Remember when video games were for "nerds" and "geeks" and people got the living shit beat out of them because they played pac-man after school?

No, I don't remember this - and I grew up during this era. I never saw anyone get the "living shit beat out of them" because they played video games. There was the usual picking on nerds and bullying of kids that was and is pretty common among children, but never anything remotely close to beating the shit out of people because they played Pac-Man after school.

In fact, when I was a kid, there was this great method for dealing with bullies. The bullied would eventually fight back. Then, an amazing thing happened: the bullying stopped.

We didn't go to school counselors and demand safe spaces. We didn't become hashtag warriors (there was no Twitter or feel-good social media sites where we could live in our fake bubble worlds and echo-chambers). We didn't try to reason with violent kids.

There was an unwritten (and completely unnecessary) rule: If someone started a fight with you, you fought back. You defended yourself. If you saw someone else being attacked, you stood up for them. And, in fact, I saw this happen and participated in such defenses many times growing up. You know what the shocking part is?

It worked. Pretty much every single time.

Maybe we've had different experiences growing up, but I'm fairly certain that these blanket statements about gamers being viciously beaten for being a gamer wasn't an actual thing and wasn't an actual widespread thing. Yes, some kids were picked on...probably most kids at one point or another in their youth. No, I don't believe that people were maliciously beaten for trivial things like being a gamer. They were likely picked on because they tended to be easy targets. They were weak and easy to bully. This is not a strange phenomenon.

The truly strange part is that people watch others getting picked on, marginalized, or even beaten...and do nothing. They may even be the recipient of the antagonism and violence...and do nothing. They are taught that "violence is not the answer," even when it is the initiation of violence against them that brings on the question, "What should I do?"

The answer ought to be obvious. But if you're not willing to even put in minimal effort to stand up for yourself - to protect your own self - can you really expect others to help you? Should you expect that the aggressors will simply stop taking advantage of you? I don't think those are reasonable expectations at all, based on the observable world.