Bullying issues?

RomanBuck

RomanBuck

Simandoa
Hello all.

As you could imagine, the roach hobby is an easy target for bullying of all kinds. I have a few questions...

When do people grow up and realize that the world is different and people take interest in different things?

How would one deal with this bullying (hopefully) peacefully?

I was always told that bullying usually stops in the high school, it did for a while until this year when I got really interested in roaches and now all I can ever hear from a select group of people is "Hey Roman, how are your cocks doing?" or "Hey Roman, can I see one of your cocks?" At first it was kinda funny but when people start doing it more and more until roughly 3 months pass by, it gets really annoying. I have told them multiple times to please stop and I have tried to have a little fun with it myself. Today I nearly lost it all. I had 1 coffee accidentally dumped on me, 2 bottles of water coming out of my nose (the first one was from a good friend and I took it as a joke and she also did the same).

Is this really the world we live in? I know it wasnt perfect anyways but really? Someone needs to make fun of and totally degrade someone else because of their hobby? Why have people raised their children like this?

 
You should try not to let them affect your thinking and self-esteem. Insects are the animals that run the world. Their huge significance is already beginning to be more widely appreciated and those who view them with this sort of ignorance are just lagging behind. The first advice that comes to mind is to take their actions in a good-natured way and they will eventually get bored with trying to bother you. Having said that, the bit about the dumped coffee sounds more like genuine bullying and perhaps should be treated as such.

Just some motivational history... The prominent evolutionary biologist, E. O. Wilson, had a bucket of ice water dumped on his head during a speech because his ideas on sociobiology were too new for people. Now, he is greatly respected and admired by scientists of all disciplines. :)

Here is a link to a documentary about this:

https://www.youtube....h?v=wKbj3ZDmvdU

Good luck! I hope they realize the ridiculousness of their actions soon.

 
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As a kid people used to kill bugs in front of me when they knew I liked them, all it did was remind me of future animal/people abusers.

Liking bugs made finding friends hard but it wasn't the worst thing as I got older people were indifferent about it. I got a tattoo of a scorpion because of my love for bugs.

 
You can either

A. report the bullying to the office

B. ignore the bullying and do what you truly want

I've been bullied for liking bugs before but it didn't discourage me from sharing my passion of bugs to my school mates, and eventually the ones that bullied me became interested in the bugs too!

 
Keith, I want to get a tattoo of a scorpion but I would want a nice, vibrant species and looks mean :)

Cariblatta, I have been doing B for at minimum of 3 months with these guys. I wont EVER give up on my hopes of becoming a millionaire that has an Olympic size pool with vasoline on the rim for breeding foot long roaches to take over the world with Inkie14 ;) I dont for see these guys becoming interested in insects as they have had the silver spoon in their mouths since they were born and are incredibly ignorant in their ways.

 
I was bullied in South Korea when I was in kindergarten to elementary school (Though I was not made fun of.). And my younger brother was being badly bullied in kindergarten in South Korea. I have not really been bullied about me liking roaches here in the Highschool in NC (I do not go to school anymore.). They thought it was interesting, and a couple hispanic guys were especially nice to me. Do you know what the bully means by "cock"?

 
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I would assume they are meaning cockroaches but I think they use the word loosely to have their own twist on it.

 
I also suffered under teasing/bullying as I used to rear pure-bred poultry (chickens, turkeys, ducks, etc). I received the exact same comments about my "cock" as you can imagine.

There is no easy answer. I just dealt with it and suffered through high school. For university, I went to a private, religious college only socialized with science nerds (avoiding those who might have been cruel to me), and now I am a teacher. I have to be careful now, as I developed a sharp tongue as a response to the teasing, and now I have to be careful not to tease my students sometimes...

Again, no easy answer. I wish I could tell you that it makes you stronger... I think generally it does make one stronger, but there are times when serious damage (psychological or physical) can be done by the bullies.

 
I think raising anything and being successful with it should be an achievement to anybody. I think it would be cool to raise pure bred poultry! I used to sell mealworms to a teacher that had geese, chickens, swans, ducks and stuff like that!

I think everyone has a sharp tongue when they need it. My parents keep asking me why I explain why I breed and raise roaches. They say it only will encourage it even more. It may encourage it more, but I have this forum with great people on it that supports the roach hobby whether its for reptile food or just to do it. I dont like hockey very much or basketball but I dont make fun of people that play or support it.

 
RomanBuck said:
I had 1 coffee accidentally dumped on me, 2 bottles of water coming out of my nose (the first one was from a good friend and I took it as a joke and she also did the same).
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Aphaenogaster said:
Having said that, the bit about the dumped coffee sounds more like genuine bullying and perhaps should be treated as such.
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I think he might mean the coffee spill was an accident?
 
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Omg you guys, he's obviously talking about a male chicken! Get your heads out of the gutter!!!! :lol: ;)

I wont EVER give up on my hopes of becoming a millionaire that has an Olympic size pool with vasoline on the rim for breeding foot long roaches to take over the world with Inkie14 ;)
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That's right dude!!! Don't listen to these party poopers. If they're just making little comments and jokes they probably don't realize how offensive it can be. They might be a little more aware if you speak to them nicely about how their comments make you feel. If they reform their ways, then that's great! If they don't, then you'll have to just ignore them and remember that when you're a big bad entomologist/King of all Bugs, they'll wish that they hadn't been so mean to you. Of course, if their behavior escalates (like if you really think that they poured that coffee on you on purpose), then you certainly can't ignore that. That's something that should be dealt with by speaking with a teacher you trust.

I was bullied in elementary school, so I picked up worms and threw them at mean girls. :rolleyes: I was bullied in middle school, so I stopped hanging out with people who thought I was weird and stuck with the people who appreciated me. I was bullied in high school, so I continued to ignore the haters and focused on having fun with my friends and preparing for college. In college, EVERYTHING changed. It's not like high school at all. When I went to college, there was a whole world of new experiences, great people, and fun things to do. People in college tend to be waaay more mature. (Most of them, at least ;) ) And if you're an Animal Science major, you'll spend most of your day with Animal Science people, who appreciate the same things you do! Trust me, when you're in college, strengthening your passions and taking in all the new information around you, people will be jealous of you because they'll realize how special your talents are. You've got a little fire burning in you that I had in myself when I was in high school! Use those disrespectful comments to fuel that fire, and never let it burn out! :)

 
In my opinion, it's better to just forget the things that they do to you. Most likely, the people who bother you don't sit there on the weekend and think about what they did to you. So, the only person that you are really hurting by lingering on those comments is yourself. In my high school, it is rather large. So, I just avoid people who I know will give me trouble. I'm the kind of person who would sit there and talk about new theories in the field of psychology and differences in culture and stuff like that, so you get the idea of the kind of person I am ;) Something that I've noticed about this forum is that 99.9% of the members are friendly. That was one of the reasons why I joined this forum.

 
The people on this forum are awesome and just friendly people. I like the feeling of asking a question and getting responses that don't make you feel stupid.

 
Just like to add my .02 as a recent college grad and the resident "bug boy" both in high school and on campus...

I was never really bullied despite being well-known for my roaches. I did go to a private, Catholic school from first grade to 12th but there were still plenty of cliques and such that there were issues with people "misbehaving" on a weekly basis.

I guess the best defense against bullying is to cultivate a rich, meaningful personality. Don't just take the insults; either throw them back in a playful, intelligent manner, or play along with the joke. ("How are your cocks?" "A lot better than yours!"; "Can I see one of your cocks?" "Sure but you'll have to pay me first.") This has always worked for me in the few cases that people teased me, and in a few situations I made friends or at least gained respect from would-be bullies by using smart-alack responses. You will probably shock people this way, and this is the exact opposite of what they're looking for. Instead of an ego boost, you stop them in their tracks.

By the time you reach college, you will be revered for your knowledge and if you find a good niche on campus either in a social group or job, you'll find a lot of people who have had similar experiences and who will become your good friends. Entomologists/biologists are some of the most awesome people to be around, both for their knowledge and for the sarcasm and discussions!

 
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