(12-01-2004) Bono Participates in Anti-Bullying Campaign -- Interference.com*

[dsmith2904]

Bono Participates in Anti-Bullying Campaign

This summer Bono was one of dozens of celebrities and thousands of every day follks sporting the yellow "Live Strong" wristband in support of cancer research. Now Bono is wearing a blue wristband as part of Radio 1's campaign to end bullying.

The gist of the campaign is spelled out on the BBC's site:

Most people have been bullied at some time in their life, even celebs like Kate Winslet, Orlando Bloom, Eminem, Tom Cruise and Sarah-Michelle Gellar. No-one deserves to be bullied so, if it's happening to you, you need to know what you can do about it.

Some background...

*Every seven seconds someone in Britain is being bullied
*One in five secondary school pupils have experience of bullying
*Bullying can happen anywhere; one in four people are bullied at work
*Bullying can make you feel depressed, shy, isolated, insecure and even suicidal
*Most people who bully have been bullied themselves
*In many cases the effects of bullying aren't visible at all. But this doesn't mean they're less hurtful.
*20,000 young people got help last year when they spoke out against bullying

To get your own blue Beat Bullying wristband, click here. The BBC will only send out these free wristbands to addresses in the UK.

Thanks riderka and meegannie!

 

[UnforgettableLemon]

 

[ultrraviolette]

I was never bullied in school, but I AM shocked that Eminem was bullied

 

[zooperson]

aww only in the UK i want one! ive been bullied plenty! i put a request in anyways.

 

[Keocmb]

What a weird campaign.

 

[UnforgettableLemon]

Well, it is weird in a way, but it's something so many people put up with. The problem is you can't really stop kids from doing it. But there should be some maturity among adults.

It doesn't surprise me at all that Eminem was bullied; he was apparently a scrawny little dude.

 

[speedracer]

Does anybody actually think that this will not increase the problem of bullying?

 

[Renrut]

This is like starting a campagn against meanness. Strong on merits, week on having any FUCKING chance to succeed. Woops, I think I was just bullying you guys there... Sorry.

 

[Moonlit_Angel]

I remember watching something on Eminem's life once...he definitely got bullied a lot when he was a kid. From what I understand, a kid once beat him up so badly he was in a coma for, like, four days.

Anywho, it's odd to see that there's an actual campaign going against bullying, but hey, it's still cool anyway. And being somebody who definitely got picked on in school when she was younger, I can relate very well to this one.

Angela

 

[TwoAmericas]

I've always hated Nelson from the Simpsons...

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

you have got to be kidding me...

so just like the whole ribbon thing eventually became a joke, now, too, will the wrist band thing.

a wrist band against bullying???? come on... let's get real here folks.

now if you'll all excuse me, I have to go find my anti-mexican whooping cough wrist band. i seem to have misplaced it.

 

[u2sangel]

I was picked on mercilessly when I was in school and it is an awful thing to go thru.Whether you think a ribbon for it is silly or not obviously Bono doesn;t!

 

[Dismantled]

you have got to be kidding me...

so just like the whole ribbon thing eventually became a joke, now, too, will the wrist band thing.

a wrist band against bullying???? come on... let's get real here folks.

now if you'll all excuse me, I have to go find my anti-mexican whooping cough wrist band. i seem to have misplaced it.

Hey dude, its gotta start somewhere......

I work in a highschool and the problem gets worse every year.

 

[Golightly Grrl]

And bully doesn't just happen at school. It often happens to adults in the workplace. I used to work for a horrid woman who would call her staff "idiots", "dopes", "morons", etc., right in front of clients. She would also accuse staff members of being on drugs if they made a mistake. Within one year, six staff members quit (including me). Yep, she was a complete C U Next Tuesday, but upper management never did a damn thing about her.

 

[PopDaisy]

And bully doesn't just happen at school. It often happens to adults in the workplace. I used to work for a horrid woman who would call her staff "idiots", "dopes", "morons", etc., right in front of clients. She would also accuse staff members of being on drugs if they made a mistake. Within one year, six staff members quit (including me). Yep, she was a complete C U Next Tuesday, but upper management never did a damn thing about her.

That woman must have a brother in Iowa.

I am, let's say, not in my twenties anymore, and a pretty tough cookie besides...

And I left a very well paying position that was not only my career but my social justice mission because of an incredibly verbally abusive vice-president. You can joke all you want about "Mexican whooping cough" but until you or a member of your family goes through a situation like this -- not sleeping, losing all your self-confidence, wrecking your so-called career path, you just have no idea.

Bono always seems to find one more way to endear himself to me. He just did it again with this campaign.

PopDaisy

 

[PennyPyro]

You're from Iowa?? So am I!

Anyway...
I got bullied in middle school and high school. (Of course, that's not uncommon, but that fact didn't make me cry any less.) My best friend was bullied at work...but one of the worst offenders got deported for an unrelated incident...hehe...and no this person was not, to my knowledge, ever in the paper. Just so you know.

 

[Bonochick]

What a weird campaign.

I agree.

I think the sentiment is lovely...I was bullied a lot in school, and it made me miserable. Sometimes, the bus ride to school would be so traumatic that upon arriving at school I'd immediately go to the office and fake sick so I could go home because I just couldn't stand it. However...I don't see how bullying can be stopped.

 

[stray dog]

iowa boy here too!

 

[stray dog]

Anyone need a bodyguard?

 

[Moonlit_Angel]

Former Iowan here .

Anywho, sorry to hear about all your horrible experiences, guys . It's such a shame that there are people out there who can be that mean.

Originally posted by PennyPyro
I got bullied in middle school and high school.

. Yeah, those are always the most oh-so-fun years for that stuff, huh?

I got bullied in elementary school (that was really bad...fourth grade year in particular was just hell for me, and that's all the further I'll go into that) and middle school. I didn't get along with most of the kids in my schools in my original town-they were all rich snobs who acted like I was some sort of freak because my family wasn't rich . And there were various other things that I got picked on about, too. Thankfully, it got a lot better when I moved to another town-the kids there were a lot nicer.

Also, I agree wholeheartedly with PopDaisy's last statement .

Angela

 

[dsmith2904]

However...I don't see how bullying can be stopped.

I think the point of this is just to bring awareness to the fact that bullying is a problem with often serious consequences, not just some innocent thing that kids do. If more people walk around saying it's not right to pick on other people than maybe something will be done about it, kids will speak up, bullies will be punished and so on.

 

[ShellBeThere]

Well, I'm in Michigan now but I grew up in the Bronx, in a kinda tough neighorhood where bullying was everywhere.

It's soul-killing stuff, sucks the life and love outta the victims and the bullies too, in a different way. It prevents kids from becoming who they are, it presents such a challenge to their developing selves. It breeds fear and hate and distrust, it's an amazingly large pool of violence in our world that so surprisingly so many adults accept as part of how things just are. That part of the equation can be as soul-killing as the actual interpersonal 'meanness', humiliation, dark acts, and physical injury--that so often kids hear their parents and their teachers imply or say outright that it's just the way of the world. What kind of world is that? Who wants to live in it?

I was bullied in middle school relentlessly for not fitting in the way I needed to. The choices were to conform and lay low and thusly avoid being afraid of torment, or to refuse and be subject to it. I think I took a middle path, but who the hell knows because one of the sucky things about bullying for young persons is that it clouds the choices, the path of self -development. There the teachers even participated in it, really, as it amused them.

So, anti-bullying programs like Bono is advocating really *can* help, insofar as those we count on to care for children need to think of it as unacceptable. And it is a huge source of violence, witnessed and participated in, in the lives of children.

Even that little change can help--if adults don't brush it off as part of some animal foodchain foreign to their lives personal and professional. Because as a number of you have pointed out, bullying doesn't end in the schoolyard (or even start there, really), and it just continues on its destructive path.

Luckily my high school (one of those NYC magnet schools) was remarkably free of it from what I could tell, which was a huge relief for me. I was still very much affected by my previous experiences, and I think some of the 'odd' status followed me to high school via a person or two, but the atmosphere for learning and self-expression was so gorgeously freer.
My poor sister, on the other hand, was so relentlessly bullied at her high school that she dropped out and has psychological scars from that which still itch and burn her I believe, in addition to the actual outcome of not finishing school.
The teachers barely had time for her, they were so busy dealing with 'behavior problems' which 8 of 10 times were victim/victimizer type deals I'm guessing. So, if we can have anti-drug programs why not anti-bullying? The learning and social development atmosphere would be lots less nasty if the kids who were being bullies were peacefully stoned instead of dementing the dorky kid who was good in algebra I'd bet!


cheers all!

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Hey dude, its gotta start somewhere......

I work in a highschool and the problem gets worse every year.

i work in a high school, too...

i'm a guy who's named shannon, and i used to wear glasses...

i know full well what bullying can do...

i still find this to be stupid.

what in the hell is a wristband gonna do? really now... and i don't care if bono and eminem think it's a good idea. i think it's stupid. bullying is a part of life. it happens... it sucks. but it how you respond to it helps define your character as a person. eminem wouldn't have the career he has today if not for the bullying that he went through in high school. does that make it right? absolutely not... but eventually he had to deal with it, mainly through his lyrics, and in the end it made him a better and stronger person. he overcame the adversity on his own. in the end, the only person that can stop bullying is each individual person standing up for their rights. wearing a wristband isn't gonna do shit.

 

[Bonochick]

People will probably just get beat up for wearing the wristband.

Bully: "Ha ha! You think you can stop me with your nerdy blue wristband??? Stop THIS!!!" *gets lights punched out*

 

[PennyPyro]

aw, thanks Moonlit_angel.

 

[Moonlit_Angel]

aw, thanks Moonlit_angel.

You're welcome .

Angela

 

[verte76]

I think this is really cool. Bullying is really bad stuff, I've been on the wrong end of it and it stinks.