Must read

What's hot

Michael Laws on Child Poverty
globalisation
73

Told you they’d start fighting back

by Whaleoil on January 16, 2013

Gingervitis is deadly…there should be something done about dangerous, soulless sufferers of Gingervitis.

Perhaps rounding them up and re-homing them in Palmerston North might best for us all before  something tragic happens:

A 16-year-old student who was teased by his California high school classmates for his red hair, social awkwardness and bookish appearance will be charged as an adult for allegedly wounding a classmate with a shotgun and trying to target another.

Bryan Oliver will face two counts of premeditated attempted murder and three counts of assault with a firearm in the attack Friday at Taft Union High School that left another 16-year-old wounded, the Kern County district attorney’s office said. Oliver was scheduled to be arraigned at 3 p.m. (local time). 

“It was just the factors of the case,” said Mark Pafford, the chief deputy district attorney, about the decision to charge Oliver as an adult. “The severity of the actions, the injuries to the victim, that a firearm was used. Those are the things we considered.”

The potential penalty for just one count of premeditated attempted murder with a firearm is 32 years to life, Pafford said. If he had been charged as a juvenile and convicted, he would be held until his 23rd birthday.

Oliver had been bullied by the two classmates he allegedly targeted, according to a witness who knows the teen.

“They called him a ‘ginger’ and said gingers don’t have souls,” said Morgan Alldredge, a friend of both Oliver and one of the targets, who was in the classroom during the shooting. “I was his friend. I don’t know why people picked on him. He was misunderstood.”

Tagged: • •

Related posts

  • Pete George

    “Perhaps rounding them up and re-homing them in Palmerston North might best for us all before something tragic happens”

    Do you mean the bullies and bully encouragers? Somalia might be more appropriate.

    • Jester

      And there’s a difference between Somalia and Palmerston North?

      When the fuck did that happen Pete?

  • Pete George

    I’m calling you on this Cam, it is blatant blog bolstering bullshit bullying.

    Have you considered how promoting the bullying of minorities based on the appearance they were born with might affect, for example, depression? Or don’t you care about others who might have it inflicted on them?

    • Bunswalla

      +1 Give it a rest, Cam. There’s enough genuine targets out there without this bullshit.

      • blokeintakapuna

        Yep – agree here too. Bullying even in joking form isn’t all that cool for the receiver, no matter how much jest might have been intended.

        Genuine targets only for my vote. These attacks on gingers lowers the overall tone of WOBH …

        Ginger’s have about as much say in their hair colour as others do with their gender or sexual orientation, so out of curiosity, why the hating?

      • http://www.facebook.com/bob.murphy.7712 Bob Murphy

        Well its a break from Catholics for Cam.

        • http://www.whaleoil.co.nz/ Petal

    • BenC75

      100% with you on this Pete,

    • http://www.whaleoil.co.nz/ Petal

      Pete, my family’s genetics cause us to have bad teeth. They are prone to cavities at the mere proximity of food and they also grow in wild directions. Add to that natural discolouration, and it’s no picnic growing up.

      I wish it wasn’t so, but it just is what it is. My boys will have to go through the same character building challenges as I had to, and indeed my father had to.

      Gingers, people with bad teeth, shorties – we all learn valuable lessons about the world, and we learn how to cope.

      It doesn’t matter if you’re ginger, male, gay, short, or whatever else you end up being that you don’t have a choice over – part of growing up is to discover that even if we sanitise TV, movies, blogs, to no longer reflect the reality of what happens in every community, we’re not dealing with it – we’re simply pretending it doesn’t exist.

      This blog picks on anything for a story, and to single out gingers, or gays, or Catholics, or teachers, or politicians, or women, or cat lovers, or whatever for an exemption would simply be intellectually dishonest.

      • visitor

        “This blog picks on anything for a story”. Does that make it “The Nasty Blog” hand in hand with the Nasty Party?

        • http://www.whaleoil.co.nz/ Petal

          That’s for you to decide? I personally think Cam sometimes beats horses long after they are dead, decomposed and washed away, but you can’t expect a blog to have 100% hit rate when it comes to interesting stories. Different posts cater to different people. Basically, if you like something, you’re going to enjoy the ongoing series of posts. If you don’t, then you do not. (The Comrade Kate ones did my head in).

          For Pete to ask for self-moderation on one topic while not feeling it is needed on others simply makes no sense. If that sort of thinking drives this blog’s content, then we will all be ending up reading posts that don’t offend anyone.

          Who would come to read a blog like that?

          Pete can choose to be offended/concerned. He can choose to ask for self-moderation on posts about ginger haired people. And he can choose to continue to read and participate, or not, once his wishes are noted but probably aren’t going to be acted on.

          • Pete George

            I haven’t called for any self moderation, I’ve just expressed my opinion on this post. And I haven’t said moderation isn’t needed on others. So Petal it’s you that makes no sense here.

            There’s a whole heap of stuff here and on other blogs I don’t like or don’t agree with that I don’t say anything about. Not saying anything implies absolutely nothing.

            I made my views known, that’s all. I pick my battles, otherwise I might get a reputation for moaning about too many things. This post raises an issue I feel strongly about, I’ve seen some deep hurt from this sort of thing. So I spoke up.

            Saying nothing allows the bully enablers to get on the bashwagon with apparently no idea that what they are doing can be very damaging. So I say something to draw attention to the other side of it. That’s a fairly common reaction when people see or hear things they think are poor form. As they should.

            Saying that fear of offending will santise things too much has some validity but it’s overstated. If no one spoke up about crap (as they saw it) for fear of being labeled a moderator is at least as bad, suppressing opinions to allow bullies a free reign is not flash either.

          • http://www.whaleoil.co.nz/ Petal

            I apologise for inferring you would like Cam to self-moderate ginger posts. I feel you’re splitting hairs mind you. Your comment leaves me with the impression you want Cam to stop – self-moderate – posts about Gingers, and I don’t think that’s drawing a long bow. But no, you didn’t say it, so that’s established now.

            As for the rest of it, I think the difference is one between a victim mentality and a survivor mentality. The harsh truth is that “bullying” in all its forms can not be taken out of society. I would like my children to develop ways to cope, understand and react that will benefit them throughout their lives. My personal view of this, as a ‘survivor’ of bullying, and a parent, is that you can’t create a world without bullies, so the real answer is to provide tools such as self confidence, pride, belief in self, and peaceful conflict resolution.

            It is natural for parents to step in and try to protect their children from harm. I let mine touch the hot oven. It saved me years of warning him not to do it. If he needs help, it will be to suggest ways to cope. He’s been bullied over the last few years for teeth and an odd bit of skin that grows from his throat. We have stepped in exactly zero times, other than to discuss with him how to react and how to cope.

            I personally don’t believe you help your children by stepping in to the point where you dis-empower them from finding their own solutions. All you do is delay the lessons that must one day come, because you are no longer there to protect them.

          • Pete George

            I agree that kids have to learn to stand up for themselves, parents can’t hover in protection all the time and neither they should. I wasn’t averse to letting my kids learn the hard way some times.

            But we’re not kids here, we’re adults. And bully kids usually learn that behaviour from somewhere, and that’s usually from adults close to them. So I’ve got no qualms about standing up to bully adults.

            I’ve only had one fist fight in my life, when I was ten. One kid was bullying some smaller kids. Several of my friends and I intervened. I was the smallest so the bully turned on me and a fight ensued. No real violence, but I held my ground, after a while he cried and backed off.

            The moral of that is it’s important for kids to look out for each other as well as stand up for themselves. One kid is often at a hopeless disadvantage against a bully and his gutless hangers on. Just expecting one kid to protect themselves – especially in this day and age where fighting seems to have become more vicious and cowardly – doesn’t make sense to me. We live in a society, people should help each other.

            Moral 2 – I learnt that it can make a difference if you confront nasty behaviour. Do nothing, say nothing, bullying prevails. Why should we turn our backs and leave it at that?

          • Contractor

            Like I asked above, why? What does Cam get out of it?

          • http://www.whaleoil.co.nz/ Petal

            You’d have to ask him that question. What do any of us get out of stand-up comedy routines that, for the most part, look at the way people are different and then make fun out of it?

            It’s all about context.

            I can tell you a joke about miscarriage right now, and you could think it was funny. I doubt you would feel that way if you just went through that yourself.

            In the context of this blog I see the Ginger posts to be a joke. Some will think it is funny, others are dealing with the issue directly and aren’t that enamoured with it.

            It brings us back to “does this blog post a photo of children with guns on the same day as the Sandy Hook School massacre?”. Some would say no. Yet if we do it tomorrow, it probably be ok.

            So, context, yes?

          • http://www.whaleoil.co.nz Whaleoil

            Pageviews, as people become enraged over first world problems.

      • Contractor

        Never really understood bullies who hassled others over hair color, bad teeth or shortness etc. What exactly do they get out of it?

        • http://www.whaleoil.co.nz/ Petal

          I am not a psychologist, but I believe it comes from a misdirected way to feel better about themselves by making other people feel bad. It’s a power play, and with children this is enacted physically whereas older people can’t use physical force so they switch to much more subtle and insidious ways to play their games.

        • http://www.whaleoil.co.nz Whaleoil

          Who says it is bullying?…frankly people are being way too gay these days calling everything bullying.

  • Red

    What those guys said… for fuck sake. So much for your outrage at the silly bitch and her softdrink advert aspirations last year. Have another drink

  • surfisup

    Not funny at all.

  • Goldie

    Yeah yeah – no doubt you think its just harmless fun picking on gingers.
    Except my 8-year old son is getting badly bullied at school for having red hair.
    Strangely, I just don’t get the joke. In fact, next time I find out a gang of kids have surrounded my son, held him to the ground and tried to pull out or cut off his hair, I think taking a shotgun down to the school and shooting bullies is perfectly understandable.
    You know Cam – sometimes you can be a real dick.

    • visitor

      As the parent of a child with red hair who tends to wear an amount of stick because of it I kind of feel this bullying is personal,it certainly feels so to my child, he cant change his hair colour.The good news is I guess this post sets the benchmark, so is it ok for me to continue along this thread making comments about your kids Whale?

      • http://www.whaleoil.co.nz Whaleoil

        Fuck you guys are touchy…in fact this is very sooky behaviour.

        I sent this link to one of my best mate with the subject line “I knew you fuckers would fight back one day” … he laughed and gave me some more ideas…bullys only learn to exist if they get away with it…you aren;t helping your kids by being sooks, they should line up the biggest one and smash them over…then stand over them and ask how they liked them ginger apples.

        Honestly harden up…you are quite pathetic

        • Pete George

          No, it’s you that are way out of line on this.

          I’ve heard the “my mate laughed so it’s ok” excuse before and that’s what is pathetic. Because some may laugh doesn’t excuse this sort of crap.

          It can cause a lot of grief to not only people with the “wrong” colour hair but also to family. Deep hurt for some.

          Apart from being fucking stupid promoting violence as a way of resolving problems, aren’t you aware that people with ginger hair are likely to be a minority of one amongst a bunch of thugs?

          You’re the one without any hint of soul on this. You’ve been sensitive on some things, I’m surprised you are oblivious to how insidious and nasty this appearance targeted bullying is.

          • http://www.whaleoil.co.nz Whaleoil

            My Ginger mate rang me up tonight and suggested that I had missed the point about the article I linked to….he thought the reason why his ginger brethren missed everyone on his shooting spree was because he was too used to the dark and the sunlight was squinting his eyes.

        • visitor

          Pathetic because I see no humour in yet another school shooting barely a month after the last tragedy? Pathetic because I give a shit about others feelings?-its called compassion. If that means i have to”hand back my man card” -have it. Your a hard man Cam as you enjoy telling us. My concern is after one horrific school shooting (26 7yr olds – they were probably gingas or big eared so had it coming) you are the loudest shouting we need guns in schools forprotection and holding yourself up as an example of the type of person suitable to be armed in our community,yet in the nextbreath here you are advising my son to step and sort the bullies outeviolently.Now what if he is outsized/outnumbered/outmuscled? If he cant slap them whats thw next best thing? Perhaps thats what this kid in the states thought….so on one hand suggesting your mature enough to be a gun holder then on theother explaining to your kids that they need to be violent to sort it out?which one is it?sounds schizophrenic to me…oh wait…Bullying will always be around,violence hasnt stopped it yet,we would hope most grow out of it after puberty though.Normal adults dont tease kids.Its weak.

        • pukakidon

          But this is the problem. These twats that bullied this boy now complain when he fights back. I say let him go and good job that the bullies got theirs. It now seems it is ok to bully someone with constant verbal abuse but if that person stoves your head in it is wrong.

          Bullies be aware that these people that you pick on might just crack and take your life. So it might be best not to partake in bullying others.

    • http://www.whaleoil.co.nz Whaleoil

      That is certainly an option, so is your son punching said bullies in the head…giving them a taste of red power.

      I’m told I’m a dick all the time, that I won;t be successful, that I’m fat, that i’m a greasy blowfly…that I’m mental…using your definition that is all bullying…i get worse…including emails telling me to kill myself.

      The comments and actions by those people say more about them than they do about me…honestly people need to stop feeling outrage over every little thing…htfu…we have become a nation of sooks

      • Pete George

        What’s sooky about standing up to bullying crap like this?

        • http://www.whaleoil.co.nz Whaleoil

          Because it isn’t bullying is is panty-waist sookiness on your part.

          • pukakidon

            The best thing I have ever seen was that Aussy fat kid deal to the little smart arse bully at his school. Now that was justice!!!!!

          • Pete George

            You’re contradicting yourself. You say that kids should harden up and stand up to bullies and nastiness but that blog commenters are sooky if they do likewise.

    • Sponge

      I have kids and I would hate to see that sort of behaviour displayed to them – BUT – I would never think of getting a shotgun to the school. You need to see someone.

  • Lion_ess

    Perhaps the better argument would be to understand why this is such a touchy subject.

    There are many jokes about minority (any) groups – blondes, women,men, big breasts, little cocks, homos, blacks, fatties, skinnies, geeks, scotties, hypochondriacs, nymphomaniacs, priests, jews, catholics, muslims, thieves, crooks, liars, car-salesmen, life-insurance-sales men, real estate sales-men, pimply people – it goes on and on.

    Why are reds/strawberry blondes such a no-go touchy area? If their whole lives are defined by their colouring, they really need to harden up.

    • visitor

      So I guess that answers my earlier question re Cams wife and kids, nothing is off limits. Good to know.

      • Lion_ess

        You didn’t answer my question.

      • http://www.whaleoil.co.nz Whaleoil

        Have a crack…if I don’t punch you in the face, my wife probably will.

        • Curious

          Out of interest… why is it ok for you to mock other kids and make fun of a school shooting, but not give it back to you in kind?

          • http://www.whaleoil.co.nz Whaleoil

            Because I won’t tolerate people kicking the shit out of my family…it is why I don’t get bullied…the risk is too great, but feel free to make a cock of yourself and see how you get on.

          • Curious

            But it is ok for you to kick the shit out of others as long as you do not have to get back what you give out? You get to mock a school shooting, but no one can say something that might upset you?

            Alrighty then.

          • fozzie2

            curious, note well that whale is the classic playground bully, only on his playground there are no rules, except his and his bully boy mates – say what you like and be as reasonable as you no doubt are , but this mob only want to hear their own odd prejudices and idiotic rants that represent about .05% of the voting populis, so don’t feel too bad. Maybe they will all meet up with their guns and well who knows what will come next ……

    • Travis Poulson

      hypochondriacs should be picked on, probably more so than any of the others.

      • Lion_ess

        Nah, they pick on themselves.

    • Bunswalla

      Why pick on people with red hair? What have they done to deserve it? Absolutely nothing. Saying they need to htfu and take bullshit bullying from cowardly dickheads is a pathetic argument. In this instance Cam is just another playground bully, singling out people for being different in some way. Saying they have no souls, suffer from gingervitis, calling them day-walkers etc is exactly the type of thing that leads to depression, suicide or in this case a kid walking into a school with a gun and pulling the trigger.

      Is that the kind of “ginger apples” you want kids to dish out? I can’t believe it is, but if so I feel sorry for you.

      • Lion_ess

        Don’t feel sorry for me – I don’t see it as bullying.

        I don’t see that the conversation is necessary and I don’t see it’s unnecessary. It just a state, like other people have states they don’t control like being female, big tits, little cocks, black, white, red.
        Why are red-heads so reactive to being identified as red-heads?

        • http://www.whaleoil.co.nz Whaleoil

          Recessive genes most likely…the berserker gene…polite terms for mutant genes.

    • http://www.whaleoil.co.nz Whaleoil

      Its the berserker gene that comes with being ginger…you know from the Vikings…that and the mutant gene pool

  • Travis Poulson

    One thing I noticed in the threads below is some regular readers expressing outrage towards an attitude that they have expressed themselves in other posts on this blog at times in the past.

    The hypocrisy is sickening. Either have some consistency, or harden the fuck up.

    I might be an arsehole, but at least I’m consistent about it.

    • http://www.whaleoil.co.nz Whaleoil

      Too true Travis. I’d rather be a bully than a ginger though.

      • Travis Poulson

        I always thought picking and choosing what to be outraged about was a green party policy, perhaps there’s more of them amongst us than I thought.

        • Bunswalla

          Trav if I have done this I will withdraw and apologise, but if I haven’t I expect the same from you. I have a fantastic 14 year old son with a fine titian head of hair and would never cast nasturtiums in that direction.

          • Travis Poulson

            It’s not so much about hair colour, it’s about people being outraged about this post, having been mocking/ridiculing other people for other reasons in the past.

          • fozzie2

            my first post today was to defend the whale – but to out the pervasive behaviour on this blog – snivelling schoolyard bullies – pleased to see that there are so many on this blog that agree !

          • http://www.whaleoil.co.nz Whaleoil

            But i bet he isn’t a sook Buns…if you are anything to go by…

      • Pete George

        It does seem that you would rather be a bully. Using your hard earned social media power in this way is a real shame.

    • Curious

      “I might be an arsehole, but at least I’m consistent about it.”

      Well that is just not true at all.

    • Pete George

      This is a piss poor defence. It’s just a vague generalised accusation. If you can’t argue your case with specifics you don’t have an argument.

      If you applied this “have some consistency” to Whale (or any blogger) they wouldn’t be able to comment on anything just in case someone claimed thate hadn’t always been consistent (whatever ‘consistent’ means when discussing a wide range of things).

      • Travis Poulson

        You can get upset and outraged all you like Pete, doesn’t bother me. Clearly it’s put a bee in your bonnet. Where’s your outrage when people actually direct specific personal attacks like calling cam fatty, telling him to kill himself, mocking about depression? People need to learn to grow some stones and ignore it if they don’t like it. Guess you’ll be applying for Labour party membership soon?

        • Pete George

          I’m not upset nor outraged, simply expressing my opinion.

          I speak up about personal attacks often enough, more than most (too often for some). You’re making some big assumptions about me basd on limited knowledge.

          Cam can defend himself, he’s not a sook, but I’m sure I’ve spoken against people calling on others to kill themselves and for mocking things like depression.

          If “learn to grow some stones and ignore it if they don’t like it” what would Cam post about? What would anyone comment about?

          Your dig about Labour Party membership is laughable. What’s it got to do with them?

          I’m puzzled why you are against me speaking my mind here, I didn’t think this was a closed shop like The Standard – and in case you’re wondering I’ve spoken up about lprent’s (and others’) bullying there too, that’s his excuse for my final ban.

          • Travis Poulson

            I’m not you speaking your mind Pete, quite the opposite. I expressed that in the first line of my last comment. I don’t believe you’re not outraged or upset about it though, you went to the trouble of blogging about it and have made a dozen maybe more comments here in the last couple of day.

          • Pete George

            You seem to be guessing I’m outraged or upset. I’m not. It’s something I feel strongly about. And you should have noticed that quite a few have shown they feel strongly about it, without seeming upset.

            It’s something that has much wider implications and I thought it deserved having a good airing.

            Are you upset with that? You’ve gone to the trouble of responding to what I’ve said a number of times, hardly addressing the issue but instead questioning my addressing of the issue and guessing my motives and my feelings, and making sweeping accusations. That doesn’t bother me, I’m used it from Kiwiblog and other forums, particularly The Standard where attacking the messenger is what the resident trolls do, but I’m curious about why you’ve taken that approach. It’s as if you are being defensive in a round about way.

          • Travis Poulson

            Why have I taken that approach? Well for starters Pete, you responded to me about a comment that wasn’t initially directed at you in the first place, labeling my comment “piss poor defense”. It wasn’t in defense of anything, don’t make out like it was. My comment was in criticism to other particular commenters (which you weren’t one of by the way) crying foul over a post who have in the past mocked an ridiculed other minorities themselves. The comment was barely even about the post itself, it was directed at people complaining about “picking on people with red hair” when they’ve picked on others in the past. I have a long memory. I didn’t even need to mention names either, one already responded to me obviously picking up on who I was directing it at. It wasn’t a generalized comment as you said earlier, it was intentionally indirect for a reason.

  • Lofty

    I for one just love red headed women……bbbbeeeaaaauuuuuttttiiiiiffffuuuullllll

    • Travis Poulson

      As they say: if there’s rust on the roof, it’s damp in the basement.

      • pukakidon

        Yeah but thats what you want not some dried up wizened thing

    • Pissedoffyouth

      I have a gorgeous one myself!

      • http://www.whaleoil.co.nz/ Petal

        Bet she made you say that!

  • Lofty

    I think we should change focus and start picking on stutterers, jeeze those buggers hold up supermarket lines, take too long on the phone and generally burn up valuable time with their st st st st st st ah fuck it…..speech imped. Imped imped imped .

    See they deserve it same as those gingers……into em the WO army…go you warriors you.

  • Sponge

    For some perspective (perservere)……

  • GregM

    Hmmm. I am almost the only person with dark hair in my extended family of rangas. None of my iwi give a rats arse about their hair colour. A few of my old aunts actually accentuate their awesome golden red hair.
    Seems to be a lot of faux outrage here, Some need to HTFU, others need to LTFU.
    Oh, and my daughter is the genetic glitch, She is white blonde. Does She give a shit? Hell no, even though She is the “different” one.

  • Pingback: Whale oil be still fighting back « Your NZ

%d bloggers like this: