This video is heart breaking and if you haven’t yet seen it, you should.
Sixty-eight-year-old grandmother Karen Klein was sitting on a bus, when she was verbally bullied by a group of school students. Karen is a bus monitor – meaning it’s her job to ride the school bus and monitor the conduct of students – but this incident spun way out of her control.
The students were facing Karen and then (within hearing range) they began to make comments such as, “Oh my God, you’re so fat,”. The video below shows Karen bursting into tears and then doing her best to ignore the children, as they continue to call her a ‘dumb ass’, a ‘fat ass’ and then threaten to throw eggs at her house. They even prod her with their school books.
Someone nearby was recording the abuse on their phone and that footage has now gone viral.
(Warning: this footage is upsetting.)
After millions of people watched the humiliating 10-minute video, two of the children caught on tape sent letters apologising for their actions. The other two students’ parents sent notes on their behalf.
When asked about whether she accepted the apologies, Karen said “not really, you know I think they can do better than what they did.”As for a punishment? “The only thing I suggested (as punishment) was possibly not letting them on the bus next year and no sports,” she said. “Those were the only two punishments that I could think of. I want them to make sure they never do this to anyone again.”
Here is Karen being interviewed by Anderson Cooper in the days after the video went viral.
But here is where this sad story gets a little better and the worst aspects of human nature and matched by the best.
You see, the response from the rest of the world to this video – that has replaced the video itself, as what everyone is talking about.
Karen’s ordeal prompted an appeal, which aimed to raise $5000 to send Karen on a dream vacation.
That appeal has already netted over $500,000.
“I can’t even talk – that is my reaction. It is unbelievable what people have done,’ Karen said.
Comments
72 Comments so far
This is the most horrible thing I have ever seen…it made me feel sick that these kids could be so cruel!
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Last year my car was in for a service and I had to catch a bus home from from the station, which ended up being a school bus. For the half hour trip home I was in front of three or four boys who pestered, badgered and tormented me. These were primary school kids, no older than ten or eleven. It took everything I had to not smack them over the head. They prodded me with their books, like this lady was, pulled my headphones out of my ears and continually looked over my shoulder to my phone to see what I was listening to, and then would make fun of that (they wouldn’t have even heard of half the stuff I listen to).
Though they didn’t insult me like this lady, it infuriated me that kids this age would behave in such a way to someone older than them (I’m now twenty) and let me tell you, it took everything I had to not drag them off the bus and throttle them. I would never have done something like that when I was that age! I wouldn’t be game!
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I’m so disgusted, I’m angry and I’m in tears. How have we let society get to this? Is it because we don’t discipline our kids anymore? Is it because parents have too many rules put upon themselves that parenting has become policed too much? Is it because we’ve let TV raise our kids? Is it because we let our kids play disturbing computer games or watch awfully violent and nasty movies? What ever the reason for this kind of behaviour I’m terribly afraid of the future generations.
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My husband is a teacher. He said that this is exactly how kids are these days. More than once he has come home from work saying how worried he is about society.
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Sixty-eight-year-old grandmother Karen Klein was sitting on a bus, when she was verbally bullied by a group of school students. Karen is a bus monitor – meaning it’s her job to ride the school bus and monitor the conduct of students
She is supposed to be the bus monitor the students, to me that means she was meant to be supervising them. Watching what took place on the bus it would appear that she isn’t really suited to the job.
I’m in no way blaming her I’m just saying that at perhaps the age of 68 she’s not suited to the job. Bus monitors would need to have more of an aura of authority about them than she did.
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In your world do school students treat their teachers with respect, give up their seats on public transport for the elderly/pregnant/disabled passenger and not damage property? And how do they treat their parents? Would that then mean their parents aren’t well suited to their job?
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I can’t comment very much about the public school system in general as my kids went to a private school. Their own personal friends who went to public schools did very well academically, so I’m assuming that their classes were well managed and the students worked hard. You don’t managed to get a University Entrance Score of 96% average if you spend your school days in a class of students whose main focus is being rude to the teachers and disrupting the class.
Whenever I’ve been on public transport the students have always given up their seats and been respectful to the public around them. But then again the students on the trains etc have predominately been private school students in their private school uniforms. Kids that go to the public schools don’t tend to be on the trains as they go to a school close to home.
I don’t live in a very upmarket area, I’d call it lower middle class but there is no trouble around the streets with teenagers causing damage etc. If I lived in a lower class area with a lot of state housing and parents on welfare perhaps my experiences would be different…though not necessarily so, just because people are poor doesn’t mean that they don’t teach their children respect for their teachers and other members of society.
Would that then mean their parents aren’t well suited to their job?
It would certainly mean that their parents could do with some parenting classes, and yes it would mean that they weren’t doing a very good job of raising their children.
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‘Bus monitors would need to have more of an aura of authority about them than she did.’
I daresay one individual being assailed by four large, potty mouthed teenaged boys would be a daunting prospect for most people. Then again, if you’ve never felt the unpredictable wave of fear that a threatening situation can suddenly bring, then I don’t suppose you can understand how simplistic your assumption is.
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Off topic, but I’m disgusted about the comments and assumptions you make quite readily about people with less money than you. Read your comment ‘Anonymous’, and I hope you can at least see how disgustingly ‘superior’ you sound.
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why so surprised. Goes on every day, children and adults. Can’t get your way, bully your way in. That’s where we are heading.
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What has happened to her is horrible. But really, I hope she takes a holiday then donates the rest of the money to a more worthy cause.
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What was the driver doing? I would have stopped and call the police
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What Discusting pathetic people.. I was going to use the word kids.. But then that would in some way excuse them for there actions… How abusively horrible..
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I saw this article on news.com last Friday while I was at work. I sat at my desk and cried. I tried to hide my tears from all my work mates, but they could hear me sniffling. It surprised me because it takes alot to make me cry and this just broke my heart.
I didn’t even get to the video – I actually can’t bring myself to watch it. There is something about this that I can’t fathom. Why do people hate each other so much? Why do these kids think it’s ok to treat people this way? I feel this unbelievable anger towards those kids and on Friday I found myself wishing harm upon them. Surely that’s not right too? But I can’t stop thinking about how Karen would have felt.
In my opinion – these kids need their asses kicked. Hard. Discipline these little cowards. If I saw this happened in front of me I wouldn’t think twice about getting in their faces.
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Totally agree… if I saw that happening right in front of me, I would’ve stepped in and said something.
Having been on the receiving end of the pack mentality (in a former workplace), I have absolutely no tolerance for bullying anymore… my new motto is “ya gotta fight fire with fire”.
Bullies are essentially cowards – you go at them with a taste of their own medicine, they soon back down.
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i could not watch more than 3 minutes. it is heartbreaking. a warm hug to Karen.
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I can’t bring myself to even watch a second. It’s so sad.
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I didn’t even last a minute watching this. I am dumbfounded. How do people become so horrible? I have young children and would be devastated to find out they were so mean. Such pointless cruelty.
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I once tried to stand up to some drunk teenagers who where smoking and drinking on a bus on New Years Eve. Everyone on that bus had to sit and suffer in silence, with no windows to open. The reason – you never know if someone has a knife these days. My partner was truley shocked when I tried to tell them to stop smoking. Some kids do crazy things these days, there is no respect for elders or anyone for that matter. They abused me and told me I was over the hill (at about age 30). I stopped right there and then had to listen to the abuse for the rest of my ride. I must admit I was wondering why the bus driver didn’t have some sort of contact with police at that point, these kids should have been kicked off the bus and taken away. All that said I have witnessed plenty of really great kids – in fact the bad ones do seem to be in the minority. The video shown is very sad and I hope all of those kids are sorry for the way they behaved.
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I am DISGUSTED by their behaviour!! Absolutely disgusted.
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Maybe if parents see days spent time with their children instead of placing them in care since day dot, we’re home for them when they came back from school instead of after care we would have more fabourable children. Parents are too busy knowing what their kids are doing, to care. There are always consequences in the end…
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Give me a break! Bullies comes in all shapes and sizes and are not limited to those whose mothers work.
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Haven’t we already heard this idea/rubbish on a different post earlier this week? Must we keep rehashing.
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I disagree … My kids go to daycare a couple of days a week. It is great for their social development. They hear the word no, they have to wait their turn, share and follow the rules. I think this teaches them respect and that they r not the only person in the world. Importantly they are also taught to communicate effectively. Not long after my daughter started going if she did not like something she would make a stop signal with her hand and say “stop i don’t like it!” – we did not teach her this and she was an only child at the time. Staying home with your children is not an option for everyone.
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What a crock! This attitude is the reason there is so much guilt surrounding working mothers, must be nice when you have all the answers and they are so simple!
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I agree with K….all these mothers dumping their children will have regrets……
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I say this behavior is more likely to come from kids who are home with a parent all day, who are too lazy or too weak willed to establish discipline in their home, child care would have sent kids like this home before they tolerated such behavior. Childcare instills caring about others and respecting other children’s feelings, kids at home with their parents all day learn self-centredness and, if they have siblings, the law of the jungle, which is the beginning of thinking such horrific behaviour is acceptable. I don’t say all, but why not fight generalization with generalization!
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Yesterday my 17yo partially blind friend was reduced to tears on a public bus by being yelled at by an elder lady for not giving up her seat. She couldn’t see there were older people standing. She was screamed at and called a disrespectful teenager for five minutes and no one came to her defence. It’s not always kids that are the bullies.
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I didn’t watch it. I don’t want to watch someone being bullied… Those kids are just lucky that Karen wasn’t me, or lucky I wasn’t on that bus coz I would have told them to put a plug in it and I would not mince my words. Too many kids are just spoiled brats. Not just in material sense, but in the LACK OF PARENTING sense. See it all the time. Am sick of slack arse parents who are not interested in telling/showing by example their kids difference between right and wrong. What is wrong with people these days?
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Dear Karen,
I know how it feels… it’s is demeaning, humiliating, disrespectful and just plain cruel. Just know that you are loved & supported and that no one in their right mind would ever do this, laugh at this or think it is OK. Bullying is an absolute disgrace and just pray that those who commit it realise just how hurtful it really is xxx
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This story is like a week old. C’mon Mamamia!
Mind you, back in the 80′s I remember the kids on our school bus driving a driver to tears. He had just had his hair permed and they mocked and laughed at him. He had to pull over to cry. The things kids USED to get away with.
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Becstar, we realise this video has been around for a few days but still thought it was worth posting for those who haven’t seen it yet.
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Those little sh*ts ought to be clipped over the ears. It looked like she was too intimidated by them to reprimand them properly. I would have had the bus driver pull over, get them off the bus and make them walk home. They need to be taught some manners, humility and respect. Shameful.
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My memory is a bit hazy but wasn’t there a story recently about a bus driver in Aust who did kick a kid of the bus. And there was outrage from many people – not in support of the kid, but against the actions of the bus driver…?
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I agree with your suggestion, but yes, I would say you would have difficulty with the ‘keep kids safe’ brigade, the kids know this, so they abuse the system.
We have a bus driver here who disciplines kids by making them sit in the front with him for a time out! The kids here are country kids, so a little more respectful than their city counterparts, so such measures still work.
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Makes me think that these children come from families where it’s OK to despise people for being fat and/or poor. Presumably though their parents wouldn’t behave like these bullies. Come to think of it I have read a lot of comments on mamamia over the years from people who despise fat people.
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This is utterly disrespectful to Karen and any person. I wish Karen had been able to stand up to them. I hoped as I was watching that the bus driver would have done something but Im unsure if the driver was hearing what was going on. I would have slammed my breaks on and told the entire bus that they were not going anywhere because of the behave of a few. Then call there parents (with there own mobiles because we all know they have them) and told there parents to come and collect them as they are not welcome to ride on this bus anymore.
I hope that Karen gets her holiday and some peace and quiet now, but also hope the extreme amount of money that has been raised will go towards a bullying organisation that can help all people deal and recover with the affects of bullying.
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I agree with you Rachael, she looked too intimidated, upset and just plain bewildered to actually do anything. Horrible to see an adult intimidated by children like that.
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Couldn’t sit through ten minutes from my lounge God knows how she sat face to face with it… Little creeps and how freakin weak of two kids having their parents right their apology – probably illiterate. This disgusts me…
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What kind of parents would write the apology for there kids in the first place and I saw that the dad went to Karens house to apologize in person I personally believe respect & manners are taught at home anyway so it wouldn’t supprise me if making fun of overweight people was the norm in that household
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Re:” personally believe respect & manners are taught at home anyway so it wouldn’t supprise me if making fun of overweight people was the norm in that household”
Not necessarily. It’s amazing what peer pressure can do as well. My daughter asked me yesterday ” are fat people dumb too?”
I was flabbergasted. She seriously, in all her naivety, thought fat people must be stupid.
We certainly don’t use fat or dumb as words to describe people in our household. Or any name calling for that matter. But spending a little time at school has educated me that kids use the Fat and Dumb words to be derogatory on a regular basis. My daughter has been re-educated…wish I could say the same about the other children.
Mind you, I gave one reading group a serve because they were calling themselves The SMart Group. They were saying “yeah, they are the dumb ones, we are the smart ones” about the reading other reading group that were present with us. I got a bit cranky with that.
So although influence at home is important and makes a great impact. It isn’t the only influence children get.
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Oh absolutely I understand that children are constantly learning from all over the place but they are not just being inquisitive or naive they are being plane mean and are bullys I just think at there age they should know better I know a lot of children succumb to peer pressure but when I think back to when I was a kid I knew what situations to walk away from and that I didn’t want to be involved in because I was taught well.
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I haven’t come across this story before and I’m confused by the fact that “Someone nearby was recording the abuse on their phone”.
Was it another student?
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Yes, and apparently when he posted it, he made sure everyone knew he wasn’t the one doing the bullying and wanted to show the world how horrible this was.
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You mean “apparently”?
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Good point
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Well, which is it, ‘apparently’ or ‘apparently’?
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If he thought it was so horrible he would have told them to stop.
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Can’t see why the person filming this couldn’t have stood up for Karen. So many people just stand by and don’t help, they just love to watch the show. Maybe they should bring back the days of using the cane at school so kids learn some respect. Seriously they are disgusting.
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I believe adults being bullied is more common than anyone thinks. Whereas in this case it is minors inflicting the bullying, what I find worse, and far less acceptable, is when grown adults, who should know better, feel they have the right to bully other adults – be that in the workplace or anywhere else.
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Horrible. But gotta wonder why she didn’t just tell the bus driver to stop and chuck those little sh*ts off?
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That’s something neither she nor the bus driver are allowed to do. Actually the discussion in the US sites has been interesting…basically the bus driver and monitor have no power to deliver any consequences to children at all. So if the children’s behaviour is not criminal they are powerless.
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Really? How bizarre. There’s no point to having a bus monitor, then.
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Agreed. Some other appalling comments I have read are from adults saying it has reminded them of the hell-on-earth twice daily bus trips they endured through their own childhoods.
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From what I’ve read on some more US-centric forums, the bus monitor is not there to monitor behaviour. She’s there to ensure students get to and from school safely and her role is usually specifically for special needs students.
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Ok, so it’s nice to send her on a holiday but I reckon that money would be have been better spent organising a speech at the school on bullying and the effects of it.
Bullying is disgusting in any form and causes depression and suicide. I’ve just started up a monthly donation to Beyond Blue in an attempt to help support those suffering from depression.
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Great idea! They could use that money for an anti-bullying campaign. For that school and any in the district.
She can take a little for the holiday, but she wont need half a million surely.
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Well people gave the money to HER not an anti-bullying campaign, so I think she really does get to do as she chooses. In fact, I kind of love that after those children’s taunts about her being poor, that this lady is not anymore.
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I like that too. Sure, there’s better uses for $500,000 than giving it to one woman. You could feed a lot of hungry people. But there’s ALWAYS worthy people and causes. You can’t sit and weigh them all up, you’d just end up never doing anything for anyone.
But I like that it’s just this random, amazing gift for one woman whose life is hopefully permanently changed for the better, forever.
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I couldn’t watch that video had to stop it after a minute and a half. Absolutely horrible to watch someone being bullied like that. I think alot of bullying still takes place on buses which is terrible because the victims literally cannot escape.
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I was the same – had to stop it as my blood was boiling and I just wanted to shake those horrid kids in anger. What is it with pack mentality in any form? People can turn into monsters when they have a pack behind them.
I hope Karen and her family enjoy their holiday while those kids are still grounded.
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I’m glad the appeal has raised so much money. I hope Karen uses the money to take a nice holiday, retire, or if she doesn’t want to retire then to retrain for a different job.
I also can’t help thinking though, that she was not in the right job for her. Don’t get me wrong, I think the kids’ behaviour is inexcusable and they should all be expelled or at least suspended. However, my younger sister is a high school teacher and she always says that if you want to be in student management then you need to be assertive and have a very thick skin.
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In all fairness – this is the school’s fault. They probably thought that employing an adult (particularly a senior citizen) would be enough to be a “monitor” and that person wouldn’t require those kinds of skills. I’m pretty sure that crossing supervisors over here don’t require student management training.
Not saying I don’t agree with you but by the sounds of this – no-one saw this coming – particularly the school.
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I think the school is at fault here too- she may not have been given the proper training for the job or had the position description fully communicated to her to begin with.
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Absolute spoilt brats. I wonder how their parents reacted to this because I would have been embarrassed, ashamed and mortified.
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I saw it on a news program and one of the parents (Dad) was interviewed – he was dreadfully ashamed and horrified by his son’s actions.
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This makes my blood boil. HOW DARE these children. Who do they think they are? How do these boys even have the nerve to speak to an adult this way?
The one action that this video sparks me to do is make sure my boys grow into respectful teenagers and adults.
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I’m so sad & disgusted after seeing this. Where is the respect for our elders?! Where is the respect for anyone any more? Non-existant.
I’m absolutely disgusted at those children and also at their parents. Morals and values stem from home and clearly none of these kids have any!
Just disgusting.
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When I first watched this video last week it made me cry. Why would children tease anyone, adult or child, in this way?
If I was their parents, I’d ask them how they would feel if someone was saying these things to their own Grandma. Honestly if I heard someone saying that to my dear Nana I would be crushed.
While I do think that maybe donating $500,000 to this woman is a bit OTT, I personally would be more interested to know what happened to these children and whether they have apologised to her and will change their ways.
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Peer pressure goes a long way. Kids know it’s wrong, but that’s part of why it’s so fun, and when all your friends are doing it and calling you a ‘loser’ because you’re on-side with the unpopular one, then it’s very easy to just give in as a kid because the drive to be accepted is so strong. I say this as a kid who was bullied mercilessly, and I could see perfectly good, normal people devolve into cruel monsters when others were around. I later learned about group psychology at university. Basically by being part of a group, the individual feels they have less responsibility because they can’t be singled out as the one who messed up. There are some crazy studies about it on adults too, for example an experiment where adults were randomly placed into the ‘prisoner’ or ‘guard’ group and then the guards ended up being very cruel to the prisoners, despite knowing that they could have been randomly assigned into that group themselves. I guess what I’m saying is that it’s not all about not being taught morals, it’s about not being taught how to resist peer pressure and why being part of the ‘popular’ crowd isn’t always the best thing, despite how tempting it seems.
I can guarantee you these kids knew that teasing her about weight etc. was wrong.
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Man I hate bullying! If my child did something like that I would find a bully support group or something along those lines and make them sit in an listen how it affects people! I would make my child go around and apologise face to face. These kids need to be punished and I recon community service on weekends for a good period would really hit them!!! Kids hate losing weekend time! Sorry but dont agree with 30somethingezz. its not the schools fault. It is solely the childs or the parents if they have not taught them respect for elders and the consequences of bullying!.I was taught to stick up for those who are less fortunate or singled out! If it wasnt her they would have found someone else to taunt being the pack mentallity shown!! and I bet they already have prior!!!This is unacceptable. I wonder how many other kids have been teased by these kids on the bus and gone home feeling emotionally crippled! A lesson on anti bullying should almost be compulsory now in schools with how many incidents are going viral!
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I absolutely feel karen’s pain. I live it every day. from the rude, invasive stares to outright, hateful ridicule– and there is no age limit on who might be a bully or even whether one needs to run in a pack or go solo. I have endured insults my whole life due to a facial deformity and sometimes I might speak up in self defense but then again. this can often feed fuel to the fire. People of all types can be incredibly cruel. So typical is it for those who just don’t understand human nature to actually find fault in the victim. So very typically ignorant. If I had $500,000 I’d get cosmetic surgury so I could walk down the street in peace. God bless You Karen.
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