Response Paper
Response Paper
Bullying, as a ghastly act, has gained prominence over they years. With sharp rise in the cases of bullying off late, the number of lives claimed by it has almost increased almost proportionally. Young people look at it as a direct attack on their self-esteem and are often left irreparably hurt which pushes them to extreme steps like suicides. This increase in bullying has met with a strong resistance in number of movements and campaigns, which have been organized in different manners to fight and prevent bullying.
The paper quite clearly and vividly explains the gravity associated to a phenomenon like Bullying which has increasingly become a cause of concern across the globe. The paper squarely, and quite correctly, puts the blame on Media that indulges in stereotyping about how young people should look and act like and hence promote inferiority complex among the youth who do not fit the criteria, pushing them to the wall. The song “Beautiful” by Christina Aguilera is a tribute to all those who have faced bullying or have been its victim. As pointed out in the paper, this paper lends support to young people in very strong and appropriate words coupled with a much more emphasizing video. It extends its cause to homosexuals, transsexuals and several other ‘typical’ stereotypes. The song duly received its recognition and bagged many awards for the way it brought up the burning issue of Bullying.
There have been several other songs on the issue of bullying like the “Who says” by Selena Gomez. The chorus of the song was the most inspiring part that goes like this:
Who says you’re not worth it
Who says you’re the only one that’s hurting.
The song inspires the victims of bullying to believe that they have nothing wrong in them and they are as “great” and “significant” as their peers or the bullies. The song tends to imbibe confidence in the victims as it claims that they are bullied because they have something in them that a bully desperately wants and hence is envious of them. The song did a wonderful job in boosting the confidence of the young people facing bullying and indeed raised the level of awareness of towards bullying.
Another song called “Make It Stop” by a band called Rise Against was wholly dedicated to the cause of bullying. The song was inspired by a true-life story of teenager suicides in 2010 due to being bullied of being homosexuals. It clearly brought out the feeling of rejection that is meted out to homosexuals by our society.
Though both these songs did a pretty good task of focusing on the issue of bullying, they could not do it as well as “Beautiful” could do. Beautiful was a much more inclusive song and pointed to almost every section of the society that faces bullying. This song gained popularity second to none and other than being acclaimed worldwide, it has been used as an anthem by various organizations including many LGBT groups fighting against bullying.
The paper indeed gives required amount of seriousness to the topic of bullying and its potential effects and acclaims the song for the wonderful task it has done in fighting bullying. The paper rues the insensitivity and irresponsibility of the media towards such a critical issue. These songs offer a ray of hope to the people that change, probably is on its way and that their plight is short-lived. It imbibes confidence in them and gives courage to fight adverse circumstances. In a sense these songs do a great benefit to our society and the paper highlights it well enough.
