tw: victim blaming and discussion of suicide

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

tw: victim blaming and discussion of suicide

So, question: is it now Karofsky’s responsibility to track down every person who bullied him and hand-hold them through their emotional catharsis? Because as Glee has taught me, bullying others is really just a sign of you hating yourself. In fact, bullying others reveals you as a suicide risk, because “someday [attacking others is] not going to be enough and you might end up attacking yourself.” And once victims get over themselves, they stop being angry at the people who bully them. They stop caring about their own pain. Instead, “all [they] can see is [your] pain.”

Is that the right and moral thing for Karofsky to do? Or should he, I don’t know, fucking focus on himself and not have to instantly forgive the people who made his life awful?

And notice that this isn’t a question that Glee itself is asking. Nobody is asking us to wonder about the secret motivations of Karofsky’s bullies, or the secret self-hatred that they’re nursing, as revealed by their bullying of others. Nobody is wondering whether Nick is a self-hating closeted gay who’s going to attempt suicide in a year. Because you know what’s important right now? How Karofsky feels about being bullied, not how his bullies feel about bullying him. Which is as it fucking should be.

And, you know, it’s great that Glee has finally privileged the feelings of the bullied over those of the bullies, except guess who also still needs to feel responsible for the feelings of the person who bullied him? Kurt. So I guess the ultimate lesson here is really that the feelings of masculine dudes need to be privileged over everything.

Because yes, I also noticed how Schue’s suicidal ideation over cheating on a math test was given narrative weight and respect, while Quinn getting pregnant at sixteen and being kicked out of her home and exhibiting severe emotional problems was basically just reduced to “rich white girl problems” again. Dudes like Schue and Karofsky have to deal with all the expectations of the world hanging on their shoulders, but really, Quinn created her own problems and it was her own responsibility to “turn her life around.” Thanks for that, Glee.