

I'm with you.

 

G....Glenn Beck...? Is sticking up for a brony...?

I....

I don't under......



Something feels so wrong about this. Probably my deep-seated hatred for everything about Glenn Beck battling the idea that he's supporting a kid with unorthodox interests.

 

Kids are the devil. Despite this situation being blown way out of proportion, hopefully something good comes out of it. I would love to contribute but I just don't show any MLP Merch in public simply because I don't want to be judged. I can understand if the Kid has friends who also likes MLP, but if it is just him, he's going to stick out like a sore thumb.

 

My biggest problem with this whole situation is that Glenn Beck is talking about the kid's "courage."

There is no courage being shown here, by anybody involved.

The kid chose to go to school with an MLP lunchbox. That wasn't courage, because he obviously didn't realize that it would cause problems.

When he started getting bullied, instead of standing up for himself, he tried to run away from the problem by not going to school at all. Again, no courage involved there.

When his parents got involved, rather than taking the opportunity to teach Greyson to stand up for himself, they instead tried to force the school to fight his battles for him.

Greyson's parents had so many opportunities to do things differently.
They had the opportunity to tell him that no, he could not go to school with a My Little Pony lunchbox. I refuse to believe that they were ignorant or naive enough to think that it wouldn't cause a problem.
They had the opportunity to teach their son to be himself, in spite of what others think. Sticks and stones, and all that.
They had the opportunity to teach him to stand up for himself. Bullies seek out weakness. If their victim is unafraid, they'll move on to an easier target.
Finally, they had the opportunity to teach their son that sometimes, you just have to go with the flow. The school didn't tell him that he couldn't have the lunchbox, they just told him to put it in his backpack. That was a reasonable response.

Instead, Greyson's parents chose to go to the media, and now their son's name is all over national news, and this entire mess is going to haunt him for the rest of his life.

Bad job, parents. Bad job.

 

Couldn't of described that better myself. His parents were the problem, not the school. I just feel sorry for the kid because he's gonna have a rough school life from now on.

 

Ugh, I don't think people here realize that no matter what decision this kid made, he'd be bullied like no tomorrow.

Even if the parents didn't go to the media, he'd be tortured by his classmates repeatedly because of what he clearly likes; nobody should be forced to not show what they like. You can blame the parents all you want, but it's the school's fault for essentially promoting the kid to back down, not step up for himself, and just let the bullies trample him.

It isn't about him bringing the lunchbox or whatever, it's about the inability to teach children that hating each other for ****ty reasons is ****ing stupid.

I am so tired of people blaming the parents when it's the school's fault. People should be proud that the parents are so supportive of the child's interests rather than saying 'No, ponies are for little girls' and shunning them for it, just like the bullies at school are doing.

Stop blaming the damn parents and start blaming the problem: The actual school system. They aren't paid enough to give a damn about what goes on in their schools, or to whatever goes on to the people inside of it, unless it becomes a glaring issue unable to be avoided.

 

Did you really compare a bunch of children acting like... well, children... to a rapist?
I understand what you're trying to say, but nobody here is blaming Greyson.
He's simply too young to understand human nature.

I blame his parents, because they failed to protect him, and they failed to teach him to stand up for himself.
Instead, they expect the school system to fight his battles for him.

It would be nice if we lived in a magical world where everybody got along, and nobody was ever mean to anybody else, but that's simply not the way the world works.
The school did the best they could.
If they had taken the hardline, and punished anybody that said an unkind word to Greyson, it would have almost certainly made things worse for him.

Meanwhile, his parents, rather than accept the judgement of people that have worked with children for years, and know exactly what most kids are like, chose to thrust their child into the national spotlight, and leave him open to even more scrutiny.

 

While it's true that anyone who chooses to go against the grain should expect to encounter some adversity, the grand solution should lie in punishing harassment and promoting tolerance (if not acceptance) of those who are different, not advising people who are different not to rock the boat. If one of two sides must ever be forced to change, better to force the ignorant, intolerant fools to play nice than to force those who're harmlessly expressing themselves to conceal who they are.

...I'm probably going to violate some "law of debate" by comparing this to a civil rights thing, but I'm going to hazard a guess to say that the gay community, for example, would never have gotten to the point it's at now if gay people had stuck to the "Meh, let's just stay closeted. Less trouble that way." mentality. Are human beings really such flimsy creatures that the only way our fragile little worldviews can be preserved is by sticking our heads in the sand when faced with the outrageous thought of 'embracing diversity'? Aren't we supposed to be, you know, one of the most adaptable species this world has ever seen?

 

All I'm trying to say is that society tends to be very unforgiving of people who are different, and that is not something that's going to change.
It's just human nature.

It would be better if we could just force people to be tolerant of others, but because that's impossible, those who are unwilling or unable to defend their choices must learn to conform.

It's cruel, it's unfair, and it's unpleasant.
But then again, so is life.

 

That's something they need to learn later in life, where their minds are more fully developed, so they learn that resentment isn't the only way to cope with problems.

Children are extremely emotionally driven human beings. They can't understand 'How the world works' at most capacities. Trying to show them that, especially at an age like 10, is futile. And stupid.

If this were something like a 15-16 year old, who is emotionally developed, and actually understands that not EVERYBODY is against them, I'd agree with you; but this is a child who just thought it was completely harmless to like something like this. And you're blaming him and the parents for not making him understand when it's impossible for him to do so.

Ugh. This conformist 'That's life' bull!%^@ needs to stop. Life can change if people actually try to change it for the better, and people saying 'Oh well people are !%#@^, just deal with it' does NOTHING to help victims of bullying, rape, or crimes in general.

 

Exactly. Pretty much all human negativity stems, to some extent, from a lack of empathy. While some people are truly, biologically incapable of feeling empathy (i.e. serial murderers), most people do have the biological capacity for empathy, and thus can be taught to be empathetic...IF their upbringing allows it. It seems like a no-brainer to teach your children how to see the world from perspectives other than their own - especially if it imparts the lesson of "how would you feel if ____ did that to you?" - but unfortunately, we have plenty of kids with hard-ass, extremely conservative parents who belittle their own children with the BS sentiment of "if you let that happen to you, then you deserve it." You know, basically the kind of parents who'd sooner watch their kids drown than dive in and save them.

 

Tyro just hit the nail on the head with that last comment.

Somebody like Glenn Beck would not get involved unless there was something in it for him.