Posted on 03/31/2012 11:42:53 AM PDT by jimbo123
Childhood is safer than ever before, but today's parents need to worry about something. Nick Gillespie on why busybodies and bureaucrats have zeroed in on bullying.
"When I was younger," a remarkably self-assured, soft-spoken 15-year-old kid named Aaron tells the camera, "I suffered from bullying because of my lips—as you can see, they're kind of unusually large. So I would kind of get [called] 'Fish Lips'—things like that a lot—and my glasses too, I got those at an early age. That contributed. And the fact that my last name is Cheese didn't really help with the matter either. I would get [called] 'Cheeseburger,' 'Cheese Guy'—things like that, that weren't really very flattering. Just kind of making fun of my name—I'm a pretty sensitive kid, so I would have to fight back the tears when I was being called names."
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Well, actually, it does happen, although inner-city with gangster wannabes is tougher.
When I was in second grade, there was a bully who went around picking on kids during recess. One day, he started on me, and wouldn't stop. So I finally punched him in the stomach and knocked him down. He never bothered me again.
In prep school, there was a bully who came into my room with a bunch of guys and started calling me names. I finally punched him in the stomach. But this time the bully was tougher. He punched me back in the eye, and knocked me out for a couple of minutes. But evidently my taking him on was enough, because he didn't bother me again.
When some of the teachers asked me why I had a black eye, I gave them the usual excuse, since it was NEVER done to rat on anybody. I told them I ran into a doorknob by accident.
Learn to attribute the quote to the person who said it.
What you experienced in the inner-city is true for the ‘burbs and heartland, too. BTDT
The courts declared children had the adult right of free speech in schools around 1972,and that ended the ability of a teacher to intervene or make it a ‘teaching’ moment for bad behavior. Chaos is never a good thing in school, so now we have hate speech. But the teacher still does not have the ability to put a stop to bullying like they used to. Sometimes you need help understanding court decisions.
I tend to agree. Every young man or woman should know the basics of self-defence.
But as I said earlier (sorry if I'm being repetitive), bully encounters I saw as an inner-city high school teacher were never fair. It was ALWAYS a larger bully against a smaller person. And sometimes it was bully and his thug gang against a smaller person.
It's not like an episode of Leave it to Beaver. A victim who fought back was simply overwelmed. And then the victim was NOT left alone. In one case, the victim was attacked again by a small mob on the way home.
And I find it infuriating that so little was done to the bullies. It was a three-day suspension, followed by a feel-good talking-to by the school guidance counselor.
Oh, and the victim? He transferred to another school. Fighting back may be good in theory, but it didn't help him any.
Sorry to be so pessimistic, but that case was the norm, not the exception.
This guy is way off the mark. Bullying IS worse now, and here’s why:
Parents are worse.
Been to a kids’ sports game lately? The parents in the stands are rude, belligerent, selfish, entitled and lazy.
Their children are just like them.
If your kid is always right, if he/she has been goaded to succeed at all costs and trample over others to get there — be the prettiest, the best soccer player, get into Harvard — you are creating a bully. If you give in to their whining and agree that they have to have the limited edition Nikes even though you’re behind in the mortgage — you’re creating little boy and girl d-bags who send kids with glasses sobbing in the restroom every lunch hour.
And if bullying isn’t “worse” now, how do you account for the fact that teen shooting sprees were utterly unknown in this country until the last decade of the twentieth century?
I agree completely. Can’t we just find a reasoned middle ground without new layers of feminist bureaucracy?
Helicopter parents who want to keep their kids inside bubble wrap.
Such kids are useless when they are supposed to be ready to work in this society. They hare softer than the underbelly on a possum.
I hear you. It's the feminist bureaucracy that helped make the mess in the first place.
At one time, bullies were expelled. If the bully's parents didn't like it, too bad! If the bully's community organizers didn't like it, too bad! Those old-time school administrators were tough. Many were military veterans.
Then came the feminist bureaucrats. Fancy PhD's, no real-world experience. No more expulsions. Instead, let's all form a circle with our chairs and share our feelings.
I'm not one for federal intrusion into local schools. But I'd support a federal law that required every school to have a retired Marine Corps sergeant as Dean of Students.
I'll give it some thought.
Many have said so.
Biggest problem would be how to do it without appearing hypocritical.
Blogs suck. Although if mine sucked, I'd just be reinforcing a point.
Hmmmm.
While it’s tragic and horrible when kids kill themselves let’s face it, anybody that commits suicide because people were mean to them wasn’t going to last in this world. Life throws a lot of nasty stuff at us, stuff that makes teenage bullying seem like a vacation, burying parents, dumped by SOs, fired from jobs, natural disaster, friends with terminal cancer. Being bullied in your youth is your chance to build the emotional callouses you need to survive a future that no matter how blessed will kick your ass a few times.
I don’t think there’s anything new about that. One of the oldest rules of the world, quoted often in sports but just as true in the school yard, is the action draws the attention and the re-action draws the penalty. The bully acting first tends to get the authority figures looking and they always tend to look just in time to see the bullied rise up and start swinging. It was that way when i was in school 30 years ago.
I’d just be reinforcing a point.
Every blogpimp that posts something here should become a post on your blog. They steal stuff —then you post it on your blog, link it back into the blogpimp’s thead on FR — and you show them what it’s like.
Good idea.
I got my butt kicked a few times by bullies throughout my school years. I was the youngest kid in the class but I would always give it right back to the bullies. Which is why I got my butt kicked. It made me a tough little shit—I wasn’t afraid of getting hit. By the time I started growing some muscle in high school I could really defend myself. By the time I was 21 I was 5-11, 190 lbs and no longer had problems with people picking on me.
Don’t you have some chicken to fry?
Using their theft to draw traffic to Free Republic?
Hey, I kind of like that. There is a certain poetic justice there, for shizzle.
No, that was yesterday. Pay attention.
Weren't you supposed to start fawning? Like a couple of months ago?
I haven't seen it, have you been doing the fawning in a closet or something?
That is me fawning. You should see me when I’m not fawning. I’m conflicted. Since you seem to have a soft spot for animals it’s hard for me to think you’re a total jerk. Unfortunately, the rest of your personality really sucks.
I also haven’t fawned over anybody since Donny Osmond, when I was thirteen. Can’t remember exactly how to do it.
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