On Bullying - Little Kids Can Be the Most Heartless Monsters

Ha, what a title!

"Little kids can be the most heartless monsters."

I'm not trying to gain any sympathy points with a title like that...

But it caught your attention, didn't it?

Hear me out before you tell me how wrong I am and how dare I.

How come you have time for this? You said you're so busy...

Today is a rainy day. I woke up way too early and couldn't start working or shooting a YouTube video outside due to the rain. (Okay, I could, but it makes a lot more sense to wait until the rain stops...)

I decided to try to be more social than I normally am. Maybe also because I have recently been bullied by a certain someone to tip more on read.cash...

Anyway, after having chatted with a friend and fellow read.cash author, the topic of being bullied as a child came up. As it turns out, we both were bullied as children, for different reasons, though.

I was bullied for being "fat" and for being "too smart". I always considered it to be a life lesson. After all, I had a fighting chance to get rid off the extra weight by dietary and lifestyle choices. And I could try to behave more socially acceptable.

However, as it turned out my conversation partner was bullied for having a physical disability.

This actually outraged me.

Okay, I do understand that bullying someone who is on the chubby side can make the person change something about their lifestyle - which then actually may improve their physical health. However, this benefit definitely comes at a high cost: The person's mental health.

And being bullied for "being too smart" could still be regarded as a life lesson in how to behave more socially acceptable.

But what can a child do about its physical disability?

No seriously, what can a child do about it?

Absolutely nothing.

I'm not sure if it's noticeable from the text, but I'm actually writing this with watery eyes due to the sheer unfairness and pure evil of the situation.

To my surprise, my conversation partner actually derived something positive from being bullied.

I'm glad that that is the case, but I'm not sure if I can agree with seeing anything positive there (other than she was able to cope with it).

I think bullying is destructive, evil and unnecessary.

I recently watched the Lex Fridman podcast with Vitalik Buterin, the creator of Ethereum, a complete nerd and a very thin, tall, clumsy looking guy.

Vitalik said that he was never bullied as a kid growing up in Canada. And yet, he made it really far in life and has made and is making a big contribution to humanity - both with his commitment to crypto and longevity research.

Note that he does all these amazing things without having been bullied as a child.

And you could say "well, he wasn't really prepared for the real life and now he is being called a 'pencil neck' and mean things like that".

Yes, maybe. But who calls him that? People who grew up being bullied? People who internalised "be bullied or be the bully yourself".

I say "fvck that"!

I don't think there are actually any positive effects of bullying at all.

More than 20 years after being bullied as a child for being "fat", I do work out like crazy. I do fight hard against any extra pounds, especially in the belly area. I do actually work as a part-time fitness instructor. That may or may not have happened without being bullied. And these may be considered positive effects.

However, I may have a distorted self-image of my body. I'm also super self-conscious about my weight and physical fitness to the point where I work a low-paying manual labour job well below my capabilities, because I want to be strong and fit. Not just to be healthy or attractive, but also to be able to defend myself in case someone physically attacks me.

Has that ever helped me?

No.

Has anyone ever tried to attack me?

No.

I live in a safe country, Germany, but my inner child thinks I'm living in a war zone. And a gathering of more than five people makes me feel uneasy, because I know that I would have a hard time defending myself if they ganged up on me...

So to give my opinion on the issue.

Is bullying useful?

- I don't think so.

Does it prepare the bullied for the real world.

I don't think so. Look at Vitalik. He works in a super hostile environment - the internet - where you are exposed to the collective hate of the entire world and he is doing fine. No, actually, he is doing great.

Does it help to unfold your true potential?

No, I don't think so. In my case it definitely didn't.

Are children perfect angles?

No, they have good sides and bad sides. And that's why parenting is important. We need to nurture their good sides and help them manage their bad sides.

Let's make this world a better place.

I conclude this article with this very short video from one of my favourite influencers. I discovered that guy very recently and watched a Ton of his videos. He has a talent for putting wisdom into very short videos which are so well-edited that they may pass as works of art.

(I tried to include the video here, but somehow it didn't work. Sorry, but please click the link. It's worth it!)