Bullying in the Geek Community

Hi, this is Kevin Conroy, and you're listening

to the Geekcast Radio Network. Welcome to GeekCast

Radio, this is episode 36 and now that the music

spotlight is over with we can move on to other

subjects. This time around we're going to be

tackling the issue of bullying and being bullied.

I am one of your hosts, T .F. Joe and Mike, and

joining me is Steve Megatron, hello. Hello, hello,

hello. Dustimus Prime, hello. Howdy good sir.

And Birdman Dodd, hello. What's up? it took a

while but the music spotlight is done to stay

on join with the area uh... they have my students

so actually this episode is a result of dustin

bullying us into uh... you know recording segments

for something that he's doing what exactly cuz

The original email is so far buried in my Gmail.

I don't even remember what the original email

was. What is it that you're working on, or what

is it that you're doing, Dustin? Explain it to

the listeners. Well, I think a big part of the

nerd and geek community is people who tend to

be, or at least have grown up, being bullied

in some type of way. the use of the internet

so much as you know as the four of us were probably

in high school at the time or even junior high

the internet wasn't really easily accessible

so if you were into something that wasn't the

quote -unquote norm you may have gotten picked

on for it or you know your looks what you like

what you feel people poke at you and and so the

general idea was to reach out to As many people

as I possibly could on the in the internet community

you guys And I've gotten a lot of really cool

responses. I even got a little bit of a push

from Louis love hug Because I reached out to

him, but he himself didn't quite have any stories

But he had an anti -bullying video that he was

doing and gave a little push there, too The overall

response has been positive. I just haven't received

too many submissions yet I've been lazy Well,

you know, and the thing was, when you emailed

us, all of us about this, I was like, okay, well,

the music spotlight's wrapping up, when do you

need this by? I was like, all right, let's just

do a podcast about it, because I'm sure we all

have stories that we can tell, you know, and

this could be used as, you know, one of your

major pushes for this project that you're doing.

I think how we're going to start this off is

we're going to go around the... invisible internet

table here and We're gonna tell stories of either

being bullied as kids or hell even being bullied

as as adults Let's just say I've grown my beard

out to the point where it's jumping off my neck

and I was walking down the street the other day

singing do I did even shut up and somebody said

No, shut up. Go on, go on. Asshole. You know,

somebody made some snide remark, and for those

of you who don't know, when I'm... Say I leave

my apartment and I'm going over to the store.

Okay, that's point A to point B. I focus on what

I'm doing. I don't focus on... Moron walking

down the street or drivers driving by I don't

I don't talk to people when I'm out walking.

I just don't So it's like oh, you know, I'll

just if I hear something. I'll just ignore it

You know people try to come up to me and be like,

oh, excuse me, sir. Can I vote once? No Or I

won't even say anything, but it's just it. I

don't know. It's just one of those things where

for me as a kid being bullied It was because

of that I looked a little bit different than

anybody else. Because of my cerebral palsy, which

affects my right hand and right foot. They turn

in slightly. That's really the only physical

differences. They are slightly smaller than my

left hand and left foot. And I would get bullied

in elementary school for that because kids just

didn't understand it. They just didn't care,

whatever. You know, stuff like that. And it just

seems like it... it's an it's an epidemic that

just we can't seem to stop i don't know what

about you dodd what kind of experiences with

being bullied do you have? Well, obviously being

a chunk of dunk, I get, oh, you're fat. And I'm

like, hey, you're retarded. I tend to turn the

tables. One thing I remember specifically, I

remember I got beat up in probably about the

fourth or fifth grade. These people distracted

the teacher and these kids shoved my face in

the snow and I couldn't breathe. I literally

thought I was going to die. I was gasping for

air. I was throwing up when I finally could get

enough air into my lungs so I could continue

this existence called life. But one incident

that sticks out in my mind is when I decided

enough was enough. And there are two instances

of this. There were these kids on the bus. They

were named Tash and Tim. They were brother and

sister. They used to pick on me all the time.

So one of these days, they get the smart idea

to throw an orange at me. I'm in grade four.

I'm like, all right. I've had just about enough

of this shit. So I pick up the orange, wail the

sister right in the eye with the orange. Boom,

explodes everywhere. Cool. The brother walks

past you thinking like he's a tough motherfucker.

I wail him right in the gut as hard as I can

as he walks past my seat on the bus. He gets

off, falls on his knees and pukes. I feel really

good about that. The next time, because I'm a

bigger guy. One of the few native kids at my

school there was like maybe four of us me my

best friend Quincy and A few other kids. So anyway

these grade eights Think about this grade eights

picking on grade fours. Yeah. Okay, so you're

four years older than me You're about a hundred

pounds on me Shit, so one day and you're gonna

love this kid's name I'm more than willing to

say it because I think it's funny. His name was

Mike hunt Fuck this kid. So anyway, him and his

friend Elliot decide to ambush us in because

they just built this new hallway in the in the

school, right? So they decide to ambush us. Luckily,

me and Quincy were ready for this. So we knock

these fuckers down to the ground and we're driving

their heads into this marble floor, just grabbing

the back of their heads and just feeding them

the floor. And I remember us saying, you do this

again, we'll kill you. Try me. And pretty much

throughout then, I'd be bullied the odd time,

but it would be, kid, I am not afraid to fight

you. You can bring all your drug -dealing friends

all you want. I'm not afraid to die. Bring it

on. And it's been sporadic. I mean, now and again,

I mean, when I went through college, I'd have

the odd people try and make fun of me and Steve,

because pretty much when Twig went through Niagara,

we were the freaks and geeks. And we were totally

OK with that. But, you know, we get the odd people

picking on us the odd time. I get the odd person

say, hey, you fat fuck. I'm like, hey, fuck you,

whitey. And I don't know. It wasn't it wasn't

so bad because I fought back. but that's not

always an option for every kid out there. Yeah.

So, uh, that's mostly my experience. I mean,

I've got a few more, but those are the big ones

that stick out in my mind. Yeah. What about you,

Dustin? Well, I, you know, high school is funny

because high school for us was actually very,

uh, oh, what's the word, a cornucopia of awesome.

Like in high school, a lot of everybody got,

uh, along really well together. So thankfully,

people seem to have matured in high school. There

was obviously the occasional fight that broke

out every once in a while. But it's junior high

that actually was kind of the ugly duckling of

my probably school years. I had kind of moved

to North Junior High, which is on the obviously

the north end of town. And there was this one

kid named Todd. He was a year ahead of me. And

he picked on me. This is like classic. I mean,

gym class, of course. I'm an overweight kid as

it is. I'm already self -conscious as it is to

switch out of my regular clothes into my gym

clothes. So he'd constantly pick on me. You know,

you get the whole man boobs thing, blah, blah,

blah. And it just weighs on you after a while.

But I also had the strength enough just to ignore

it. But what really tipped the scales for me

was that in eighth grade, we were having a chess

tournament. I had like 30 kids in this thing,

double elimination. I made it up all the way

to second place by the time it was done. I was

amazed, which is funny because I haven't really

played much chess since, but I was so proud of

this trophy that I had won. And of course, and

this is all done on your lunch break. You sacrifice

your lunch break to go to this chess tournament.

It was kind of a extracurricular thing and went

to gym class. Right after that, well, guess what?

He sees it in my hand, asks what it is, and just

conveniently, oops, drops it. And it was a King

piece and the crown broke right off the top of

the trophy. I was pissed. I didn't know how to

react. I didn't really do anything physically.

I just kind of balled it up in just anger and

just let it be, because I, again, very I'm a

very zen -like individual. I tend not to lash

out at people. Now, here's the kicker to this

story. And not all bullying stories end well

like this. In high school, I think I was in 11th

grade, I happened to be getting picked up at

school by my grandpa for whatever reason. And

we were driving up along this road and I saw

him walking. And I just remember looking at him,

not really thinking much. I was like, hey, Todd.

And he just kind of... Looks at me like he knows

me, but he was not quite sure from where and

he's like do I know you? I was like, yeah, man

My name is Dustin used to pick on me horribly

in junior high school and he's like, oh my god

And he just looks at me and goes I am so sorry

He's like he's like I want you to understand

that I am a completely pretty different individual

now I put a lot of people through a lot of shit

in junior high and I I'm sorry that you were

one of them and He honestly apologized and I

was like I didn't know how to react. I was like,

you know what? Thanks, man. That's all you want

to hear when you're being bullied is just somebody

to tell you they're wrong. They apologize and

move on with your life. I mean, that would be

fantastic for anybody who is in a bullying situation.

So that's my one major story. And I got other

several small ones in there, but that's definitely

the one that sticks out the most. Before Steve

goes, that actually reminds me, this past season,

Season 5 of Big Bang Theory, Leonard actually

had that exact same experience, but he had to

get his bully drunk in order for the bully to

apologize. Yeah, no boos involved here. What

about you, Steve? Well, I can relate to the junior

high thing. My... whole experience through junior

high to pretty much I'd say 11th grade I got

picked on pretty much daily not only in class

because I was kind of the geeky nerdy quiet guy

that didn't really say a whole hell of a lot

but when I did it was pretty much all knowledgeable

on movies you know various cartoons so you know

unless you were into those kind of subjects,

you were pretty much an outcast. We had our own

specific table and lunch that everybody sat there

and pointed and laughed and all that every day.

I mean, granted, when we were among friends,

it didn't matter. It didn't bother so much. But

on the individual basis, it was unnerving. It

more so, like I never had any like dark thoughts

turning into that kind of stuff but I always

wanted them to just leave me the hell alone and

eventually some of these people that just happened

to be like a grade above me kept screwing with

me and it turned into just name -calling to physical

abuse to be humorous to their friends one of

them decided to snap me with a belt one day in

process of getting off the belt or off the bus

on the way home and I always sat in the same

area kept to myself You know just away from them

and they thought you know today is the day that

I'm gonna sit there and pick on him again Never

mind the fresh meat that was already on the bus

So they snapped me with a belt and to which I

told them to stop or else and 10 minutes goes

by I'm getting off the bus he snaps me with the

belt again I just I lose it I just I wail on

this kid beating his ass royally to the point

that I was almost downright scary everybody was

kind of like in awe the bus drivers just kind

of watching and then everybody just started cheering

and laughing as I walked off the bus big at this

one kid and Luckily the the brains department

had helped me because the next day this kid came

into one of my classes with a pretty good slew

of friends trying to whip my ass and I just happened

to be in a class where I was the student aid

And Everybody in there was Hurting grade -wise

just put that way They didn't let them get anywhere

near me. In fact, they even got them out of the

classroom and got them in trouble. So You know

by the end of it. I never heard from most of

them again But it just took me several years

to get over the fact and just say, you know I'm

just tired of taking this shit. I can't I can't

do it anymore. It was just tearing me up mentally

it just, you know, I eventually just said enough's

enough, but I didn't go to the extreme of having

to, you know, like some of these other kids that

you hear about in the news, you know, either

committing suicide or mass murdering people.

I mean, it's just, you know, you can deal with

it on a one -on -one basis and just teach them

a lesson, like go the hell away. Yeah. You know,

that actually... Reminds me of something. I actually

would like to interject you with two more stories

simply because it kind of ties to this In the

11th grade, I remember I was taking Exams and

y 'all know that's a stressful time. So there's

this little motherfucker. His name was Matt He's

a he looks like a bowling ball. He was this like

five foot nothing and he was a chunky kid But

the reason he was popular is because he sold

drugs, right? So he's surrounded by all the girls

and all these tough looking motherfuckers, you

know, and I'm sitting there trying to study.

He starts making fun of me and I'm like, you

know what? I just don't care anymore. So much

like Steve, enough's enough. Walk up to this

kid, throw him through a table in the cafeteria.

And when he's on the ground, he's like, get off

of me. I remember stepping on his neck. And I

remember saying, I can't remember precisely what

I said, but this part sticks out to me clear

as day. I want to hear you say, I understand

you, Michael Dodd. And he's like, yeah, yeah,

yeah. So I put a little more pressure down on

his windpipe. Say that again, Matt. After three

tries, he gets the fucking message. Repeat exactly

what I said. And eventually I pick him up by

his neck, slam him against the wall, drop him,

go write my exam. By the way, I did awesome after

that exam. Good, good God, adrenaline. He then

tried about a year later. I had one of the biggest

teachers in the school pry me off this kid. And

because I threw him up against the wall again,

say, Matt, you didn't learn the first time, did

you kid? And this ties into a second story. This

is where my bravado got me in trouble. I was

seeing this girl and we kind of had an interest

in each other. We went on one date, didn't go

so well. I'm like, you know what? Thanks, but

no thanks. I'm just not that into you. So she

says, I'm going to get revenge on you. I'm like,

ha ha ha, sure, sure you are. Months pass. I

get a call into the principal, or sorry, the

principal walks down to my computer classroom,

says, Mike, can I speak to you for a minute?

Yeah, sure, grab your stuff. Okay, what the fuck

did I do? I'm going through my mind. Okay, they

don't know I ripped off the lunch lady, they

can't prove that was me, blah, blah, blah, blah.

I was a troublemaker in high school, but always

with, you know, a glad heart. I wasn't an evil

motherfucker. Like you are now. Yeah, like I

am now, though their computer technicians loved

me. I think it's down for a week. Anyway, so

I get hauled out of class, and the teacher looks

at me point blank, or sorry, not the teacher,

the principal, and says, hey, Mike. Yeah. Do

you have any plans to shoot up the school? Wait,

what? Yeah, and he says this to me point blank.

I'm like, no, and if I did, do you think I would

answer yes right now? So he's like, oh, OK, you're

suspended. Wait, what? Because at this time,

it's 1999. Columbine had just happened, and the

Matrix was in theaters. Guess what fashion choice

I was wearing at the time? French coat. Bingo!

Oh, it's the brown devil. So, I've been out of

school for two weeks for quote unquote my own

safety. The school assembly for Christmas is

almost canceled, but They bring in undercover

officers. Yes, Timmy, you don't look like you're

age 25 wearing a bulletproof vest. Why yes, please

come have a seat by me and the teacher with the

guard dog. So anyway, turns out a chick bullied

me and a bunch of other people started spreading

rumors around the school. And at one point I

had the hockey teams and the football teams.

The football team wanted to kick my ass. Like

we're going to fuck that my dog kid up. And then

the hockey team's like, no, no, you're not. Because

I worked for the Ontario Minor Hockey Association.

So I have two gangs of brutes wanting to kill

you. It's very much a West Side story. And it

just, it got downright fucking ridiculous. And

I lived with that stigma until probably grade

13 up here in Canada. I mean, I get the odd person

poking at me going, hey, Mikey, you're going

to shoot up the school? I'm like, I don't know.

Do you want to find out? They didn't like that

very much. But that just made me think when Steve

was telling his story. But yeah, that's probably

the worst I had happen to me. I had people call

my house from CBC, ABC News. We had to take the

phone off the hook. I eventually got taken down

to police interrogation. for about four hours,

and they had me tell the same story four or five

different times. And I'm like, guys, I'm not

a criminal mastermind or anything here. I'm a

guy who sits in the cafeteria and plays D &D.

Which that makes me think about Steve's thing

too. In our school, the experience was very different.

We, I mean, the nerds and geeks in our school,

we ruled the cafeteria. We took it over from

the druggies in grade 10 and held it until grade

12. It was very much like a shitty game of Starcraft.

Nice. We held it for two years. We didn't like

you. Get the fuck out of here. I just remember

one time this fucking drug bitch started lippin'

me off one time and I just shot a thing of ketchup

at her thinking, I don't care, you're wearing

white and here's mustard in your eye. Man, I'm

surprised I didn't get shot in retrospect. Anyway,

I'm done. Well, I've got two additional ones

then we can move on after this. So, I don't think

I... I might have told, I know Dustin doesn't

know this, I don't know if I told Dodd or Steve

about this stuff, but in 94 I became a ward of

the state of Kentucky. And I was a ward of the

state of Kentucky until I graduated high school

in 99. Throughout that time I'd been through

multiple foster homes, multiple group homes,

whatever else. The final group home I was at

before I essentially exited state's custody after

I graduated was Boyshaven. And in the cottages

back then, they were all double rooms. So you

always had a roommate. There was only two single

rooms that actually shared a bathroom. And it

was like, if you were the best kid in the entire

system, whatever, you could be one of the two

that got one of those rooms, and you'd have your

own, you know, obviously the two of you would

have to share a bathroom, but it wouldn't just

be that big, you know, general stall bathroom

that everyone else would have to share. So I

think it was like a, I don't know, Friday or

Saturday afternoon, I forget. I mean, they're

shaving, and by this time I'm, you know, 17,

18 years old, and my beard was growing out pretty

rough. It took me a while to shave with Bic Razors,

because as we all know, Bic Razors suck. Because

by this time, we didn't have, you know, Mach

3 or any of that stuff back then. And the kid

that was in the other single room that shared

the bathroom with me, his kid was deathly afraid

of everyone else in the house. He was one of

those quiet loners that you just kind of have

to watch. just have to watch out for and he refused

to use the big bathroom and I'm in the middle

of shaving I can laugh at it now but back then

oh my god I was so pissed I told him I said dude

I'm you know I'm in the middle of shaving it's

gonna take me another five or ten minutes can't

you just go to the bed no no one was in the in

the like all the other kids were out doing other

things it was just him and I and maybe two other

people that were up front watching TV so it wasn't

like there was like the entire house was in the

building and he's like no I want to use my bathroom

this is my bathroom I said no we share this bathroom

and I'm in the middle of shaving he uh I don't

know what he went he went off somewhere comes

back barges in through his side of the bathroom

door stabs me in my left arm with a pen I said

Are you fucking nuts? Are you kidding me over

using a damn bathroom? I said I we got into a

fist fight and I ended up winning this because

by the time the staff members realized what was

going on they had to pull me off of him because

I had him by his throat about about two feet

off the ground in the bathtub so like his head

was hitting against the window which is two feet

above where you would stand in the bathtub because

the dude fucking stabbed me with a pen Over using

a fucking bathroom. There was like two other

people there besides him and I are you serious?

You can't go in a huge bathroom while I'm in

the middle of doing something in our bathroom

You know I'm in the middle of shaving come on,

dude Jesus fucking Christ So that was one incident

Another one and this would be the last one for

me is in these group homes Usually they have

two staff sometimes. They only have one staff

and on the nights that there's only one staff

there Unless the entire group wants to go out

to go get ice cream or go get a movie or go rent

a movie or whatever No one can leave Again it

was a weeknight, so it was a school night. It

was like Thursday went Wednesday. It was like

a Wednesday or Thursday night Everybody wanted

to go to the movies for some stupid reason everybody

wanted to go to the dollar movies And I'm you

know this is like an 11 o 'clock at night on

a school night, and I'm like No, I've got school

tomorrow. I don't want to go to the movies. I

don't want to be up all night You know I have

a huge test in the morning or whatever else I

was the one holdout that was preventing everyone

from going to the movies and This one kid Just

couldn't stand that started attacking the hell

out of me in my own room and Just beat the ever

-living show to me and by the time that I was

you know what this whole time I was defending

myself I ended up pretty much scratching the

hell out of the kid and just like dude give me

a fucking break here it's it's a fucking school

night you don't go to the fucking movies on a

school night it's just not that big of a deal

and it's like Jesus Christ I don't know just

so moving on from that you know we hear about

bullying all the time and The second topic here

would be the continuing tragedy of bullying going

on today. I mean, you've got Dustin sent us a

link, which I'll put in the show notes about

video footage of someone being bullied on a bus.

And I don't know, it's just, it's everywhere.

And I can tell you precisely why this is happening.

And you're not gonna like the answer either.

My wife, as you guys know, is a teacher. She

sees this shit every day. Why? Because kids today

have no respect or fear of authority. What I

mean by that is kids born probably past 80, or

not 80, since probably let's say 1990, basically

kids that are born in the 90s coming into their

adolescence now, they have no fear of authority

because they're their parents are probably pretty

young right so they give into this whole new

age parenting bullshit and you know they want

to be your friend not an authority figure i blame

a lot of the parents i blame a lot of the media

um like you like for example kids now as a teacher

you can't give them a zero there's no such thing

you can't fail a kid which is why these kids

just keep getting pushed through the system that's

bullshit Oh, it's total bullshit. And it gets

worse, too. The teachers are completely powerless

to do anything about discipline problems, either.

Like, the kids in school, they can beat the shit

out of you. You can't fight back. There is no

repercussions. If, say, a kid attacks another

kid, it's not going to be settled on the school

ground. It's going to be taken legal. Immediately.

So hey, if I beat up little Timmy, maybe we can

get some money out of this. It's fucking retarded

and I'm dead fucking serious. It is because kids

don't fear anything. When we were younger, like

all of us, when we had enough, we took a swing

at the motherfucker and that was enough. But

look at something like Columbine. Yeah, those

kids were pretty fucked up. But they decide to

solve their problems with tech nines and shotguns.

And that seems to be the solution to these days.

That's their version of fighting back because

the kids don't have any respect for each other

either. I mean, the amount of weapons that are

in schools is unbelievable. And the amount of

younger kids that are dying because of bullying,

because somebody brings a knife or a gun. Yeah.

Jesus, man. I mean, kids today, they don't understand

that there's life beyond these four walls, be

it grade school, high school or whatever. I mean,

it really does get better in college for the

most part. But then again, there was another

case that happened a couple of years ago where

a guy put a webcam on his gay roommate and outed

him when he wasn't ready for it. Kid wrote on

his Facebook. I'm gonna go jump off the George

Washington bridge by Everybody thought it was

bullshit and then he actually did it So I mean

there's cyber bullying too. I remember seeing

the beginnings of this Yeah, when the internet

was very much in its infancy getting a hold of

someone's ICQ or their MSN number or Whatever

and people would fucking tear into each other.

I mean kids today Don't know what it is. It's

my space was the ultimate playground It's not

just that it's it's the fact that now because

the the post 90s generation They don't actually

have face -to -face interaction anymore. They

all sit on these smartphones or tablets They're

they're constantly connected. Whereas us we grew

up without that stuff initially. I Didn't know

what the hell I think I was maybe, oh God, eight

or nine. I didn't know what the hell a modem

was. My older cousin Bobby actually had one of

the early, early modems where it would allow

him to talk to someone through his computer somewhere

in another country. So yeah, I mean, we didn't

grow up with all this internet stuff. We didn't

grow up with all of this instant communication.

type of deal. You know, if you wanted to talk

to somebody, you wanted to call somebody out,

you either went over to their house or you called

them on the phone. You didn't, you know, post

on their Facebook wall or, you know, spam their

Twitter, you know, and see, that's the differences.

And like Dodd was saying earlier about, you know,

how we grew up fearing something. What I think

the problem with today's society in general,

not just we have kids and bullying, but well,

The problem with today's society is that we are

so desensitized to everything. We just are. It's

like, I'll see something on the news and be like,

Oh my God, that's horrible. You know, but it

doesn't like, like, I have no shock value in

anything anymore. I personally don't like nothing

shocks me anymore. It's like, because it's become

so every day and it sucks. I mean, I've seen

some pretty horrible things on the internet and

even more recently, some stuff that has made

headlines around the world. I'm not going to

go into too much detail, but let's just say that

didn't shock me at all. Yeah. I think the big

problem is nobody respects each other. And because

there's no respect and no fear, the only option

is either passive, just let it happen, or aggressive.

Like it's fight or flight now. And I know that

seems really oversimplified. Like, you know,

making it really fucking simple, but that's it.

I mean, think how many of these kids decide,

well, you know what, I'm just gonna, I'm just

gonna kill him. There's no other way out of this.

I'm simply going to kill this person. When we

were kids, sure, we thought about it for all

of three seconds. Yeah, and then we wised up

and realized if we did anything like that, our

parents would kill us. Well, it's the fact that

we thought going to jail was a bad thing. Oh,

yeah. Whereas now they think of it as a room

and board and a place to eat free food. Exactly.

That's another thing too, because things are

so bad in certain parts of the country. I mean,

even between both our countries, that's a viable

option. Hurt somebody, at least I'm not on the

street. That's a terrible fucking reality. I

mean, there's so many more social causes and

economic causes that cause bullying. I mean,

it's hard for us to sum this up in one episode.

Oh, no, no, no. And that wasn't the goal. I mean,

it wasn't, you know, bullying is such a large

topic that one episode just wouldn't fit everything.

But like the link that Dustin provided. about

the kid committing suicide from being bullied.

And it's like, jeez, it's just. Well, I think

the one that kills me the most, like the one

that I just posted about this Karen Kline lady

being bullied for like 10 minutes straight, just

being absolutely verbally berated on a bus ride.

is nuts. Like, I can't, do you want to talk about

Mike Dawg's absolute lack of respect? That is

a prime example. The other one that killed me

too was not only our kids bullying, but there

was a story, what, a couple of six months to

a year ago where this daughter's mom bullied

a girl for her, somebody that her friend was

associated with, and bullied her to a point where

she ended up hanging herself. Yeah. and and and

that that they suffered no repercussions from

it i think they got it like uh... some media

buzz and that was about the extent of it i think

there was some kind of a civil suit but i haven't

heard anything more about it what i don't know

why because they swept it under the rug like

to do everything else oh yeah i mean one of the

big things that's happening right now up in canada

the ontario provincial government is going through

something right now where they want to have certain

Legislature change like there's like this anti

-bullying bill and because Catholic school boards

are publicly funded, right? They want to have

the wording change if there wants to be a gay

straight alliance or a gay and lesbian club in

a school They want them to be able to have that

that wording and all the and all the boards like

no you can't do that We're a Christian school.

I'm like, well, you're publicly funded motherfucker.

You do what we say because we provide your damn

money Yeah, they want to change all this legislation

for Bullying I think Lady Gaga actually visited

a couple schools in Toronto Earlier this year

or late last year involving bullying because

it gets right Terrible, especially in these cities

too, but there's also cases where it's really

isolated. There was a kid from I was either Minnesota

or Alberta. I just know it was a really rural

area and he shot his parents and then went to

the school and started shooting people. I think

he I think he ended up with like four people

and then he killed himself. And I don't know

whether Virginia Tech was happened in 2007. I

don't know whether that was related to bullying

or this guy was just a fucking whack job. But

I mean, it sucks that. us who are in positions

of power and authority are powerless to touch

these kids, or we can't say anything, we can't

do anything, because the system is designed to

neuter us. We can't do anything. Well, that kind

of transitions into the final topic here, is

how can bullying be stopped? Lot of times when

I watch Cartoon Network, I see the guys from

their live -action show called dude What could

happen and they do a bullying, you know stop

bullying ad on there, you know in there their

advice is You know go tell an adult, you know,

you know this that the other thing everything

else But it's like how can this how can this

epidemic? I mean it Essentially, bullying and

being bullied is almost a disease at this point.

How can this be stopped? And it's like, the world

at large is not going to come together to stop

this one thing, sadly. It's because human nature,

because it's this alpha pack mentality where

I have to be superior compared to you. And unless

we go through some enlightened change like in

Star Trek, this isn't going to happen. I mean,

we can reduce incidents of it or at least give

power back to the people that are being bullied.

but I just I don't think it's gonna happen and

that's and I don't want to sound defeatist but

I think kids that are being bullied should have

options available to them like being able to

fight back without repercussions of getting stabbed

or shot or sued or sued or you know the teachers

in the schools need to have the ability to report

bullying and do something about it like like

i said my wife is a teacher and i hear stories

about these kids that are being bullied or abused

and there's nothing the school board can do because

they're afraid of getting in shit yeah it's terrible

when you're when you can watch another human

being suffer but you don't want to be inconvenienced

what the fuck is wrong with you You know what

I think you guys ever see that show on MTV bully

beatdown No, I've It's I don't approve of many

shows on MTV but this one hands -down best idea

I've ever seen they take this a guy from MMA

his name's mayhem and he People send him in letters

saying such as such this douchebag is bullying

me such and such they approach said bully and

basically The bully is offered $10 ,000 to step

into a ring with a professional MMA fighter.

And he has the last two rounds, one of actual

punching and kicking blows and another one submission.

And usually the bully just gets the crap liver

kicked out of him. And for every time that that

person submits, the victim gets $1 ,000 or every

time. If the guy doesn't survive the initial

two minutes, I think it is then they get $5 ,000

So it's $10 ,000 all around. It's it's now granted.

That's an extreme case But well, and that's that's

still kind of stupid too, though, because you're

rewarding the bully Hey, here's some money. Well,

you're also throwing him in the ring with a professional

MMA fighter at the same time It's like I mean,

I think I'd take a punch from Brock Lesnar for

five grand. Oh, yeah, because you know what?

It'll heal Yeah, but would you take a punch from

Big Show for ten grand though? I don't think

anybody would I don't think there's any amount

of money that anyone would want to take a bunch

from Big Show. I think Brock Lesnar could kick

his ass. Yeah, Brock Lesnar would throw a punch

harder than the Big Show. It's the Big Slow!

Yeah, he doesn't move too quickly. Yeah. I mean,

we can't reward violence. But then again, look

at me. I stopped bullying because I fought back.

But there are kids that fight back and they get

their asses kicked or worse. Yeah. I mean, I

don't know. Like, honestly, it's a social epidemic.

And I think, like I said, I think a large part

of it comes down to lazy parenting. And social

economic conditions like you how many rich kids

you see picking on each other not too many That

you hear of yeah that you hear of I mean money

covers all wounds in that area Yeah, I mean I

could very well be wrong I'm willing to be wrong

in this but it just like us more blue -collar

working -class people We feel the pinch more

so than most and I'm not saying money will heal

it every problem but like you said definitely

hides it yeah now before we kind of leave off

on this i is just this just occurred to me do

you guys think i know that movie bully came out

a while ago a few months ago maybe a month ago

i forget when it came out and that's a really

really powerful movie but do you guys think that

the media up plays bullying because you've gotten

you know movies that are just other crap like

mean girls and stuff like that will you think

that portrays the bullying epidemic properly

or do you think they blow it up out of proportion

well it's a little bit of both i think that they

they tend to uh... shown The media blows everything

out of proportion. It doesn't matter what it

is. They're going to gloss over certain facts

because they want to be politically correct.

There's always going to be a piece that's left

out either to be in someone else's favor. how

all this stuff has gotten worse progressively

over time. I think it's personally, not only

the parents, as Dodd has said, I think it's also

the government and the media. You have that combination

of everything, you get parents wanting to be

friends, you get the government relaxing on the

rules and like, oh, we gotta be politically correct

because we can't ... this little Johnny screwed

up, you know, we can't give him, you know, zero

or, you know, everybody has to win, everybody

has to be on the same playing field and, you

know, so that they don't have to get, you know,

it's, I don't know, it's, the whole system is

screwed up and that's why, especially nowadays,

kids are getting the wrong messages from everything

and it's, I sincerely fear for kids in the future

generations, because I don't see this getting

any better. I think it's only going to get worse,

truthfully. I mean, our society is soft. And

I hate to say that because my grandmother think

of what you will, but about her parenting style,

because I more or less raised myself. I was always

taught to not take any shit. As was I. But that's

not always a realistic response these days. And

I wish things were different. I really do. But

unfortunately, just looking at the way and the

creatures we are, especially in the Western world,

it's survival of the fittest. But it's also because

there's so many other factors that kind of play

into it. I mean, where you are in the social

food chain and I mean. I've been bullied being

here in the media. I mean, I get the odd insulting

email, the odd time and all that shit, or I get

the odd call out on Twitter. And since I'm a

member of that guy with the glasses, there are

entire websites dedicated to making fun of us.

They're funny to read, let me tell you, funny

and sad. I just, I don't know what we can do

unless we do a complete 180 as a society. Unfortunately,

the body count is going to continue to rise.

And I hate sounding so defeatist about this because

I believe in the basic good of people. Actually,

hold on. Allow me to retract that statement.

I believe in good persons. I do not believe in

good people. The distinction being the individual

can be convinced, the individual can change for

the better. The people are a stupid, ignorant

mass that follow the path of least resistance.

And that's unfortunately what we have to look

at. There are some good individuals out there,

some really good people that are genuinely trying

to make change. I mean, think what you will about

Lady Gaga or Bieber or whoever these people,

these youth icons, at least they're trying to

do something with what media influence they have

about... bullying either by donating money, giving

talks, et cetera, et cetera, or people in the

government trying to pass legislation to do something

about it. But at the end of the day, the masses,

they're going to turn on you. Yeah. Any final

thoughts, Dustin? Well, speaking to some of the

stuff that Mike was just talking about, if you're

looking for, and I hate to go back to it because

it sounds like I'm marking out here, but the

WWE always has, they teamed up with the Be A

Star Alliance. And those guys say what you will

about wrestling, this particular sanction that

they're working with is awesome. That's all they

do is they go around just talking about being

tolerant and just socially good. Don't be an

idiot. Don't be a douche is basically what they

stand for. The only word I don't like about them

is that they say tolerance. Tolerance kind of

freaks me out in the fact that the word itself,

the meaning is good, but at the same time you're

still, just because you don't like something,

you have to tolerate it, which isn't necessarily...

the case. I think acceptance is probably the

better word to use here just because you can

accept people for who they are. You may not necessarily

like it, but you can accept it. You don't have

to be a douche about it. Whereas tolerance, it

still sounds like it has a breaking point somewhere.

You can only be tolerant to a certain point.

So that's just my only beef with it. But other

than that, it's a great program. If you guys

check it out, Google it, be a star. It's good

stuff. I think there was a similar program for

UFC and MMA, I think. I can't remember. Oh, I'm

sure that there is. Because I know they were

talking about it in Toronto a couple of months

ago with Mayor Rob Ford, but I'm not 100 % sure

of that. Alright, so we're gonna break and go

to some ads and we'll come back to close the

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there you have it ladies and gentlemen, our episode

on bullying and how it can or possibly won't

be stopped, which is sad. Mike, what do you have

coming up really quickly? Ten seconds go. I'm

going to be appearing at Con Bravo with people

from Channel Awesome, as well as Noah from The

Spoonie Experiment, and should be a good time.

Also, I'm going to be on the Man Cow Show, possibly

as a future contributor for pretty much forever.

I'll let you know. Cool. What about you, Dustin?

What do you got going on? Well, obviously, I

got this anti -bullying video that I am hard

working on. I'm really trying to get Lindsay

Ellis from that guy with the glasses to respond.

She responded once, and I've been trying to get

her to respond again, but she hasn't gotten back

to me. But the anti -bullying video, I'm working

with Daimo Mack from Lost in the Music. We're

doing a healthy listening month for the month

of June, so that's really cool. Again, being

a dad. Well, speaking of, that's a nice transition,

actually, because Steve and his wife, Mary, found

out that they're having a baby boy. Yay! Yes.

Yes, congratulations. Yes, thank you. Yes. And

as always, here at GCR, we've got a bunch of

stuff coming up throughout the network, so...

We hope you enjoyed this episode of GeekCast

Radio, which will join us next time when we'll

be talking about that media mogul in our director's

spotlight, Kevin Smith. For now, I am TFG1 Mike

with... Steve Megatron Phillips. Dustin Destimus

Primevancourt. Mike the Birdman Dodd. Thank you

for listening. Until next time, unleash the geek

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