An "It Get's Better" Vid

[rabid1st]

Ganked this from thisficklemob.

Voted..NOT WORK SAFE for very explicit language. There are also a number of horrible things to call people, used for illustrative purposes, but still...

I liked that there was a post script for all kids who are different. I certainly qualified as a different kid in my youth as did many members of my family.

Comments

[thisficklemob.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you liked it. :)

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

It's a great vid, even without the cause. I really liked the credit clip, because I was isolated as a kid just for being a weirdo. But it did get better for me in the larger world.

[thisficklemob.livejournal.com]

I was picked on for other reasons in grade school, too. (I didn't figure out I was bi until college.) But I was a weird kid, too.

At first, I was annoyd at the, "But what about the other reasons kids are bullied?" comments, because I felt it was very, "But, what about the straights?" (A la "What about the menz?" that comes up whenever someone tries to hold a discussion about a women's issue.) Derailing, y'know?

But then I realized, while some people were doing that, (and others are in denial about just how socially acceptable homophobic bullying is, to the point of being accepted and even perpetrated by teachers and administrators), at least some of the people were coming from a place of having been bullied and isolated for other reasons. And in that case, I think it's all to the good that people are raising awareness about that generally. Because the one common thing about high school is, it forces you to interact with people you'd never choose to associate with, including assholes; and those are the people that it's easier to avoid when you get older, and your choices about who you associate with get broader.

Actually, for me high school got better even during high school; everyone had their group, and while there were definitely the popular kids, it didn't seem like bullying the weak became a sport like it does in other schools. By the end of high school, my class was very live and let live.

This, incidentally, is why I'm opposed to School Spirit as a positive value -- our class's apathy I think made everybody more chill to one another.

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

I think School Spirit can work if it is more inclusive, allowing freaky people to have their say. I went to two high schools. In the first one I was isolated and outcast and in the second one I was part of a group. The group I joined was full of weird creative types and we branched out from the Yearbook Staff. As Yearbook Staff we interacted with the other groups, jocks, cheerleaders, band geeks, and while I'm not sure I was respected, I wasn't bullied by them. I was teased in the first school, but only because I stubbornly refused to interact with people. Me! Imagine! :grin:

One of the interesting things to note about this vid is that if you look at the women coming out, you will see a great cross-section of body types, but the men tend to be those who are easily identified as different. As she sings, "Ricky Martin, big surprise!" I find that very telling, because I think that there is a similarly diverse collection of body types among gay men, but we tend to only out those who are obviously less "manly" in behavior or physical characteristics. I wonder how many gay men just marry some woman to be "normal," ignoring their sexuality or going on the down low. Of course, as you know, it isn't just men that make that choice.

[thisficklemob.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm sure school spirit can be done in a non-jerky way... but I found that the less people actually felt that high school itself was a big fucking deal, the less effort they cared to put into ruling it or running it or the pecking order of it. Y'know?

I dunno. I see what you're saying, but... is Billy Joe from Green Day easily ID'd as different? Ian McClellan? Obi Wan? Sure, Ricky Martin and Elton John fit stereotypes, but then, so do Ellen Degeneres and Rosie O'Donnell.

I think it is hard to be gay in Hollywood, either way. It's not just about personally being ready to come out, but whether studios will believe you're marketable if you do. I think there's a particular pressure on the big-name movie stars to be the embodiment of (straight) people's fantasies, that we just don't apply to musicians or even politicians. (Who face their own pressures, I'm sure.)

[julesndairyland.livejournal.com]

Awesome!

Thanks for sharing!

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

No problem. I think it's pretty awesome, too.

[sal101010.livejournal.com]

Wow, that was rather cool!

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

Yeah! I sort of love this vid all on it's own. As a music vid, you know? But it also carries a great message about bullying. I think it the parents of little kids who are being bullied told them that assholes are the first people you will forget, it might help. I know that we tend to keep those folks alive in our head by replaying our saddest moments, but seriously, the bullies in from my childhood really do have zero relevance today.