Ruby Granger #12 The Continuing Adventures of Pie-rott and Muriel

[gossip_guy]

I watched this out of morbid curiosity.

Main takeaways:

All comments praise Ruby for being so brave and that they're so proud and her words brought them to tears. All Ruby actually says in the video is "Bullying is bad, everyone should be kind." I didn't realise stating the obvious was brave?

Ruby claims she was bullied, but that she didn't realise it at the time. At no point does she say what this "bullying" entailed, but she alludes multiple times to it just being that people didn't want to be friends with her. Yeah, no tit. You left everyone in your class eyebrows-deep in homework they could've avoided because you wanted to suck up to the teacher.

"Having gone through this myself, I'm a lot more apt to help others." That's not what that word means. This after she says it's important to think about the things we say before we say them. That applies to basic English too, Ruby.



Here we see a day in the life of someone suffering a harrowing ordeal at the hands of bullies, but we're not told who.

Ruby wakes up huffing like a petulant child as the dogs bark downstairs. Are the dogs bullying her? Is she bullying the dogs? Are they all being bullied by someone else? It remains to be seen.

Ruby angrily puts her hair in a ponytail and then eats half a chocolate bar in a blind rage. The camera lingers on the wrapper, because bullying doesn't stand in the way of product placement.

She looks through texts from someone called Amber. Is this the bully? She seems to point out that Ruby had an ugly spot, so maybe?

She gets in the car with her mother, who's ready to drive her to school. Apparently this child is called Izzy, not Ruby, but the mother seems very unsure of the name. Early onset dementia perhaps?

Izzy/Ruby has trouble remembering the basic subjects she studies, so we can see she's not the brightest bulb. This seems to run in the family, as her mother starts the engine to drive to school, reverses 6 inches and then turns the engine off. They've arrived at school apparently! It's very convenient for Ruby/Izzy to attend school in her own driveway, but you have to ponder the environmental concerns of driving half a foot twice a day. Surely Izzy/Ruby could cycle instead?

Ruby/Izzy mills around the grounds of "school", closely guarded by the family dog. Is this the bully?!

She attends class(?) and scribbles a snail/sun instead doing any actual work. Since her class is only 1.4 seconds long and she's the only person in attendance, this doesn't seem like the best use of her time.

She flees the "classroom" and hides around the corner of her house school, where she checks for anyone following her, then reads a book, awkwardly defacing the corners with her fingernail.

She wanders to the house's school's "basketball court" which is comprised of one hoop, bend at a jaunty angle. One of the pitfalls of attending school in your own garden is that the athletic facilities aren't always state of the art.

A BASKETBALL FLIES AT HER OUT OF NOWHERE! It couldn't have been the dog, unless she's being bullied by Air Bud, which seems unlikely. Is her house/school haunted? Is she being bullied by poltergeists?! This is a trickier situation than we could have ever foreseen!

Back in her kitchen the school, she eats a sad sandwich, before talking to a bohemian hippy type who looks like her father but is actually her teacher, Mr Aldridge (Does the name sounds familiar? Because it should! That's Erimentha's teacher, too! Is Erimentha bullying Ruby/Izzy?! Or is Ruby only capable of coming up with one surname for a teacher?)

Mr. A is concerned that Izzy/Ruby's not been herself lately, but considering his career has reached the lows of teaching minute-long classes of one from a dank kitchen, it seems like he should be focusing on his own life right now.

Izzy/Ruby assures him, unconvincingly, that everything is fine and she has to leave as her mother's waiting for her. He should be able to see through her lies - the school day has only been in session for mere minutes, and he's sat in the same house/school as her mother.

After wishing Mr A. a good evening, Izzy/Ruby flees outside, where it's clearly early morning. Her mother is waiting in her car, presumably because the school day was 3 minutes long and she hasn't had chance to unbuckle her seatbelt since dropping Izzy/Ruby off at "school." Her mother doesn't even go through the charade of starting the engine this time. Izzy/Ruby just gets in, then they both immediately get out.

In her bedroom, Izzy/Ruby starts writing a letter. She starts halfway down the page, because wasting paper is good for the environment, but can only get as far as the letter 'I' - it's left ambiguous if this is because Izzy/Ruby is all that matters in the universe, or because she can't spell beyond that letter as her education takes place in 30 seconds-a-day sessions.

It's now nighttime, and Izzy/Ruby opens her chemistry textbook to find a note from Amber: "Just wanted to let you know that nobody likes you. - Love Amber. "

It's tough to fault Amber's reasoning, or the friendly tone with which this information is offered. After all, we're shown just one day in Izzy/Ruby's life, and she doesn't bathe or brush her teeth at all, so she must be hard to be around. But since there's no other students in her house-school, and nobody has had access to her book besides her teacher-dad, her mother, the dog and the basketball-playing poltergeist, this is a true Agatha Christie whodunnit - who left the note? Who is Amber?! The dog? Her mother's split personality? A twisted figment of Izzy/Ruby's imagination?

Answers on a postcard, Tattlers: Who do you think it was?

 

[tumble]

Honestly, whole anti bullying advocate part of ruby really demonstrates her privilege and lack of critical thinking.

Now of course bullying is wrong but why do people bully? Is it because that kid is a horrible person and hasn't come across the concept of kindness that our dear ruby will be more than happy to educate them on?
Or is it because of dare I say it, something deeper going on?
Maybe they live in a chaotic 1 bedroom council flat with their parents and 2 siblings so this is the only time they can find some sense of control?
Maybe their parents fight all the time or are abusive to one another and thus is simply copying what they see done at home?
Maybe they don't have enough to eat at home and that hunger makes them angry and omg ruby can you not ask for extra homework because I don't have a computer so I can't physically do it!
Maybe their parents are in the hospital so the only way they can get rid of stress is through anger.
Maybe Ruby just maybe people are 3 dimensional and there are multiple reasons for their actions and there are problems which go beyond the we need to be kind solution.

Now I'm not saying that campaigns like raising the living wage, or support for victims of domestic abuse or better mental health services would fix bullying, bullying will sadly always happen. But don't you thinking that focusing on the underlying problems will reduce the amount of cases and actually help those who have no other outlet than bullying to get the help they need they need?
No? Oh right sorry Ruby my mistake you know better, they just need to know that they#canbekind and boom problem solved!

 

[Ilaariaa]

I watched this out of morbid curiosity.

Main takeaways:

All comments praise Ruby for being so brave and that they're so proud and her words brought them to tears. All Ruby actually says in the video is "Bullying is bad, everyone should be kind." I didn't realise stating the obvious was brave?

Ruby claims she was bullied, but that she didn't realise it at the time. At no point does she say what this "bullying" entailed, but she alludes multiple times to it just being that people didn't want to be friends with her. Yeah, no tit. You left everyone in your class eyebrows-deep in homework they could've avoided because you wanted to suck up to the teacher.

This is such a weird thing to say and what makes me think that it was not actually bullying or it was nothing particularly serious and Ruby just made it worse in her little head.
Bullying isn't usually something you look back at years later and realise "omg I was bullied". Like if someone is harassing you or beating you up or playing mean pranks at school or spreading nasty rumors about you, you tend to notice in the moment. Which makes me think that it was actually nothing more than Ruby being her bratty self and other kids not putting up with it, which she wasn't used to at home.

 

[missmina]

Oh god, she really shouldn't be doing any acting. That was extremely painful to watch (and yes Ruby, I mean your non-existent acting skills, not the subject - clarifying cause you have problems with basic apprehension of the texts you read). That continuous, loud, dramatic music jeez.

Answers on a postcard, Tattlers: Who do you think it was?

I think it was Ruby all along

 

[gossip_guy]

This is such a weird thing to say and what makes me think that it was not actually bullying or it was nothing particularly serious and Ruby just made it worse in her little head.
Bullying isn't usually something you look back at years later and realise "omg I was bullied". Like if someone is harassing you or beating you up or playing mean pranks at school or spreading nasty rumors about you, you tend to notice in the moment. Which makes me think that it was actually nothing more than Ruby being her bratty self and other kids not putting up with it, which she wasn't used to at home.

Absolutely. If you were bullied, you'd notice. If it were as traumatic as she makes out when she harps on about it endlessly, it wouldn't take years to realise. She either made it all up or embellished tiny things years later to play the victim and get sympathy and attention.

You'd think she'd been beaten with a sock full of rocks every day at school from how she cries about it, but here the worst example of bullying she can come up with based on her endless ordeal of torment is getting the nicest mean note anyone ever received. I've had birthday cards that were meaner than that, Ruby!

 

[Ilaariaa]

Which is weird because she's embraced every opportunity to mention that she was bullied in true 'woe is me' fashion in a lot of her videos. It's almost like everything she says is lies, or completely delusional.

She even made a whole video about how being "bullied" made her who she is, and another about how she forgave her "bullies" because she's a saintly sort, that Ruby - a video where she actually, with a straight face, compares her being "bullied" at school to being put in a Nazi concentration camp.

In reality, her biography-in-all-but-name 'Erimenthusiastic About Extra Homework' is the biggest indicator that her getting "bullied" amounted to her being a spoiled little brat and making her classmates' lives miserable until they couldn't take it anymore and one of them lashed out and rightfully called her a dick. She embellished wildly from there. From everything she's said and shown, she was the bully, she's just too self-centred to notice.

She's made no less than a dozen videos about being bullied, and has mentioned it countless more. Not to diminish the impact of bullying, but Ruby hasn't experienced it - it's a joke that she's out there talking to kids who've actually been bullied as if it's something she's been through. It also speaks to how much the poster child for sheltered, white upper-middle-class privilege she is that being bullied at school is the only serious cause she's outspoken about (unless she's getting paid to advertise a charity.)

She has a big platform to speak about and raise awareness of major issues, but the most she can muster is "I was bullied once, and the trauma lives on to this day."

Oh God I actually forgot that she compared the Holocaust to bullying.
Can't she feel empathy? Does she need to relate everything to her own experiences to feel for those involved? So many things wrong in the world to speak about and she chose bullying. She's so childish.

(To clarify, I'm not diminishing the importance of speaking out against bullying. But I don't think saying "bullying is bad" to your audience of nerdy 12 year olds who probably already know that is the best use of your platform when there are so many causes you could educate people about and even raise money for.)

 

[Deeznutslol]

Oh God I actually forgot that she compared the Holocaust to bullying.
Can't she feel empathy? Does she need to relate everything to her own experiences to feel for those involved? So many things wrong in the world to speak about and she chose bullying. She's so childish.

Honestly I couldn’t get over that, it was probably her lowest moment imo and the moment which showed actually how out of touch she really is.
Speaking of the Holocaust, still can’t believe she took the charity money and then tried to fob everyone off with the ‘memorial for an underfunded school’ lie.

 

[gossip_guy]

Honestly I couldn’t get over that, it was probably her lowest moment imo and the moment which showed actually how out of touch she really is.
Speaking of the Holocaust, still can’t believe she took the charity money and then tried to fob everyone off with the ‘memorial for an underfunded school’ lie.

I think in that bullying video we finally discovered where the underfunded state school was - it was her house! She needed the money to pay for a holocaust memorial basketball court.

 

[LitNerd]

Oh God I actually forgot that she compared the Holocaust to bullying.
Can't she feel empathy? Does she need to relate everything to her own experiences to feel for those involved? So many things wrong in the world to speak about and she chose bullying. She's so childish.

I’ve also noticed that there’s not often one cohesive narrative around her bullying, it’s been a while since I’ve watched some of her videos specifically on it so apologies if I am forgetting some of the more specific examples she uses, but it does all seem very general. Obviously I’m not saying she needs to put out every detail on the internet but as someone mentioned above if someone was calling you names, spreading rumours, pulling pranks, beating you up even then you could use those specifics to tailor your advice surely because there are generally slightly different ways to handle that? The most specific I’ve seen her be is around the “what it’s like having no friends”, or mention something that happened to her in year 5 (end of Primary School) but then cut to her A Levels and she mentioned how everyone was wishing her luck with her Oxford application because they all knew, and left the room so she could open the decision letter - I’m not denouncing primary school bulling as lesser but I think there’s a possibility the bullying happened in primary school and that stuck in her head maybe causing her to make less friends in high school/not be as open and so she believed she had no friends because the bullying was continuing? I don’t know any specifics those are just my general thoughts as someone who was bullied in high school but luckily it was contained to the lower years seven, eight and nine and then everyone grew into friendship groups and just got on with the teenage drama within those groups That’s another part of this, I don’t think Ruby was exposed to or maybe would understand the difference between bullying and the general teenage crap and drama that goes on in the later years of high school, as in I could see her labelling one girl being catty to another over their boyfriend as bullying in the simple way she understands it rather than seeing it as something that in reality is slightly different

 

[GoinDowntown]

I’ve also noticed that there’s not often one cohesive narrative around her bullying, it’s been a while since I’ve watched some of her videos specifically on it so apologies if I am forgetting some of the more specific examples she uses, but it does all seem very general. Obviously I’m not saying she needs to put out every detail on the internet but as someone mentioned above if someone was calling you names, spreading rumours, pulling pranks, beating you up even then you could use those specifics to tailor your advice surely because there are generally slightly different ways to handle that? The most specific I’ve seen her be is around the “what it’s like having no friends”, or mention something that happened to her in year 5

Bullying is whatever Ruby decides it is.
Whatever makes Ruby feel bad; there's your definition.

 

[lizzie2707]

That’s another part of this, I don’t think Ruby was exposed to or maybe would understand the difference between bullying and the general teenage crap and drama that goes on in the later years of high school, as in I could see her labelling one girl being catty to another over their boyfriend as bullying in the simple way she understands it rather than seeing it as something that in reality is slightly different

This is so true. I have a friend who never had any experience with relationships, and had grown up with parents who had a pretty awful relationship. When they eventually got into one themselves they really struggled, because in their mind if a couple argued at all, it meant they couldn’t possibly be in love, because a happy couple agrees on everything and is always in sync. Eventually they realised that that’s not how the world works - even the happiest couple will disagree and argue sometimes, and that’s totally ok. I bet Ruby is the same with friendship - if someone disagrees, or makes a snarky comment or rolls their eyes at something she says, they can’t possibly be her friend and must be out to get her. Which is nonsense, you’re actually more likely to disagree with/argue with someone you’re closer to, just because you know them better and probably spend more time with them. That’s not a sign that everything’s falling apart, or that they’re billing you, if you care enough and have decent communication skills it’ll be totally fine. If Ruby doesn’t want to end up totally alone she’s going to have to realise that relationships of any kind require work from both parties, she can’t either expect them to always agree with her or absorb their personalities so much they’re practically the same person (which seems to be her method of avoiding conflict with Blakeney).

I veer wildly between thinking she was and wasn’t bullied. She obviously does have issues forming relationships, and is desperate to avoid conflict/always misinterprets conflict as being something it isn’t. That often happens as a result of something traumatic. I’m not a psychologist or a therapist though so I wouldn’t like to speculate why Ruby’s like this. Also I really wonder how she’s going to respond if Blakeney is pissed with her over Molly. That would be the first real challenge Ruby has faced in their friendship, and it’s literally 100% her fault.

 

[Magpie02]

"Having gone through this myself, I'm a lot more apt to help others."

Apart from the misuse of yet another word -- isn't that a really messed up thing to say on Ruby's side? Shouldn't you help others because ... well... you're a decent person and you care about other people? Empathy?? No, for Ruby all that counts are the pounds she's making.

 

[gossip_guy]

Apart from the misuse of yet another word -- isn't that a really messed up thing to say on Ruby's side? Shouldn't you help others because ... well... you're a decent person and you care about other people? Empathy?? No, for Ruby all that counts are the pounds she's making.

Yup! Not only is it super conceited and egotistical - "I, Ruby Granger, am fully qualified to be the divine saviour of all you victims of bullying, for I got a vaguely mean note once!" - but it's incredibly telling that Ruby can apparently only identify with or feel sympathy for people if they are just like her and she's had the exact same experiences. So she's incapable of basic empathy. Not surprising, but still.

 

[roundmidnight]

While it is always worthwhile to remember people to be kind to each other, the fact that she keeps on riding that bullying bandwagon is to me just a means for her to not let go of her childhood. You could obviously argue that her audience is young and it would make sense for her to wave the pacifist flag towards bullies, but I don't think that argument stands when you consider just how much content that she puts out doesn't apply to an younger audience. Her diplomatic mission against bullying is precisely of the same nature as is her preference for childrens' books. And what she probably considered bullying is stuff similar to what happened between her and Molly: someone gets tired of her tit, she does not believe that her tit is able to tire someone, therefore, she considers herself bullied.

 

[3calico3]

I really don’t think she’s got over not getting into Oxford for her undergrad - and not just that, but that being the first time she’d really failed at something (and not got what she wanted) was a huge blow to her confidence. I don’t think she’s ever been really happy at Exeter/university in general or at least, not as happy as she was being Head Girl at school and I think she wants that (or her idealised version of it) back.

I think she'll need to be really careful if she's considering applying again - her mental health might not be able to take another rejection.

This is such a weird thing to say and what makes me think that it was not actually bullying or it was nothing particularly serious and Ruby just made it worse in her little head.
Bullying isn't usually something you look back at years later and realise "omg I was bullied". Like if someone is harassing you or beating you up or playing mean pranks at school or spreading nasty rumors about you, you tend to notice in the moment. Which makes me think that it was actually nothing more than Ruby being her bratty self and other kids not putting up with it, which she wasn't used to at home.

I feel like Ruby reflected on her school days (i.e. not having any friends, finding it hard to make friends, sucking up to the teachers etc.), and uses bullying as an explanation for all that. I don't think she was actually bullied, but invented that narrative based on her own and others' actions. "I didn't have friends because I was bullied - yes, that's a valid and acceptable explanation! It can't be because of me (whether personality or neurodiversity), that's for sure!"

 

[HanHanHan]

Has anyone else noticed that Ruby measures her life in school years? For example, she'll say things like "I haven't always been a goodie two shoes - in year 3 I was quite naughty" or "In year 7 I wasn't particularly organised". I know we all do this to some extent growing up (e.g. I would say "Year 11 was really stressful because of GCSEs") but with Rubes it seems to go further than that. Idk it's almost like she's still holding onto her identity as a schoolgirl by doing this (a classic Roobee move).

 

[ariawyn]

Honestly, to me her cluelessness when it comes to being bullied really shone through to me in a video she did years ago (I’m not sure if it’s still up). She discovered one of her friends was being bullied, and made a very angry video where she rants at the bullies - a lot of “how DARE you do this to such a lovely person!!” and glaring at the camera as if anybody would actually be intimidated.

I was bullied so badly in school that I had to change all of my classes to get away from the girls doing it, and the moment I saw that video I cringed. It was a nice gesture I suppose, she thought she was sticking up for her friend, but I immediately knew it would just be more ammo for the bullies. They’d find it HILARIOUS. If anything they’d probably quote it at the girl they’d been bullying the next day, if they ever even saw it to begin with. I had no idea what she was trying to achieve. Did she really think they’d see it and think “aw jeez I better stop or Hermione’s gonna hex me!”?? Yikes. The naivety was unreal. I feel like if she’d ever been through real bullying, she’d have known how ridiculous she was being by even making that video, and how much she was opening up her friend to even more ridicule.

 

[marmalade1]

I think Ruby is just trying to hold onto the things that she’s good at. At school she was the teacher’s pet, she was the “best” at being a child. But now everyone else has grown up around her and she feels like she can’t keep up with them, she’s no longer top of the class because adult life is about more than homework and exam grades. But instead of moving forward she’s stuck chasing the reputation she used to have.

honestly I feel for her because a friend of mine went through something apparently very similar and had to get years of therapy

 

[Ilaariaa]

Honestly, to me her cluelessness when it comes to being bullied really shone through to me in a video she did years ago (I’m not sure if it’s still up). She discovered one of her friends was being bullied, and made a very angry video where she rants at the bullies - a lot of “how DARE you do this to such a lovely person!!” and glaring at the camera as if anybody would actually be intimidated.

I was bullied so badly in school that I had to change all of my classes to get away from the girls doing it, and the moment I saw that video I cringed. It was a nice gesture I suppose, she thought she was sticking up for her friend, but I immediately knew it would just be more ammo for the bullies. They’d find it HILARIOUS. If anything they’d probably quote it at the girl they’d been bullying the next day, if they ever even saw it to begin with. I had no idea what she was trying to achieve. Did she really think they’d see it and think “aw jeez I better stop or Hermione’s gonna hex me!”?? Yikes. The naivety was unreal. I feel like if she’d ever been through real bullying, she’d have known how ridiculous she was being by even making that video, and how much she was opening up her friend to even more ridicule.

I haven't seen that but knowing how Ruby is and how she was a few years back I'm cringing at the thought. And yeah that definitely only made it worse for that other girl.
Do you think Ruby's classmates knew about her Hermione Granger tutorials and made fun of her? Because I'm sorry I'm no bully but if at the age of 16-17 a classmate of mine was posting cringy videos of her looking and acting like a 12 year old and cosplaying as Hermione Granger I don't think I'd want to hang out with her

 

[3calico3]

Do you think Ruby's classmates knew about her Hermione Granger tutorials and made fun of her? Because I'm sorry I'm no bully but if at the age of 16-17 a classmate of mine was posting cringy videos of her looking and acting like a 12 year old and cosplaying as Hermione Granger I don't think I'd want to hang out with her

I can't remember what year she said her bullying took place in, but I feel like it was before age 16.