MovieChat Forums > Bully (2012) Discussion > Basically,don't raise your kid in a Red ...

Basically,don't raise your kid in a Red State

posted 11 years ago by ramalho_85
29 replies | jump to latest

As a non-American that's what I got from the movie.Yeah I suppose going to school in a poor area of a major urban city must be more dangerous but those Bible belt places have a knack for squashing any sort of diversity,distinct critical thinking skills,and a constant goal for greater conformity and hegemony.Maybe it's the Jock system you have in the US where a student can basically advance academically on his athletic performance alone instead of actual grades in his/her studies...Or maybe I'm just talking out of my ass,but I do know what is to be raised in a small town,albeit these class stratifications were not as pronounced as they are in the US;the jock,miss popular and the geek could fraternize without repercussions to their social status.But you know what they say:"small towns,small minds".I know I'm coming off as a snob but all the people that I knew that left or were curious to see the rest of the world(cliché,I know)appeared to become a lot more tolerant,the ones that never went and were never exposed to different types of thinking didn't grew at all,even with the internet they never veer off to places that challenge their world view and remain in a...I don't know shell?I hope I'm not coming off as a sort of New Age Hippie(even I don't have tolerance for quackery) but I would like to know if any of this has any validity

[–] twilliams76 11 years ago

I grew up in a small town in a red state and we weren't this bad (but I do live in a city now as I wanted a change). I think you might be over-generalizing a bit; but you make some valid points about others not being open-minded or even curious about the world. I also know of some from the Bible-belt who do ostracize gay teenagers. Those in church will defend the small and weak; but that sinner deserves his/her earthy punishment (it blows my mind that they think they are following the teachings of Christ -- the man who loved ALL).

The kid picked-on in the bus in this film is from Iowa ... a blue state so we should try to avoid the red/blue political labels here. I'm thinking bullying goes on nearly everywhere and by saying it only happens in one place allows for it to continue in the other. It is a problem but I don't know how it will ever be stopped.

Parents refuse to believe their angelic child could ever be a bully and as their child is never at fault this problem cannot be remedied. So much of it has to do with parents and homelife but they'll deny this too ... which just goes to show where the problem truly starts.

[–] ramalho_85 11 years ago

I actually think that they also should have used some kids from more metropolitan cities to see the correlation and not pin-hold it to just rural areas.Also,examining the bullies themselves and not just the bullied would make for a far better examination as to the mentality and reasons of the modern bully(with the care not to be overly apologetic for their behaviour),even though I'm sure it's difficult and a bit simplistic to distil it into a couple of motive points of what is surely a more complicated issue with a wide range of social variables,not to mention increase the length of the movie considerably

[–] 11 years ago

[deleted]

[–] I_Love_Netflix 11 years ago

Souix City is in western Iowa which is pretty conservative, basically borders Nebraska (notice the Nebraska flags/signs in Alex's house)

[–] Amills23 10 years ago

Where are these Utopian places called blue states that everyone lives in harmony and there no such thing as bullying or crime or anything else. Everyone is tolerant of one another and its just magical. Is it like NYU the liberals arts school where a gay guy's roommate tape him having sex so he jumped off a bridge killed himself?

[–] Nagumo2001 11 years ago

What you're describing has more to so with small town mentality than any particular political affiliation. In part because it's easier for similar thinking to exist among a tight knit community than a larger community with more variety in their general beliefs.

Take the murder of Brian Deneke in Amarillo Texas as an example. Small town that prized its football team to the point that the community allowed members of the football team do anything they pleased. Even down to giving a football player that admitted deliberately running over and killing Deneke no prison time for the crime (Dustin Camp even joked to his girlfriend that the crunch they heard was Deneke's skull cracking under Dustin's car).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Brian_Deneke

Now, the same type of incident can occur anywhere. Small town, big city, anywhere. What's less likely to occur in a larger area is the homogeneous thinking that allowed a murderer to walk away with no more than probation. And not just any murder, but one involving deliberate premeditation, where the murderer took pleasure in killing a defenseless individual just because he was involved in the punk scene. From the actions of the community, it's clear that the intolerance Dustin exhibited was a learned behavior, instilled by his parents and other community members.

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[–] Noufa 11 years ago

"What's less likely to occur in a larger area is the homogeneous thinking that allowed a murderer to walk away with no more than probation."

I get what you're saying. The legal system in large metro areas take a more cold, detached, by-the-book approach to these matters. And that's mostly a good thing. I know how demoralizing it is when government authorities get cute with the law & overlook crimes of their favored in-group.

But Max Weber said government is the monopoly on violence. And in large metro areas, the government officials face very real challenges to their monopoly. The challenge comes from irrational racial gangs. Zenkai76 hints at this below.

Remember the "stop snitchin" campaign:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_Snitchin%27

That's a good example of a community enabling & teaching some pretty bad behavior.

[–] critterdhs05 11 years ago

I am not a fan of the south but i wouldn't say it just the red states it all state that have the issue.

[–] Zenkai76 11 years ago

Give me a break, blue state are the worst with gang violence

[–] mviedirctr 11 years ago

I grew up in California and still live here. It's a fvcking Blue State. Yet the amount of bullying these kids underwent is the same here. I am a victim myself. It is EVERYWHERE, not just in a Red State, so don't be prejudiced, which is a form of bullying.

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[–] kazmimiaa 11 years ago

Cali is a red/blue state, very red in some cities and very blue in other cities. But yeah, bullying is everywhere and it is breaking my heart.

[–] mountdoom 11 years ago

This has probably been added already, but I'll just say it. It doesn't matter where you are - there are jerks anywhere. I grew up in the suburbs of Minneapolis (nice area) and was brutally bullied because I have slight cerebral palsy (I have a limp and a couple other things only some people notice) and am a severe epileptic. It was to the point where I tried to kill myself when I was fifteen, which I hate even admitting because it's so horrible. A year later, I got a job and found friends there who could have cared less about those things. So I would never say it is just based on where you are. There are good and bad people everywhere.

[–] khinardin 11 years ago

Yeah, bullying is not defined by political affiliation. I grew up in New Zealand and currently live in Australia and have lived in the Uk, and in all three cases the American Democrats would be a lot more politically aligned to the right side of politics in those three countries than the left, but bullying still happens in Aus, NZ and the UK.

[–] vnse 11 years ago

Hey Moron OP,

Iowa is a blue state.

Now go away.

[–] chetripley80 11 years ago

"Hey Moron OP,

Iowa is a blue state.

Now go away."

Actually, Iowa a swing state. The only reason it's not a red state is because of the large amount of residents that are members of agricultural unions. You might want to brush up on some basic facts before name-calling.

And if you're thinking it's a blue state because of the last two presidential elections, or because of legalized gay marriage, please check out which political party was elected in the majority of Iowa's political positions.

[–] Irish_Mist 11 years ago

This is got to be the most ridiculous post I've read on this message board. Seeing as how you're not an American, you are looking at this as an outsider. People get bullied EVERYWHERE. Small towns, urban areas. It doesn't matter what political leaning a state has. Wherever there are kids, there will be bullies. Do you have any statistical evidence to back up your ridiculous claim? Have you done any research on this hypothesis you hold? Or... are you just drawing this asinine conclusion based on this documentary (who by the way should have included some inner city kids in this to get a bigger, diverse picture of the bullying epidemic)?

I will say I agree with your conclusion about "jocks". Our socitey places way too much emphasis on athletics and will go to great lenghts to protect athletes even when involved in scandal and controversy. The Joe Paterno/Jerry Sandusky controversy at Penn State and the Steubenville rape are prime examples.

"small towns,small minds".

Sadly, that's right on the money. I wasn't surprised at all at the way Kelby was treated for being gay. Our society has come a long way in how gay adults and teens are treated but there still is quite a ways to go. It comes as no shock that a small town like that would shun her and her family. I will say that this behavior is not a true representation of what a REAL christian would do.

So yeah... I pretty much agree with everything you said except for the political observation. When it comes to kids, I don't think it matters what political influence is taking place in the state because bullying happens everywhere. I could possibly see this holding weight when it comes to gay kids because quite frankly, a small conservative town isn't going to be as open to gay kids as say an urban area.

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[–] RightSmarts1 11 years ago

I don't know about bully statistics, but crime is significantly worse in blue counties.

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