today i witnessed some pretty bad bullying

[weak]

I was eating at the Cheesecake Factory right by the mall earlier tonight. Was seated outside in the patio area, so I was right next to all the people passing by on the sidewalk.

Heard a commotion coming from a crowd of people about 20 feet away... there was literally dozen black kids ganging up on a single Asian kid who was all by himself. All the kids present were about 15 years old. The leader of the pack was up in the face of the Asian kid saying "come on, meet me in the back so I can kick your ass bitch" blah blah blah.

The Asian was obviously scared shitless, At one point I could hear him on his cellphone pleading with his mom to come pick him up.

I was with my friend, we're about 8 years older and 2 feet taller than all these kids. Wouldn't have been hard to do what was needed to keep this kid from getting jumped. So we were contemplating whether to intervene or not, but then the commotion quickly died down and the black kids walked away.

I don't know what to say. The whole thing made me sick. I can't help but wonder what would've happened had the conflict escalated into violence.

Lets say that did happen. Lets say they all started jumping the Asian kid. What would be the right thing for me to do? It would've been impossible for cops to arrive in time, so it seems my only option would be to physically intervene..

What do you guys think?

Try to break up the fight, even if it means becoming apart of it? Or stand aside?

 

[ripewithdecay]

That would be a hard choice but I don't think i could sit by and watch a poor kid get beat to death by 12 angry kids. At the same time, with that many of them it would be quite easy to get seriously hurt if you were to intervene, especially if one of them happened to be carrying something deadly.
You would just have to hope that diplomacy and the fact that you're quite a bit older would be enough to make them back off.

 

[Ashiene]

You and your friend against a dozen kid thugs? You won't win. They will swarm around you like ants, grab your limbs like how ants grab the antennae and legs of other insects, then beat the crap out of you.

But what you can do is to alert passers-by of the fight/bullying and hopefully the kid thugs will leave the scene.

 

[Perfidion]

I loathe bullies. Especially when they hunt in packs, which is abject cowardice. Had things escalated I'd have intervened, even it meant getting into trouble or having my ass handed to me, (which has happened before).

I don't know if you've ever seen those video experiments researchers and journalists have done, where they take an actor and dress them up as a homeless guy, or someone who looks otherwise socially unacceptable. Then they place them in a choreographed "situation" and observe to see if anyone comes to their aid. A lot of people won't. They think it's not their problem, or he's just some filthy junkie or vagrant, so who cares? Or perhaps they're just scared, or too concerned about what other people might think. Frankly, this sort of thing really doesn't do a lot to address my antipathy for the entire human race.

 

[anomicdeer]

that is terrible. but I dont know what would be the right decision. I think they fight should be broke up if it happened but if those kids were much more disrespectful they would have started some mess with whoever wanted to end it.

 

[philly2bits]

I actually was in a situation like this in high school. It was 4 freshmen ganging up on another. I was a sophomore. Like Perfidion said, a group is a bunch of cowards. Once I told them it was going to have to be 2 on 4 instead of 1 on 4, they backed off. The story has a bad ending though. After school, when I was not around, they beat him up anyway and his parents had transfer him to another school.

 

[WastedPotential]

i think it's funny how you brought up their ethnicities.

 

[Drongo]

There are a subculture of these people where I live, they call themselves "lads" (similar to the "chavs" in the UK), and they enjoy nothing better than robbing/beating smaller people in large packs; true cowards.

Unfortunately, even if escalated to where it's morally responsive to interfere, you risk antagonizing the situation with these sort of people resulting in even more violence; no matter how big you are, you can't win against a pack of people, especially when they have weapons (quite likely). As someone mentioned, bring it to the publics attention and maybe in numbers you can simply intimidate them.

I don't know if you've ever seen those video experiments researchers and journalists have done, where they take an actor and dress them up as a homeless guy, or someone who looks otherwise socially unacceptable. Then they place them in a choreographed "situation" and observe to see if anyone comes to their aid.

Saw a few recently on A Current Affair; you're right, noone helps.

i think it's funny how you brought up their ethnicities.

I noticed that too.

 

[206Raider]

I pissed some guys off the other day at like 1 in the morning I was driving and I dunno why these guys got so mad I was by myself driving home and they was honking and flashing there lights at me, I was nervous but I put on my brakes and pissed them off more and after like 10 minutes they went around me and sped off. no way was I pulling over and getting jumped but I have a problem with backing down so I didnt want to pull over for them haha

 

[weak]

i think it's funny how you brought up their ethnicities.

And why is that? I think ethnicity is a pretty important detail and if you don't agree, let me ask you this - if you were forced into a fight and could choose the ethnicity of your opponents, what would you choose and why?

 

[PhantomPod]

I don't think it's funny how you brought up the ethnicities. I see why you did.

I saw on Good Morning America the beginning of this month a story about a boy who got jumped by a group of kids (black kids. They were part of a gang. Could white kids be the bullies and be part of a gang? Yes, but I still see fit to say that these gang members were black). The boy who got jumped died. He was only 14 years old. This only just happened in Maryland. It's really sad.

It's tough to say how exactly such a situation should be handled, but I truly think I would jump in and try to break it up and scare the bullies away. Especially since I'd be much older than them.

 

[market.garden]

I don't think enough people step in these days. The police will never come quick enough, and so it is up to decent people to look out for each other.

Sadly in the UK people often get stabbed for trying to intervene. One of those things you have to judge as and when.

 

[Kinetik]

It's never really a good idea to intervene unless it's a situation you're sure you'll be okay in. Breaking up a gang of teenage runts is not something to be taken lightly. Kids these days are pretty effing nuts - they're quite capable of acquiring and using all kinds of weapons. So really, all you can do is report it. No shame in not getting involved if your own life is on the line.

 

[WastedPotential]

if you were forced into a fight and could choose the ethnicity of your opponents, what would you choose and why?

i'd take on anyone if it got to that point, it doesn't matter to me.
strength has no ethnic limits.

 

[mndigi]

Some people get a boost to their ego or they get thrilled by bullying or torturing others. It's an overblown version of a 9 year old kid drowning an insect in water I suppose. Psychopaths/serial killers are an even bigger version of bullies.

But we are cultured and evolved humans now. So we have the police and other authorities to whom we have given responsibilities and weaponry to prevent and stop all this. So unless you yourself are similarly armed and trained, it's risky to get involved. But you should remember that such bullies probably suffer to their ends one day. That's because they indulge in very risky behaviour.

All of this is of very less consolation to someone like that Asian kid who was scared and calling his mother. But what to do. Every bit helps in making the society a better place I suppose.

I myself have a deep, deep hatred for bullies because they are the cause of my SA. They should be reformed/confined/eliminated. It goes for criminals too, and pretty much any one who tramples on others (the law enforcement works like this itself I think)

 

[Noca]

Id pull out my knife and ward off the bullies.

 

[WastedPotential]

But we are cultured and evolved humans now. So we have the police and other authorities to whom we have given responsibilities and weaponry to prevent and stop all this. So unless you yourself are similarly armed and trained, it's risky to get involved. But you should remember that such bullies probably suffer to their ends one day. That's because they indulge in very risky behaviour.

this is dumb; you can't rely on someone else to save you all the time. Stand up for yourself, even if it'll give you a black eye, at least there's some kind of self-honor to get out of it.


i wish more people had a stronger sense of justice and would help others

 

[kevinvincent86]

If it was at or near a mall, there was probably plenty of people around.

Like some of you said, in that situation it's a numbers game, and it really should have been up to everyone--not just 2 tall guys--to distract them until security arrives. Experiments have shown that a hundred soccer moms swinging their purses and jabbing their car keys can turn a small group of teen punks into a quivering pile of hamburger.

 

[recluse]

i think it's funny how you brought up their ethnicities.

I don't think he was being prejudice by mentioning that they were black, it was just a way of describing the situation. It was most likely a racially motivated attack anyway, the kid they were picking on being Asian.

I remember a few years ago i went along with some workmates for a quick drink after work, it was only 7pm and being winter it was dark. We were all sitting by the window of the pub when all of the sudden a gang of white kids came in and they were kicked out for being too young i think, there was a black guy standing by the bar and they must have said something racist to him because he ran out after them. Next thing he got knocked to the ground and was getting beaten up in full view of people who were doing Christmas shopping with their kids. All we did was sit there and watch frozen to the spot. The barmaid ran out to interevene and she got hit in the face. I felt ashamed as the others probably did for not interevening.

There's nothing worse than witnessing someone being beaten up by a gang, you feel helpless, but what can you do when there's a gang like a pack of wolves?

 

[Jannah]

He was just describing them, he wasn't trying to be prejudice by mentioning there ethnicity.

People who gang up on a single person are cowards.