International I Hate Sports Club

Check out the following link.

http://paizo.com/paizo/messageboards/co ... ic/bullies

Several criticisms can be made about the Internet, such as making pornography readily available to kids (which is bound to have a deleterious effect on our society); but at least people who formerly didn't have a voice in our media, such as those who were bullied or are still being bullied as kids, can now speak out and be heard. (One of these days I'll follow the directions that Fat Man once gave me in a PM on how to copy a webpage into a forum post; but not this time, unfortunately.)

Here's another link you might want to look at.

http://www.rantrave.com/Rant/Stop-bully ... -else.aspx

Here's another link.

http://history1900s.about.com/b/2007/04 ... otings.htm

... and another link.

http://www.parentdish.com/2008/03/28/pa ... ons-bully/

I won't apologize for setting up these posts. This issue means a lot to me. I'm 59 years old. When I was a kid, bullying was condoned (and still is by way too many people); and bullied children had to suffer in silence because no one cared.

I'll start by saying I don't know if pornography is all that harmful. For the most part, it's just sex. I wouldn't want little kids watching it or anything, but I don't know how much it could really hurt.

I do agree though that bullying is a huge problem. It can really fuck with a kid's head. I was fortunate to have it better than most everyone when it came to bullying, but I did have times where I got made fun of for little things so I know where you guys are coming from in a sense.

This is interesting. An exchange of this sort in this forum about a controversial subject having nothing to do with sports. I could make an argument from a religious viewpoint, but for this forum a secular argument would be appropriate. We are in agreement that children should not be allowed to view pornography. I'm concerned when I hear police reports of nine-year-old boys committing rape. There clearly is something wrong with this picture. When I was a boy, I didn't even learn the facts about human sexuality until I was 14. And there is no denying that out-of-wedlock births mean trouble for society in the long run. Over the last several generations, there has been a trend towards minors being sexualized at younger ages by the popular culture when they are not able to handle all the responsibilities that go with being sexually active.

I appreciate your supportive comments about bullying. Over the years I've learned that kids are bullied for all sorts of reasons, most of which are amazingly dumb. A friend of mine who grew up in a small town was bullied simply because his father was the town drunk. What was so unjust was that not only was he being bullied at school, but also his father was abusing him and his brothers at home. (But his faith in God and his wife helped him to be well-adjusted and even happy and humorous as an adult.) What's also sad about bullying is that no attempt is made to get to know the other person. We all have different strengths and weaknesses. At another anti-bullying website, I once read a post written by a man in his 40s who had played football in high school. (I now wish that I had written the website down.) He was friendly to a nerd in one of his P.E. classes, even though the nerd was far from being athletic. They discovered that they had an interest in common. The player protected the nerd from being physically bullied by what my generation called juvenile delinquents. Years later the former high-school football player started a small business that used computers in its daily operations. He knew nothing about computers, but his nerd friend knew a great deal about them and continues to help him whenever he has computer trouble. So, as good friends they have helped each other, despite their differences.

Earl wrote:Check out the following link.

http://paizo.com/paizo/messageboards/co ... ic/bullies

Several criticisms can be made about the Internet, such as making pornography readily available to kids (which is bound to have a deleterious effect on our society); but at least people who formerly didn't have a voice in our media, such as those who were bullied or are still being bullied as kids, can now speak out and be heard. (One of these days I'll follow the directions that Fat Man once gave me in a PM on how to copy a webpage into a forum post; but not this time, unfortunately.)

Those are some interesting stories. I'll come back and read the other links when I have time (at work). I had no idea D&D was so popular. I played it once and thought it was the silliest thing I'd ever come across --and quit. Maybe you have to start as a kid when you're more accepting of role-playing and wasting time.