Aspies For Freedom

Yes, i must admit it didn't bring me any relief, but at least in this case
he never bothered me again.  I guess that has something to do with the
guys who made him apologize to me. i will never forget that they stood up for me, while i never needed to ask for it.

Yes, I personally like stories of good vs. evil and one of those is Power Rangers. I just really like the villians from the show. Personally, I tend to like the villians more than the heroes, I don't know why.

One person said to me "YOU ARE SO WEIRD".  This comment was made from a person who had piercings all over her face, spiked hair which she regularly dyed green and purple and she also calls herself "a dyke".  

My reply "Thank you.  I would rather be weird than just ordinary."
She almost fell off her chair.

We get along really well now because I have just stopped talking to her unless it is technical or "How are you?".  She has stopped telling me that I have a bad attitude, closed mind, I am a freak, etc.  

Actually I think her attitude has changed over time because she is teaching grade school now.  She understands what bullying is now.  Even when some people experience bullying themselves they don't stop doing it to other people.  She had to see children doing it to each other.

Does anyone know any good sites with information about how to stop bullying?

I think teachers often don't want to be bothered sorting out whose "fault" it was because they are so busy. I do think it is hypocritical to tell kids to shake hands and forget it without making sure they apologise and promise not to do it again (and follow up to make sure that they don't).

I recently told people in work I liked trains and buses and stuff and their response? We know!

Bullying gave me a lot of predujuices when I got older, I was bullied to death as a child and as I got older it wasn't so bad when I found allies(friends) And Patrick

Bullying toughens you up. It also makes you wary of other people and fearful of situations.

Schools, headmasters and the powers that they have need a serious rethink. In a workplace if someone reports being bullied and victimised the person responsible would be suspended investigated and probably sacked, in a school what happens? *** all.

Krispyg76, I hate to say this, but workplace bullies often get away with their shenanigans too.

Then that is weak employers / managers who do not notice things.

There should not be a situation where people dread going to school or work for fear of what might happen that day.

Unfortunately, I don't think it has improved much at all. I think teachers are, on the whole, more aware of bullying being a problem, but I don't think that has led to much specific action on their part.

Many schools have the 'mediation" meetings -- and I agree, those are worthless and come down to exactly the sort of "shake hands = the bully wins" crap that you decry. It's just another way to "pretend" it's being dealt with when in fact, nothing is really happening.

I also think -- on a high school level anyway -- many teachers are also afraid of confronting bullies, and don't want to face their responsibility -- so they pretend they don't see the bullying, or they pass it on to the administrators where nothing ever happens.

In my classroom, I gave up on the school 'process' for [non]dealing with bullies. If a kid bullied someone in my class, I bullied the bully. Crude, maybe, but I found that after a couple of incidents the bullies got the message and  they didn't mess with my kids.

There are a few teachers who get the reputation of having "safe rooms" and kids know they can be there with less threat of being targetted by bullies.

I hide my really weird interests (conspiracy theories, paranormal stuff, UFOs, occultism etc). I've been quite interested in the supernatural since childhood, and people would make fun of it. So that's why I hide it.
I don't hide my interests in synthesizers and graphic design, people usually find that interesting and not necessarily weird.

Teachers could avoid getting involved with a bully situation because 1) The teacher is friends with the bully in question. 2) The teacher doesn't care. 3) The teacher in question can (and sometimes did) get sued by the family of the bully.

The whole shaking hands things is just a lesson on conflict resolution. What Amy and Max say is totally correct. Just because of the conflict resolution, the bully is inclined to do this again because all they get is a slap on the wrist.

Only time I could see hiding what goes on in my head is when it would win me more enemies then friends. Especially when those enemies are powerful. "Mama raised no fool" as the saying goes.

Don't start thinking that you are 'too old' for Pokémon at twenty!

I'm 49..........

I think teachers heer are restricted by what they can do, if they step in to break a fight up and grab a kid that is gonna hit another one and that kid reports the teacher then that teacher would be suspended. This is all thanks to stupid laws like the Human Rights Act and being able to sue for compensation for the slightest little thing.

Any kid who bullies should be kicked out of school full stop like an employee in a workplace would be sacked.

This country is too soft and at the next election we need shot of this namby pamby Labour government who don't have a backbone between them.

As far as being bullied at school for special interests....I don't remember that happening. I got bullied for being non-social and a "weirdo" more than anything else.

I do know another reason why you might hide a special interest though - if someone at home/in your family came down on you for, or was freaked out by, it.

This happened to me with the first one I had that was really clearly outside the "norm" of what a (diagnosed gifted) 11-year-old would be interested in.  I've mentioned the "Twin Peaks" business here before. One of these days I might go into more detail (or not. This is still hard for me to talk about.)

Suffice it to say that, upon realizing precisely how thoroughly and quickly I became obsessed with that show, my parent was equal parts horrified and worried about OCD or escapist reaction to trauma or something. (I will admit that, after viewing the show as an adult, my parent did have somewhat of a point given the scariness of some of its themes.)

I think the only reason I was allowed to keep watching it was because a counselor said it might do more harm to forbid it.....but until the show went off the air a year later, there was much. MUCH. Fighting and ridicule in our household over my interest in it.

I have hidden all special interests as carefully as possible since then, till very recently when I realized that not everyone will react that way, and that it's possible to figure out who might share your special interests and who won't.

Oh, and the day some years ago when I bought my own copies of "Twin Peaks"? One of the best ever.  

Meega (muttering, "I hope they don't think I'm a lunatic after reading this")