Treating bullying as everyone's problem reduces incidence in primary schools

I always found it really frustrating that a "zero tolerance" policy to bullying seemed to disproportionately affect people who eventually fight back.

I would guess it's a combination of "nobody sees the first hit" (since your attention is elsewhere, of course) and that bullies get quite good at testing boundaries and thus know how to avoid detection.

But, really, it's truly frustrating that as I child I was bullied relentlessly, and when I finally took my parents advice and stood my ground, I was expelled from school (due to zero tolerance). Those bullies continued to torment some other kids, of course.

This is far from an uncommon situation, over the years I've heard many more scenarios like this.

Unpopular opinion, but most people who get bullied are a little "off", a little weird in some way that affects their likability. And this also affects the adults where even they judge the kid being bullied harder. For example if you are autistic and lack verbal skills, that's going to be seen as you lacking social skills. And obviously if someone got hit, who's most probable to have started it? Maybe the kid that "lacks social skills".

This is an incredibly popular opinion! Unless the "unpopular" part is that this is somehow fine or justifiable.

Well I think there are a lot of people out there who define bullying as "when a random person in a group is selected to be harassed". And if you ask them what they think about it they would say "It's horrible and totally unacceptable".

But "disciplining" someone that is acting weird on the other hand is the right thing to do, that is not "bullying" to them. But for the person that becomes the subject of this it becomes, "you sit wrong", "you talk wrong", "you eat wrong", "your sense of humor is wrong" until it feels like you can't do anything right. Some people even think they can fix your "wrong" behavior by hitting you, and then it becomes physical bullying.

A lot of people wanna believe that bullying is like the fist scenario because that is easier than actually having to start accepting people the way they are - even if they are a little "weird".

I couldn't possibly disagree more.

Once you're boxed in as a bullied person, you will continue to be bullied.

They're not "educating" you, and it's a little sick to suggest it.

Have you ever met any person who says bullying is a good thing? I have not, yet it appears in any group of people large enough. So obviously people rationalise it somehow. How do you think they rationalise it to themself then?

Bullying is always wrong according to everyone, but that person being bullied is always the exception. “If they could just act in another way we wouldn’t be “forced” to do this to him/her.”

The most-bullied kid I ever witnessed in my life was also the most annoying, he would act out and make annoying noises and say the dumbest, most irritating "jokes". I've never seen a kid get bullied so bad, people stole his backpack and peed in it, hung him on the gym changeroom clothing rack by his underwear (wedgie-style), all kinds of stuff. The kid's obnoxious nature was totally used as an excuse for the bullying he was subjected to, because basically "everyone" was annoyed by him and thus felt little sympathy for the persistent bullying he experienced.

In adult years I came across him on Facebook and he was wearing biker gang clothing/insignia. Of course the persistently exiled/bullied kid turns to organized crime later in life - the perfect system to exploit his endlessly-neglected need for inclusion and protection.