LPT [Society ProTip]: If you have a child that is attractive or popular, encourage them to stand up to bullies even if they are not the one being bullied.

With Keaton Jones making the news all over the continent I think it's time to make this post. I've always wanted to bring this up since having a conversation with my friend who is a former bully, but I could never think of a popular subreddit to post it on. So I hope you don't hate me too much for posting here.

The cartoon stereotype of the pug-nosed, unibrowed bully who comes from a broken home on the wrong side of the tracks and lashes out only because he is hurting is mostly just fiction. Of course it happens, but most school bullies are just sadists. Studies have shown that most school bullies are people of high social standing who lack empathy and feel the need to take out their frustrations on easy marks.

The conversation I mentioned before was with a friend who confessed to being a former Mean Girl who came to understand her own psychology years later. She found that bullying people for whatever reason made her feel dominant, which gave her a rush of pleasure chemicals in the brain. On top of that, if she targeted the right people, she would enjoy a greater social standing which in turn also felt good. When you are a teenager, stupid and hormonal and basically relying on your most surface level emotions to dictate your behavior, there seems to be no profit in being kind and temperate. The social hierarchy is class-based, with most individuals in most classes striving to distinguish themselves within that hierarchy for greater social standing. This is bullshit.

Bullying will always feel good to bullies; to make someone lesser than you assures you of your own superiority and feels pleasurable. To eliminate bullying, we need to diminish the social value of bullying. This can start with parents of kids who have decent social standing and a modicum of moral fiber. Tell your child to do their best to put themselves in the shoes of someone who has something about themselves they are incapable of changing that might make them an easy target of mockery. Tell them to imagine the feeling of not having a support network of friends and family and of living with constant reminders that they are lesser or insufficient in some way.

It starts young, so I really can't stress that it's never too early to teach this kind of lesson. I know most of you are probably dumpy hippies who will probably raise the kind of kids who get picked on. But, for god's sake, if you're reading this and your kid is cool, PLEASE try and instill some compassion and grace in them. The stuff that happens to you when you're young sticks with you your entire life. Like the foundation of a house, it's the basis off which you base every social relationship you'll ever have.

I don't want any kids to feel shitty. So much of life is driven by competition, but kids deserve to be spared that. It can start with a few individuals.

Thanks a lot for reading.