A young boy, about twelve years old, has been hired by a little old lady to do some chores about the house. He rakes leaves and snips hedges and all the while the ad runs, she is sweet as can be to him. So sweet, in fact, that it becomes obvious that the boy hates her. We're expected to join him in his dislike for her. At the end of the ad, this sweet, fawning little old lady comes toward the boy with her purse and proffers the money due him. He hands her the hose and takes the money. Meanwhile she looks into the end of the hose to see why there is no water coming out of it. Cue close-up: the boy, sporting an evil but gleeful grin, holding the mid-section of the hose, releases the kink he's been holding in it. We never see it but we know full well that the woman just took a huge shot of water straight in the face.
What did she do to him? Nothing; she was obnoxiously nice, kind, and generous. The boy willingly performed the chores he agreed to do AND he got paid. I guess it's just a crime not to fit into the well established niche of a twelve-year-old god.
Watch one of those Teenage Angst shows. Hanna Montana, the Suite Life on Deck, iCarly, they're full of meanness, "boy did I put one over on that sucker", "haha, look what a jerk she is". Bullying is widespread. You'd wonder why, except that bullies are so well known to us, and we all have an intuitive understanding. A cuts down B, and then A's friends all join him in a little snickercircle to celebrate how wonderful they are. Or perhaps they're not content with snickering, so the posse joins in on the bullying. It's not cruel enough for B to know that one person doesn't like him, A's friends all don't like him either, and that leaves B wondering about himself. Hurt, hurt, hurt.
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