Obamas Address Bullying In Facebook Video

In preparation for the White House Conference on Bullying Prevention, the president and first lady released a video urging Americans to participate in helping to end bullying in schools and communities nationwide.

President Obama explained,

"For a long time bullying was treated as an unavoidable part of growing up, but more and more, we're seeing how harmful it can be for our kids -- especially when it follows them from their school to their phone to their computer screen."

Now, Obama stressed "putting a stop to bullying is a responsibility we all share."

WATCH:

Comments

[TomStelene]

09:49 AM on 04/25/2011

Community organizers are socio-political-economic bullies. If in doubt of that, just read an Alinsky book.

[SonyaInTx]

07:24 PM on 03/16/2011

This message needs to be directed at school teachers and principals. They are the ones in most cases that reach the newspapers as having condonded bullying in their schools by saying, "we can't police children every second they are on school grounds.....we have 1000+ sutdents...."

Excuses, excuses until the picked on kid kills themselves or others.

[chubber]

08:23 PM on 03/11/2011

Bullying is only kept alive because of all the attention it's getting.

[Stephen Stafford]

05:19 PM on 04/06/2011

Ok. You are starting off on a bad note. Bullying is as old as childhood itself, and can extend to the total lifespan. The attention is not causing some wayward soul to say, "I think I will try that bullying out".

Comments and posts work best when they make sense. When they are to be a joke, it helps if there is something comical about them.

[Pema]

12:39 PM on 04/07/2011

The attention is not causing some wayward soul to say, "I think I will try that bullying out".
very well said. this problem goes deeper, its a gestalt of many factors, some is pre dispodition to anger, parent handling conflict poorly, haveing DV in the home, violence on tv and vid games de sensitizing. also i would like to see the grades achieved by bullies, i have a feeling they are lower on average. schools arent doing enough. they should have student files that are red flagged.
anyway that just imo...

[corwin]

03:53 PM on 03/11/2011

What next? Bad breath? I'm beginning to think joe Biden's the smart one

[kornbluthwasright]

10:00 PM on 03/10/2011

As a victim of bullying in public schools--in elementary, junior high (this was before they called them "middle schools"), and part of high school--I applaud this worthwhile stand from Mr. and Mrs. Obama. My beloved mother--well-meaning as always, but in this case I fear quite wrong--urged me to "ignore them and they'll get tired of being ignored and stop teasing/hitting/hurting you." It didn't work. It should be obvious that ignoring the problem of bullying on a state- or countrywide basis won't work either. So again, kudos to the President and the First Lady for addressing this important issue.

[sonjasmom]

06:52 PM on 03/10/2011

Ooops - now that the Obamas have both come out against bullying, I expect that Republicans will be specifically teaching their kids how to recognize who to pick on, and the best taunts to use.

[Stephen Stafford]

05:20 PM on 04/06/2011

Their children get to model that at home already.

[SangZe]

05:04 PM on 03/10/2011

Allow students to carry guns and bullying would quickly end.

[MSchlagel]

09:58 PM on 03/10/2011

Perhaps you would like to present this extremely dubious piece of wisdom to the parents of Lawrence King who was shot in front of his classmates by another student in Oxnard, CA in February 2008. Lawrence was an openly gay middle school student who was killed by another student who brought a gun to school, entered a computer lab and shot Lawrence in the head at point blank range. With respect, sometimes one should not express every thought that travels recklessly through one’s head.

[Anarchy4hire]

03:37 PM on 03/10/2011

The head of the biggest bully in the world talking about ending bullying....priceless

[Pembrokelib]

05:40 PM on 03/16/2011

Your pseudonym is extremely apt.

[Eidolas]

12:13 PM on 03/10/2011

Better send the video to the protestors brought into Madison by the union bosses.

[madatnewsmedia]

12:57 PM on 03/10/2011

Get real!

[desertdweller]

11:34 AM on 03/10/2011

Let's start with bully #1, Rush Limbaugh. I can only imagine what he was like as a teenager.

[Pembrokelib]

05:42 PM on 03/16/2011

I bet he loved to torture kittens. Glenn Beck would have helped.

[media4me]

09:44 AM on 03/10/2011

Hey MO.
Go smack on some ribs will ya, and just mind your own business.

[desertdweller]

11:35 AM on 03/10/2011

Feeling a little threatened are we?

[media4me]

11:52 AM on 03/10/2011

By this crew fo' sho'.

[Tristan Traylor]

12:40 AM on 03/10/2011

The fastest way to stop bullying will be to completely reform our school system. Privatization and/or charters with minimal regulation.

Why will that help?

Partly because our kids are bored and are not being challenged in public schools. Partly because the melting pot that Dewey was so found of creating is not proving to be such a healthy thing for children.

Our current attempts to melt children together into some new culture is doing nothing more than melting our kids down with friction. They are being oversocialized. Recent reports indicate that the serious problems of drug and alcohol use, as well as the high percentage of students who are being medicated, are related to children's social anxieties. In other words, it is the drama being played out at school, at lunch, at the dances, at the parties, at the football games, in the classroom, and on Facebook that is eating away at our children.

Our public educational system, while trying to do something noble (at least that is the story) for our children, is really doing nothing but institutionalizing them. I think you will find that there will be a direct correlation between a parent's right and responsibility to decide how their children are raised and trained and those young people'so mental health.

Be assured, if our government schools continue in any semblance of their present state, bullying will only get much worse. You can't stop bullying with slogans, signs, and stern warnings, let's be honest.

[desertdweller]

11:37 AM on 03/10/2011

While we are at it, why don't we just allow corporal punishment and mandatory school prayer. That will solve everything.

[Tristan Traylor]

09:48 AM on 03/13/2011

I don't recall saying anything about corporal punishment and mandatory school prayer. Where did that come from?

When children are treated horrifically and alienated in broken families, when many children are full of themselves because of their parents misplaced values and unworthy praise of their children over other children, when children fill their minds full of crap from entertainment and the internet, when kids have to battle for social position, importance, and emotional safety every single day at school, when kids are embarrassed constantly because they are made to attend classes they have absolutely NO talent or gifting for,

when children experience all of this regularly, BULLYING IS GOING TO FLY and there is nothing you can do to stop it with feel-good programs.

Parents need a much wider selection of environments for their children to grow up in while they are being trained for THEIR best talents. Privatization will do this. Sticking children in public schools with ALL of the damaged children is NOT GOING TO CUT IT.

It is some charter schools that are actually boarding children so they have a more protected environment daily.

You ought to consider the benefits to this instead of a quick knee-jerk. I don't care if anyone gets a spanking if they get consistent discipline and a better environment than the many children are currently living in. Prayer is for private schooling which I hope more children can attend.

[Fran Jaime]

09:16 PM on 03/10/2011

oversocialized???

[Tristan Traylor]

01:29 AM on 03/13/2011

Oh, someone can only be undersocialized? It's not like equality where you can't be OVERequal.

I am simply referring to the fact that children are over exposed to each other as opposed to having a healthy balance of exposure to parents and adults.

The Lord of the Flies effect. Call it whatever you want. When I am chaperoning at a high school dance and I can't keep the 9-12th graders to stop trying to do each other on the dance floor. I am being kind to call this "oversocialization".

What would you call it?

[letitsnow]

10:58 PM on 03/09/2011

And here comes sister sarah's tweet/facebook/secret alaska recording studio response to bash the obamas who are clearly trying to force people's children to be civil in 3...2...1....

[dkinton49]

04:47 AM on 03/10/2011

I think you should be embarrassed to post something as childish as this. Completely inane!

[Vyslichajici]

09:48 PM on 03/09/2011

that wimp cannot do anything about the bullies that push him around.
why should anyone listen to him?
he sux.

[no repub ever]

11:04 PM on 03/09/2011

OK.....I was thinking the same thing.

[Anarchy4hire]

03:39 PM on 03/10/2011

Exactly