Random Topic V3

[Hopeflower]

GF: I wholeheartedly agree, not even joking.

IK: Yeah. if I could've knocked out a few of his teeth without being suspended, I would've. a**hole deserved it. >_<

[raptor titanus3]

Jeez this guy sounds real nice like a fellow Student at School who threatened to stab me with scissors in scholl just because I was talking to a teacher over missing work and she kept interrupting me just to gossip with him over nothing How can Humanity be so damn f-ed up?

[Hopeflower]

My opinion? Violence spawns because we're raised on violence. Violent movies, violent music, violent TV shows...and then of course, we take into account bullying. The violent ideas, plus the rising anger, lead to drastic threats or actions. Like the shootings at Columbine, VirginiaTech, and countless other schools.

People like the guy I was talking about? I don't know; big egos, maybe. He smokes pot though,and a LOT of it, so that might explain a thing or two....namely him not having the single brain cell required to know when to laugh and when to be respectful, when to shut up and when to speak...

[Godzilla Forever]

Some people are violent and others are not. If someone is violent, they were already violent before and won't change unless encouraged not to be violent. Some people just aren't violent people and really won't cause any violence.

The problem lies in the fact that people don't attempt to make the violent people change their ways. All they do is punish them, which in turn makes them frustrated and more inclined to cause trouble.

[dinoman666]

I think it's just that people don't show any restraint. Anger and violence is part of who we are, as animals. It's an instinct; fight of flight, essentially. Mixed in with our human cultural values (specifically, Western culture, and even more specifically, American culture), like the heavy advertisement for guns and all the war-mongering dumba**es in this country, and it leads to problems like bullying, school shootings, war, etc.

[Evil Eye]

My opinion? Violence spawns because we're raised on violence. Violent movies, violent music, violent TV shows...and then of course, we take into account bullying. The violent ideas, plus the rising anger, lead to drastic threats or actions. Like the shootings at Columbine, VirginiaTech, and countless other schools.

Maybe a case could be made for violence being in daily life in conjunction with something wrong with the person psychologically, but just because we're exposed to it a lot? Disagree there.

[Hopeflower]

EE: Maybe the exposure itself doesn't cause the psychological problem, but the bullying does. I know; I had a rather tough time in middle school due to bullying and I didn't come out of it without scars. So if they become mentally unbalanced, maybe due to harrassment or exclusion at school, all it takes is a little push and they'll react - often violently.

[TyrannoTitan]

Violence in everyday life has nothing to do with it. In this day and age, EVERYONE is exposed to it, and only a microscopic percent actually take drastic action (school shootings and the like).

Its because the rest of us are normal human beings. No matter how much violence you experience, no matter how bad people treat you at school, you are a deranged, sick-fuck psychopath if you actually intend to KILL those responsible. A LOT of people deal with bullying throughout their school years, and they never result to such disgusting means. If you can actually do that, there's something seriously wrong with you, regardless of the amount of violence around you.

Bullying has to do with the competitive, dog-eat-dog style of living adolescents experience. This is why we cannot classify people below the age of 18 as sociopaths: because a **** ton of school children tend to display sociopathic tendencies (complete disregard for other people's emotions), but its simply because they are immature and unable to understand the impact of their actions.

[Evil Eye]

Couldn't have said it better. I don't believe that harassment can cause significant mental problems, extreme cases such as actual torture and such non-withstanding. As TT said, if it were simply bullying and/or violence exposure, the school shootings and all, like the aforementioned ones, would be multiplied a thousand fold, as there'd be so many more that have been bullied, etc.

[dinoman666]

I agree with TT. I had a terrible time in middle school. Bullied all the time. But, I coped with it, and I believe I came out a better person for it. Sure, middle school sucked for me, but I didn't go bat-sh*t insane and start going on a murder spree.

No, I just play video games.

[Godzilla Forever]

Hooray for video games!

Edit: Is it just me, or is the site REALLY laggy?

[The Kingpin]

I can remember middle school. prior to founding the site I was more or less the average quiet kid sitting near the front of the class barely talking if he could avoid it. of course, that made me a perfect target for bullying. though I believe the site helped me a lot with things like self confidence and self esteem. within a year of founding it, I had grown to be a person people avoided crossing. I started sticking up for myself, and wasn't afraid to go toe to toe with a bully, regardless of how nasty they were. staring down bullies and even the occasional fistfight became a common occurrence. I wouldn't say I became untouchable, but I definitely became one of the kids the bullies avoided. Some of the 'small time' bullies actively went out of their way to avoid getting on the business end of my temper. And of course, with that, my popularity sky-rocketed. the guys that couldn't beat me wanted to hang out with me, and the guys who previously didn't see me as someone special [or were afraid of becoming victims themselves for associating themselves with me] gravitated towards me. Is it all due to the site? I dunno. But I know it had a major role in it.


as for the site lag issue, Not really sure. It happens occasionally, but not frequently. I don't know the cause of it though. it's periodic and doesn't seem to be linked to anything. and it doesn't happen frequently enough for me to find a pattern.

In any case, I plan to do a version update as soon as I get the chance. It'll be a big one though. from phpbb3 to phpbb4, rather than phpbb3.xx to phpbb3.xy [x and y here are numbers, with y being the version after x ]. the change will probably be comparable as the change we saw with the first site update. what changes however, I haven't had the time to look into. hopefully it'll fix our glitch problems.

[raptor titanus3]

When I entered High school I diddn't expect to be very popular or even have friends to due to my hard times all the way from first grade. Yes I was in a way bullied in Elementry School because people would call me names and run away from me or even comepletely ignore me in group activites, then in the Fourth grade my only friend started hanging out with our kids on his softball team and even then I knew they would grow up bad but I couldn't even warn him. In middle School I couldn't leave my own home because they were always out there and whenever I rode by on my bike they would treat me like dirt (they would even throw rocks). Finally here in High School its like the tables have turned, everyone in my grade knows me and treats me pretty nice (I could do without the less Enlightened Nickname some of them have given me) but I seem to be friends with everyone, though to be honest I'm not sure if they really are my friends or they just act nice to me for some reason.

[Iceking]

When I started High School, I found that the majority of the kids at my school were very nice and those who weren't often just kept their thoughts to themselves rather than speaking. I never caused any trouble and trouble never came looking for me, making the only thing that could make my school days a little less enjoyable work in the subjects I found I was having a tough time with like Geometry.

[Doc 42]

Yeah, generally schools get better as they get bigger. The more people in them, the better your chances are at meeting people of a similar mind set interests and so forth. It also helps that those schools are (hopefully) filled with more mature students.

As for the whole harassment leading to violence, everybody reacts differently.

Bullying can have many different effects, while it will merely annoy some, others can be seriously psychologically impacted by it. You can't just dismiss them as "They were psychos anyway." Sometimes it's not that simple. Brains don't run like computers, people don't yet fully understand them. I have seen people undergo mental breakdowns, and while a person may end up as a psychopath, it doesn't mean they had to become one. Even someone with the genetics of a pathological killer can turn out completely normal, simply depending on their upbringing.

I don't know the ins and outs of it, but when being bullied, people change, subconsciously or consciously, they adapt to try and cope with it. Its one of the ways you can spot someone who is being bullied. Some people become aggressive, some people become passive, some distance themselves with the world so much its as if they're barely awake, some will become so paranoid that they won't trust their real friends. In some cases, people kill themselves, and in others, they kill everyone else.

With todays science, its impossible to predict how someone will react. If you try push someone down and degrade them, there is no way of knowing how they'll adapt to it.

[TyrannoTitan]

People react differently, but as human beings, we tend not to resort to "I'm going to kill the people who bully me" unless we are seriously ****** in the head. Can bullying cause serious psychological problems? Yes. Its even ok to THINK about killing them, out of frustration or whatever. But to actually legitimately consider it, or to actually do it? Something is wrong with the individual.

Point is, bullying sucks, and although some people react badly to violence in general, violent media (games, books, movies) shouldn't be held to blame, because normal people in normal society know the difference between reality and fiction. The people who should be held responsible should be the parents, friends, and teachers of those individuals, because there are various signs indicating something like that may happen. The person may be reclusive, emotionally unstable, etc etc.

[Evil Eye]

I think the responses here also secure that bullying is indeed a part of almost everyone's life at some point or another. I hold the opinion that in some cases, those who have been bullied even come out as better people for it.

[TyrannoTitan]

Bullying is common, but its not a good thing. People can't just be expected to "DEAL WITH IT" and that's it. But they also shouldn't resort to violence either.

[Evil Eye]

I just said people can come out of bullying a better person than they were. Be it because of higher self confidence after standing up for themselves, or just being better at handling situations like that after, etc.

[Giratina93]

DAMN YOU, ONE-HORNED DIABLOS!!!

Tried to kill the bast*rd over and over and OVER, but either it kills me in 40 minutes, or time runs out with it going into rage mode every other hit... The Smolder Dragonsword doesn't cut it... I'm trying to upgrade the ice longsword, but until the dang monkeys start dropping their tails, I'm stuck in a rut...