Interest Bullying – Why this may happen? (written by a local teen)
Written by Aoi*
Everyone has their own favorite activities, be it sports, chess, crossword, quiz bowl, film, acting, or gaming. Everyone has their own tastes in what they enjoy doing in their spare time, then why is it that people make fun of others for joining other clubs, what makes being part of football or lacrosse any better than being part of a foreign language club or a traditional dance club. It perplexes me why it even matters why high school students even care about what others enjoy doing, everyone has a different idea of fun, so why does this happen, I think the answer is far simpler than you may think. It has to do with how popular culture and how social media is covered.
Think about it, until recently you would never hear about things like large scale gaming tournaments but you would always hear about a football game or what game changing play a team member made. It seems when things are exposed more to the mainstream media the more it will be tolerated and loved. For example, it happened with gaming, a few years back if you asked someone to play Counter strike or Overwatch they would look at you funny and ask to play something more mainstream, nowadays due to Counter Strike and Overwatch tournaments being aired on ESPN people love and enjoy playing those games. So back to the question, why do people make fun of others for liking different things? It goes back to what I said earlier, there seems to be a correlation between what is mainstream and what is liked, because things such as culture clubs are not typically talked about in any mainstream forms of media. It’s viewed as strange, weird and foreign and thus people think you are strange, it’s cruel and it doesn’t make sense, but there is a way to change this.
That is to expose it, make flyers at your school for the events at your culture club, make more interactive events with other clubs, and maybe make a little quiz game with another club for a fundraiser. There is always a way to make the things you love something that other people can enjoy too, don’t be afraid to show what you love to other people, it could very well make someone else happy. Don’t just roll over and let society`s norms take control of what you love and enjoy doing, go out and share that love with others. If we never did that then some of our favorite things wouldn’t be possible, lots of art pieces would never come to exist, various sports wouldn’t even be here. Just remember that next time someone gives you a hard time about what you like, who’s to say your interest won`t take the world by storm next, it may very well. Enjoy your hobbies, they make you who you are, and some of them could even make you rich.
*Aoi is a pen name.
Posted by on 8 Aug 2017