<p>My friend has been harassed in and out of school by this one kid for ever since he can remember, but no one ever catches him. The other day, for some reason, the bully friended him on FB. So we were looking at his page today, and saw that he posted on his Facebook making fun of him, without saying his name directly. Supposedly it is fairly obvious, though. </p>
<p>My friend is autistic. The bully has won a major scholarship and all kinds of awards, and is really good at fooling everyone to think he's hot stuff. My friend is so sick of it he wants to send a screen shot of the page to college admissions people at schools where the kid is applying, and also the scholarship people, to show them what a phony they gave money to. </p>
<p>I kind of think he should let it go, but I don't know, I can understand why he is mad. And I don't know why the guy friended him anyway, unless he is planning on doing something more. Would a college admissions person want to see this? It's Not cool to make fun of people like that, I wouldn't think anyone would want someone like that in their school, no matter how good their grades and stuff are.</p>
<p>I would’ve sent the screenshot to a teacher/counselor/the principal. From there, the bully should receive the proper consequences. If justice doesn’t prevail, however…</p>
<p>The world has enough bully’s in high places… I see no problem with unmasking him…</p>
<p>By the way, and perhaps more important - if a bully had been picking on my autistic friend, I would have made sure it stopped long before this. I’m not violent and am not suggesting valance but I would gather whatever resources that I needed to make sure it stopped. Good people don’t stand by and let evil happen.</p>
<p>Leave it. I’m telling you from personal experience that the bully’s actions will come back to bite him in the ass - your friend just needs to let go. Stooping to his level by sending screenshots to schools and counselors will only make your friend seem like a revenge-seeking vengeful kid. Just leave it.</p>
<p>I don’t see how its stooping to his level really - Bullies should never deserve to win scholarships, especially if they’ve been picking on an autistic kid. Though is there any reason why your friend didn’t report it in the past? Better now or never imo, no matter what the circumstances.</p>
<p>Don’t sabotage his scholarship - it will only reflect poorly on your friend. The word “malice” comes to mind. Karma will do its thing, just wait and watch, the bully will go down in flames, it just may take some time to play out.</p>
<p>Wow. Definitely tell the colleges. In my opinion, bullying is really awful. . . worse than cheating or anything like that. He does not deserve scholarships, etc.</p>
<p>He has complained about him before but no one ever did anything. Once the bully was a group leader on some trip, and just left him somewhere at midnight - and the teacher didn’t think it was a big deal! So maybe he really shouldn’t say anything, because no one will do anything anyway and he will just be a squealer and put himself out there to be tormented more.</p>
<p>Then again, maybe he should talk to the school counselor. That phony doesn’t need to be getting any more props or school awards, he can put a bug in the counselor’s ear and they will think twice come senior awards. lol </p>
<p>I wonder why the guy friended him. Maybe he thinks he can get more stuff on my friend, to harass him with? It would be nice if Karma could handle this guy. I just see him as a future CEO who will have no problem shipping your jobs to India, ya know?</p>
<p>At my son’s high school (private college prep), this kid would be immediately kicked out. This has already happened to two seniors (who were Ivy-bound) this year. Definitely bring it to the principal and guidance.</p>
<p>It’s unfortunate, but bullies never go away. They’re in high school, they’ll be in college, and you’ll even see them as an adult. </p>
<p>The best way to deal with this guy is to not deal with him at all. Try to stay out of his line of view, and he’s likely to move on to someone else he can upset. If not, then tell your buddy to just take comfort in the support he has with you and his other friends.</p>
<p>It’s sad how pointlessly mean people can be. I hope things get better =)</p>
<p>I agree with everyone who said to report the bully. Doing nothing does nothing to stop the bullying and empowers them more.</p>
<p>A school’s legal responsibility for cyber-bullying that takes place off campus has not yet been fully determined. The way the law is evolving is that if the off-campus cyber-bullying carries over to the campus environment, making it feel unwelcoming or unsecure, then the school is responsible to do something about it.</p>
<p>Send the screen-shots to your administration. You are a good friend.</p>
<p>Thanks again - I wish we had a zero tolerance bully policy here but we don’t.</p>
<p>Here is a question, the post on FB does not mention his name directly. It mentions something he <em>does</em> - and everyone knows it - so he is afraid they will try to weasel out of it. The guy is a weasel anyway, of course that is why he wrote it that way.</p>
<p>Do you think they can do anything if it doesn’t say his name??</p>
<p>Kartwheelie, I was completely with you until you made that statement about shipping jobs to India. The last thing I want to be is mean here, but I would suggest you read up on the facts and economics of “Shipping Jobs to India” - because of American Trade and “Shipping of Jobs” much, much more jobs have been created. Please stop listening to all the hype and misinformation the media creates. It just puzzles me that you (and possibly others) have this view on outsourcing of jobs. I’m sorry but as an Indian, I had to say this.</p>
<p>Now to the topic at hand:
I would definately report him. Just do your part and leave the rest to fate - if he still gets the scholarship you atleast know you tried. There’s a chance that you might later on regret that you did not take action against him when you could. I don’t see the downside to it, but if you’re going to do this you must take permission from your friend. I’m not sure, but it might seem better if it comes from you… Nevertheless, he/you should definitely do something about it. People above are speaking about Karma, which I believe in, but someone needs to fulfill that Karma. If you/he ends up sending it, make sure you/he put(s) it in a mature way, if it seems like a petty revenge thing, it will be worthless.</p>
<p>I hope I helped.</p>
<p>Sorry for the initial rant but some misconceptions have to be clear. I could practically see you thinking of us Indians as stealers of your jobs and devils or something.</p>
<p>^ kartwheelie - In my opinion it is YOUR responsibility to go to the principal, (to stop the bullying, the college / scholarship decisions are for others to make). You should not be waiting for an autistic victim to find the courage to defend himself against a long time tormentor. This is on your plate and will help define who you are both now and in the future. No matter what you choose (to act or not to act) you will remember and live with the memories of your decision for years to come, So why not choose to help…</p>
<p>“I wish we had a zero tolerance bully policy here but we don’t”. That will change quickly when someone steps forward and demands it. If your principal doesn’t help, most schools have something like a “school improvement team”, and all schools systems have superintendents and boards of education. Ask for the policy, ask that the policy be enforced, and if that doesn’t work gather a group of like-minded students and demand a anti bullying policy. It will likely be easier and more rewarding than you can imagine but you must act to change things or live with the consequences…</p>
<p>"Don’t sabotage his scholarship - it will only reflect poorly on your friend. The word “malice” comes to mind. Karma will do its thing, just wait and watch, the bully will go down in flames, it just may take some time to play out. "</p>
<p>And what if it doesn’t do its thing? The bully having a scholarship makes no difference in whether to report the bully or not; they don’t deserve the scholarship if they’re intentionally picking on someone with disabilities. It seems that the bully isn’t stopping as the OP mentioned, so I would still report him immediately.</p>
<p>Up front I will say that sitting around waiting for karma to bite this kid in the ass does nothing; don’t assume justice will happen by chance. </p>
<p>However, you have to understand that you can’t expect him to simply lose a scholarship. Depending on how he presents his case, if he says a sibling or someone was on his Facebook, then that doesn’t really do much. In the end, it could just exacerbate the problem and he would be more difficult to catch the second time. </p>
<p>I can imagine that it’s hard dealing with bullies, especially when they are commended. But some things to consider:</p>
<p>1.)Do you know if this kid is a bully simply for sadistic pleasure or do you know if he suffered some sort of domestic trauma that causes him project his anger.</p>
<p>2.)Your most likely never going to see this kid again, where it’s quite possible he will succeed or fail. Quite frankly you’ll never know but this is you and your friends own college process. It’s your life you and your friend should be worried about, not about this punk</p>
<p>Not only that, but people generally tend to mature (generally) as they get older so focus on your future and who knows, perhaps in some 20th reunion he will apologize.</p>