Poll: Bullied teen recieves free plastic surgery

[bojackx]

Of course it's okay for them to have plastic surgery to escape bullying. Why would you refuse the victim of that? The bullying is the thing that needs to be stopped, not plastic surgery for youths. If the kid now looks better, feels better and isn't bullied, what the hell is wrong with that? Sure, in a perfect world she shouldn't have to have the surgery in the first place, but you shouldn't refuse her the help she wants, even if it's plastic surgery. The only problem with the approach is that it's costly, but hey, she's now confident and happy, who cares if she was forced to change by bullying, she's happy now.

 

[EclipseoftheDarkSun]

Everything about this story just makes me want to rage. It shows that society still hasn't overcome this obsession with image, to the point that we're willing to operate on kids to endorse this. It shows that bullies still win. It shows that parents still aren't doing their jobs. All round, it's an amalgamation of all the worst elements of western society, and it makes me feel sick.

Hmm, look up labioplasty - you'll probably vomit. Porn has a lot to answer for, not just in terms of direct exploitation.

Humans are herd animals and our default instinct sadly is to judge people by first impressions and appearance. That's why education and an open-minded community is so important..

 

[ace_of_something]

From the picture and description of the charity her ears were sticking out enough (and completely asymmetrical) to be considered a deformity and her nose was pretty darn crooked. She seems happy. 14 is a bit early for this sort of thing.

 

[Casual Shinji]

I do think bullying should be made a hate crime. It can cause anxiety disorder and other mental problems later in life. Not to mention child suicide.

Bullying lacks a solid definition to really build a hate crime law against. Most people that bully are never even aware that they're doing it. Unless the bully him/herself is an extremely hateful individual, bullying is usually the result of group mentality and someone unfortunately not fitting in with that mentality.

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

I do think bullying should be made a hate crime. It can cause anxiety disorder and other mental problems later in life. Not to mention child suicide.

Bullying lacks a solid definition to really build a hate crime law against. Most people that bully are never even aware that they're doing it. Unless the bully him/herself is an extremely hateful individual, bullying is usually the result of group mentality and someone unfortunately not fitting in with that mentality.

Something needs to be done about it.

Bullies shouldn't be able to live the rest of their life happily free of any consequences while the victim ends up with a mental disorder.

I don't think it's taken seriously enough. It's as bad as child abuse, no one would sit by and watch an adult reduce a child to tears so why is it okay if their peers do it.

 

[someonehairy-ish]

You can argue all day about what kind of message this sends or whether the bullies won, but the simple fact of the matter is that somebody who was miserable is now happier. That's all there is to it.

I was bullied in my early teens and pre-teens. For lots of reasons, I think, but being a lanky, spotty git probably didn't help. If there had been an opportunity to change that particular quality then I absolutely would have taken it, and wouldn't have regretted it - I still have a hard time feeling entirely confident now.

I think that plastic surgery is something of a double-edged sword. When people have it done for their own peace of mind and because they have otherwise insurmountable issues with their body, then it is a blessing. When people get it done simply because they're trying to approach some ridiculous societal standard (see: most boob jobs) then it's... less of a boon. I think this particular case is more of the former than the latter, but I'd encourage the girl to at least wait until she's past the awkward teen years before thinking about getting anything else done. Most people end up looking better past that stage naturally anyway.

 

[Proverbial Jon]

The teen, now 14, was recently granted her wish by the Little Baby Face Foundation, a charity that provides free corrective surgery to children born with facial deformities.

I figure this charity's money is better spent on children with cleft palate or some other serious deformation... not sticky out ears. This just seems like a gross misuse of vital funds.

However, I'm slightly more interested in this part of the article:

Nadia's story emerges months after 13-year-old Nicolette Taylor was featured on ABC's Nightline for her nose surgery to overcome online harassment and name-calling at school.

Yeah... there's far easier ways to avoid online bullying than getting plastic surgery. Like, oh I don't know, switching off the computer or not uploading your photo?

 

[TheScientificIssole]

I would rather hand out free knives for bullied kids.

Too soon! I think she can give herself the illusion of confidence. But have a charity do it? That is poop! That's like if I got a dick improvement. Or a girl got breast implants for her confidence.
And I can see why she has no confidence,her parents allowed this. Her parents decided she needed to be improved surgically. This is the product of some backwards after-school special, that asks the watcher to practice heavy vanity. We are in the same state, and I am ashamed of it.

 

[Pandabearparade]

Either way she is at least an 7/10 and I would bang.

She's 14, mate. So that's a long prison sentence you'd be looking at.

On topic: Not my place to judge one way or another. It sucks that she was bullied, but she looked fine before and looks slightly better now. Good on her.

 

[Casual Shinji]

I do think bullying should be made a hate crime. It can cause anxiety disorder and other mental problems later in life. Not to mention child suicide.

Bullying lacks a solid definition to really build a hate crime law against. Most people that bully are never even aware that they're doing it. Unless the bully him/herself is an extremely hateful individual, bullying is usually the result of group mentality and someone unfortunately not fitting in with that mentality.

Something needs to be done about it.

Bullies shouldn't be able to live the rest of their life happily free of any consequences while the victim ends up with a mental disorder.

I don't think it's taken seriously enough. It's as bad as child abuse, no one would sit by and watch an adult reduce a child to tears so why is it okay if their peers do it.

Except that a lot of bullying, most of it I would say, isn't the outright aggressive kind. A lot of it is simply ignoring someone or gossiping behind their backs. Which is something we've all done at some point in our lifes. And then there's the issue of where you draw the line between 'bullying' and 'poking fun', because that's an incredibly grey area. The comedy we see every day in movies or shows can be constituted as bullying by people with no sense of humour or a very sensitive constitution.

It would be great of all bullying came from singular bad apples, but that isn't the case.

There's plenty of cases where someone gets smothered or crushed in a crowd of people at a concert. When this happens, you can't blame it on one single person or the group as a whole (maybe the organisation or school). Nobody was out for this person's demise, but because of the group's movement (group mentality) somebody got hurt.

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

snip

Verbal bullying is just as damaging as physical bullying and people should be punished for it. It's not hard to tell who the ringleaders are. Bullying isn't an accident it's deliberate and teachers just ignore it because they don't want the hassle.

I don't think it's 'oversensitive' to be against something that can be permanently damaging.

 

[Daveman]

Well if she likes it then good on her, but frankly I couldn't see anything wrong with her beforehand. Frankly big ears aren't something I especially care about when deciding whether I find somebody attractive but I guess to each their own.

 

[JWAN]

Sometimes you have to tell your kids to deal with it in their own way. Sure bullying isn't fun but teaching your kids to accept that some people are assholes is vital for their future well-being. Case and point if someone is making fun of you/beating you up give your kid boxing lessons and make sure they beat the shit out of the bully. That way both kids learn a valuable lesson. Bullies are fucking cowards and sometimes you need to defend yourself physically.
In this particular case:
Getting your kid plastic surgery is fucking stupid. If they need reconstructive surgery to live a fruitful life then thats ok (ex. extreme burns/wounds). This was about ears... why are we teaching our kids to cave to pressures and to listen to bullies. This is an example of pussification at its finest. Why the fuck can't we teach our kids to be self reliant anymore? What the fuck is wrong with society? Remember when people would get called brace face and 4 eyes? I don't because everyone at my school understood if you call someone that you should expect a severe physical beatdown when the teachers weren't looking. The bullies were weeded out by their fellow classmates and everyone got on with their lives.
Assholes are everywhere and the faster you learn how to deal with them the better off your going to be.

 

[Casual Shinji]

snip

Verbal bullying is just as damaging as physical bullying and people should be punished for it. It's not hard to tell who the ringleaders are. Bullying isn't an accident it's deliberate and teachers just ignore it because they don't want the hassle.

I don't think it's 'oversensitive' to be against something that can be permanently damaging.

That's not what I'm getting at. Ofcourse bullying in any form is damaging to a person of any age.

But it's not as simple as saying 'those are the ringleaders'. I myself have probably unwittingly bullied others by poking fun at them or ignoring them. Not because I hated these people, but just because you can't get along with everyone you meet. And as human beings we tend to bond to those we can get along with and ignore, or be hostile to, people that we don't get along with. Essentially it's this mindset that all bullying comes from, but it's also human nature.

There's plenty of situations where there are ringleaders and istigators, but there's just as many or even more where it's simple mob mentality. And for the later there is really no solution.

 

[Scarim Coral]

So what's stopping from the other bullied kids from recieving the same thing (as in surgery to solve apperance problem)? Well ok it probably depends on the surgery like liposuction. I suppose this is more justify compared to those bimbos who want some niptuck for the sake of still looking sexy but still I am against this as kids should learn to love themselves for who they are not to be change for other sakes.