A young boy named Tyler faces violent bullying at school, including having his head slammed into lockers, which his parents are worried about. Tyler explains he feels nervous at school; he likes learning, but has trouble making friends. (Insert: “13 million kids will be bullied in the U.S. this year”) We see Tyler being punched and picked on in the bus and on the streets.
Then, we hear about another (younger) boy who was bullied so mercilessly that he ended up taking his own life, an act that made the local news. Parents talk about how cruel kids can be, but that officials deny there’s any real problem to be addressed in any meaningful way. Meanwhile, Tyler describes being routinely attacked in the bus, but when his mother complains to an official, she’s told there’s no problem whatsoever with those kids.
Finally, parents everywhere start to rally for the cause of protecting kids against bullying.
Relatedly, I sometimes wonder what my school life would’ve been like if I’d been intellectual, reclusive, friendless, passive, oddball, and gay. Then I realize I don’t actually want to think about it.
I’m a liberal skeptic, rationalist & third-wave atheist stuck in a rut in Québec, Canada and who spends his time composing, writing, drawing, harboring a layman’s passion for science and technology, getting angry at social injustices, and most of all, jabbing cretins and trolls with sharp pointy sticks. (Oh, and blogging.) Proud owner of a Nize Hat!, an indomitable SIWOTI syndrome and an itchy snark finger.
You can find all my musical, literary and artistic works at my art blog, Creativitas.