Tolerance for the "others": Is progress really being made today?

[12voltman59]

I found this clip taken from a recent episode of CNN reporter/anchor Anderson Cooper's "Anderson Cooper 360" regarding the issue of the bullying of GLBT children in our schools. The segment begins talking about the case of a boy who killed himself this past weekend due to him feeling bullied because he is bisexual and that no one in a position to care or take action to stop the bullying did anything about it.

I found some of the comments of those Focus on Family types regarding the acceptability of bullying when it comes to GLBT people to be a load of crap---with that one idiot with his American flag shirt on ---I guess its OK for "three percent" of the population to not have their full rights to be as they are and to be free from harassment and as the one panelist noted---the comments of that Kentucky state politician are kinda scary--since if you do think about it--he pushes that idea that if people of "religious conviction" are not free to hassle others for the way they are, then those good Christian people are having their rights curtailed. Total 100 percent prime USDA bullshit, that nonsense!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQwdeJuvcPs&feature=player_embedded

[tenni]

I find this a difficult situation and a tragedy that the young man went to such a horrible end. The reasons why kids bully isn't just that simple. When does it cross a line from small teasing to bullying to such a level that the kid kills himself? So many kids do not have the ability to comprehend how cruel their words and actions can be. School systems should improve but it isn't that simple. I doubt that any teacher wants to have a kid in their class kill himself because of bullying. Still, the one woman was correct and no teacher should tolerate a student calling another student or behaviour "gay" or "fag" in their class. So much is done outside the class or subtly within the class. This kid was hounded for his difference for years. It was his sexual difference but bullying happens to other kids about other matters or physical appearance etc. I've seen situations where taunting became cyclical and it was really hard to find the source. The so called "victim" also became involved in taunting. Fortunately, the kids that I knew involved in that were basically not so cruel as kids today seem to be.

[BiDaveDtown]

Anderson Cooper is a deeply closeted gay man and if he actually did come out like Don Lemon did he would help GLBT people yet he stays locked in his glass closet whining about how his image and his career would be completely ruined if he came out. :rolleyes:

[Gearbox]

I agree with the lady who mentioned that we expect workers to be protected in the workplace, yet pupils don't have that protection in the schools.
I've heard of adult women taking fellow workers to court or having them reprimanded by managements for being called "Love".:eek:
Children have no such use of powers to help them escape real psychological and physical harm from other pupils.

My only nitpick is that sexuality shouldn't be singled out as being off-limits to bullying.

[elian]

...

I have considered what they have said and I will let this go now - there is no way they can know just how hurtful what they believe is until they experience a loss like that firsthand..all of the spin and politicking they can put on something just to win votes and influence people to draw more power to themselves is sickening when it is done at the cost of innocent human lives.

That's about the most polite thing I can say without sounding really wicked.

Of course they will say the same thing about my viewpoint, "oh your law discriminates against my religious belief" I've never read anything, in any religious text where Jesus (or Buddha, or Muḥammad) says, "You are better than your neighbor" .. when does the bullshit and hatred ever end? There is a reason I don't watch anything on TV anymore..we have 24 hour news channels but there's not 24 hours worth of news to watch..there's maybe 30 minutes worth of news and 14 hours of bullshit..

[drugstore cowboy]

The boy who killed himself was gay and he was not bisexual.

It's sad and a tragedy but apparently he had lots of help, teachers and school officials, and even his parents and friends knew he had issues. He also would blog about being deeply depressed and suicidal but didn't tell his parents this.

He was also seeing a therapist and a counselor.

This kid was getting help for his depression and his therapist should have referred him to a shrink to get him on an anti-depressant or told his parents he was very suicidal and told them how he needed to be put into a mental hospital since he was very depressed/suicidal.

I read articles about this kid and they said how this kid suffered more because of random internet trolls/cyber bullies posting on his Tumblr page/blog than from students at his school.

Jamey did have bad days. Issues of bullying and even suicide talk were not new to many of Jamey's family or friends. They were common topics for him and seemed to ramp up to an extreme level when other students started making taunts with gay references to Jamey about 12 months ago on his Formspring account, which permits anonymous posts.


Friends of his reported the message posts to the Heim Middle School guidance counselors, she said.


"We sat him down multiple times and said, 'What's going on?'" his mother recalled.
Jamey denied that anything was amiss, she said. In fact, when the family went to its usual camping spot this past weekend, Jamey seemed happy. Even taunts from peers didn't seem to phase him.
"He used to cry about it, be sad and angry," Rodemeyer said. "But lately, he's been blowing them off, or at least we thought he was."
Given Jamey's prolific writings and raw commentaries online, could someone have intervened sooner and saved him?
"Of course, I'm not going to say enough was done," said Jamey's mother.
But he was seeing a social worker and therapist, she said.

[elian]

Was he an only child? We are taught to solve our own problems.. When I was growing up I was treated pretty badly. Told by a LOT of people that I was worthless, wouldn't amount to anything. More than anything I wanted to prove them wrong, that *I* could succeed..that one day I would do something to validate my self and I would turn around and FINALLY everyone would be proud of me and give me the self worth and unconditional love that I desperately wanted.

This child, apparently kept trying, he kept reaching out to people (and/or beating himself up) but it was just too much. Watching the video I can tell there is something different about him, he is (or was) very sensitive to emotion - perfectly natural, but a lot of people in this society think is a bad trait for a male to have. Eventually he was broken, it should not have mattered who he chose to love.. Maybe he just wanted to be accepted as "one of the guys" - but sometimes it is hard for people to relate..especially in school - school is your life until you graduate 12th grade - and there are plenty of people who don't realize just what is out there in the real world..

Maybe if he had MORE people who would have just shut up and given him an actual HUG instead of continually asking him what his PROBLEM was he would have had an easier time..then again maybe not.

We never like to admit it, but with his death he left a big impact on the world, one that I wish some people wouldn't squander as a talking point in a political analysis news broadcast..

[darkeyes]

Western societies at least are a great deal more tolerant than a century or half a century ago about many things. This tragic case shows that we are far from having true compassion, tolerance and understanding of those who are different... we are getting there all too slowly but we are moving in the right direction.. even in places where there is more tolerance than others tragedies will still occur and young boys and girls will continue to take their lives because as yet we are far from having the world accept them for what they are without some stresses which will bring them pain... many will lose their lives either by their own or the hand of others because of what they are and the intolerance of many in our societies.... but compared to my school days in the 90's, and those of my parents and grandparents in the 60's and 30's and 40's there is much less of a climate of fear and loathing towards gay and bisexual people than was the case not so long ago...

Progress is uneven and some areas and countries it is hardly noticable and even non existent.. but for most of the west it is there for us all to see.. not enough but we do have for the most part equality in law to heterosexuals and slowly but surely the barriers created by historical bigotry are being dismantled... we still do not do enough in our schools about gay and bisexual children but at least we have in place laws and rules, procedures and counsellors to try and help them make it safely through their education feeling that they are human beings and not abberations.. many still feel unable to be themselves and use what exists to help and protect them.. the closeted fearful children of which there are many.. but more are beginning to openly be what they are, especially girls, which reflects the less contemptuous position female as opposed to male homosexuality and bisexuality has in huge swathes of our societies..

Much yet needs to be done. We can never lower our guard and have to keep on pressing for changes to allow us to be truly free, truly equal and accepted by our heterosexual peers and the societies in which we live for who and what we are.. and we must never forget that many coutries particularly outside of the west, the most awful situation exists for those who are gay and bisexual and complaceny is something we should never accept for progress can be stopped and the engine of equality can be put into reverse.....