John Green, Nina Dobrev, Jason Mraz and other big names are banding together to take on bullying -- but what they have to say about it might be a little surprising.
A star-studded Oct. 14 video from anti-bullying campaign Bystander Revolution is coming to bullies' defenses, encouraging teens to "break the cycle" and be kind to those who have bullied them in the past.
Bullies, the video says, deserve help and empathy as well.
"It comes from someone else in their house... saying to them 'You're nothing,'" actress Salma Hayek explains of the bullies, who she says are often victims themselves. "So they need to go do it to someone else so they can feel like maybe they're something."
The campaign, which crowdsources simple anti-bullying solutions from teens and celebs, suggests that when teens target those who have previously targeted them, the situation is only made worse. The ideal way to respond to bullies is with disarming kindness and understanding, according to Bystander Revolution.
"If you're being cyber-bullied, and you hate it, then don't keep perpetuating that. Because if you do it too, because everyone else is doing it, then it's never going to stop," Dobrev says.
"There is no excuse for a culture of hate," says author Neil Gaiman. "And no excuse for a culture of hate includes hating bullies. Don't become them."
H/T Neil Gaiman
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