Saturday, February 4, 2012

A Tale of Two Bullies: Me and My Murderer

I'm a bully.

At least, I was

I might still be, but that's not the point.

I'm not going to justify myself, or make it seem like my bullying ways were legitimate or fair, or excusable, but I'll tell you right up front that I didn't intend to be a bully. I meant to be the funny guy.

It's a popular myth that bullies are afraid of the people they attack, but I think that's actually an accidental result of the mocking rather than the immediate cause.

Bullies attack people that are just different, it's that basic.

It's where racism comes from.

This post isn't expressly about me, but I'll tell you a quick story about myself:

When I was 17, I was sitting in stand-still traffic, in the right most lane. I was listening to music and hanging out, when I saw a big muscular black guy walking up the side of the road. Before I knew what happened, I instinctively locked the doors of the car.

My heart sank...

What did I just do!? Did I assume this guy was going to try to steal my car and sit in the traffic?? Was I a racist? What the fuck??

I was seriously worried that I had just revealed myself to be a bigot. I thought about it a lot.

A few months later, I found myself sitting in more traffic. In the right most lane again. Listening to music. This time I looked up and saw a little old white lady walking up the side of the road. Before I knew what happened, my hand reached out and locked the doors again.

HOORAY!

I'M NOT RACIST, I'M JUST AFRAID OF EVERYTHING!


Especially little quiet people who wear bow-ties. Which brings me to my story:

There's a guy that I used to be "friends" with on Facebook, who, for the sake of this story, I'll refer to as "Elmer."

Elmer is a fucking asshole.

On Facebook, Elmer is constantly posting statuses, usually around three times a day, which are typically centered around how abortion should be made illegal (this is technically up for debate, but it's not the point of this post. If you have a problem with giving people a choice as to how they should conduct themselves and decide their future, go ahead an give me a reasoned argument for removing someone's options), and how any non-Christian is a fool. He posts about how "boughetto" (a crude word which is a combination of "bourgeoisie" and "ghetto") people are loud and stupid and annoying. He frequently deals in stereotypes about black people. On Martin Luther King day, he posted something fucking crazy about having the day off and whether or not it's deserved, and how MLK Jr. himself would say "Ni**er please" in regards to...something...

Elmer has blocked me on facebook, so I can't easily quote the post, but if I can find a way to quote the "Ni**er please" post in the future, I'll add it in. If you're friends with this prick and you can find it, send me a screen cap at WillAndBobby@gmail.com!

Anyway, I find him infuriating. He's a bully. And so I fucking bully him.

Most of the time I just post asinine shit.

For example:

Last week he posted something about how he couldn't wait to go home and have his "supper."

I thought it was absurd that he called "dinner" "supper," so at first I was going to post, "haha, what the fuck? You call it 'supper'?"

But it didn't seem funny enough.

So then I was about to write, "Oh boy, I love 'supper.'"

But then it wasn't weird enough (that's important to me), so I finally posted, "Oh no, my supper is cold :("

Perfect!

It's fucking stupid and irrelevant and not worth getting angry at, while still being weird and funny. And he mostly used to let me get away with just posting weird shit on his page, which was part of the fun.

Not all my posts have been benign though. I've called him out about threatening people.

A year ago, he wrote about how he never forgets the people who wronged him, and how one day they'll pay for it.

It set me off. And I wrote something along the lines of, "So you're threatening people now? I guess someday we'll see your face in the papers."

He went OFF! He freaked out and wrote a long post about how I had compared him to Jared Lee Loughner (a comparison which I didn't intend, but nonetheless find accurate).

I was mostly worried that I might lose the place where I posted absurd bullshit. And this guy is an accidental comedic genius.

That seems like a good enough background to explain what happened a couple of days ago.

Elmer posted this:


How's that for some racist bullshit?!

Really, the fact that black people were once discriminated against and hated means that black people should have learned not to be rude to anybody?

If you're going to use the argument that racism should have an effect on how black people "should" act, it would be that THEY ARE FREE TO DO WHATEVER THE FUCK THEY LIKE after white people did whatever the fuck they liked!

You stupid asshole!

You racist piece of shit!

You bow-tie-wearing human trash!

Now I'm not trying to big myself up or make my role in this world more significant than it is...And YES, I am (or WAS) willingly "friends" with Elmer, who I would usually just mock with goofy bullshit, but man this set me off.

He was seeming to revel in his own bullshit and awfulness. His anger is well documented. And more than that, he has people who read his bullshit and agree with him. I don't presume I'm going to change the world, but I also can't very well look at small-minded shit like this and move on. I wanted to call him out on his fucking prejudice.

At first I wrote, "Hey [Elmer], which do you hate more: racism or black people?" But I ended up deleting that and coming up with "It's a good thing white people and Asian people aren't rude at all." 

Compared to what I was originally going to write, that's nothing. Even still, I received a fucking frantic, lunatic, rapid fire, SUPER angry response back about how I had twisted his words and how I was spouting "fallacies," which is a bullshit old-world, biblical term meaning "falsehoods." 

...Which is also old and biblical. 

Fuck...

Anyway, he went on to attack me by saying something along the lines of (I'll add actual quotes if possible) "how do you know I won't post something negative about white people or Asians in the future."

To put it bluntly, he's a defensive nut.

I wrote back "Feel free to surprise me but..." and I went on to point out that even if he eventually posts about how white people can be rude in the modern world, he's currently talking about specifically black people...who he has written about before...in the same shitty negative tone.

I'll say it now: Go fuck yourself  "Elmer."

After this most recent outburst, where I blatantly point out his racism, he finally decided to block me. 

He should have done it years ago.

Unfortunately for me, this son of a bitch gets the best of me here:

He says that I have been antagonizing him for years (again, I'll post the actual quotes in the future if possible). And he's right. I have been. But I'll say again that it's because of his misogyny and racism that I lash out.

He also makes a point of saying that he remembers how I treated him in middle school and high school.

Now we're back to that Jared Lee Loughner bullshit.

What, may I ask, is the point of saying to somebody that you'll remember them for the way they mistreated you, unless you have some plan for how to get back at them?

I'll suggest here and now that "Elmer" has, at least in the back of his mind, some idea of lashing out against the people who has wronged him.

Which means that now I have to explain myself:

I bullied Elmer in middle school, and I have to own up to that.

In 8th or 9th grade (I honestly don't remember), I took a wood-working class which I shared with Elmer.

He was quiet, and I had no reason not to like him, but he shared a work station with me and a girl, whose name I don't remember.

I flirted with the girl, and we joked around, and we were goofy, and we made fun of anything and everything, including Elmer.

I'll remind you again that "Elmer" is a nickname for the actual guy. It's a similar name to the real thing, though, so when I tell you that me and that girl called him "Smellmer," you may well work out what his actual name is.

"Smell" was definitely a part of the name, is what I'm saying.

But it had no true basis.

He wasn't smelly, he wasn't weird, he was just quiet and fine.

I'll tell you right now, that by calling him "Smellmer", I thought the natural perception was not I was calling Elmer a loser, but that by calling him "Smellmer," I was calling myself a loser!

It was a joke on a joke.

I thought I was making fun of people who make fun of people.

"Smellmer" is the dumbest, most illogical name in the world, so by using it, I was making fun of people who might actually use it.

But no matter what, whether I intended that fucking stupid name to be hurtful or not, I have to own up to the result, which was evidently that I hurt Elmer's feelings.

I feel bad about that as a 9th grader. If at all possible, I would definitely send a message to my 15/16 year-old-self saying "leave Elmer alone," but as a 25 year-old man, I think "fuck you Elmer, you racist fuck."

So that was middle school. He has every right to say that he remembers how I treated him then, and he has  every right to hate me for it.

But high school? I don't remember shit about him then! I don't think I spoke to him at all!

So once again: fuck you Smellmer! You're talking out of your smelly, racist, ass!

No matter what, he posted that thing about how he remembers me for how I "treated" him in middle school and high school, which I interpret to mean he'll one day show up on my front step with a gun.

I'll be waiting...To die I guess...Because I don't think I'll dodge those bullets like Batman.

Yes.

I was a bully.

10 years ago.

But Elmer is a bully now.

He blocked me, and he's way smarter than man, and he works for the fucking government, but still I say, "fuck you, you racist piece of shit."

Honestly though, how awesome will it be if he tries to murder me? 

If I'm found dead, seek Smellmer. 

Actually, first check if it was a heart attack, I'm pretty overweight. If there are bullet holes, though, drive straight to Smellmer.

If you're reading this, and you know who "Elmer" REALLY is, then I suggest you go nuts on his wall, denouncing his crazy views. Fuck that asshole and his asshole friends.

Facebook is a public forum. You're free to think whatever crazy bullshit you want, but when you put it on a public site like that, don't expect it to be the same as putting it in a journal you keep under your bed. People can see it and respond. Facebook is a place for conversation and debate.

It's like being at a party, and everyone you know is there, and a few hundred people you've never met, and you see someone you used to know and you happen to notice they're saying something horrible about somebody else. Do you walk up to them and say, "hey man, that's not cool," or do you just pretend it didn't happen?

What I'm saying is that in a moment like that, you feel compelled to do one of those two things: step up or move along.

I couldn't help myself, so I stepped up. Frankly I wish I had been more brazen and given him more shit.

Life's too short to let people get away with hurting each other.

The last thing I got to say to Smellmer before the block was that I do regret being a shit head in middle school, but I'm going to call out bullshit when I see it.

He followed up with a fucking knockout punch. He really got me good. He wrote:

"Enjoy spending the rest of your life pretending to be humble while mistreating people."

Fuck. He was right: I was pretending to be humble and I was accidentally writing like some small town super-hero.

He'll never fucking see the last thing I wanted to say to him though, because I was blocked JUST before I could send it... 

My last message to Elmer is:

"Thanks!"

Bully the bullies!

Concerns, thoughts, questions, stories? Comment here or email me at WillAndBobby@gmail.com!


3 comments:

  1. Thanks man. I never really had a bullying problem myself, but I did have morons who made the dickish comments to me, like I made to "Elmer."

    You just have to grow up and move on, because the alternative is being fucking swamped in anger, which must be unbearable.

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  2. And obviously this whole situation isn't because of that stupid Chinese food post of his. That status just happened to be the one to blow this whole situation up.

    The other statuses that I refer to are just as much a part of what I'm talking about, like that Martin Luther King one. Which is definitely racist.

    As is the one I use as an example.

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