Y'know, the bigger injustice in her bullying wasn't the act itself, but both RWBY and JNPR's inaction. Even Blake did nothing. Honestly, I think it would be cool if during the course of volume 2, Velvet finds out Blake is a Faunus and calls her out not having helped her.
I suspect Udonge is the best person to comfort victims of bullying.
Zephyr102 said: Y'know, the bigger injustice in her bullying wasn't the act itself, but both RWBY and JNPR's inaction.
What would that solve? If Blake had jumped in to defend her fellow Faunus then her secret might have been revealed. And even if a person is a known bully, it's generally the ones who retaliate that get in trouble for it. There is always an alternatives, and Velvet will have some measure of "revenge", probably during the tournament.
Chobittsu said: If Blake had jumped in to defend her fellow Faunus then her secret might have been revealed.
True enough, but this does raise something that irks me about Blake: she is basically 'passing' for human where other Faunus cannot, and hides her heritage because she doesn't want to draw attention to herself. Discrimination is unpleasant, but if Blake were open about being a Faunus, and just coughed or something as CRDL was bullying Velvet to get their attention, she'd have two teams on her side. They wouldn't have to openly retaliate, given CRDL is made of cowards who would likely back off at the hint of being disadvantaged. I know I'm assuming some things here, so I suppose since that's not how things went down, we'll just have to wait to see how Blake handles everything moving forward.
Chobittsu said: There is always an alternatives, and Velvet will have some measure of "revenge", probably during the tournament.
I don't doubt it, and look forward to someone breaking some deserving legs.
What would that solve? If Blake had jumped in to defend her fellow Faunus then her secret might have been revealed. And even if a person is a known bully, it's generally the ones who retaliate that get in trouble for it. There is always an alternatives, and Velvet will have some measure of "revenge", probably during the tournament.
Blake's a terrorist. She could have snuck into his room in the dead of night, hung him upside down from atop the clock tower, and gone all Batman on his ass.
Being a terrorist is probably part of it. And I think it was practiced apathy as well as faked ignorance to deflect suspicions. She does state 'It must be hard being a Faunus' after it happens.
Also I think that episode touched on the social apathy that tends to grip most people today. Basically if people see bullying enough they tend to become increasingly unwilling to intervene. Whack a mole and another one pops up. After a while people stop trying even if they never stop hating such things, probably what happened with Blake. Throw in consequences for retaliation and the abuse just goes on, Pyrrha did restrain Nora when she suggested breaking Cardin legs which I would like to see. But after what happened with Jean I imagine they've got a nicely Japanese pacifist inspired Aesop waiting around the corner. Maybe there's another bear Velvet will save Cardin from.
Edit: Oops. I rewatched that episode after finally buying the DVD. That was Yang that said 'It must be hard being a Faunus'. And Nora just calms down.
Being a terrorist is probably part of it. And I think it was practiced apathy as well as faked ignorance to deflect suspicions. She does state 'It must be hard being a Faunus' after it happens.
Also I think that episode touched on the social apathy that tends to grip most people today. Basically if people see bullying enough they tend to become increasingly unwilling to intervene. Whack a mole and another one pops up. After a while people stop trying even if they never stop hating such things, probably what happened with Blake. Throw in consequences for retaliation and the abuse just goes on, Pyrrha did restrain Nora when she suggested breaking Cardin legs which I would like to see. But after what happened with Jean I imagine they've got a nicely Japanese pacifist inspired Aesop waiting around the corner. Maybe there's another bear Velvet will save Cardin from.
The whole crowd watching bullying only happens because of the way we dispose punishment. Before, you could defend your friend and whack a couple of jaws if you had to. Now, if you defend yourself or help someone, you get in trouble along with the bully. Its total crap. Its like the only way to deal with bullies is to bully them back when no one is looking. It sucks. I also think that's why we see more kids blow up rather than a more consistent release of tension. I too was pretty pissed when no one did anything to help Velvet.
79248cm/s said: Now, if you defend yourself or help someone, you get in trouble along with the bully.
This kind of hit close to home for me, if only because every time I tried to stand up for myself in middle school or high school, I either was the only one to get punished or, more often, felt like I was being punished along with the bullies. So, I've kind of learned that letting things just fall as they may and "ignoring" the bullies (or, at least, letting go of the issue as soon as it is over) tends to produce the best results and that any form of retaliation/revenge/complaint generally only serves to make things worse. And, of course, the easiest way to ensure that I followed through with this approach was to convince myself that I was less than human and didn't have the right to defend myself.
79248cm/s and Iruel I feel for both you. I too have experienced such injustice. I used to get bullied a lot too and every time I complained about it to teachers they all acted like I was somehow at fault, that I had provoked them or set myself up to be bullied. All they ever did was bring me and the bully of the week into a room and have us discuss the issue to which he'd lie and make fun of me and I was taught that I had to put up with it so I learned how. Mind you at the end of the day I derive a great amount of satisfaction from the fact that because they never changed they are now destitute losers and I'm a success story. I eventually learned from becoming closer friends with my teachers that the reason they did what they did was simply because they too were scared. Like me scared for the bullies or more precisely the bullies parents and what they might do to their careers. The peculiarities of the racial/social/financial hierarchy of society can be frustrating. I come from a society which practices harsher punishments like beating, encourages teacher intimidation and where teachers are like gods and we never had such problems and while I don't condone abuse I really wish we had more of that where I now live sometimes.
Sun passed Blake on the docks for all of 2 seconds and knew she was a faunus. So it would probably be safe to assume Velvet, who is a faunus as well as an experienced senior huntress in the academy, should probably know by now that Blake's a fellow faunus.
And judging from her conversation with Team RWBY back in episode 8, she doesn't seem to resent them.
Though I'm still pissed since I thought I'd finally get to see my favorite character in action. Dammit, totally fell for Monty Oum and his hype about Velvet T_T
argeey94 said: Velvet, who is a faunus as well as an experienced senior huntress...
That's another thing that bothered me. A bunch of freshmen bullying an upperclassman? I bet that that oddness was only created thanks to Monty giving her an expanded role in response to fans clamoring for more of her.
79248cm/s and Iruel I feel for both you. I too have experienced such injustice. I used to get bullied a lot too and every time I complained about it to teachers they all acted like I was somehow at fault, that I had provoked them or set myself up to be bullied. All they ever did was bring me and the bully of the week into a room and have us discuss the issue to which he'd lie and make fun of me and I was taught that I had to put up with it so I learned how. Mind you at the end of the day I derive a great amount of satisfaction from the fact that because they never changed they are now destitute losers and I'm a success story. I eventually learned from becoming closer friends with my teachers that the reason they did what they did was simply because they too were scared. Like me scared for the bullies or more precisely the bullies parents and what they might do to their careers. The peculiarities of the racial/social/financial hierarchy of society can be frustrating. I come from a society which practices harsher punishments like beating, encourages teacher intimidation and where teachers are like gods and we never had such problems and while I don't condone abuse I really wish we had more of that where I now live sometimes.
I actually never really got bullied, it was my friends who did. I set up bullies in school until they either stopped or they were moved to another district. Probably what lead me to a vigilantism mindset, but vigilantism is only applicable when rule and law is not enforced.
I actually never really got bullied, it was my friends who did. I set up bullies in school until they either stopped or they were moved to another district. Probably what lead me to a vigilantism mindset, but vigilantism is only applicable when rule and law is not enforced.
How exactly did you set them up, this sounds interesting.
As for the state of racial relations in RWBY... Its almost as if RWBY is set in a US where the Confederacy wins the war (in terms of race relations anyway). There is the Slave aspect (as seen with Schnee Dust and their labor). There was a war itself (The Faunus war). And there is the general animosity (shown by the local law enforcers, minor characters, and by Wise before she found Blake to be one).
Given Velvet can destroy scores of Grimm barehanded, I think school regs are the only reason she puts up with Cardin's team. She could lay all four of them out flat, but it would probably get her expelled.
Granted CDNL is lucky they don't have Reisen. She can destroy a man without leaving a mark.
I've been thinking on writing a little drabble up, where Velvet goes back into the school courtyard after CRDL bullied her, to where the rest of her team is eating and enjoying the sun. She mentions what happened.
And later, Cardin is cornered by Coco and Yatsuhashi. Since Coco doesn't appreciate someone bullying her best friend, and apparently these darn freshmen didn't get the memo. And Yatsuhashi does not appreciate someone bullying his Honey-Bunny.
Cardin ends up getting dangled out the window, and that's how he overheard Jaune admitting he faked his way into Beacon.
