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School Bully Revenge Video Goes Viral
Filed under: In The News, Bullying
You can practically pinpoint the Spinach Moment.
That's the pint in every "Popeye" cartoon when our favorite sailor has finally had enough of being beaten and abused by Bluto. "If there's one thing I can't stands," he says, "I can't stands no more!"
Popeye snarfs some spinach and explodes in retaliatory violence, dishing out better than he ever received.
If you want to see that scene played out in real life -- minus the leafy green stuff -- check out this video from an Australian high school that's gone viral.
The video shows a larger kid (identified by the Sydney Daily Telegraph as Casey Heynes) being sucker punched by a scrawny bully. He tells his assailant to stop. Other kids at Chifley College in Sydney stand by and watch, some of them egging on the puncher.
Finally, Heynes can't stands no more. He flips his assailant and body slams him. Victims of bullies across the world -- literally -- cheer.
For Heynes, the hero worship is a bit of a consolation prize as he and his alleged assailant spend four days on suspension for fighting.
All sorts of anonymous commentators on the Web have something to say about that.
"The school should immediately reverse his suspension and apologize for such actions. The kid was being hurt, and he protected himself. The suspension tells students that they should not protect themselves. A terrible and dangerous message. That school should be ashamed of itself," one person writes.
Susan Stiffelman, a family therapist in Southern California who writes the "Ask Advice Mama" column for ParentDish, understands the hero worship.
"No doubt it felt great not only to the bullied child, but to all kids identifying with him in that victim role," she tells ParentDish.
However, she adds, kids and parents should not look to a single body slam as a remedy for bullying.
"The best way to avoid being bullied is to not give the bully the payoff he or she is looking for," Stiffelman says. "As soon as a child shows that the bully has 'gotten to him' -- either by engaging verbally, crying, running away or showing aggression -- the bully has achieved his goal.
"As immensely hard as it is to withhold the reaction a bully wants, in the end, using aggression to counteract bullying generally does not pay off. In this situation."
Heynes' father tells the Daily Telegraph his son's retaliation is not as cool as it seems to international lookie-loos.
"There'll be reprisals from other kids in the school, and he still has to go to school somewhere," he tells the newspaper.
Not that he criticizes his son.
"He's not a violent kid," he says. "It's the first time he's lashed out, and I don't want him to be victimized over that. He's always been taught never to hit. Apparently other people's parents don't teach their kids that."
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ReaderComments (Page 1 of 1)
3-16-2011 @ 3:27PM
coffeebap said...This happened to our son in a private HS. In classroom bully was attacking our son, he did not fight back. Teacher walked in, sent them both to principals ofc. where both were suspended. I walked into principals ofc. and asked why our son was suspended, as he was taught not to fight on school grounds. Principal said "It was fair to suspend them both". I turned to my son and told him there was no reward for obeying rules, and instructed him the next this happens, to beat the ---- out of him. The principal says we can't do that. I insisted our son would not be suspended, and finally the principal did the right thing. It does not always work for the good, but paying high tuition, and putting up with this kind of thing just isn't going to happen.
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3-17-2011 @ 12:38PM
piker said...I find it interesting that the hippie therapist from Southern California advises victims to do nothing. I don't believe in violence but I also don't think cracking somebody in the head to protect myself is out of line. In the real world, outside of idealville, the systems in place to protect victims fall short by design. Sometimes the right thing to do is also the ugly thing to do. The justice fairies aren't right around the corner.
3-17-2011 @ 3:02PM
wes said...when my little six year old came home from school with a huge bruise on his back where the bully kicked him we reported it to the principal.He did nothing to the bully.When it happened a second time I told his brother and sister (twins two years older than him) to watch out for their little brother.They did and the next time brother and sister played tag team on the bully.Guess what,the principal wanted to suspend my kids.I told him he wasn't doing his job to protect my son and since I paid his salary he'd better straighten out or I would meet him in the parking lot.Guess what,that kid never even looked at my son again.
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3-17-2011 @ 3:02PM
casaeva said...I'm sorry but Susan Stiffelman leaves children absolutely no options. They can't "engage verbally," they can't cry (although how does a kid actually control that response I'd like to know), they can't go away, and they can't fight back. So basically she's suggesting that the only option is to stand there and let themselves get beaten to a bloody pulp or sit there and let kids heap tons of tons of verbal abuse on them. How is this helpful?
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3-17-2011 @ 4:52PM
Pat said...I agree with casaeva, just what options is Ms. Stiffelman leaving kids? When I was in grade school I was bullied everyday. I would go home bloodied and my clothes tore up.DId the school do anything about it? No! My dad finally told me that the next time I came home all beat up and my clothes torn to pieces and the bully didn't look at least as bad as me he was going to spank me. My dad was not an aggressive man, but he worked hard to provide me with nice clothes, so seeing me come home every night like I did was unacceptable. The next day after school when this boy jumped me I fought back. I din't get suspended, neither should Casey. The bullies never jumped me again. This school is wrong for suspending Casey, they should be ashamed of themselves. What's wrong with the parents of other children being bullied that are in that school?
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3-17-2011 @ 5:24PM
Heather said...I was a victim of bullying and I can tell you both bullies stopped the moment I stood up for myself.If you just stand there they won't stop someone has to beat them back before they will learn.
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3-19-2011 @ 12:16PM
KentuckMom said...My oldest son was bullied and he was blind! It took him standing up for him self and bloodied one of the bullies before it stopped!
My youngest daughter was bullied also...all it took was for her to smack the crap out of the boy and it also stopped!
Most of my 6 kids at one point or another was bullied....but it was short lived!
In the "real" world you defend yourself and those you love.
I've also taught my kids to walk away from a fight if you can...but don't run away. I taught them they have the right to defend themselves.
Where in the world were the grownups in this school? From my understanding the bulling of this boy had been going on for a while. The bully must be the son of someone important! :(
When are grownups going to start acting like grownups and take responsibility and stepping in when things like this is happening..why are they waiting until it gets to this point?
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3-23-2011 @ 5:48PM
lake said...Need to watch the video carefully.. Firstly, in the start of the video a kid wonders infront of the camera and is quickly hauled aside by another kid. Secondly, the float like a butterfly sting like a bee routine is unusual behaviour upon approaching another kid. When acting timing is everything.. Thirdly,after being slammed to the ground he jumps right up but has an overblown stagger and limp. It is obvious that the entire thing was staged. Good job boys you got the attention of the world. Mission acomplished.
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5-15-2011 @ 11:17AM
Gerald said...Lake, I feel you have missed many things in life. If ever you are raised above a mans head and slammed to the concrete, then you will realize the damage this boy may have deserved and received It would have been a completely foolish move for either party to have set this deal up.
5-18-2011 @ 4:35AM
Stephanie said...Don't let the bully get to you???!!! That's what they've been telling us since preschool! Today, I simply ignored a bully... but that doesn't change a single thing he said or a single thing I felt. In my opinion, adults don't understand; it's like some sort of gene that turns on during college. At the point where the kid stops thinking of himself as a kid, he feels like he knows everything. THAT is where we get counselors. A pool of adults whose memories are too distant to be retrieved and remembered.
Man, these counselors suck.
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8-06-2011 @ 8:53PM
James said...You know...I'm reading all of these comments (here and other sites) and taking in a lot of what is being said, but I just want to say has everyone really been taken in by societies bull crap about not taking responsibility for one's actions? Look, the plain and simple fact of the matter is this, that stupid little moron Richard approached Casey to more than likely Continue embarrassing him at school in front of other students While (and pay close attention here Lake, the poster above) having his friend(s) record what they had planned, Yes planned, on doing which was beating this kid up on camera at school in front of everyone so they could sit back later and watch it and laugh. But what ended up happening was not what they expected, Casey finally found it in himself to defend himself from the beating and the bullying and turned it around on them. Watch the video carefully...Lake. Come on people is it really that hard to see what those stupid little kids were going to do and good for Casey for not allowing that to happen. He defended himself and you know what, no attorney would take that case because everyone can see that it was a case of self defense. Also, if you watch the interviews on the two kids you have to be completely blind to not see that Richard, the idiot little bully, has ZERO/NO remorse for what he did. Good for Casey and good for Richard for getting his little butt stomped. No need for counseling or for the authorities to get involved. It's a case of one bully and one victim who handled the situation and the bully got exactly what he deserved. I'm not condoning "violence" I'm simply supporting the right to defend yourself and that is EXACTLY what Casey did. Everything else with that psychobabble counseling evaluation is crap. What happened to just taking responsibility for what you did and accepting the outcome of your consequences? Have we really forgotten all that. Oh and Susan Stiffelman, you are seriously out of touch with reality!!
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