So the fat kids reaction aren't justifiable but the other kid might 'have his reasons'? Surely if peer pressure, a bad home life, or whatever are justifications for hitting someone in the face, then the fat kids reaction can easily be justified too - on the grounds that he was entitled to defend himself. He didn't even retaliate immediately. The kid had ample opportunity to stop attacking him.
Skinny or not, he didn't have much concern for the possible injury his punch could've caused. He didn't hold back. The fat kid threw him to the ground and that was the end of it. He did enough to stop the attack and didn't follow it up with a barrage of punches and kicks. If anything it could've been just as dangerous if the fat kid had punched back, rather than thrown him to the ground. Anything he did to defend himself would've been viewed as disproportionate due to his size. As are the perils of attacking someone much bigger and stronger then he was.
I am not saying the fat kid shouldn't have retaliated, what I am saying is the retaliation was too much. Permanent paralysis is not a fair trade for being punched in the face.
I can't believe how much concern some of you guys have got for some nasty bully. At the end of the day, if you go around punching people in the face, whilst your mates film it and egg him on, you deserve what you get, imo.
As above, potential paralysis for a punch in the face. I am totally for the fat kid hitting him back, but not breaking his face potentially.
I am also against you guys finding humor about this. There is nothing funny about either the bullying or the bullies comeuppance - It all just seems a little barbaric.
By encouraging that video your also encouraging that behaviour. What if a weaker bullied person tries to stand up based on that video and gets beaten the shit even worse out of them.
Whats to say the bullies punch couldn't be fatal? Not only that but he went in for another punch. He may be small and thin, but that was a pretty hard punch!
There is no way anyone can stick up for the bully kid. If he had a genuine reason for wanting to punch the other guy, he wouldnt of been hopping around and taunting him, showing off for the camera. It was a plain and simple "happy slap" type act for the phone.
No doubt the bullies original plan was for it to go on youtube, well now it is
It was a pathetic weak punch, not a drop into concrete. Kids fight rarely end in anything more than some bruises - This could have ended far worse. Do you think the fat kid would have been happy paralyzing the other guy or do you think he would regret it for the rest of his life?
I am sure he didn't have a proper reason for punching the other guy, I am sure the other guy was just the subject of constant abuse and probably still is.
However, I am sure that the reason behind his attack was the filming and taunting. He is clearly ploying for attention and is probably desperate to be accepted. Whilst I cant and wont analyse him too much (I am no psychiatrist) it is clear this kind of action isn't normal human behavior.
You are right, maybe he is neglected, malnourished, physically beaten at home, but as the old saying goes, 2 wrongs do not make a right.
And at what point are these kids (bully's) supposed to learn that you can't go round smacking people in the face for whatever reason?
Let's be honest, i'm more than sure that the whole gang kicked the crap out of that chubby kid till he was half dead at some point after this incident.
2 Wrongs do not make a right, all very true but the kid wont appreciate that himself, lets say what you said was true - this can really really mentally scar someone, and effect there actions in very strange ways.
Your last point is EXACTLY what I mean. This kid could get in far greater shit for doing that to someone, and the potential damage that could cause. Also others inspired by this video could 'retaliate' but maybe do MORE damage and actually really really hurt someone.
Only someone without kids could say these things about the bully, so I am guessing you don't have any ?
It makes no odds if it is the parents fault or not - no bullying is excusable or justified.
If you did have kids and they were getting bullied, and humiliated like the kid in that video - I am sure you wouldn't "see his reasons" for doing this to your child, regardless of what they were.
Your ignoring my points simply on the basis I don't have kids? Everyone knows that parents are blinded by there affection to there kids - this is a humane and brilliant thing. However it can be a flaw.
I am not his parent, and I have an outside perspective so I can see both sides of this.
I am sure Frank, as a parent that you know that your kids would NEVER act like this bully - so why do someone else's?
As for my opinion, where it may come from? Well I wont go into too much detail, but I was bullied as a kid at school, I had my nose broken, I got attacked regularly, my friends would stick up to me but it was the older kids doing it so we didn't have much strength to beat them with.
Anyway, fast forward a few years and I am through puberty, stronger and I defend myself, this kid attacked me for the last time. I broke his jaw, and made him cry on the floor.
3 days later I got pulled aside by my tutor (a family friend) she begged me not to repeat it to anyone in school that that kids mum had committed suicide when he was younger, his dad had run off straight after. This little boy was left to look after his baby sister and grandparents (who were both in a bad physical state)
His life had been far worse than he had ever made mine, the world had pretty much fucked him over mentally. I don't hold any resent on him for lashing out at all.
If you guys are looking for a great read about this kind of thing, check this:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0752837508/?tag=acorn06-21
Whilst I understand where all of you are coming from - this is your typical film plot 'triumph over adversity' however this is no film. This is real life and I don't think its funny at all.
