It Doesn't Get Dramatically Better

I have a gazillion opinions about a gazillion topics, but I can only choose a fraction of them to share. I have held off on the whole LGBT bullying/suicide issue for awhile, but now I feel like it's time to share my opinion on the "It Gets Better" campaign.

I don't think the "It Gets Better" campaign is very effective. It's cute and sweet, but not effective - in the same way that telling smokers that smoking increases their risk for a gazillion diseases (like my new favorite word?) - nobody gives a shit about what's gonna happen in 5-10+ years from now! Everyone's struggling with the here and now. So telling someone what may or may not happen in the future as if to say either hold your breath until then or you'll be sorry then...is not effective. People want the solution now.

So here's my opinion about what might be a more effective campaign against bullying: focus on building the bullied victims' self-esteem/self-worth. The reasoning/logic behind that is this: the only reason it ever "gets better" is because eventually you leave middle and high school and you go someplace where you fit in more and soon you feel better about yourself - it's not that people stop being assholes, it's just that their asshole-ness stops affecting you. Hence, it gets better. So why tell the kids to wait until they get older when they get out of school and figure all that out - why not help build their self-esteem/self-worth now?!

Furthermore, I actually think that the "It Gets Better" campaign is giving too much power to the bullies - as if to give them the credit that what they say/do is worthy of being hurt by - as well as taking away too much power from the "victims" - as if to confirm that they can't handle someone picking on them for who they are. Clearly, if there's physical bullying going on such that someone is actually physically hurting another, then of course that needs to be addressed by the legal system (beating people up is still against the law, right?) The other half of the issue is that the people that bully others are severely insecure, themselves. So...working on helping all students develop better self-esteem/self-worth would benefit everyone.

Regarding smoking: I have no idea how to get people to quit - but clearly giving them all the information in the universe about how it's bad for them, etc. etc. etc., has little to no effect. I like the idea of shaming them by coughing like an asshole when I walk by them - and glaring at their cigarette while coughing/choking. Ha. No, I do it because I'm extremely sensitive to cigarrette smoke, not just for the shaming effect. However, if it shames them enough to quit, then we all win, right?!

[Update: A friend of mine read this post and told me about a campaign that a friend of hers is involved in called "Make It Better", which is a spin-off from the "It Gets Better" campaign but is more about empowering youth now, as I suggested. You can check it out and get involved here.]