‘Street Fighter Video’ Puts Bully Into Spotlight

It’s now the second most popular video on the internet, right behind a 15 year old girl singing about her favorite day of the week. Casey, the Australian boy suspended for body slamming a kid for taunting, has inspired editors to come up with their own renditions of the event, including this Street Fighter Zangief video.

Casey never thought he’d be a glorified cult hero when he dropped the kid, but that’s exactly what he’s becoming, whether he likes it or not (word is that he doesn’t mind it).

“We think in this country bullying should not exist,” said Arne Duncan, U.S. Secretary of Education. “Students simply cannot learn if they feel threatened, harassed or in fear…”

This all makes bullying sound like some political issue that needs to be “solved”…like taxes or pollution. Many of the programs and initiatives set to “eliminate bullying” reflect an effort to raise awareness towards bullying, opposed to dealing with one of its root issues: loneliness.

Now I’m not a leading educator or child psychologist, which might not matter when it comes to issues like bullying, nor was I there to know the exact context of what went down. All I know is what I remember when I was a kid: motivational speakers used to come to our school and drill into our heads that we were all different, and that being different was okay! One guy came in and painted this mural for like an hour and a half, reminding us how awesome we were in between, as we all looked at each other in bewilderment as to why we were missing gym. Anti-bully campaigns let you go online and sign petitions, and offer guides as to “what is a bully” and “why bullies do what they do,” which raises awareness but doesn’t seem very proactive.

That’s why a lot of people enjoyed seeing this kid pile drive the “bully” into the ground…because they related with him and wish they could’ve done the same thing. I’m not saying that classes should reserve 30 minutes every day for wrestling or combat (that would be interesting though) but I think there should certainly be an effort to create more social interaction between students, in an effort to prevent kids from feeling lonely. We used to have 35 minutes reserved at the end of the day for “silent reading,” with most of that time spent staring into space or watching our teachers get a head start on grading our papers. Bullies will always exist, but their impact is directly related to how many friends the person being picked on has or how lonely they feel. Based on my experience as a student growing up, school was a place were you went to class, not where you made friends…maybe school could function as both?

Social clubs are good, but how many of them are geared towards kids that routinely take a lot of crap from bullies? Its not rocket science, kids don’t need information on which kids are bullies, and kids could care less about their intentions or “why bullies do what they do.” The fact of the matter is, bullies become less of a problem when the kids they pick on have more friends, and most clubs are geared towards people that already have a lot of friends. Bullies always pick on the new kids because they’re obviously alone. How many schools have programs that are directed towards assimilating new students? Mine didn’t…they just handed you your schedule, some spare lunch tokens, and said go get em’ tiger…

The Street Fighter Video is amazing because it creatively, and almost freakishly, turns Street Fighter into a “realistic depiction of an actual event.” But most importantly, it illustrates what anti-bullying campaigns are lacking: leadership…a central figure that takes a stand who everyone can rally around and not feel lonely. Casey isn’t a hero, but he is a prime-example of what those who are bullied are yearning for…someone they can relate to and look to as a friend who deals with the same issues as them.

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