Pixar's "It Gets Better" video

[The_Iceflash]

I think the video was great. The only thing I wish was that they would have focused so much on one reason of bulling. There are an infinite amount of reasons why one would be bullied. As someone who was bullied in school for reasons I still don't know (more on that in a later post since I don't have much time right now) I would have liked it to be a little more universal. Know what I mean?

I think I do. There ARE many reasons for bullying, often for the dumbest reasons ever. Like I said earlier, I was bullied because I was slightly different from the other kids, and none of it was my fault. Three months after birth I got very sick, and I coughed so much air out of my body that my brain lacked the oxygen to develop and grow, so I had speech problems, balance issues, emotional problems and other things that made me a "special" kid. That means I had to attend special classes, go to A LOT of doctors and experts and have my case constantly investigated in case something worse was around the corner.

And the other kids wouldn't let me live it down. They wouldn't accept me in their games, but they were extremely quick to mock and ridicule me, even when I made the TINIEST little mistake (trust me, every single cliche there is about bullying I have lived it, from getting my pants ripped off of me to falling in public in the most humiliating way possible). It wasn't till high school that I was able to live a normal life, appreciate it better and just be the person I could be. I gained a lot of new friends and I was a very happy guy.

I have come to accept that I am different from other men and women, and that isn't a problem. I have three college degrees, I am bilingual, I am a writer for a popular video game site and I have some of the most amazing friends a guy could have. And that to me is the message of this video: that no matter who you all it all works out in the end and that it makes you special.

You should be proud.

The bullying I got wasn't as severe as what many mentioned and it's a shame it happened.

I found out in high school that I had high functioning autism. I mean I personally found out. I knew my attended special classes in my younger grades for a reason but I never knew why until my parents actually told me later in high school. I remember being mocked and laughed at for practically no reason. I would come home in tears and wonder what I did/didn't do right for this to have happen to me. The bus was worse. I actually remember being punched in the stomach. This was before middle school.
In middle school (In 7th grade to be exact) I remember someone taking my textbook and throwing it across the classroom and the teacher (There was a sub that day. I dreaded sub. days in middle school. That's kinda sad seeing as most look forward to them.) didn't even notice. I don't remember much more from 7th grade as a blocked it out. 8th grade was great but that was because those who tormented me weren't in any of my classes and I never saw them. In 9th grade it started all over again with with the same ones who tormented me in 7th grade. I remember bringing in new pencils and had them in an outside pouch zip so I can easily grab them and later finding them all broken in half. That one really upset me. I didn't understand what I did for them to do that to me. I actually remember doing their math homework in hopes that they'll stop treating me bad. After the school year ended so did the bullying. My last three years in high school were great. In 11th grade I actually became friends with one of those who picked on me really bad. They just stopped treating me bad. I wouldn't wish this or any bullying on anyone. It really had me hating myself. To this day I'm still feeling the results of it (insecurities and such). I decided to become a teacher and is one semester from graduating. One of the things I'd like to do as a teacher is fight bullying. I hate to see anyone treated that way. My mom's best friend's son was physically and emotionally bullied for being gay. I was mad when I found out how this happened to him.


@Everyone: I think the video shouldn't have focused just on bullying over being gay. Anti-bullying messages should focus on ALL bullying.

[The_Iceflash]

I think the video was great. The only thing I wish was that they would have focused so much on one reason of bulling. There are an infinite amount of reasons why one would be bullied. As someone who was bullied in school for reasons I still don't know (more on that in a later post since I don't have much time right now) I would have liked it to be a little more universal. Know what I mean?

I think I do. There ARE many reasons for bullying, often for the dumbest reasons ever. Like I said earlier, I was bullied because I was slightly different from the other kids, and none of it was my fault. Three months after birth I got very sick, and I coughed so much air out of my body that my brain lacked the oxygen to develop and grow, so I had speech problems, balance issues, emotional problems and other things that made me a "special" kid. That means I had to attend special classes, go to A LOT of doctors and experts and have my case constantly investigated in case something worse was around the corner.

And the other kids wouldn't let me live it down. They wouldn't accept me in their games, but they were extremely quick to mock and ridicule me, even when I made the TINIEST little mistake (trust me, every single cliche there is about bullying I have lived it, from getting my pants ripped off of me to falling in public in the most humiliating way possible). It wasn't till high school that I was able to live a normal life, appreciate it better and just be the person I could be. I gained a lot of new friends and I was a very happy guy.

I have come to accept that I am different from other men and women, and that isn't a problem. I have three college degrees, I am bilingual, I am a writer for a popular video game site and I have some of the most amazing friends a guy could have. And that to me is the message of this video: that no matter who you all it all works out in the end and that it makes you special.

You should be proud.

The bullying I got wasn't as severe as what many mentioned and it's a shame it happened.

I found out in high school that I had high functioning autism. I mean I personally found out. I knew my attended special classes in my younger grades for a reason but I never knew why until my parents actually told me later in high school. I remember being mocked and laughed at for practically no reason. I would come home in tears and wonder what I did/didn't do right for this to have happen to me. The bus was worse. I actually remember being punched in the stomach. This was before middle school.
In middle school (In 7th grade to be exact) I remember someone taking my textbook and throwing it across the classroom and the teacher (There was a sub that day. I dreaded sub. days in middle school. That's kinda sad seeing as most look forward to them.) didn't even notice. I don't remember much more from 7th grade as a blocked it out. 8th grade was great but that was because those who tormented me weren't in any of my classes and I never saw them. In 9th grade it started all over again with with the same ones who tormented me in 7th grade. I remember bringing in new pencils and had them in an outside pouch zip so I can easily grab them and later finding them all broken in half. That one really upset me. I didn't understand what I did for them to do that to me. I actually remember doing their math homework in hopes that they'll stop treating me bad. After the school year ended so did the bullying. My last three years in high school were great. In 11th grade I actually became friends with one of those who picked on me really bad. They just stopped treating me bad. I wouldn't wish this or any bullying on anyone. It really had me hating myself. To this day I'm still feeling the results of it (insecurities and such). I decided to become a teacher and is one semester from graduating. One of the things I'd like to do as a teacher is fight bullying. I hate to see anyone treated that way. My mom's best friend's son was physically and emotionally bullied for being gay. I was mad when I found out how this happened to him.


@Everyone: I think the video shouldn't have focused just on bullying over being gay. Anti-bullying messages should focus on ALL bullying.

[DisneyAnimation88]

It staggers me that in the year 2010 people retain such archaic and outdated views on things like sexuality. Those employees on that video should be applauded universally for having the courage to stand up and be proud of who they are, regardless and in spite of the personal demons they have battled in the past and shows their strength of character to come through it and ultimately find happiness in their lives. To denounce them or anyone going through a similar thing shows that some of us will never understand what a person goes through as they come to terms with being gay.

[Disney Duster]

Silly Symphony, many gay people are Christian, they love God and Christ, and they feel God and Christ love them and will accept them into Heaven even if they act on their unchangeable sexuality. They feel it. They believe it. It's their beliefs. If you say their beliefs are wrong, I will say yours are.

And many people who say they have changed themselves from gay to straight, have turned back and admitted they didn't really turn straight. They lied, because they were brainwashed or they just wanted to pretend they weren't gay anymore, mainly out of fear from religious people and religious beliefs. Many people have also tried to change themselves to become straight and either failed even after trying very hard many times or they were simply miserable. God wants people to be miserable just to get into Heaven, eh? That's not the God everyone believes him to be.

The_Iceflash, that's sad, I'm really sorry those people did that to you, and for so long. I think that's really really terrible. But now I am so glad that you have friends and are becoming a teacher and I'm not even as far as you in school or success yet!

But the reason this video was about gay bullying was because:

The recent bullying was to gay kids, not every kind of kid.

Many people at Pixar probably are gay.

And finally, I'm sorry but people with autism and other problems are not as hated for being gay. Also, being gay is not considered a problem, it's just something hated on, and kids need to be told they are ok being gay, when we don't have to tell other people "it's ok to be autistic" (and just so you know, it is ok, as long as it doesn't harm or hinder or bother you and your life!).

Also, adults still hate on gay people when they grow up after high school, like milojthatch and Silly Symphony, but usually way worse than them. While usually adults don't hate any other groups like that, not even racism is as proliferated today as hate against gays is. Adults usually don't hate on autistic people, but they still hate on gay people, is what I'm saying.

[Super Aurora]

not even racism is as proliferent as hate against gays is.

To be honest, that's could be debatable.

I read or hear more about violence on racism throughout history than I have read or heard the same degree to gays.

[Disney Duster]

Whoops. I meant hate against gays is more proliferated then racism TODAY. And I think a main factor in that comes from the fact that it is very easy to see that other races can't change who they are, meanwhile even though gays can't change themselves, many people don't see that. They think they can choose not to be who they are, so they hate them seven more, and they think it's against God and their beliefs, where as the Bible never said anything about hating race.

[Super Aurora]

Whoops. I meant hate against gays is more proliferated then racism TODAY. And I think a main factor in that comes from the fact that it is very easy to see that other races can't change who they are, meanwhile even though gays can't change themselves, many people don't see that. They think they can choose not to be who they are, so they hate them seven more, and they think it's against God and their beliefs, where as the Bible never said anything about hating race.

Actually some people dislike the gay concept and see it more of a choice decision than biological born, is because they find it a contradiction to nature's purpose of having two gender species- a man and a women, and the concept & process of reproduction.

I think that's why they see being gay is more of a decision than an actual biological dna process.

[Disney's Divinity]

If it was a choice, there would be no such thing as homosexuality in animals. Animals don't make "choices." There are no facts to support the idea that being gay is a choice, except some individuals who have decided to play it straight (who are also likely bisexual, and so it wouldn't be that hard for them) to be accepted by their churches and society. And we all know that many of those end up having "secret lives."

I read or hear more about violence on racism throughout history than I have read or heard the same degree to gays.

Well, there could be several reasons for that. There's less gay people than "colored" people. Racism has also become accepted as a despicable thing, whereas heterosexism is pretty much the norm and overlooked by a heterosexual majority (because it doesn't affect them); thus people would report more of it in history books (did you have a lesson on gay history? I'm sure you had one on racism, the civil rights movement, and slavery). Could also be because some homosexuals can hide their sexuality, whereas you can't really change the color of your skin (though some people could and would often "pass" for a different race, that was very rare).

Just being honest, there's no denying that women and gays have been the two most discriminated groups throughout history (and both because of a hate of women). Even among persecuted groups, like Africans, Muslims, etc., women and gays get it worse than anyone else in the group.

[Disney Duster]

Which is why they missed the gay male dolphins riding each other's dorsel fins and the gay penguins that took care of a baby together and only liked each other, the same sex.

Yup, gay's in nature. Is true love even part of nature, or a human thing? Do humans love the same as animals, people can think so but I have a feeling human's got more with the love in their souls. What about men and women who are in love and can't have babies? It goes on and on...

[Super Aurora]

Which is why they missed the gay male dolphins riding ecah other's dorsel fins and the gay penguins that took care of a baby together and only liked each other, the same sex.

Yup, gay's in nature. Is true love even part of nature, or a human thing? Do humans love the same as animals, people can think so but I have a feeling human's got more with the love in their souls. What about men and women who are in love and can't have babies? It goes on and on...

One thing I'd like to point out is that some male animals mount on other males not because they are gay or have attraction for them but to show pure dominate and power over them. Dolphin are one of the types that do that.

Never heard about the penguin thing though.

[PatrickvD]

Which is why they missed the gay male dolphins riding ecah other's dorsel fins and the gay penguins that took care of a baby together and only liked each other, the same sex.

Yup, gay's in nature. Is true love even part of nature, or a human thing? Do humans love the same as animals, people can think so but I have a feeling human's got more with the love in their souls. What about men and women who are in love and can't have babies? It goes on and on...

One thing I'd like to point out is that some male animals mount on other males not because they are gay or have attraction for them but to show pure dominate and power over them. Dolphin are one of the types that do that.

Never heard about the penguin thing though.

The gay penguin couple broke up last year. But they did raise some kids successfully (suck on that Tea Party)

And dolphins aside from showing their dominance through sex are also among only a few species on earth to have sex purely for pleasure without the means to reproduce. Which includes homosexuality. Also, perfectly natural.

[kenai3000]

Love is love no matter what. Whether you are gay, straight or bisexual you have the right to love. It seems like gays are fighting for their rights just like the blacks were 60+ years ago. It's shameful that there is all this hate as we're nearing 2011.

[Disney Duster]

I just looked up the gay penguins, and even though they broke up, the one male penguin was furious that his partner cheated on him and started acting violent, and then got lonely, seeming to make it that that penguin still was very much gay, and very much still in love, with his partner who left him.

[JustOneBite87]

I just looked up the gay penguins, and even though they broke up, the one male penguin was furious that his partner cheated on him and started acting violent, and then got lonely, seeming to make it that that penguin still was very much gay, and very much still in love, with his partner who left him.

That's the saddest thing I've read all day

[Super Aurora]

I just looked up the gay penguins, and even though they broke up, the one male penguin was furious that his partner cheated on him and started acting violent, and then got lonely, seeming to make it that that penguin still was very much gay, and very much still in love, with his partner who left him.

the other penguin found a new attraction:

[Goliath]

Forgive me for wording it it wrong. What i trying to point it out as is that even if you have a some thing that "isn't the norm" by society standard, you shouldn't let that get you and that you can still have a good and successful life with many friend etc, even if you don't go out constantly parading yourself about it or go about bashing every time someone belittle your problems.

But that's just the point: there are many obstacles for gay people to having a good and succesful life --hence the "It gets better" campaign. Politicians are working very hard to make sure they will never be able to serve openly in the military (although 70% of the soldiers is okay with it); gay people still can't marry, like us straighties; gay people are often discriminated against on the workfloor; conservative media personalities are constantly filling their listeneres with hate against, and fear for, gay people. So there's every reason for gay people to "parade" and let the world know that they're out there and are not going to shut up before they have equal rights.

I'm going to use myself as an example again. I'm hearing impaired-deaf in my right ear and 75% hearing loss in my left. That shit is very very difficult to manage. [...]

I'm sure that's very hard for you, but the comparison is invalid. You don't have any rights denied to you because of your disability. People are not holding up signs saying "God hates the hearing impaired"; nobody will tell you that you can't married because you have a hearing impairment.

They're citizens like you and me, but they just have a different sexual preference.

Yeah i'm not denying that.

Then why do you say they need to "adapt"? To say they need to "adapt" is implying that they're so devient from the "normal" way of life that they need to change themselves in order to be accepted.

But I will bring up one point though, If that the case, I guess you're fine with the KKK parades we have here also.
And I know you definitely hate that.

Again, your comparison is invalid. I'm fine with demonstrations and parades as long as they don't incite hatred and violence against other people --something a Klan rally will obviously effect.

true that is a point but it got the message across clearly for once and they got their rights, and thus they don't do anymore after that. Also the rights restricted for blacks were much more tighten and did more effect on black's rights than it does with the gays now. After blacks won their rights, they stop doing all of that. and yet even though they got their rights now fully granted, there will always be some sort of racism. in the air. You can't change that. no one can.

It took a very long time before the rights ensured in the Civil Rights Act of 1964 got implemented in practice everywhere in the country. So there were actions after that. Dr. King didn't stop with his actions after 1964, but he went on --until a hateful person stopped him in 1968. After that, you had the Black Panthers and Malcolm X and all that stuff. Just because there's some formal legislation passed, doesn't take away the problem. And no, one can't compare the Civil Rights movement of Dr. King with the Gay Rights movement, because they're different in nature and stated goals, but homosexuals still are denied equal rights with straight people. (Think of DADT and gay marriage.)

The gay nowadays have more rights than blacks ever gotten at the time. And especially now, where many states now are granting even gay marriages and obama repealing that army rule, I saw no need to still do it. You got what you wanted.

That's either naieve or ignorant, and I explained above why that is.

Common courtesy: Respect each others views. We may not agree with each other in what we believe, but we can at the very least be civil and polite discussing our ideas and ways of thinking.

I'm sorry, but I can't respect people who disrespect other people. I can't be tolerant toward people who are intolerant themselves. And I can't have respect for somebody who believes something is true just because it's written in some book, especially if said book was written by ignorant desert people (in the literal sense of the word) thousands of years ago. If somebody uses that as a defense to disrespect other people in this day and age --no, I cannot respect that. And you know what? I think that's the polite thing to say.

[...] BUT the fact is, people like milo and SillySymphony have the opportunity to step into a voting booth and deny me my basic rights, and it scares me that a group of human beings are that unprotected by this country from people making decisions based on their IMO corrupted religions that I don't practice and I should not be forced to live by their moral code. There is nothing on a voting ballot for me to vote on anyone else's right to live a happy life, so there shouldn't be anything on there for them to vote about mine. So every time they speak I am reminded of this, that their "opinion" is in fact a threat to mine and other's futures.

Also, adults still hate on gay people when they grow up after high school, like milojthatch and Silly Symphony, but usually way worse than them. While usually adults don't hate any other groups like that, not even racism is as proliferated today as hate against gays is. Adults usually don't hate on autistic people, but they still hate on gay people, is what I'm saying.

Well, smack my ass and call me Judy! I actually agree 100% with Disney Duster!

Could also be because some homosexuals can hide their sexuality, whereas you can't really change the color of your skin [...]

Unless you're Michael Jackson...

[Super Aurora]

Using my Orsen Welles gif? U poser.

[Sotiris]

Could also be because some homosexuals can hide their sexuality, whereas you can't really change the color of your skin [...]

Unless you're Michael Jackson...

May be off-topic but...
Michael Jackson was only able to change skin color because he was diagnosed with a severe case of Vitiligo and depigmentation is the only viable option in extreme cases such as his. It has been scientifically proven that no amount of bleaching creams or other chemicals is able to alter skin color radically on a person unaffected by this disease.

So, anyone diagnosed with this condition can opt for the depigmentation procedure and "change their skin color".

[Disney Duster]

Oh just a clear up on the gay penguins, this one penguin's man died, so she kind of seduced one of the gay penguins, and that's how they broke up. He got with her. Not quite cheating, but he still "broke up" with his partner who got mad, violent, and then very sad and lonely as I said. Still in gay love with his ex, aw! In fact, I think he went looking for what was up with his gay ex and his (now bisexual?) ex and new girlfriend got all mad and "stay away"ish.

I would suggest you actually look for more info on the penguins to get the story officially right, though.

WAIT...I think there might be more than one gay penguin story...There's Harry and Pepper and Silo and Roy (lol reminds me of Siegfried and Roy). Both were gay males that a female split up! However, at least one partner still wanted to be with his gay mate, still in gay love.

Well, smack my ass and call me Judy! I actually agree 100% with Disney Duster!

Wow, I actually feel happy.

[DisneyAnimation88]

I'm lost for words at the complexity of the penguin relationship. I also can't quite believe I'm reading about gay penguins on a Disney forum