The thing about an anti-bullying law is that it would never be passed. You cannot make something that doesn’t have a set definition illegal. What some consider bullying, others consider harmless pranks. Let’s say congress defines bullying as “Repeatedly and excessively going out of one’s way to verbally abuse someone with the malicious intent to cause emotional harm.” That would mean that if you were bullied only once a week by a person, the person bullying you wouldn’t get into trouble because they’re not repeatedly and excessively going out of their way to abuse you. Now let’s say congress defines bullying as “Any type of verbal harm.” That would mean that anyone who says anything negative could get into trouble with the law. Now how fair is that?
Trying to outlaw bullying is a pointless fight because it will NEVER happen. There are too many people who do not take bullying seriously and there are too many factors that go into play when it comes to bullying. You cannot prove that someone killed themselves because of bullying, and a lot of the time, you can’t even prove that someone intended to hurt another person with their words. Those opposed to an anti-bullying law, would turn it into a freedom of speech debate that would subsequently have the bill discarded.
What a lot of people don’t understand is that, while your words are genuine, it’s not that easy. Outlawing bullying is not going to happen, so instead we should push for stricter school regulations and maybe even a zero tolerance policy at schools. But even if those two things happen, bullying will still occur. Bullies become bullies because of a multitude of reasons. Sometimes there are things at home that cause kids to lash out and sometimes kids have mental disabilities that cause them to lash out. These are the things you guys are not looking into.
I’m not being malicious, rude, mean, or an asshole, I’m being realistic. The BEST thing you can do to help is to let the people around you know that you’re willing to lend them a shoulder to lean or even cry on. Being able to open up and talk to someone is so incredibly crucial for kids who are picked on, and even for those who do the picking. A lot of bullies suffer from the exact same things they put people through. Sometimes bullies just need a friend or someone to listen to them because they, too, feel misunderstood. We are ALL human and that’s never going to change. Let’s push for more realistic solutions that don’t involve outlawing human nature.
