No way man. I think everyone who feels bullying isn't really a problem and those kids should just "man up" are almost as bad as the bullies themselves. If you feel that way, you deserve to get punched in the face by a bully to see how it feels. If you're blaming the victim instead of the bully, you're part of the problem. You're going to end up raising punk kids who at worst are bullies themselves and at best see nothing wrong with other kids getting tormented at school.
It's easy to say that those kids should fight back and stand up for themselves. But not everyone is as tough as you'd like them to be or as tough as you think you are. For some 12 year old kid getting bullied, it's easy to tell him to fight back, but how are you gonna fight back against a kid bigger than you? Most adults would be afraid to be in a fight with someone bigger too. So it's not cowardice but a natural reaction.
I was the only Asian kid in my school for a few years. I went to school with mostly Hispanic kids who bullied me a lot. When it's 1 bully vs. 1 kid, yeah the kid has a chance to win. But when it's 7 bullies and the bully's friends who are picking on you and saying things about your race and hitting you, how do you fight back against that? Now that I'm older and put on some weight/muscle, I tell myself that I would've fought back. But back then I was just a skinny kid. In all those years since, I spent so much time being depressed and wishing I could react differently. And now people are saying it's the kid who's getting picked on that's to blame? No. I just get so angry when people try to lay blame on the bully victim instead of the bully.
I read an article saying that Asian kids (like me) are the most bullied group in American schools. Check this out:
http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=8551103 So this topic really hits home for me because it wasn't just me but a bunch of kids like me (immigrants) who had to deal with this daily. Bullying is a serious problem. Just look at the data to see it instead of pretending it's no big deal and kids should get over it. It affects a lot of those kids for a lifetime.