I’m sure most of us have seen that video, of a bullied overweight boy finally snapping after a few punches in the face and slamming his aggressor into the ground. It wasn’t hard to give into your base emotions and feel that as violent and disproportionate the retaliation was, the little shit got what was coming to him. It was ugly, brutal, violent and we felt bad for getting so any enjoyment from the video.
I’d guess for me, like many others it was a brutal reminder of the often violent world of high school that we banished to the back of our minds as soon as we graduated. I’d say more than a few of us have been in Casey’s position and remember all too well a system that was unsympathetic to bullying victims and made many fearful to speak out.
Just what message does it send to children that both of the kids received the same punishment of four days suspension? Sure, it wasn’t ideal for the bullied child to retaliate with violence, but it was the school that failed in its duty of care by allowing such violence to go unchallenged on their grounds. The victim should not be punished because the system had failed to protect him. Its behaviour like this that makes children at school reluctant to speak out about being a victim of violence. Because if the school decides that violence in self-defence is just as bad as being a violent aggressor then children become wary that asking for help might just result in them being punished.
John Birmingham is right to point out that amongst all our cheering, we are lucky that Casey’s bodyslam didn’t result in a serious injury or even death. Penbo over at the punch goes off onto a wild tangent (not to mention calling the victim “Fat Kid” 9 times) comparing the video to the notorious Bumfights videos in the USA. The difference being that the internet and camera phones isn’t encouraging violence that wasn’t happening before, but its showing and reminding adults and education bureaucrats just how violent and horrible school is for many many children in a way they cant ignore it. The violence in the video is nothing new, but before the internet it was violence that adults rarely saw.
From news reports it seems like the parents of both of the children need a prompt wake up call. Casey’s father said ”He’s always been taught never to hit. Apparently other people’s parents don’t teach their kids that.” sounds like as idealistic way to teach your kid humanist values, but telling your kid to sit there like a punching bag isn’t going to solve anything or stop the violence. Likewise the bullies mother had a hard time believing that her little angel could be the tiny tormentor in the video clip. If anything is achieved from all this, lets hope that it forces parents and teachers to confront the living hell some kids endure at school and the system that stops them from speaking out.
Its sending a terrible message that a victim of years of bullying and violence is being punished by the school that clearly failed to protect him from violence for so many years.
