The right way to stop a bully

[Clodfobble]

Another way to look at it is this: if the video had instead shown the little kid punching the victim, and then a hall monitor marches up, grabs the bully by the scruff of the neck, and paddles him soundly but calmly before sending him to detention, most people's reaction would be different. We might nod in satisfaction, or even smirk, but no one would be particularly cheering. Because we're not celebrating the fact that the bully was injured, or even humiliated--we're celebrating the victim overcoming his fear, and becoming a more confident person. It's joy for the victim, not vengefulness against the bully.

Another important thing to note is that if (in some magical fairy tale land) this school actually were to enact corporal punishment, it still wouldn't be as effective as this one small display you see in the video. The bully very well might redouble his torture of the victim after being paddled by a hall monitor, because that's how power hierarchies work: you can't retaliate against the power above you, so you take it out on those below you. It's the reason why kids who are beaten at home often become bullies in the first place. The lesson that the bully is not above this kid at school, and that any other supposedly weak kid might punch back at any given time, you never know--that's a far stronger lesson than "the hall monitor might punish me... so I'd better not get caught."