[Tsuwabuki]

Originally Posted by WingsToDiscovery

I've openly expressed I originally signed up for future consultation during my stay in Japan. I've actually just met a few decent people (enough to stick around and chat to) amongst the many "im 15 and hate america, can i move to nippon?!?" threads.

I meant in a conversation debating the definition of weeaboo. That's pretty darn weeaboo.

Dude, I'll be the first to admit I was a dick in high school. I made mistakes. I picked on kids who didn't deserve it. But I was a kid, and I was immature. I just didn't get what would drive some kids to act like such socially retarded introverts. Obviously not everyone was like this. I didn't pick on the entire school. I even knew some cool people who enjoyed anime. But the wannabe Japanese, jpop listening, pocky eating dorks didn't compute with me. Would I take it back? Sure.

I've never wanted to be Japanese. I still don't. Probably even more now that I live here. But I was a huge fan of j-pop and still am, although most of this crowd has never heard of the groups I listened to, and still listen to, given that it was the nineties. And what you may not have realised is that just because they were introverts in school didn't mean they didn't have a social life outside of school. Maybe they didn't hang out with you because you never gave them a chance?

I'm glad you regret your actions. It sounded like you didn't, and that was what pissed me off and put me into rant mode. If you're contrite, then I accept that, and I'll back off. Just know that you still had a choice, as we all did, not to bow to peer pressure. Just because teenagers don't have a deep well of experience with which to draw good decisions from doesn't mean that the choice between right and wrong is completely foreign to them.

I like teenagers, a lot, which is why I am in secondary education. My job is not just to teach a subject, but to help deepen and broaden that experience well so my students make better decisions than either of us apparently did.

I guess you had your head buried deep in your notebook drawing crappy anime figures while the teacher was up at the board explaining what "outliers" are.

This is what makes me question if your regret is genuine. That comment is totally uncalled for. Actually, I have always sucked at drawing, and so no, I didn't. I also am well acquainted with what outliers are, thank you, and the definition is not as applicable here as you would like it to be.

Actually, most of the weeaboos I know have gone on to successful careers. Most of the creme de la cream of the high school social scene? Well there are those that succeeded by talent, of course, those who succeeded by money, those who succeeded by beauty. Those that had none of of those? They still work in minimum wage jobs in the same town that we went to high school in. It's awkward running into them when I visit my parents in the States and run errands. And yeah, sometimes I feel guilty for not feeling guilty that I am doing better than they are.

You can go ahead and put your e-peen back in your pants now. If other self proclaimed weaboos put even half of that passion you just showed into their own lives, maybe they wouldn't get such a hard time. I could easily type a similar list of "credentials," and I'm in my early twenties. Why? Because I embraced life as it came instead of questioning why nobody understands me as I sat in my bedroom of my townhouse in middle-class white suburbia like so many weaboos out there.

Oh, we're not even in e-peen territory yet. My point is that you drew a very broad picture of anime fandom that is so condescending, so dismissive, and so inaccurate in many cases, that I was exceedingly offended at your choice of words. I'm glad you were successful, and I am glad you seem to recognise that your decision to be abusive to your peers was not a good one.

Anime and manga never made me want to become Japanese, but it did inspire me to become like the characters I enjoyed watching and reading about. And I did. I came to Japan for the money, but anime and manga made it easier to come. It's also something I said I would do in high school that people like your earlier self didn't believe I could manage to actually do. My ten year reunion is almost upon me, and now I'm curious to hear what those people have to say about it.

So before we start dismissing entire groups of people, and then actively and seriously degrading them, humiliating them, emotionally disturbing them, or even physically assaulting them, we should ask ourselves how we would feel if that was done to us.

Golden rule, people. It's not rocket science.

**Sorry about the italics. I'm in a stupid PC to Mac transition and don't know the short cut or how to copy/paste with a one-click mouse yet.

In settings, mouse, you can set your middle dot or side buttons of the mighty mouse to be right click; that's what I do. I'm a mac user and would be happy to walk you through anything you need help with.

BT

And, yes, I was bullied in high school, and it has impacted my view of many things. My view on when to fight back, my view on the need to strong self-defense, my passion for defending civil rights and civil liberties, my willingness to die and kill in the name of freedom and democracy. The need to protect the weak and innocent from those that would prey upon them. My positive view of affirmative action, feminism, and restitution for previous ills by dominant hegemonies.

All of this started based on the microcosm of rule by might that exists in high school. I became a teacher because my teachers didn't do enough to enforce rules, set boundaries, or engage students in good civil behavior, with the exceptions of a few, who I remain in contact with and look to as examples of what a good role model should be.

There is not much more that can key me up and bring out my passion like bullies can. It is one of my life goals to prevent children from ever feeling they need to bully, by both addressing their own issues, and teaching them about how to properly treat others.

So I apologise for my own condescending tone in my response, and recognise I may have been overboard, but it is a subject that I am very passionate about, and is one of my trip wires. This discussion tripped it.