History Main / FightingBackIsWrong

* ''Jane The Killer'', an alternate telling of the ''Literature/JeffTheKiller'' story from the point of view of a girl named Jane, features the titular character watching the confrontation between Jeff and Randy at the bus stop. Her reaction to Jeff beating up the school bully is to consider him a monstrous person hiding an inner evil. ''Bad Creepypasta'' pointed out how horrible this thinking is, pointing out that Jeff did nothing but defend himself and defeat the kid that everyone else, including Jane herself, is afraid of. The original story also uses this trope, as police show up at their door that afternoon to arrest Jeff for "attacking" Randy.

It's rare for the works to mention any alternatives to deal with bullying, or to say that bullying is something you have to stand against, even if you don't fight it head on. Most commonly it's to report to the authorities; for school settings, it's commonly the teacher. If AdultsAreUseless, though, all bets are off - your only good option is to become a BadassPacifist.

* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'': The Amazons' backstory has them being drugged, raped and enslaved by Heracles. The Olympic goddesses free them under the condition that they do not retaliate against their aggressors. The Amazons kill Heracles's men in revenge anyway and are punished by being forced to guard Doom's Doorway for thousands of years.

* Many fanworks for ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'' [[FandomSpecificPlot/MiraculousLadybug focus on]] [[DeconstructionFic picking apart this mentality]], which is commonly represented by [[MisplacedKindergartenTeacher Mme. Bustier]] and [[ShelteredAristocrat Adrien]].

** Along similar lines, Ms. Bustier's reasoning varies DependingOnTheAuthor. Sometimes it's naivete, and she truly ''does'' believe that "leading by example" will help Chloé... or alternatively, she just knows Chloé will [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections invoke her father]] and threaten Bustier's job if she doesn't enable her. Sometimes she's actively currying favor with Chloé for that very reason, or simply [[ApatheticTeacher doesn't care]] about her students, being a BitchInSheepsClothing.
** ''Fanfic/BurningBridgesBuildingConfidence'' has Alya sharpen her nails before attempting to [[EyeScream claw out]] Marinette and Cole's eyes, ripping several of Cole's stitches open. Ms. Bustier is ''horrified''... that Cole resisted, refusing to treat any of her injuries while fussing over Alya's wounds.

** ''Fanfic/{{The Wolves in the Woods|MiraculousLadybug}}'' has [[AdaptationalJerkass most of the class]] start actively bullying Marinette in hopes of earning points with Lila (who ironically [[AdaptationalHeroism isn't nearly as bad]] in this work and [[EveryoneHasStandards is horrified by their actions]]). Adrien witnesses Kim and Alix [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown beating the crap out of Marinette]] unprovoked... and [[AccompliceByInaction walks away]]. He then proceeds to complain about Marinette "causing problems" when she transfers out of their school, and subsequently tells Kagami that he wishes he'd known about her crush sooner, as he could have used it as leverage to convince her not to testify against Ms. Bustier in her trial.

--> '''Marlene:''' Someone was getting attacked who didn't deserve it. We acted when they needed help the most and bullocks to any who says otherwise.

* Averted (or possibly [[UnbuiltTrope predated]]) in ''Series/TheAndyGriffithShow''. Opie admits that he's being picked on by a bully in school, and Andy's advice is to hit him. At the end of the episode he comes back with a black eye and a proud story, and everyone is pleased by this turn of events. Obviously [[ValuesDissonance TV values have changed since then]].

* In the first ChristmasEpisode of ''Series/{{Community}}'', "[[Recap/CommunityS1E12ComparativeReligion Comparative Religion]]," Shirley tries to stress the Christ aspect of the Christmas holiday by attempting to forbid Jeff from fighting a group of bullies who picked on Abed. She gives Jeff and the other study group members an ultimatum: anyone who fights the bullies or attends the fight as a spectator will be banned from the Christmas party. Ultimately inverted when Jeff finally gives into Shirley's demands, saying "What Would Shirley Do?" and gets punched several times; Shirley joins the rest of the study group in beating the bullies senseless.

* ''Literature/AccelWorld'': As Kuroyukihime is introducing Haru to Acceleration (essentially a mental [[TimeStandsStill time stop]]), they are interrupted by Haru's bully Araya. Kuroyukihime responds by ''taunting'' Araya, and Haru Accelerates for the first time with Araya's fist an inch away from his face. He initially suggests that he could use his new abilities to dodge the punch and fight back, but Kuroyukihime points out that this isn't likely to accomplish anything - instead she tells Haru to roll with the punch and knock over her table, then she slams herself into a wall and plays dead (complete with blood). Since [[EngineeredPublicConfession they're surrounded by witnesses and security cameras]], this results in Araya getting expelled and arrested. In other words, it is a reconstruction. Punching the guy, i.e. fighting, is not the answer, but doing something to punish the bullying is definitely okay. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, he gets out on bail and tries to run them over with a car.]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Troublemaker}}'' uses this as the backstory - your character, a teen delinquent frequently coming in and out of the police station, was cornered by members of the Penganggguran Gang, led by low-life punks Windah, Rendi and their boss, Doni. You beat all of them senseless in self-defense. Then the police arrives, sees you in an alley filled with semi-unconscious thugs, arrests you for street violence and throws you into Cipta Wiyata academy.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'': In one Slappy Squirrel episode, Skippy is constantly being picked on by a school bully. Slappy suggests fighting back, but Skippy refuses because his counselor tells him that it's the wrong thing to do. When nothing the counselor suggests works, Skippy gives up and gets Aunt Slappy to [[SubvertedTrope help him get back at the bully]], and the end result not only stops the bullying, but the bully also [[DefeatEqualsFriendship becomes Skippy's friend]]. When the chairman of the FTA and Skippy's counseler arrive to lecture Slappy, she deals with them too.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'': In "D.W., Queen of the Comeback", D.W.'s [[TraumaticHaircut bad haircut]] leads to her being teased by the Tibble Twins. She seeks comebacks to use when they make fun of her, but every one just ends up backfiring and leaves her more frustrated. Eventually, she learns through an Indian fable that it's best to just be the bigger person and let it go; don't try to fight back, move on, and they eventually do stop making fun of her.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'': One episode involves Timmy turning Vicky into a kid so he can bully her for once. Cosmo and Wanda [[WhatTheHellHero chew him out for it]], and while Timmy admits that it's not as much fun as he thought it would be, he lets his anger get the better of him and only stops when [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Cosmo and Wanda are reassigned to Vicky, since she's now more miserable than he is]]. Vicky promptly returns the favor tenfold.

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'', Helga and Arnold were fighting over some paint to use in their art project. Helga spills the paint on Arnold and Arnold (uncharacteristically, but understandably) spills it back on her. The classroom gasps collectively and Arnold gets in trouble from Mr. Simmons. Helga gets away with it.
* ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'': The episode "Bobby Goes Nuts" zig-zags with this with Hank trying to make Bobby be defensive against bullies and Bobby succeeds at this with a GroinAttack, which Hank is more concerned about than Bobby fighting back. Heck, Hank seems to be a proud skeptic when it comes to this trope as when Bobby tells Hank that he got detention for fighting back, Hank actually ''rewards'' Bobby by taking him to see a Rated [=PG=]-13 movie.

* On ''WesternAnimation/RoliePolieOlie'', an episode introduced the character Screwy who was being an arrogant bully to the other kids (and keeps that role throughout the series). After introducing himself as an all around jerk, Olie is reprimanded by his father and teacher when he commented about his rusty hands. Billy and Olie had to apologize while Screwy got away with his behavior.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/TheodoreTugboat'' episode, "Theodore and the Boat Bully", Oliver the Vast, a JerkJock tug visits the Big Harbor to take Owan the Oil Rig out to the ocean to work there. During his visit, Oliver bumps Theodore in a hurtful way. At one point, Theodore thinks about bumping Oliver back, but decides against it. When he explains his problem to the Dispatcher near the end of the episode, the Dispatcher is proud of Theodore for not fighting back, and tells him that if he did that, it would only make the problem worse.
%%* ''WesternAnimation/ThomasAndFriends'': In "[[Recap/ThomasAndFriendsS20E13TheRailcarAndTheCoaches The Railcar and the Coaches]]", Daisy has been saying rude comments to Annie and Clarabel. The two coaches decide to return the favor by saying rude comments about her, which had [[GoneHorriblyRight gone all too well]]. They are scolded by the Fat Controller who tells them that two wrongs don't make a right and just because Daisy was rude to them doesn't give them the right to be rude to her in return. %%were the bullies punished?