Blaming victims of bullying is never the right course of action

Scott Redmond, Staff Writer

Imagine that someone just burst into your house and beat you and stole a bunch of your stuff. When the police arrive, their only response to you is that you should not have such nice stuff.

I bet that wouldn’t feel good at all.

This same victim blaming has plagued those who have been raped, and now it is spreading towards those who are bullied.

Blaming any victim for the pain and suffering they go through at the hands of another is truly disgusting.

Grayson Bruce, 9, from North Carolina was bullied and tormented daily about his choice of a My Little Pony backpack.

Instead of cracking down on the bullies, the school and the district told Bruce and his mother that he should not bring the bag if he wanted to avoid teasing as it was a “trigger for bullying.”

Recently another young boy, 11, tried to commit suicide because he was teased for liking My Little Pony.

Just like blaming a rape victim for wearing a short skirt or drinking at a party, much as Wall Street Journal columnist James Taranto tried to do recently, laying blame on a child for the bullying that comes from them just being themselves is the worst thing you can do.

Bullying is a horrible thing to endure. I should know.

Throughout my childhood, I was teased, horribly, and it left scars for a long time. There was a point in the dark times that I contemplated just ending my life to avoid being teased.

While the teasing mostly focused on my weight or my looks, the fact that my best friend and I  liked to play “Power Rangers” at recess brought us many years of hardcore bullying.

No one should ever be punished for what they like. The world is full of television shows, movies, books and all other forms of entertainment for every type of person.

The school choosing to side with those who are obviously insecure about themselves and their lives that they pick on another student shows the issue with our society.

This desire to put blame on others, so as to avoid pissing off the majority has become far too prevalent in society.

The other side will argue that the school is looking out for Bruce by telling him to leave the bag at home, so that he won’t be teased any longer because they can’t always be around to stop those that are doing the bullying.

That is bullshit, if you’ll pardon my English.

While the school can’t be around at all times to stop bullying, to just brush it off and allow it to happen and punish the victim is not only lazy and irresponsible, but borderline insane.

While the school came around after a meeting with Grayson’s mother and changed their mind, allowing Grayson to bring his bag to school, it doesn’t change the backwards thinking they displayed previously.

If the logic is that one should not put themselves in a situation where bad things happen, should we tell shop owners that it’s their fault they got held up, because they have money on the premises?

Now it will be the bank’s fault they get robbed, because they have money or that guy that just got killed, clearly it was his fault for being alive, which led to someone killing him. If only he hadn’t had that pesky habit of existing, he never would have been shot and killed.

Society needs to stop with this ridiculous desire to please everyone to avoid angering so called majorities and protect the victims of senseless crimes.

It doesn’t matter if you carry a My Little Pony backpack, wear a short skirt or happen to be chunkier than the other kids, no one deserves to be treated like crap and tormented.