How would I get some people to stop making fun of someone?

[Poontos]

I have a friend that constantly gets teased/goofed on. He is starting to not say that much, and after talking to him, he feels that pretty much anything he would say, it would get challenged or made fun of.

Any words of advice I can pass onto him?

I have told him to just ignore them, but that doesn`t seem to work.


Thanks!

 

[ltk007]

Take a bat to the jerks that are making fun of him, that'll work. Either that or help him get some self confidence so he knows he can say whatever he wants and screw what other people think.

 

[Sluggo]

You can tell him that basically every great philosopher and scientist was ridiculed in their day.

 

[Deeko]

Maybe he needs to stand up for himself. Make fun of the make funners, so to speak.

 

[LordMaul]

Umm....SHOOT THEM?.....Heh, maybe not, since that would be a bit hard for one like you to get ahold of the right kind of weaponry(PPK w/ silencer should do it)
WHy not just...no, not that either....Sorry, I never had that problem before. When I was in 5th grade, I was 6 feet tall. Soooo....

 

[Poontos]

Thanks for the suggestions, so far...


Should I tell him to give the main perpitraitor a pop in the nose?

 

[Deeko]

No. They would probably beat the crap out of him. If he tries to physically strike back, it will only make things worse.

 

[Poontos]

He's no wussy, and he would easily kick his ass.

 

[jAcKeL]

Violence isn't the smart way to deal with problems. Gandhi wouldn't have gotten very far hitting a british soldier.

 

[Poontos]

Ok, no physical activity.

What's next?

 

[Deeko]

Maybe one of them. But usually, the person making fun of him is likely to have a lot more support than your pal. So even if he beats up the main guy, all the main guys friends would teach your friend a little lesson....

 

[Poontos]

I`ll explain a little more...

This guy, lets call him Joe, the one that is making fun of Mike. Joe, has always seemed to have it out for Mike. Mike moved to the area about 4 years ago, mid-way through high school. Mike is a great friend, he's pretty crazy, lots of fun, and doesn`t like to make enemies, easy going type of guy. Joe, is a real smartass and challenges what a lot of our friends say or make fun of them if they make the slighest mistake. Quite a few of our friends have almost popped him in the nose, cause he is a real prick sometimes.

More and more, we have noticed that Joe keeps on challening Mike, on whatever he says and whatever he does. Mike just gets sick of arguing about everything he does and just trys to laugh along to the joke.
So, it has gotten to the point where he hasn`t been saying much lately, and has just been keeping to himself.

My theory is that Joe, from the beginning, felt that Mike was taking over his place in our group of friends and is trying to make Mike look like less of person than he is.

 

[casimec]

This reminds me of the Jeremy video by Pearl Jam.
You friend should ignore them. He will soon realize who is the fool.

 

[dopcombo]

next time mike decides to go out and hang out with the others, ask everyone out except the bad guy.

see if everyone else has a good time without the main perpetrator around.
if they do, maybe they will realise that that guy HAD indeed been a prick all along and someone else might then stand up for mike.

but whatever happens, mike should not go up and hit... erm. joe.
It just makes him much less of a gentleman, and keeps everyone else on joe's side i guess.

unless everyone else really hate joe. then just smash his face into the ground and cut off his appendages one by one

ok ok i'm j/k

besides, assholes like that exist everywhere. Learn to deal with it in a non-confrontational way. Who's to say that your future boss or manager wouldn't turn out to be someone like that?

 

[urbantechie]

Violence and threats are the key. Trust me on this..seriosly. Tell you friend to say something like this:


"OK FVCK YOU, YOU PIECE OF SH!T BEFORE I KICK YOUR FVCKING ASS YOU SH!THEAD"

 

[Barrak]

I hate to say it, but I agree. Tell him to get "joe" alone for about 5 minutes and have a nice "talk" with him. One good shot in the gut should take care of things. I had a very similar problem when I was in 9th grade. I had just moved and was begining to make friends but one guy (Mike) just kept getting on my butt. So I got him alone, knocked the wind out of him and told him to back the F* off. I did not tell anyone what I did, it was between him and me. Mike never messed with me again, we even ended up fairly good friends after some time.

 

[Poontos]

K, thanks...

I`ll read the rest of the responses in the morning! Night!

 

[carmann]

Poontos, if Joe is giving Mike a hard time in front of you and the rest of your friends, I think you and your friends should tell Joe to back off. Why would you let your friend be made fun of and do/say nothing? Maybe it was funny to all of you in the beginning but it has to be getting old by now. Geez, just pull Joe aside (if you don't want to embarrass him) and tell him to back off!

 

[thraashman]

I see a couple of possible solutions to this. And for the most part they've been mentioned. But first I'll mention what not to do.

Most of these are from first person perspective. So in other words, most of these are what Mike himself needs to do.

Don'ts
1. Don't just ignore it. Problems never go away when they're ignored. They may occur less frequently, but they won't go away.
2. Don't try to sink to his level of taking shots back. Dickheads feed off this.
3. Verbal threats are a bad idea. People like Joe will find a verbal threat humorous.

Possible Do's
1. Pop him a good one. Fear is a great motivator. If Joe fears that Mike will deck him, then Joe will shut up. First make sure your other friends see where Mike is coming form on this, don't want them looking down on Mike for standing up for himself.
2. Have the entire group just start ignoring Joe. If he asks why you are (which he's bound to eventually do) just tell him you didn't appreciate how he was treating Mike.
3. Have people in the group tell Joe off next time he says something about Mike. Tell him he's being a Dick and that you're tired of all his crap. Simply say, "Mike is my friend, and I'm really getting tired of this crap. Mike's too good of a person to kick your ass for all this crap, but I'm not and I'd be happy to make you bleed a bit if it'd shut your irritating, stupid ass up."

I hope that helps. I know how it feels. I was the social outcast for my entire school. But I got through it. Kinda.....

 

[PakG1]

I'll go with Number 3. But whatever you do, do not let Mike sink to Joe's level. Then he'll become the same as Mike, I think u'd want to avoid that. It'd be a Pyrrhic victory. You can look up Pyrrhic in the dictionary.

 

[Mday]

i feel the same way...

so, now, i just let my mouth go, and watch the sht fly

 

[Azraele]

Is it possible for him to come back verbally whenever his remark gets teased, By this I don't mean an insult, but I do mean some form of evidence that what he said originally is valid? Either that or have someone back him up by telling the agressor that what he said was nothing to make fun of?

You might also try to inspire some cinfidence in your friend. Perhaps shrugging off what the other guy says as if he doesn't care will bore the other guy when he doesn't get the reaction he wants?

 

[Croton]

just stand behind mike. hopefully your other friends will do the same.
there are some good suggestions here on this thread....