“Crying wolf” is when you pretend that something happens or something is wrong. If you report bullying and you are dishonest, you are crying wolf.
Don’t Be THAT Guy takes bullying serious. Very serious in fact – it is the reason for our existence – but we would be amiss if we did not warn about the dangers of crying wolf.
Why is crying wolf dangerous?
When you lie about someone bullying you, you may get away with it occasionally (or about a tummy ache or other ailment). This will be very bad for you when people will stop believing you if you get caught a second or third time when you may be speaking the truth. Let’s make up a little fictional story:
A fictional story about crying wolf
Benny realized that he could get away with not going to school by telling his mother that he has a tummy ache. He stays at home, and the moment mommy and daddy leaves for work, Benny plays on his PlayStation. What Benny does not realize is that his dad was monitoring his PlayStation activity whenever Benny goes online. Benny’s dad speaks to Benny and asks him about his day, and when Benny denies being on the PlayStation, his dad presents him with the evidence and deductions he made, it comes out that Benny made up that he was not feeling well so that he could play on his PlayStation.
What this does, is that the next time Benny feels ill, his daddy will be suspicious about his truthfulness.
The same goes for bullying
We always look for reasons to believe the reporter of bullying, whether you are reporting for yourself or someone else. However, telling lies about bullying makes it very difficult to deal with legitimate cases.
We are mostly volunteers helping here, so reporting untrue cases prevents us from spending our limited time wisely.
Please do not cry wolf!
As always, please follow our golden rule: if you see something, say something!
