Kid Bullied For My Little Pony Backpack Told Not To Bring It To School Anymore

from the blaming-the-victim dept

Wed, Mar 19th 2014 12:53pm — Timothy Geigner

In the ongoing idiocy that is schools employing zero tolerance policies, the admittedly misguided overbearing results at least tend to have some pretend logic behind them. The school is afraid of guns, so ban everything that remotely looks like a gun, even if we're just talking about some kid's fingers. The school wants to curtail bullying, so they go nuclear at anything even remotely resembling bullying. Yes, it's misguided, yes, it's stupid, but you can at least follow along the logical path they walked before jumping off the cliff.

But where one ~~California~~ North Carolina grade school got the stones to blame Grayson Bruce and his backpack for the bullying he's endured is beyond me.

A mother and her 9-year-old son say school officials won't let him bring a My Little Pony bag to school. The boy and his mother say he's getting shoved around because bullies think his pick of a favorite toy is for girls.

My Little Pony, which has enjoyed something of a resurgence lately, is a show about friendship. One would have to work extremely hard after being hit in the head with a hammer in order to find anything offensive within it. The only explanation anyone has offered for banning Grayson from bringing his damned backpack to school has been that it sets off the bullies to go about their bullying ways. This, in case you're dense, is about as pure a form of blaming the victim as one can find. Fortunately, while the school in question decided to paint a damned backpack as the culprit in this scenario, the power of social media has risen to support Grayson.

Since it aired, the story has been picked up by websites, blogs and television stations across the nation. Tuesday it was one of the top stories trending on social media. The Facebook page 9-year-old Grayson Bruce's parents have set up for him now has more than 3,700 "Likes". Grayson has developed a following on Facebook after a friend made a support page for him. Grayson stands by his favorite cartoon and the message he says it sends. His mother says, why not?

But Noreen says Thursday the school asked him to leave the bag at home because it had become a distraction and was a "trigger for bullying."

This is absurd. In a world where too many schools are embracing too many zero tolerance policies, this one is actually going down the road of removing the subject of the bullying instead. What fun! What if the young man was gay? Or black? Mexican? What if he liked a certain kind of music, or was a huge fan of the wrong sports team? What if he had a medical condition? Sorry, sport, but you have to leave your crutches at home, 'cuz the kids just ain't down with them.

No, the proper response to is to pull those bullying Grayson aside and explain to them in stark terms why their actions aren't acceptable. Banning MLP backpacks can't be the answer, lest we allow all those children to learn the exact wrong lesson in their place of learning.

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Filed Under: bullying, my little pony, victim blaming, zero tolerance

102 Comments

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silverscarcat (profile), 19 Mar 2014 @ 12:38pm

*Headdesk*
Oww...

Seriously, oww...

The stupidity is strong with that school.

And people wonder why American Education is so f'ed up.
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- G Thompson (profile), 19 Mar 2014 @ 2:26pm
  
  Re: *Headdesk*
  People actually don't wonder anymore... they know
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Mega1987 (profile), 19 Mar 2014 @ 5:14pm
  
  Re: *Headdesk*
  Agreed...
  
  I wonder if that's the trade off of having high quality education.....
  
  Hell... the Philippines is struggling about quality education and I have yet to hear such case occurs here, solely blaming the victim about the situation...( I can't say it's the same with Politics, mates... It's another matter...)
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
kenichi tanaka (profile), 19 Mar 2014 @ 12:56pm

Sounds to me it's not the backpack that triggered the bullying but rather the uneducated students who are doing the bullying. I've heard of "blaming the victim" before but this is ridiculous.

So, they're treating this incident as if the bullies are the victims?

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
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Manabi (profile), 19 Mar 2014 @ 1:00pm

That won't stop the bullying and may make it worse
There's no way leaving it at home will actually stop the bullying. He took it to school before, was bullied about it, so you'll get bullies saying "Where's your sissy backpack loser?" (Actually the real bullies will probably say worse stuff.)

And add in that if he tells them the truth, now he'll get bullied for being forced to leave it at home! "So even the teachers/principal/etc. think you're backpack's too sissy for a boy!"

How stupid are these school officials to not realize this? Are they trying to drive the poor victim to suicide or something?
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- Manabi (profile), 19 Mar 2014 @ 1:09pm
  
  Re: That won't stop the bullying and may make it worse
  Gah, "you're" should be "your", how did I miss that?
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - jupiterkansas (profile), 19 Mar 2014 @ 1:58pm
    
    Re: Re: That won't stop the bullying and may make it worse
    What's wrong, loser? Forgot how to spell words?
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- John85851 (profile), 20 Mar 2014 @ 4:28pm
  
  Re: That won't stop the bullying and may make it worse
  No, the school officials are trying to drive the poor kid to bring a gun to school in a misguided attempt at revenge. Then all the teachers will say "We saw it coming because he was bullied so much."
  
  Yet here's a chance to stop the bullying (and possibly stop a cycle of violence) before it begins.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Mark Wing, 19 Mar 2014 @ 1:01pm

I'm so glad our kids are grown up. Because I'm pretty sure that as a parent, I'd be flipping out over all the BS in the school system these days. "Zero tolerance" is just another way of saying "zero common sense."
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audiomagi (profile), 19 Mar 2014 @ 1:07pm

There is only one reason that we have a "bullying problem"
...And it is because we let bullies get away with it.
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deadzone (profile), 19 Mar 2014 @ 1:07pm

Tough
Man it's tough to just be a kid these days.
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- Anonymous Coward, 19 Mar 2014 @ 1:23pm
  
  Re: Tough
  No, not really. I mean, not compared to previous generations:
  
  1) Bullying is recognized as an actual issue, and bullies are actually punished in many cases. This case? No. But then it gets blown up online, and it's only a matter of time before things turn in the right direction.
  
  2) The internet exists. Kids can make friends outside of the completely arbitrary "idiots who happen to live nearby" which is what school is. A bullied kid can be someone else online, can be anonymous, and actually have social interactions. He isn't forced into a life more or less alone.
  
  3) Being different is more widely accepted in our culture now than any other time in US history. If you're into something, you can pretty easily find others with the same interests. Knowing that you're a boy growing up who isn't into sports, but is into My Little Pony is a whole lot easier when there's a horde of people in the same boat as you than thinking you're the only one and you're weird or wrong.
  
  In conclusion, being a kid who is different than the commonly accepted norm anytime in the past was FAR worse than now.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Greevar (profile), 19 Mar 2014 @ 1:42pm
    
    Re: Re: Tough
    Right, try being a gay, atheist, middle-eastern teen in a southern high school and tell me we're more tolerant than ever.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - Anonymous Coward, 19 Mar 2014 @ 1:50pm
      
      Re: Re: Re: Tough
      Right, try being a gay, atheist, middle-eastern teen in a southern high school and tell me we're more tolerant than ever.
      
      Try being one forty years ago.
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - PRMan, 19 Mar 2014 @ 1:50pm
      
      Re: Re: Re: Tough
      OK, now try it 50 years ago...
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - Anonymous Coward, 19 Mar 2014 @ 3:54pm
      
      Re: Re: Re: Tough
      Right, try being a gay, atheist, middle-eastern teen in a southern high school and tell me we're more tolerant than ever.
      
      Because bigots only exist in the south? You're bias is showing, you might want to cover that up.
      
      It wasn't until I lived in Michigan that I learned what a "kike" was, and what it meant to "Jew" someone.
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
      - John Fenderson (profile), 20 Mar 2014 @ 8:48am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Tough
        Bigots are everywhere, but different regions have different things they are predominantly bigoted about. In my area, racism is common, but anti-gay sentiment is not. In other areas, it's the other way around.
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - Mega1987 (profile), 19 Mar 2014 @ 6:23pm
      
      Re: Re: Re: Tough
      Nah.....
      
      IMO... Bullying is the simplest form of discrimination... Plain and simple.
      
      They see someone in the school in their mind not worthy, too different, easy pickings and/or a form of entertainment for them once they "played" with the poor kid.
      
      they didn't see a kid, schoolmate or colleague but a toy to be played "Roughly".
      
      soon those bully, without any proper guidance, will discriminate even more once they grew up.
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - trollificus (profile), 19 Mar 2014 @ 8:26pm
    
    Re: Re: Tough
    ^ This. I remember. If you were a 'weirdo' (and I was), the teachers often as not were in sympathy with the bullying students. No recourse, no external community of like-minded kids, nothing. I had to develop a relentless defensive contempt for "regular" society and "normal" people...itself a pathology I've had to address later in life. But it got me through.
    
    Everyone wants to pretend things are the worst they've ever been and going downhill, but that bit of delusional thinking has been going on since pre-Roman days and if t'were true we'd be at the bottom of a 2500 year decline, much much worse off than we are today. The phenomenon is understandable in intra-generational terms as OF COURSE things were better back in "the old days"...YOU WERE YOUNG THEN. derp.
    
    Also of interest, after all the appropriately-derided examples of the abdication of common sense in favor of Zero Tolerance Policies, this particular example is what we get when left to the mercies of "common sense" as wielded by school administrators. Don't really see a winning course of action here...
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Anonymous Coward, 20 Mar 2014 @ 9:14am
    
    Re: Re: Tough
    No, being punk right now is probably a huge problem I bet with those zero tolerance policies. Bad Religion t-shirt ? EXPELLED!
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
S. T. Stone, 19 Mar 2014 @ 1:07pm

To put this into perspective: Glenn Beck actually came out in support of Grayson.

Glenn Beck, of all people.

Something tells me everyone in that school�s administration regrets Streisanding their school instead of, y�know, doing something about the bullies.
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- Anonymous Coward, 19 Mar 2014 @ 1:33pm
  
  Re:
  Okay, Citation needed because my utter hate for the person prevents me from googling his name or even fully recognizing that a stopped clock is right two times a day.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Anonymous Coward, 19 Mar 2014 @ 1:41pm
    
    Re: Re:
    http://www.mediaite.com/online/glenn-beck-expresses-solidarity-with-9-year-old-boy-bullied-for-likin g-my-little-pony/
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- TheLoot (profile), 20 Mar 2014 @ 12:30am
  
  Re:
  Anti-establishment is his angle, of course. I'm sure he isn't that supportive of a boy liking MLP.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Nick (profile), 19 Mar 2014 @ 1:10pm

So the message this sends to the bullies: as long as this kid brings his My Little Pony backpack you can beat him up because you just can't control yourself.
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- Anonymous Coward, 20 Mar 2014 @ 6:49am
  
  Re: "...you can beat him up because you just can't control yourself..."
  Why not? It's okay to rape women who wear provocative clothing with the same justification. I mean, it must be okay, since we tell women to avoid being raped by not dressing to invite it.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Xyro TR1 (profile), 19 Mar 2014 @ 1:11pm

1) Happy to see this here on TechDirt!
2) Yes, this is extremely frustrating. However, it is not a new problem. This kind of crap has been going on for years, be it an official policy or not. :/
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- Watchit (profile), 19 Mar 2014 @ 4:29pm
  
  Re:
  Agreed. Also, it's nice to see other bronies in the comments here. Though, I admit, I haven't been here often recently.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 19 Mar 2014 @ 5:16pm
  
  Re:
  One could even argue this is a first amendment violation.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- The black and white brony, 19 May 2016 @ 7:29am
  
  Re:
  this is ridicoulus its unfair hes 9 4 gods sake
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Beta (profile), 19 Mar 2014 @ 1:11pm

genre savvy
Maybe I'm too much into a different kind of cartoon, but I think bullies who pick on a kid named Grayson Bruce might be asking for trouble, especially if he's hanging out with his best friend Wayne Richard.
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- PRMan, 19 Mar 2014 @ 1:57pm
  
  Re: genre savvy
  Yeah. All the bullies were trying to tell him is that it would be cooler if he had a Batman and Robin backpack.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Beta (profile), 19 Mar 2014 @ 1:15pm

They could at least call this what it is: an infinite tolerance policy.
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- mcinsand, 19 Mar 2014 @ 1:46pm
  
  Nah, still zero tolerance
  The school officials have zero tolerance for anything that would make them actually address a problem. Rather, they think they can address it this way. Bullies will find excuses to bully. All the officials are doing is kicking the can a few days down the road.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 19 Mar 2014 @ 1:21pm

I wonder if the school knows it's actually VERY HELPFUL for kids to play with toys for the oppiste gender cause it helps develop their social skills.
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- akp (profile), 19 Mar 2014 @ 3:37pm
  
  Re:
  That reinforces the idea of shows/toys that are "for girls," or "for boys," which only perpetuates the problem.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Watchit (profile), 19 Mar 2014 @ 4:39pm
    
    Re: Re:
    How about we put it "marketed towards" girls instead? Then it makes sense.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - ChurchHatesTucker (profile), 20 Mar 2014 @ 8:18am
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      Have you seen the offerings at We Love Fine? A common complaint is that they don't offer enough MLP stuff in women's sizes.
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
      - Watchit (profile), 21 Mar 2014 @ 9:20am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re:
        oh yeah, of course I have. But, you must admit, We Love Fine is not the norm.
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
radarmonkey (profile), 19 Mar 2014 @ 1:25pm

I (a male) grew up being bullied for having red hair and a skin tone about a shade-and-a-half darker than albino. What would the school say to me? "Dye your hair and put some make-up on"?

F*** You, school! Protect the victim, not the bullies!
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- Anonymous Coward, 20 Mar 2014 @ 9:17am
  
  Re:
  It's okay, at least you don't have a soul. ;)
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Vampire, 20 Mar 2014 @ 11:55am
  
  RE: Red hair and albinism
  You probably should have been bullied. There's no excuse for your problems.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Ehud Gavron (profile), 19 Mar 2014 @ 1:25pm

Keep that skirt home, girl!
While the school works hard to bully this kid into not bringing what he wants, let's not forget that it's really the kid's fault he's getting bullied.

Let's also disallow girls from wearing skirts, because they're just going to encourage rape.

Zero tolerance is important so we don't allow the bullies and the rapists to have a perfectly legitimate right to do what they want to do because the victim had the wrong article of clothing or an accessory.

Or we can apply zero tolerance to bullying by school officials and remove anyone who creates or applies a zero tolerance policy.
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Mar 2014 @ 1:28pm

I'm pretty sure the backpack threw the first punch.
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Mar 2014 @ 1:28pm

See, you know you're int he wrong when both Jon Stewart AND Glenn Beck agree on something.
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Sneeje (profile), 19 Mar 2014 @ 1:29pm

Wait.
Does no one at that school realize the message that's being sent? Do we not recognize the parallels?

Isn't that the typical answer from abusers? I wouldn't [insert abuse here] if you didn't make me. Or, if you didn't do [insert thing here].

Nice. Let's tell kids that the solution to abuse is to lay down.
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- Greevar (profile), 19 Mar 2014 @ 1:34pm
  
  Re: Wait.
  "I couldn't help it officer! My wife forced me to bash her skull in!"
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Anonymous Coward, 19 Mar 2014 @ 1:37pm
  
  Re: Wait.
  Isn't that what the gobmint is telling the rest of us to do? Maybe this school is the beginning of the bandwagon to train the sheeples to be more sheeple like.
  
  I sure hope not.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anon., 20 Apr 2014 @ 11:21pm
  
  Re: Wait.
  You'd be surprised how many school administrators are basically bullies themselves. They know exactly the message they're sending.
  
  It's important to not let them get away with it.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
JEDIDIAH, 19 Mar 2014 @ 1:29pm

The Twisted Sister Effect
Well, part of this is ultimately on the parents. It doesn't take a genius or clairvoyant to know how something like this is going to end up. All of this was forseeable and the parents should have been ready for it if not the kid.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Greevar (profile), 19 Mar 2014 @ 1:39pm
  
  Re: The Twisted Sister Effect
  It's the parent's fault because society produces ignorant and intolerant fools that abuse anyone that's not part of their norm? We should be teaching our kids to be accepting and tolerant of those that are different. Just because people can be assholes, it doesn't mean you should stop your child from being who they are.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Vel the Enigmatic, 19 Mar 2014 @ 1:56pm
  
  Re: The Twisted Sister Effect
  While you're right in a sense logically, ethically you're dead wrong.
  
  As Greevar pointed out, parents today aren't doing much actual parenting. They've grown lax and lazy, and don't bother to teach children tolerate others who are not like themselves, and let the TV, movies, and video games teach them instead.
  
  What's ironic is that the newest MLP TV show: Friendship is Magic (which I myself have watched, and I'm 22 years old) is a well-written, savvy show that isn't overly saccharine in the least, and a lot of good morals can be taught to children through the show because of how the stories are told.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Anonymous Coward, 20 Mar 2014 @ 9:20am
    
    Re: Re: The Twisted Sister Effect
    Keep telling yourself that the reboot of MLP is amazingly drawn and has something new to tell. I detect a lot of autism in this thread from unusual posters who do not post in any really important threads.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - nasch (profile), 24 Mar 2014 @ 9:02pm
      
      Re: Re: Re: The Twisted Sister Effect
      Keep telling yourself that the reboot of MLP is amazingly drawn and has something new to tell.
      
      Strange that you thought he said either of those things.
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 21 Mar 2014 @ 12:35pm
  
  Re: The Twisted Sister Effect
  No, it's not, and you're a moron.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
CK20XX (profile), 19 Mar 2014 @ 1:30pm

It's ironic how the school is actually right.
Who would have thought that a My Little Pony backpack would have provoked the school admin into bullying students?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Greevar (profile), 19 Mar 2014 @ 1:33pm

As a parent myself, I'm mortified at the blatant stupidity pervading the school system. My child must have his self-expression and imagination censored because some small minds are foolish enough to think that having zero tolerance on pretending to play guns will somehow reduce gun violence in schools. So my child is expected to not act out any scenario that would involve a gun? "We better watch out! He has a finger and I think it's loaded! Who gave a deadly weapon to a 2 year old?!?" Deadly indeed. The only thing that is dangerous is administrative stupidity.
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- Anonymous Coward, 19 Mar 2014 @ 1:56pm
  
  Re:
  They used the same arguments to support requiring school uniforms in public schools. That it keeps kids from being picked on because of what clothes they wear or do not wear. The problem is exactly as you described. I continue to be outraged that the educational system is doing the exact opposite of what it has been charged to do. Teach our children to think and express themselves creatively and intelligently. Clothing is a big part of how people, especially young people, express themselves. Yet they are being brainwashed that they have to be good little conformers instead of being to encouraged to think and express themselves effectively. A proper response to this would have been to find and invite roll models that all of these kids (including the one's that engage in the bullying) look up to to come to the school and engage the students while showing a clear support for the kid to give them a lesson in tolerance. THAT would have been the appropriate response.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - PRMan, 19 Mar 2014 @ 2:46pm
    
    Re: Re:
    In my district, the parents literally banded together and overturned the uniform policy and most of the dress code.
    
    Yeah, so now my daughters are mortified that some girls come to school practically nude, but at least they aren't forced to wear a uniform every day.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - Some Other AC (profile), 19 Mar 2014 @ 3:34pm
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      I am fortunate enough to have children in a district with a dress code that is sensible, but no forced uniforms. Kids are allowed to express themselves within reason. The dress code is pretty mild and compares to what i was used to in school. The bully policy is pretty cool in that they use mediation between students with peers and counselors present before resorting to more firm punishments(great way to teach a life skill in conflict resolution). We have "resource officers" in the schools, but from all indications they only engage in extreme circumstances(actual criminal activity). FIghts are usually broken up by Staff.
      This is surprising considering that the district(in Texas) is a growing one with a large portion of the district still covering rural communities. Diversity is growing(although still quite weighted towards Caucasians) and there is a general level of tolerance to differing personalities.
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Alt0, 19 Mar 2014 @ 1:33pm

John Wayne rode horses
Lots of real men own /raise / ride horses.
OK John Wayne is a bad example, but plenty of other real men.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 20 Mar 2014 @ 9:23am
  
  Re: John Wayne rode horses
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFjLmqAZ_0o
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 19 Mar 2014 @ 1:35pm

"'cuz the kids just ain't down with them."

Am I the only other (going to hell) individual that thought "Huh, if he totally should have went with the mentally challenged angle"

'cuz the kids just ain't down with the Down's.
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Mar 2014 @ 1:39pm

This was in reaction to the other MLP bullying incident that previously happened but I'll leave it here none the less...

http://www.chron.com/neighborhood/fortbend/article/Boy-inspires-mean-lookin-guys-to-flock-to- Sugar-5224579.php
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Baron von Robber, 19 Mar 2014 @ 1:46pm

Maybe they think the kid is part of the hacking group, My Little Pwnies.
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Vidiot (profile), 19 Mar 2014 @ 1:56pm

He's not alone
Grayson needs a meetup with some potential role models... the Bronies.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 19 Mar 2014 @ 2:10pm

Reality Check
We have a parent that probably came to a school principal and complained about their child being picked on. In reality, there is no way for a school to 100% prevent bullying. It can and should punish violent behavior on school grounds. But that's about it. They can't walk the child home from the bus stop. They can't deal with every mean word spoken at recess. They can't even stop shoving until it after it happens. These are 9 year olds. Little kids at that age can be mean. It takes years before they (hopefully) develop some social maturity. The administrator gave some advice to help the kid deal with a difficult situation. (Note the article says the child was 'asked' not 'told' to leave the bag home.)
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Watchit (profile), 19 Mar 2014 @ 4:35pm
  
  Re: Reality Check
  semantics. when a school "ask" a kid to not do something, it's just a nice way of saying, if you do it again you'll be in trouble.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
SolkeshNaranek (profile), 19 Mar 2014 @ 2:26pm

California?
I think you meant a North Carolina school decided to blame Grayson Bruce and his backpack for the bullying. (Check bottom of the page for location info.)
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avideogameplayer, 19 Mar 2014 @ 3:12pm

And in 6 months time when he brings in a assault rifle and turns the school in swiss cheese, everyone will be wondering how they could've prevented it...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 20 Mar 2014 @ 9:28am
  
  Re:
  I've had my feelings hurt in much worse ways and never did that, kids who do that have no excuse ever, sorry. Mental illness is not an excuse for anything.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous, 22 Mar 2014 @ 7:28pm
  
  Re:
  Will one fit into his My Little Pony backpack?
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 19 Mar 2014 @ 3:30pm

Don't worry, Grayson.

You'll get your Cutie Mark one day.
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akp (profile), 19 Mar 2014 @ 3:36pm

If I'm that kid's mom, I go buy him a different My Little Pony backpack. Maybe a blue one.

And then see what happens.

"We left that one at home. Now he's got a new backpack. Oh, that didn't stop the bullying? Hmm... I wonder why. Why don't you just give me a list of 'approved' backpacks, and then make all the other kids follow it as well?"
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- Watchit (profile), 19 Mar 2014 @ 4:36pm
  
  Re:
  actually the backpack was blue. Blue and rainbows.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Niall (profile), 21 Mar 2014 @ 8:24am
  
  Re:
  But it was Rainbow Dash! Have you seen the manly nuke damage he can do when he goes super-manly fast?
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Watchit (profile), 21 Mar 2014 @ 9:22am
    
    Re: Re:
    she* not he, but I get your point yes.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Jenn, 19 Mar 2014 @ 3:46pm

(Sadly, this brings back so many memories)

So not only will you not stop the bullying, not only are you punishing someone for being bullied, but you in fact decide to act like you're a villain from the show.
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ECA (profile), 19 Mar 2014 @ 4:09pm

Lets see..
How do we BAIT, animals in the wild?
we Drop down food for them..

HOW do you find bullies?
BAIT them.

If the school REALLY wants to find bullies..They now have the BAIT.
NOW retrain them into NICE little slaves.
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Watchit (profile), 19 Mar 2014 @ 4:37pm

Wow, I went through the entire comments section without one person bashing the boy for liking my little pony.

A little bit of my faith in humanity has been restored.
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- Anonymous Coward, 20 Mar 2014 @ 1:15am
  
  Response to: Watchit on Mar 19th, 2014 @ 4:37pm
  There's a big difference between bashing a child for liking a children's show... and bashing an adult for being overly obsessed with a children's show.
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  - Anonymous Coward, 20 Mar 2014 @ 9:32am
    
    Re: Response to: Watchit on Mar 19th, 2014 @ 4:37pm
    This, thank you for showering this thread with some sanity, it seems only me isn't pushed into maximum butthurt mode over this. If it was a Ninja Turtles backpack during the period before their revival, there would be 3 times less comments in here.
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    - btrussell (profile), 20 Mar 2014 @ 6:16pm
      
      Re: Re: Response to: Watchit on Mar 19th, 2014 @ 4:37pm
      Thanks for adding to the insanity. 3 times less means comments would be in the negative amount. Did you mean the reciprocal of that?
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  - Watchit (profile), 21 Mar 2014 @ 9:24am
    
    Re: Response to: Watchit on Mar 19th, 2014 @ 4:37pm
    ah, but you must admit, it's nice that the boy in question was not bashed, no? I'm glad for that.
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That Anonymous Coward (profile), 19 Mar 2014 @ 6:58pm

The actual trigger of the bullying is a group of adults unable and unwilling to enforce the policies of the school.

If they actually dared to punish the bullies and stand up to the parents about it, it would stop. But it is easier to make 1 kid change to allow them to avoid having to be the grownup.

How do they expect to raise the next generation of leaders when they refuse to show them there are rules and consequences? Perhaps some day when they are old one of their former students will be their caretaker, and ignore the rule that they needed that pill at a certain time... wonder if they will still think they did the right thing then.
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- Anonymous Coward, 19 Mar 2014 @ 10:01pm
  
  Re:
  Agreed it is amazing what teachers manage to see and not see. Victim doing anything gets in trouble. Bully can do anything short of shooting them and they "won't see it".
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- btrussell (profile), 20 Mar 2014 @ 6:23pm
  
  Re:
  "How do they expect to raise the next generation of leaders when they refuse to show them there are rules and consequences?"
  
  Mr. Clapper, kids watch tv and go on the internet. This Justin, ask Bieber. They are watching Mr. Rogers.
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Roman V., 19 Mar 2014 @ 8:19pm

Good message to send
Yes this is a great message to send to our children - if your rights are violated and you are a victim then it is clearly your fault.

When will society stop victim blaming and finally put fault where it belongs? In, you know, the people *actually* doing the bad thing?
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trollificus (profile), 20 Mar 2014 @ 12:18am

*sigh* Contrarian impulse strikes again...
While this truly is an open-and-shut case of administrative stupidity, I still have to wonder...do you all really think all children should be tolerant of all things? Or just things of which you yourselves approve?

Would you approve of school administrators telling a child to leave an "Al Qaeda Death to the Crusaders" backpack home?

How about a Confederate flag backpack??

How about a Third Reich backpack?

I can hear the "Yeah, but..."s already. So we don't have a principle here, only a preference? Agreed?

I sympathize with Grayson. I skipped grades, got glasses and then moved to rural southern schools, a perfect storm for bullying. And so it came to pass. BUT. Bullying is an artifact, a temporary stage in social maturation, at least for the huge majority of people. These 'bullies' need to stop pushing him around, but you can't make them like MLP, or Grayson, for that matter. They are, in fact, merely expressing themselves, but need to be taught that this is an unacceptable manner in which to do so. They're not evil, you guys are just projecting that. They're 9-year-olds. School needs to help them with the socialization process, which they are failing to do in this case. But that's about it.

The exaggerations, imaginative characterizations and wild projections regarding these kids is kind of alarming. The irony of a torches-and-pitchforks campaign demanding those bullies be forced to goodthink under the threat of, presumably, school-administered bullying (the 'good kind', from the authorities) seems to be...hard to grasp, apparently.
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- Pragmatic, 20 Mar 2014 @ 7:02am
  
  Re: *sigh* Contrarian impulse strikes again...
  @ trolloficus, this was not necessarily about tolerance per se, but about gender identification, as many of the commenters have pointed out. Basically, if he'd worn a pink shirt to school and got a swirlie for it, he'd have got the same result. I can't help thinking he'd have got a better outcome if he'd complained that one of the kids made a gun shape with his fingers and went "bang!"
  
  Except that wouldn't have been a better outcome, just manipulation of a stupid system. Zero tolerance, my ass.
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- Anonymous Coward, 20 Mar 2014 @ 10:40am
  
  Re: *sigh* Contrarian impulse strikes again...
  It's alright, I think 75% of the people overreacting to this are the kind of people to make such photoshops :
  
  http://imgur.com/aEb5orV
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- nasch (profile), 24 Mar 2014 @ 9:11pm
  
  Re: *sigh* Contrarian impulse strikes again...
  Would you approve of school administrators telling a child to leave an "Al Qaeda Death to the Crusaders" backpack home?
  
  How about a Confederate flag backpack??
  
  How about a Third Reich backpack?
  
  If they asked him to leave it at home because he was getting bullied then I would not approve. If not, then it would depend on the reason.
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me@me.net, 20 Mar 2014 @ 4:41am

I read shit like this
And Im glad I dont have kids, the educational system is deeply broken, and zero tolerance is one of the biggest contributors. In this specific stupidty the administrator ought to be fired.

How'z about, punish the bullies....? Zero tolerance should be banned from use, and educators should be forcibly retrained in the use of god forbid, common sense... or lose their jobs
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- jupiterkansas (profile), 20 Mar 2014 @ 8:01am
  
  Re: I read shit like this
  Not all schools are like this.
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Anonymous Coward, 20 Mar 2014 @ 8:49am

Mom and I were discussing this the other day.
This is really kinda square at the feet of toy manufacturers. They keep perpetrating the 'blue is for boys, pink is for girls' way past the age in which you NEED those colors to distinguish the sex of the child.

Maybe Pink/Blue is great for distinguishing sex when they are all bald/hairless platypuses, but after they get older, why keep forcing the Pink/Blue stereotypical toys?

Oh. That's right. Because their parents generally freak out and pull the boy child away from pink toys, and the girl child away from the trucks.
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- btrussell (profile), 20 Mar 2014 @ 6:29pm
  
  Re: Mom and I were discussing this the other day.
  "Maybe Pink/Blue is great for distinguishing sex when they are all bald/hairless platypuses"
  
  I don't care if it is pink or blue or how many age of majority cards they have, I prefer a hairy platypus.
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  - Niall (profile), 21 Mar 2014 @ 8:32am
    
    Re: Re: Mom and I were discussing this the other day.
    Is that anything like a bear and a maiden fair?
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- nasch (profile), 24 Mar 2014 @ 9:13pm
  
  Re: Mom and I were discussing this the other day.
  This is really kinda square at the feet of toy manufacturers.
  
  You're going to go right past the bullies and the bullies' parents to the toy makers?? If only his backpack weren't pink (oops, it was blue) this wouldn't have happened?
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Anonymous Coward, 20 Mar 2014 @ 9:05am

Well, look, if anything like that happened when I was in grade 8 or whatever, mid 90's, I probably would have made fun of the kid. But is making fun of people considered bullying these days ? Bullying back in my time was physical intimidation like accepting a hockey body check in the halls and not dare to prevent it whenever you crossed the guy who did it.

The one time I did it, it was just before science class, and unfortunately the dude was sitting next to me (alphabetical order my ass), and he was like NEVER DO THIS AGAIN, then after that I never had a problem with him.

I'm so glad I'm not a kid now, shit's complicated, we had nerds, skater/punks (with a nerdy side most of the time), metalheads, and that was it, not even jocks, cos EVERYONE DID SPORTS THEN, yeah, in the middle 90's, when internet was 33,6k max in speed so we'd get bored quick with it.

I'm rambling, had some hydrocodone syrup due to my really bad bronchitis, but there's a point somewhere in there. Bronies just ask for it is all I'm saying, even girls laugh at them.
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Just Another Anonymous Troll, 20 Mar 2014 @ 9:21am

We need Twilight Sparkle to show the bullies the Magic of Friendship! If that fails, then she can just turn them into oranges. Win-win, problem solved.
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John Landry, 19 Apr 2014 @ 1:34pm

Backpack
If there is zero tolerance, then the bullies would be sent home. Therefore, when the child returns to school, there will be no bullies. Seems these school administrators fail at logic.
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Rose, 6 Dec 2015 @ 6:31pm

My Little Pony
Banning my little pony was not answer, however I don't blame the boys bulling either. The marketing of toys is more gendered now than even 50 years ago, so it would be easy for young kids to assume My Little Pony was for girls. Nonetheless, the school had a job to educate those young kids bullying and they failed. Sad it is!
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