This past Monday saw the Reverse Thieves post their latest statistics from their Otaku Diaries project. The topic: Bullying. The original question basically asked whether or not you were ever bullied or were a bully, and probably to no one’s surprise the vast majority of those surveyed mentioned that they were at one point or another the target of mental and/or physical abuse by their peers.
One thing that Hisui is quick to point out that I find quite interesting is the sheer level of discomfort that otaku seem to be at when discussing a topic such as bullying. They are eager to share a long, detailed list of fetishes, but won’t elaborate on when or how or why they were bullied. It kind of sends a message that otaku have little shame when given an anonymous survey but are still hesitant to open up old wounds. It’s not surprising of course, but it really gives a good view of how otaku view themselves, and it basically comes down to a shunning of that which has hurt us, and a celebration of that which brings us pleasure (and in this case, pleasure).
I too was a victim of bullying for a number of years, and for many years after that I harbored a deep, personality-affecting anger towards my tormentors. Did it contribute to the person I am today? I think so, but in a different sort of way. As time has passed, I still do not look upon those days fondly, but with enough emotional distance and perspective available to me now, I realize that as much as I hated my bullies then, we were all stupid kids. How much can I blame a bunch of kids for doing dumb things, when all they really wanted was to try and grow up as quickly as possible and act like adults? Should I be blaming the kids for having a warped perception of what it means to be mature, or should I be questioning their upbringing?
Being bullied made me realize just how wrong it is to diminish another person. That’s not to say you should never criticize someone, kick someone out, or even get into physical altercations, but there better be a damn good reason for it, and it better not just be to pad your own ego.
Actually, probably the thing that made me more forgiving of my old bullies was when I began to see geeks bullying other geeks. This initially disturbed me quite a bit, as I believed that all geeks and dorks were inherently nice people who were just the victims of others’ malice, but then I found out that given the opportunity, those same geeks were capable of turning around and becoming bullies themselves. I truly believe that bullying with your intelligence is a far greater crime than bullying with your fists, especially when it’s by those who should know better, but what can I do about it aside from speak about it here and warn my fellow otaku to not fall into the same trap?
Please get along, anime fans of the world. I would hate to see any of you make the mistakes of those before you.
OGIUE MANIAX 
I find this….odd. I was picked on quite a lot as a child, and didn’t have a true friend until 5th/6th grade. Although I don’t recall having much hatred at all for my tormentors; they were simply being foolish. Although I suppose I’m rather a minority in that.
But yes, for whatever reason, shooting down someone else (particularly on the internet) is a rather extensive epidemic. It’s not solely geeks that do this, but it’s disheartening in the ways geeks do this — often judging someone’s worth on their tastes, even if they both share an interest in an overall subculture. This is perhaps most obvious when it comes to anime fans, sadly enough. Insulting ‘n00bs’ and the like has been around forever, and it’s Generally Harmless, although it’s taken to a whole other level in the anime community. There Are annoying fans of shows like naruto, but many otaku are far too quick to judge an entire person’s character based on their interest in similar gateway shows. There’s just a lot of pent-up anger, frustration, and lack of confidence in a lot of otaku that causes this, I imagine.
It saddens me.
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Hm. I was always an isolated and weird kid, but I was also kind of a violent kid so people left me alone. Bullying incidents only occurred in elementary school until I beat up a bitch in retaliation and then no one bothered me ever again, so middle school and high school were all clear~.
That said, I do also find it interesting and kind of bothersome when nerds go against their own, which is mostly evidenced in various factions of fans caused by divisions of genre, Eastern v. Western, age, and gender. The East/West and gender divides I encounter the most often; the former probably because loyalties run high in both categories and neither side wants to accept the other for fear of being viewed as conceding their own sides equivalency. The latter because I’m majoring in drawing comics and god forbid girls draw and read comics too.
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