Rob Halford knows a thing or two about being gay, so he must have an opinion on the gay bullying story, right? Cause you know, that’s what a good journalist does, he puts two and two together and uses tragic events to get an extra question or two out of you. A perfect example is this interview. Here’s an excerpt:
There have been a string of highly publicized suicides by gay teenagers recently. What can be done to help prevent them?
Halford: I think more than anything, it’s a picture of the way life is. You have all this sexting going on, and cyber bullying going on. It’s absolutely heartbreaking when people are driven to the point where they are taking their own lives. I’m pleased that talented people like Ellen Degeneres and Neil Patrick Harris are speaking out. They are far more articulate than I am.
Bullying has been going on for ages. You don’t have to be gay to get bullied, all you have to do is be or seem weaker than others and you’re gonna get picked on. Teens have been suffering because of bullying and exclusion for a lot of time, and these aren’t the first teenage suicides. But a few kids sync up and kill themselves in the same week, and everyone is suddenly ‘shocked’ by this. Come on, we all went to school. If we weren’t being bullied, we were the bullies, or we were witnessing it. Either way, all of us know this problem exists so can we really blame ‘sexting’ and ‘cyber bullying’ when this has been going on before computers were even invented?
I think not. I’ve bullied kids before I had a cellphone.
I think you’re missing the point of what Mister Halford was saying (as well as not having any idea what a ‘good’ journalist is… But that is entirely separate point).
Yes, Bullying is a problem – whether or not the person being picked on is gay. You got that right. However, what you got wrong is that you equated bullying of NOW with bullying of THEN. You can’t do that. Technologically, culturally, and pedagogically, bullying no longer uses the methods of YOUR times and no longer exists within the same structure (and deep structures, if you’re familiar with semiotics) as YOU did as far as the school system, social networks of the day, etc. Ja, sure, maybe you were a bully and you caused people to commit suicide without a cellphone or access to the Internet (Congrats for proving how much of a troll upon Existence that you have been), but the technological invasiveness of a cellphone, the Internet, etc, have made this problem that you engaged in so much worse and even more problematic, because the bullying doesn’t stop when you get off the bus, get home, heck, even when you have to move out of town (exhibit A: Lolcow entry on Encyclopedia Dramatica). And for Gay kids in highly religious families, being outed on Youtube by some F’n bully could mean they will soon face homelessness, child abuse, in some cases rape, etc, because their parents don’t approve of them being this way. So, don’t compare your meager concern for others in regards to how you bullied others to the bullying of today with its massive ripple effect.
Its people like you who have bullied who don’t realize what they did was wrong that really enable this process to continue.