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<blockquote data-quote="Faolyn" data-source="post: 8793703" data-attributes="member: 6915329">Mostly this. I was horribly bullied in school for literally anything. For being nerdy? Yep. But also whenever I tried to fit in. The time I wore a type of trendy clothes that the popular kids were wearing, I was bullied for that, too (clearly I was just a copycat who was trying to look cool). If kids want to bully you, they will find a reason, especially in places where the bullied kids are victim-blamed with &quot;ignore them and they'll go away&quot; or &quot;just stay away from them and they won't bully you&quot; and the actual bullies aren't punished.And yes, sometimes--many times--the bullying can be so horrible as to inflict long-lasting trauma on the victims. Kids have committed suicide because of bullying. It's possible that this Alex guy suffered from bullying to this degree. I know the bullying I was subjected to in school really &amp;*!@#-ed me up. My severe social anxiety is all from them, nearly 25 years later. But for me, at least, I was still bullied because the bullies decided that they wanted to pick on me. It wasn't because I liked to read or wore glasses or wore uncool clothes or didn't listen to the hottest bands. It was because I was different enough (yay Asperger's) that I could be an outsider, and then anything I did could be twisted to &quot;prove&quot; that outsider status. Which is why I was bullied for wearing trendy clothes that time--if they didn't bully me, then that would mean that I was no longer an outsider.But it's not really the same thing as people who are being bullied because of actually bigoted reasons, like racism or homophobia. Bigoted bullies aren't looking for something to justify their jerk behaviors. They start out thinking something is wrong and then attack those who are that wrong thing.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Faolyn, post: 8793703, member: 6915329"] Mostly this. I was horribly bullied in school for literally anything. For being nerdy? Yep. But also whenever I tried to fit in. The time I wore a type of trendy clothes that the popular kids were wearing, I was bullied for that, too (clearly I was just a copycat who was trying to look cool). If kids want to bully you, they will find a reason, especially in places where the bullied kids are victim-blamed with "ignore them and they'll go away" or "just stay away from them and they won't bully you" and the actual bullies aren't punished. And yes, sometimes--many times--the bullying can be so horrible as to inflict long-lasting trauma on the victims. Kids have committed suicide because of bullying. It's possible that this Alex guy suffered from bullying to this degree. I know the bullying I was subjected to in school really &*!@#-ed me up. My severe social anxiety is all from them, nearly 25 years later. But for me, at least, I was still bullied because the bullies decided that they wanted to pick on me. It wasn't [I]because [/I]I liked to read or wore glasses or wore uncool clothes or didn't listen to the hottest bands. It was because I was different enough (yay Asperger's) that I could be an outsider, and then anything I did could be twisted to "prove" that outsider status. Which is why I was bullied for wearing trendy clothes that time--if they didn't bully me, then that would mean that I was no longer an outsider. But it's not really the same thing as people who are being bullied because of actually bigoted reasons, like racism or homophobia. Bigoted bullies aren't looking for something to justify their jerk behaviors. They start out thinking something is wrong and then attack those who are that wrong thing. [/QUOTE]

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