THIS IS A PSA

So, I lurk on occasion on ontd_political , since it's nice once in a while to have one's political news filtered through a lens of wank and slash loving. Also it's a good way to find less mainstream stories. Just now, I was reading this article about NY's state assembly passing an anti-bullying bill (and yay for them!), and came across this in the comments:

"I agree with this bill except for the weight and religion part.

I think children should be bullied on things that are fixable, things that can be changed. I'm obviously against bullying based on gender, sexual orientation, nationality, physical disabilities, genetic disorders etc

but weight (and sometimes) religion can be changed. and such a change, for example losing weight will better the student's life. it'll give them more confidence and make them more healthy (that is if they lose the weight in a healthy manner)

...

If I could find the people who bullied me all those years I would tell them thanks.

also kids who kill themselves because they're bullied are weak. there's more to life than grade school/high school/college. You just have to stick it out and endure it for awhile, but it's not the end of the world."

FUCK YOU. JUST...FUCK. YOU. DIE IN A FUCKING FIRE.

I know I shouldn't let myself be so bothered by something some random person on Livejournal says. I should ignore it, I should brush it off. But it does really, really bother me. I am fucking seething right now. Because I know this kind of attitude is so widespread and so common and it is horrible. I hate people who think people are bullied are just weak, that if only they would just stand up for themselves they would be fine.

Bullies do not back down just because you ask them nicely. Most of the time they don't back down if you tell them to fuck off and die. They don't go away if you ignore them. That is a lie. And it's a pernicious lie - that attitude, and the attitude of the person who said those things that there are somehow people who desrve to be bullied, it makes it so hard to be taken seriously by adults when you are being bullied. And there is nothing more painful than being a victim, and finding that your attempts to be heard and helped are ignored or dismissed.

And yes, I was bullied. I'm a bookish, overweight, poor anime geek with no dress sense or interest in pop culture, what do you think happened? In middle school, my class had a competition centered on avoiding or insulting me. One girl stalked me and threatened to kill me - a teacher intervened after I started crying in the middle of the hall after she threatened me, but she didn't stop. I will never be able to trust a guy who comes onto me or tells me I'm attractive, because so many times in elementary, middle, and even high school I've had guys come up to me and tell me their friend thinks I'm cute and wants to talk to me, or wants my number, only to run away laughing because apparently it's really fucking funny to embarrass your friend by making the fat girl think he likes her.

I want people to take this seriously. Because it is serious, and the damage it does is serious, and it won't stop until we face that.

To A Squirrel

Before I got all grrrr angry, I was planning to make this post - so here it is now.

While I was walking home from work tonight, I saw two raccoons in the back arcade of the quad. I thought at first they were cats - a lot of the staff members who live on campus have pets, it wouldn't be that strange - but when they got closer to me I realized they were moving wrong, and then the light changed and I could see they were raccoons. They didn't seem to notice me at all, even though I was pretty close; too busy drinking water from the potholes and loping through the grass.

I've never seen a real live raccoon before. It astonishes me sometimes, all the life there is on campus. We have raccoons, and squirrels just everywhere. A few times I've gone out into the courtyard and there have been raptors in the trees. Not to mention all the lizards and weird bugs and stuff! I really love that about Stanford.

Anyway, it made me think of this poem, which I've always been oddly fond of just for its sheer silliness.


To A Squirrel At Kyle-Na-No by WB Yeats

Come play with me;
Why should you run
Through the shaking tree
As though I'd a gun
To strike you dead?
When all I would do
Is to scratch your head
And let you go.