Bullying seems to be the only form of cruel violence in which the victims are told to "forgive and forget" and stop being "whiny." Would the same "get over it" sentiment exist if this article was about having been sexually assaulted by high school teachers?
Either way, the writer is committing the usual geek-fallacy in his plans for his son -- the hacker notion that a person can just learn a few skills to solve a problem.
The idea that learning karate in childhood will equip a person to beat up bullies in high school is ridiculous. The only way his son could use martial arts as legitimate self defense would be to train for hours a day in a tough mixed martial arts or street fighting gym right up until (and past) his teens. But then, wait a minute -- kids who do that are rarely considered geeks. They're called jocks.
Please don't compare standard bullying to sexual assault. The two experiences are not comparable.
That being said, often the best thing for a person to do is to "forgive and forget", since letting go of anger is the only way to properly conquer it. Even families of murder victims move on after 25 years. As a human, you have to.
Either way, the writer is committing the usual geek-fallacy in his plans for his son -- the hacker notion that a person can just learn a few skills to solve a problem.
The idea that learning karate in childhood will equip a person to beat up bullies in high school is ridiculous. The only way his son could use martial arts as legitimate self defense would be to train for hours a day in a tough mixed martial arts or street fighting gym right up until (and past) his teens. But then, wait a minute -- kids who do that are rarely considered geeks. They're called jocks.