Deacreasing World Suck..Project! (D.W.S.P.)

[Lourdes]

Ok, so i wanted to start an important discussion.

We are all aware that nerdfighters are fighting to decrease world suck, i hope... well, i was thinking of ways this could happen in an easyer way, a more direct way. I thought of making a project of helping people with their hard times socialy, we all know that social statusses are important for the average teenager, so for everyperson you see alone in the cafeteria, or being bullied, or about to embarrase himself/herself, to help them out! sit with them and then hang out with them, defend them by telling the principal or a teacher (because many people are scared to tell someone because they will be called a tatletale), or a person you see with a shoe lace untied and about to trip, or drooling, or with wet pants, to just help them out the way you can.

them tell them about nerdfighters, and that they should join, and make someone's life better.

 

This is a bit like the "Pay it forward" movement, but unlike that, this doesnt require only 3, this can be used for your whole life! and then tell another person about it!

 

I hope to read how you helped a person on the comments...

 

DFTBA and DWSP

[Marianne]

I do that all the time, not as a project. I just think it's normal to tell someone if their shoe lace is untied or to talk to someone if they look lonely.

Today I took the price tag off a woman's top for her, obviously I asked first and caught another woman's toddler before he ran onto the road when she wasn't looking.

[Lourdes]

That's veary nice and heroic.. :D

[Cavalier]

Well some people live their lives like this, some. It's great you do this. I like to think I do the same. But for the others who don't, they just need a bit of a push. This can be seen as a sort of game for some. It can make the world a better place and decrease world suck if it picks up.

[spiderboenz]

If someone's being bullied and won't stand up for themselves then they deserve what they get.

[Marianne]

People get bullied for different reasons, I think this is FAR from true. I've been bullied and when your faced with a group of 6 people who are bigger than you physically, standing up for yourself is the last thing you want to do. I got beat up a lot and I was genuinely too frightened to say to anyone incase it got worse, and I fully believe it would have. Instead some people took sympathy on me and stuck around when the bullies were around, being in a group meant the bullies couldn't get at me and eventually got bored trying.

If you see someone being bullied, adopt them into your group of friends. You don't need to be best mates, but just having that support around them really does help.

[spiderboenz]

Standing up for yourself is ALWAYS the best thing to do, even if you get your ass kicked. As a former bully, I had more respect for those that stood up for themselves and fought back than I did for those who would cower in fear. If you fear us then we can control you, be it directly or indirectly. Maybe I was a bit of an oddity amongst bullies, being the smallest person in the class yet terrorizing those almost twice my size. Luckily I found other things to keep my amusement and tapered off.

Maybe I'm just a souless bastard, I don't know and don't really care, but if someone won't stand up for themselves then they're not even worth the effort to try helping. It's about self respect, and no self respecting person would allow another person to make thier life a living hell.

[Marianne]

There's only so many times someone can get their ass kicked. I know, those were the times I did stand up for myself and it didn't make anything better so how is that the best thing to do? Gaining a bullies respect meant shit if they beat you up anyway.

Sometimes it's just completely out of your own control, there is nothing I could have said or done on my own to stop the bullying, I tried and failed. When it's at that point someone else needs to step in.

[spiderboenz]

Fail, then get up. Fail, then get up, YOU are the master of your own destiny, but unfortunately sometimes you have to take a beating. If you have enough backbone to keep fighting back, eventually it gets boring; it's not as much fun harassing someone who will dish it out. Those who faught back, I more or less left alone.

The only stepping in that somene should do is encouraging someone to stand up for themselves, or if they are grossly outnumbered. For the most part, we prey on the weak, the insecure, the afraid (I kind of went the opposite route with that, I would go for the kids bigger than me to prove that I wasn't weak or afraid) and all that another person stepping in does is re-affirm to EVERYONE that the person allowing themself to be bullied is weak and afraid. If you promote weakness and the self perpetuated state of victimhood then by all means...

[Marianne]

I promote keeping your nose intact.

How can you be the master of your own destiny if you can't fight back? I had to face 6 guys who were bigger than me, it just wasn't possible to win. Ever. In that situation you can't dish it out, infact the struggle probably made it more fun for them.

[Tim Hammond]

Amazing...

As an admitted former bully, it's easy for you to say things like, "Fail, then get up. Fail, then get up." Each individual is in charge of their own destiny, I agree with you there. But the point at which most people get bullied--middle/high school-- have their only purpose as "fit in". That's why sports, clubs and cliques are such a big deal: you have to find one that fits the best.

Having said that, this assumes one thing: since the individual is trying to fit in, that person doesn't know where they belong. If a bully (or bullies) come along and beat you up, tell you you're worthless, etc., the individual starts to believe it over time.

How, then, do you find your good traits? If all everyone has pointed out to you are your flaws, you begin to associate those bad things with who you are.

Everyone is in charge of their destiny. Unfortunately if the destiny handed to you is a bad one, there's usually no way out until that one person comes along and compliments you.

...all that another person stepping in does is re-affirm to EVERYONE that the person allowing themself to be bullied is weak and afraid.
Can't really tell someone to stand up for themselves when he/she is bleeding on the ground. In fact that person probably get's enough of that from the parents or teachers. Stepping in and defending the victim(s) is imperative. I would gladly step in, completely embarrass the victim, and beat the hell out of some bullies. I would do it simply to show the victim(s) that it can be done.

(I kind of went the opposite route with that, I would go for the kids bigger than me to prove that I wasn't weak or afraid)
That proves you WERE weak and afraid. If you weren't, you wouldn't have approached anyone to begin with. Again, that was how you tried to fit in back then.

Bullying is what caused the deaths of those gay kids last month. And those are only the documented ones. You think those kids should've fought back? Who would back them up? When you're the victim, you're the victim to everyone, even the non-bullies. You can fight back all you want, but if no one has your back, there's no point.

Then again, I suppose that victim could always become a bully himself...

[Lourdes]

First i thought your comment would be boring to read.. but as i read it, it was really interesting, i think you are one of the people who have actually changed my life a little bit, and that's my point, i want to make people back up the people who wont stand up for themselves or will, but dont stand a chance.

[Carlo]

I fully agree. You really do seem to be a soulless bastard. Yes, of course it's easy to criticize the victims of bullying when you're the one doing the bullying. What an excellent rationalization for your horrible behavior: "Oh it's not my fault. They had it coming, for not being brave enough to stand up for themselves." What a coward, both for having even been a bully in the first place, and then for not being able to take moral responsibility for your reprehensible actions.