Photo: TikTok
Many would argue that the bully already got what was coming to him, but the man recording seems to disagree.
By Isaac Serna-Diez — Written on Jun 04, 2023
After a video of a man confronting his former bully circulated on social media, viewers have been debating the ethics of the viral clip.
In the video, a man approaches another man who, as it's later revealed, was once his high school classmate. But the interaction is far from friendly.
The man begins to berate his now-homeless high school bully.
“In high school, you were the man, homie,” the man starts his video, recording a homeless man seated on some stairs. The man is barefoot with his shoes next to him and is smoking an unknown substance, clearly looking worse for wear as his former bullying victim berates him in the video.
“What the f--k happened to you? D--khead. What happened?” he asks rhetorically, not actually caring about what happened to his high school bully. “Remember how you used to flex on me in high school? Remember, because I used to wear those baggy clothes and all of that, now look at you. Look at me.”
It’s at this point that the man recording decides to pan his camera over to his run-of-the-mill four-door vehicle, attempting to flaunt how much better off he seems to be doing than him.
Photo: TikTok
Regardless of all the taunting and berating, the homeless man remains silent to the point where his victim even points it out, telling him “That’s all right, you can smoke your tree,” before hurling one final insult and getting ready to walk off.
His former bully tried to shake his hand before he walked off.
The homeless man said something unintelligible before extending his hand to the man recording him, prompting him to say “What? I’m not shaking your hand. Look at you. Tighten the f--k up.”
He continues repeating the same insults over and over, pointing the camera to the man’s shoes and socks that are next to him and kicking them.
Photo: TikTok
The man once again falls silent and the man recording walks away, but the damage was already done, and when the clip went viral on the internet, everyone had a lot to say.
“Kicking a man when he's down at [the] lowest point in his [life] is such a [loser] move. The man extended his hand, be a bigger man, [and] help him by setting an example to aspire to,” one of the top replies to the video read. “This was not satisfying, this was painful to watch.”
Someone else wrote “Helping him would’ve been the greatest revenge, my friend,” while a third shared “I couldn’t kick someone when they’re low. Even if they bullied me at school. This just doesn’t sit right with me for some reason.”
However, not everyone was as sympathetic to his cause with many people actually praising the man for his actions. One person wrote, “Every time this
viral you see weak [people] putting on [their] cape defending the high school bully.”
Many of the people in his replies agreed with this vengeful outlook and had a lot of people questioning where our humanity has gone. Leading with compassion and forgiveness could have gone a long way in healing the hurt that the homeless man caused.
Isaac Serna-Diez is an Assistant Editor who focuses on entertainment and news, social justice, and politics.