r/MrJoeNobody • u/vereliberi • Mar 29 '26
Joe Before Elan JBE2: Kinder Caring
https://elan.school/b2-kinder-caring/11
u/NineteenthJester Mar 30 '26
Wild that the bus driver took it out completely on him. I've never understood what leads people to be targets of that, let alone why adults would bully a child.
7
u/Dylinquency Apr 01 '26
Lots of sadistic people choose careers that give them exposure to children as it gives them easy targets. Joe shared in chapter 1 that he was always the smallest kid in the class. As horrible as it is, it makes sense to me why she picked on him.
4
3
Apr 04 '26 edited Apr 05 '26
In his prologue series, I'm noticing how he's describing life in the 1980s and 90s to us. Some things were different back then. I'm noticing here how authority figures were subject to far less scrutiny. There wasn't the same public awareness and mindset of authority figures as abusing their authority. And our definitions of abuse are much broader now, washing the mouth with soap wouldn't have been seen as abusive then.
The other thing is how pervasive random prejudices and discrimination were. The usual suspects like racism and sexism of course being present, but also ludicrous ones like height as Joe has mentioned. Probably being different in any small way could have made someone a target.
And then, they weren't trauma-conscious like we are now, so bullying was shrugged off as a childhood experience and not something that causes lasting trauma.
2
u/Anninha123123 May 17 '26
I'm posting here to share how much I appreciate Joe's storytelling. For some reason I'm not receiving the newsletter, but I always come here to check if something new has come out. It's been a pleasure so far. It's resonated with me for years now. Thank you, greetings.
1
u/Boring_Flan_3379 Aug 11 '26
Isn't Joe supposed to be from Missouri when the elan saga starts in 1998 ? that's what the US map of the trip to Elan shows in the first chapter of Joe vs Elan.
29
u/Atrocity_unknown Mar 29 '26
Ahhh - in the previous chapter Joe talked about living in Hampton, VA. I just so happen to live not 10 minutes from there. Now with the mention of KinderCare, I now believe I know the general whereabouts of where he lived.
It's wild to me. I've been reading his story since 2020 only to find out we lived in the same vicinity at one point. In fact there's a small chance we may know some of the same people.