The law does not seem to want to engage with "verbal violence", but only with physical stuff, that can easily be proven in court? Which means it is not "illegal" to attack people verbally, only physically. I often have thought that it
should be illegal, as it often can be
way more damaging than things like being assaulted, having sth stolen, going 10 km/hr over speed limit, etc, etc. Also another thing is that the damage done by verbal abuse tends to manifest over many years - it's seldom just a single event, which is another reason why the law cannot really deal with it (too complex). And it would be very hard to prove the damage incurred, partly due to the fact that every person reacts differently to this "verbal abuse". And how would the court prove that it was
unprovoked verbal abuse??. Very very tricky. I'm afraid there are some things that are still very much beyond human technology to deal with
How does one substantiate all of it? Or differentiate it from other people's experiences? For instance, i personally (imho) had my fair share of "bullying", but i never viewed it as such (perhaps because most of it was so subtle? or as i never actually got violently assaulted as such?).
There were just a few boys who regularly poked fun at me, & do other macho things like hold me up against a wall by my throat, trip me up, shoulder-barge me, hold my head under water until i struggled, "ping" my ear with finger every few days, grab me by ear & held me there for a few minutes (was in seat behind me on bus; & it hurt too!), etc, etc. I had people laugh at me on a fair number of occasions, even once the whole school did (when i tripped coming up steps to get award, due to nervousness). One teacher didn't like me, and once whipped my hand with a plastic whitebord pointer (it hurt sig). And all that's just in school !!.
At home my older sibling regulalry teased me, for many years (he knew i reacted badly to it, which is why he did it). And same as you, i got ZERO useful/emotional support from my family, and then tended to blame me & give useless//ignorant/sh*t advise. And i only had "school-friends" never any proper friends i could hang out with away from school. So basically i lived my youth all alone, with no support at all (the only suport was myself) :alone:
Mind you in my country is not very tolerant of people complaining about their issues. It's a very "hard" country. If you have problems, you're expected just to "suck it up" & "get on with doing things". A very backward trait for a society to have imho. but we (new zealand) are very much a backwards country in terms of spirituality, open-mindedness & such. So what did i do?. I "sucked it up", and barely said anything about my issues to anyone. if i
did, such as mention stuff to mum, she would "shoot me down in flames"; and i
never dared talk of my issues to dad, as he's a 100% macho/top-dog man with a scary temper (which i lived somewhat in fear of i guess, subconsciously).
Anyway, my main point is that how would you differentiate
your past bullying/verbal-abuse from somebody's else such as mine? I have been given an absolute cr*p hand in life, YET i have no need or desire to seek monetary reparations (eg by way of a lawsuit). For sure though i have had many times where i really wanted
revenge badly (& justice). But i've always secretly known that life is simply not fair, and so the chances of me getting the adequate revenge i want/need would probably never happen. I certainly never expected to receive any
money for my past troubles! (if i did, i would be a
billionaire by now!
)
