13 Reasons Why star Brandon Flynn has spoken out against bullying and has delivered a very important point about it.
80% of people are bystanders to bullying
In a new video for attn: , the actor began things by saying, “You’re a bully, and so am I.” His next words he explains the important reason why. “Because we’ve all done nothing when we see people we know get mistreated,” Flynn says. “In reality, only 8% of the population are actual bullies while 80% of us are bystanders.”
He then went on, stating, “We can stop this, we’re just choosing not to. Just because you’re not the one getting bullied, it doesn’t mean it’s not your problem too.” Foley then cited statistics from stopbullying.gov, “When someone intervenes in a bullying situation, the bullying stops within 10 seconds more than half (57%) of the time.”
He also alluded to his character Justin Foley in 13 Reasons Why, who in the story line of the series was not really the one who bullied suicide victim, Hannah Baker, but he allowed her to be made fun of by his friends.
“He didn’t think it was his problem when Hannah was made fun of- until it was,” Flynn says, referring to his character.
“Say something, anything!” he urged. “Can you imagine how things would have turned out for Hannah if Justin had stopped his friends sending that picture all over school?” he asked, alluding to events in the TV show when Justin’s friends began spreading out an indecent picture of Hannah from his phone.
And in conclusion he said, “So the next time you see someone getting bullied and you think to yourself ‘Maybe I should do something’ you should.”
Brandon Flynn’s Anti-Bullying Message
Speaking from experience Brandon’s message is true. I was bullied in high school, but my classmates did not tolerate it. They spoke out and they immediately talked to my teacher and she responded. She did not even chose the punishment route at first but made it clear that she would if necessary. She spoke to my bully then gathered the class and gave a speech, she was even able to reconcile the bully with me and we became friends in the end.
I’ll be forever grateful for that, my classmates were not bystanders. They chose to act. That means a lot and could mean a lot for other people, so thank you Brandon Flynn for delivering this important point.
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