Why is bullying legal?
413069
Bullying like the school yard bullying?  Or bullying like 'posturing' for a court case?  Define what you mean?\n\nIn some cases bullying is NOT legal, but bullying can have different meanings to different people, and an edit with an example would be most helpful.\n\nIt's like asking "Why are questions asked that are not giving any facts/info" is that legal?  heh :) Smile - it's a joke!
713536
Yes, girls can be bullies too.  I had a girl bullying me when I was in elementary/junior high school.  I'm not a fighter and did my best to avoid her.  However, I finally had it and hit her in the stomach with my lunch box.  She never bothered me again.\n\nBullies are basically cowards.  When I hit her, she stopped trying to bully me.
392924
Bullies are smart and know how to not get caught.  The victim loses his temper, acts inappropriately, and is caught while out of control and angry.\n\nThe way to retaliate against a bully is by being more clever.
586420
Warrantless searches, phone trolling, torture, kidnapping, indefinite imprisonment without charges, denial of legal representation, you name it. It's all legal. Just ask Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. If the president says it's legal, it's legal. When we're at war, the Constitution, the Congress and civility are out the door. \n\nBush always plays the fear card, telling us he's "protecting" us from al-Qaeda as he takes us on our national plunge into fascism. He seizes power with impunity, and the Republicans in Congress are willing accomplices as they abrogate the fundamental responsibilities of their branch of the federal government to a power-crazed madman. \n\nAs America sleeps, basic rights, especially privacy, are under assault. The concentration of claimed authority in the Executive Branch -- removed from congressional authorization and outside the scope of judicial review -- is dangerous and frightening. \n\nThe Busheviks are not conservatives -- they are neo-fascists with an agenda aimed at protecting a privileged elite and using the unbridled power of an authoritarian government to enhance and protect their wealth. \n\nThey're not wearing black shirts, boot-stomping down Pennsylvania Avenue in the style of the more theatrical of their ilk. But their insidious threat is real and chilling.
263968
All the answers above are relevant (I've never heard of the God one though). It all comes back to insecurity. Bullies pick on other people to draw attention away from their own insecurities. They also want to feel "in control" and powerful. Maybe the bully's home life is bad and bullying is a way to regain control in a place where there is no control. Bullies most likely need help themselves. I always pitied bullies when I was in high school and younger. When you go back to your reunion someday, you'll either see that the bullies aren't as sucessful or they wised up and are nicer. They may even become your friend or significant other someday. Just hang in there. Everything gets better as time goes on.
206575
Well, Yahoo! Answers is a public forum so I suppose if you make threatening statements to other people or government officials, use it to make slanderous comments to someone or use it to search for things that are illegal and then attain those illegal thigs (i.e. copyrighted material or bomb-making materials) then yes you could get into legal trouble.
390169
Don't be afraid, just lubricate.\n\nNo, just joking.  That kind of thing doesn't really happen any more.  In every environment there are bullies.\n\nSeriously though, if anybody does something to you which is illegal (and sex with minors IS) then the police should be informed.  If the School don't want to, then go straight there yourself.
66256
Its a social experiment thats still being worked out.  There are ongoing problems, like when does freedom of speech become libel?\n\nIts not perfect, but works reasonably well in the western world compared to other systems.  There is accountability.  There is representation. We can't be held without charge, we can't be convicted without trial.
488985
One important factor is that there are some cruel people in the world who enjoy watching others suffer.  If there weren't any bullies, there wouldn't be any bullying.  In identifying the reasons why some children are bullied, it is important not to be seen to blame the victim.\n\nHowever, given that some children are bullied and others not, there are probably factors that make some children more vulnerable than others.  Many people who have been bullied, cite the reason as being the thing they were taunted about.  For example, someone might say that he was bullied because he wore glasses.  If he is asked if he was the only child in his peer group who wore glasses, it often turns out that there were others who wore glasses but were not bullied.  I would conclude, in such a case, that the glasses were not the real reason for him being bullied.\n\nFrom my observation, an important factor is how a child reacts when taunted.  In any social group, there is often banter, when people tease each other humorously.  Some people are better at taking a joke than others and will respond to a humorous insult with humour.  Others (especially sensitive children) will get visibly upset.  The bully, being a person who enjoys watching others suffer, might then deliberately taunt to get further reactions and the bullying progresses from there.  A bully will often claim to be surprised at the accusation of bullying and might say, in his defence, that "everyone teases everyone else".\n\nThis sounds almost innocent but, of course, it is not.  To tease someone who doesn't like being teased in order to enjoy watching their reaction is sadism.  Furthermore, the bullying can then progress to being much more than humorous teasing.
1088991
It's actually corporal punishment - where kids get whacked with canes for wrong answers, etc.\nCorporate punishment is the above answer.\nAnd no, it is illegal. These days even grabbing a kid's sleeve in self-defence when they're whacking you with a chair can be labelled teacher-student abuse; unbelievable.
371086
I don't like bullys. And it has been my experience that people usually attack others personally because they are unhappy about things in their own life. Picking on someone else distracts them from their own faults. Its not fair and sad but it is what we have to deal with. As for class clowns, the ones I went to school with were cool and usually made jokes at themselves.
85552
Recently, an anti-stalking bill was passed by Congress that  akes it a federal crime to "annoy" someone over the Internet, specifically, to anonymously "annoy, abuse, threaten or harass" another person over the Internet.\n \nThis article has more info, and some case examples:\nhttp://www.azcentral.com/offbeat/articles/0219cyberstalking0210.html
1033271
"Harassment becomes illegal when an employer, supervisor or co-worker harasses a person because of their race, color, creed, ancestry, national origin, age (40 and up), disability, sex, arrest or conviction record, marital status, sexual orientation or membership in the military reserve. Harassment may include verbal abuse, epithets, and vulgar or derogatory language, display of offensive cartoons or materials, mimicry, lewd or offensive gestures and telling of jokes offensive to the above protected class members. The behavior must be more than a few isolated incidents or casual comments. It involves a pattern of abusive and degrading conduct directed against a protected class member that is sufficient to interfere with their work or create an offensive and hostile work environment." (WDWD)
775836
It is sometimes difficult to figure out why a person gets bullied, but bullies are not brave - they look for people weaker than themselves.\n\nSometimes it is because you just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time - this is often the main reason for bullyiing.\n\nYou may have a vulnerability the bully notices.  With kids, that can be something as simple as having the wrong color hair, having freckles, anything that might make you look different.  \n\nSometimes people are bullied because they look as if they will not stand up for themselves.  Sometimes there is no particular reason.\n\nThere are many reasons why people bully. Often because they are very insecure in themselves. Sometimes they are angry or upset or feel that they don't fit in. It may be a way of showing off to peers and looking tough and important and in charge. People who bully others in one setting may be getting bullied themselves in some other setting, such as at home or school. Bullies may be scared of getting picked on so they make sure to do it first. If they don't like themselves they may take it out on someone else. Sometimes they think it will make them more popular. Sometimes they do it to get attention. Others might be jealous of the person they are bullying. They may just want to make others afraid of them. It sometimes makes them feel braver or more important or better about themselves.\n\nThese links should help.   Take care.
46081
The answers to your question is very uncomfortable, because it casts this culture (and others that tolerate it) in a very bad light.\n\n1. For one, I hate to say it but in some ways bullying is seen as socially acceptable. If you listen to some adults (especially those whose children are accused of being bullies), they will say things like "Bullying is good, because it teaches the weak how to defend themselves." Or they'll say that bullying teaches good *social skills*, because it prepares children for the Real World, which is harsh and cruel. In other words, what I'm saying is that the educational system in some way condones this type of behavior, since many people in some ways hold these beliefs (even teachers and faculty).\n\n2. Adults continue to insist that bullying is a cute, harmless activity amongst children. You know the old saw-- "kids will be kids." So when they see bullying, they don't see harrassment, torture, stalking, cruelty and torment. They see boys displaying their *crushes* on girls; they see *roughhousing.* They see friendly teasing. It's like adults still live in this time warp where all boys are doing are dipping girls' pigtails into inkwells, and all girls are doing are sticking their tongues out at each other. Since adults form the educational system, they literally turn a blind eye to it all and pretend that it's simply harmless teasing.\n\n3. Many bullies are such master manipulators, that they are able to convince teachers and administrators that they are the nicest kids on the planet.\n\n4. Adults feel that bullying is a *natural phase* of childhood. So why do anything about it?\n\n5. Lastly, when bullying happens, the school faculty takes this stance that it's none of its business if children are harassed. It's job is to merely just *teach.* Anything else that happens under their nose is the child's problem. As a result, nothing is done about it.\n\nSad to say, but it's true.
38029
Immediately, get your story straight, and report this to your teachers.  Also, get a hall pass to visit your counselor, so you can report it there.\n\nDon't try to take this matter into your own hands.  Let the professionals handle it.  Don't tell them how to do it.  Simply report the matter, and let them do what they are legally allowed and obligated to do.\n\nAdministrators, Counselors, and Teachers have a variety of tactics/ strategies they are allowed to use to work with this type problem.  Understand, however, they must work with the interst of all students in mind, even the bully.  Please, as I said earlier, let the professionals do their job.  You keep your mind on your schooling.
1013831
Its not legal in the United States. If a person lays a hand on you in any way shape form or fashion at a workplace in the US they can go to jail for assault and you can sue.