“Anti-bullying” law nonsense
NOTE TO READERS: COMMENTING IS CLOSED ON THE BARR CODE BLOG
While Uncle Sam is busy busting legitimate American companies like Gibson Guitars for allegedly using the wrong kind of wood, and local police are obsessed with closing down childrens’ lemonade stands, state governments are feverishly overreacting to schoolyard “bullying.”
In a misguided effort to identify and punish school bullies, state governments from New Jersey to Georgia are enforcing so-called “anti-bullying” laws that actually do more harm than good. These nanny-state laws teach kids to snitch on each other and to interject themselves into situations that may wind up getting themselves injured. The broad reach of these laws extend far beyond the jurisdiction of the schools.
Last year, for example, the Georgia legislature enacted a law to combat bullying in school systems across the state. The GOP-backed measure, led by Rep. Mike Jacobs (R-Atlanta), extends to students’ use of e-mail and other social media sites like Facebook.
Other states are following suit; but New Jersey’s effort may take the prize as the most ridiculous. It requires students to report any perceived incidents of “bullying,” and demands they attempt to stop such actions if they witness them. It also establishes a vast anti-bullying bureaucracy; stretching from individual classroom monitors, to the principals’ offices, the school district level, and all the way to the state-wide education department.
According to The New York Times, the new law – the “Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights” – will allow teachers and students to anonymously report perceived incidents of improper behavior. The extensive bureaucracy that will be put in place requires that schools “designate an anti-bullying specialist to investigate complaints; each district must, in turn, have an anti-bullying coordinator; and the State Education Department will evaluate every effort, posting grades on its Web site.”
Many teachers and administrators are unhappy with the new system. They complain they do not have the resources or money to comply, which could put their licenses in jeopardy. The anonymous tip provision is likely to be used as a way for children to target students they dislike.
Often these laws are passed as knee-jerk reactions to particular incidents that clearly transcend the line between bullying and criminal acts of violence (which, of course, are punishable under existing statutes). Much like “hate crimes” laws long-favored by liberals, New Jersey’s Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights was passed as a reactionary measure nearly a year after a gay college student tragically committed suicide; the result of being humiliated after his roommate secretly streamed a video of a private moment with another young man.
While kids may be unfair and cruel to one another — a natural rite of passage — and there no doubt are and always will be serious instances of abuse, bullying actually has been on the decline in recent years. A 2010 study by the U.S. Department of Justice, for example, found that the number of children who reported being bullied fell from 22 percent in 2003 to 15 percent in 2008.
Parents and teachers obviously should teach children to respect others, and truly harmful behavior must be pubished; but overreaching laws such as these now in effect in New Jersey and Georgia, are as likely to do more to endanger kids than protect them.
The Nanny State run amuck . . . again.
By Bob Barr — The Barr Code
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
108 comments Add your comment
Philosopher
September 2nd, 2011
11:34 am
@quick work break -Great- so what kind of thinking and planning are you going to do to stop bullying? I’m all ears. My guess is bullying will NEVER cease as long as there are people like Bob making excuses for bullies and supporting them. Until we all agree that bullying is barbaric, animalistic behavior…i.e. it’s wrong for humans to engage in, and STOP TEACHING OUR CHILDREN TO DO IT, it’s going to continue.
jarvis
September 2nd, 2011
11:41 am
@Philosopher, not being a smarty here. I seriously want clarification. Are you saying not having a law against something equates to teaching people to do that thing?
quick work break
September 2nd, 2011
11:42 am
Calm down, Philosopher. I’m neither an educator nor social worker–the knowledgeable people that are on the front line to prevent these things. While some scream that it’s the parents’ responsibility, I think we can agree there are plenty of incompetent hands-off parents out there which we can scorn, but that still leaves children that need guidance. When you say (scream, actually) “…stop teaching our children to do it”, I assume you’re talking about other kids, which is exactly my preventative suggestion. It’s just the means to get there that’s not resolved.
dme
September 2nd, 2011
11:50 am
Obviously this person has no clue on what it is like to be bullied. Kids are killing themselves because of this so called “not tattling”. They need to be educated along with adults like yourself to understand why you need to take a stand…not just walk by. Being a bystander is the hardest thing for a child. They do not want to be a target themselves and at the same time know what is happening is so wrong and do not know what to do.
We all value education, & want for our children to get the education that will help them reach their future potential. Tell me: What is used to help retain that education? The mind? Right. Tell me: When someone is emotionally, and physically bullied, what retains memories? The mind? Right. Tell me: is not the emotional well being of our children the impetus of having a better memory that will retain education?
Dorothy
September 2nd, 2011
12:08 pm
After reading these comments, it appears we each have different ideas about what bullying is. Some people think being mean, rude or obnoxious is bullying. To me, bullying is physically assaulting or threatening to physically assault someone.
Yes, we need to teach children ignore obnoxious a*@-holes, like many people who comment on blogs. Perhaps we need to clarify exactly what bullying is before we try to address the best course of action in preventing it.
thewindwhistler
September 2nd, 2011
12:21 pm
It is survival of the fittest, sad but true, It is natural selection. The lion, king of beasts is looking for the slowest and weakest, not the strongest and most fit. We are all animals, although civilized we retain earlier man’s aggresive traits. Take myself, I was not too worried, I was in a small school and mom was the teacher. If things got rough I could always ride with her.
None the less, children have to learn it is a rough world and they simply have to know how to adjust.
Many parents take their grade schoolers to karate class, in fact, a lot of them do.
Philosopher
September 2nd, 2011
12:36 pm
The louder we adults tell children that bullying is unacceptable and the clearer we make the message that there will be consequences for getting caught doing it, the sooner the bullying will lessen-not stop-because hell, after all, it works, now doesn’t it?? But as long as there are brain-dead, failure to evolve animals out there who believe that this society should continue to function as if we still needed to be big thugs, bullying will persist. You are proud of it, consider it a “rite of passage”…so go drag your knuckles on the ground and hammer your chests- and your kids will be just like you. LOVELY!
WOW
September 2nd, 2011
1:40 pm
The courts have reached a point to where they will accept every single lawsuit filed regardless of how inane they are. Money, of course, is the bottom line here and money will win out every single time.
Carlosgvv…I am going to sue you for being an idiot. I will win millions!
Eddie Haskell
September 2nd, 2011
1:41 pm
Bob…I bet you were picked on a lot in school.
What’s Wrong with the ‘Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights’ – Huffington Post (blog) | Live Newsline
September 2nd, 2011
1:44 pm
[...] mandating that teachers and school …Bullying Law Puts New Jersey Schools on SpotNew York Times“Anti-bullying” law nonsenseAtlanta Journal Constitution (blog)Back to School – Bullies BewareNewark [...]
sam
September 2nd, 2011
1:47 pm
I always figured what didn’t break you made you stronger. If kids don’t have to learn to cope with bullying then they are not going to be prepared for a workplace environment.
What’s Wrong with the ‘Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights’ – Huffington Post (blog) | Law Advice
September 2nd, 2011
1:48 pm
[...] mandating that teachers and school …Bullying Law Puts New Jersey Schools on SpotNew York Times“Anti-bullying” law nonsenseAtlanta Journal Constitution (blog)Back to School – Bullies BewareNewark [...]
Philosopher
September 2nd, 2011
1:58 pm
@sam- Not all workplaces are bully camps…and how about this, stop accepting environments like that- start with accepting nothing less from adults than basic courtesy and NO BULLYING, instead of raising kids to put up with it, too? Refuse to accept it and raise kids who don’t MAKE the workplace environment a place full of bullies?
Elizabeth Bennett
September 2nd, 2011
2:53 pm
Um Bob, do yourself a favor and get educated. Please visit my website and learn what this beloved right of passage of yours does to a person. I deal with adults daily who went through this and it is people like YOU who have invaded their civil and human rights not mention violated their rights to the Constitution that this country promises EVERYONE. You have a right to an opinion however ignorant it is. My prayers go up to the people who cross your path on a daily basis. Have a nice life.
Elizabeth Bennett
http://www.peerabuse.net
Jefferson
September 2nd, 2011
2:56 pm
You don’t know the truth in the Gibson case, so quit with the bs. They would use ivory from the last elephant on earth for a price.
Renee
September 2nd, 2011
3:50 pm
What you’re essentially saying is, it’s a “…rite of passage…” for people to be bullied so bad that they end up taking their own lives.
You state it is a “…knee-jerk reaction…” for these laws to be passed, citing the incident with the gay man in New Jersey. So, essentially, you are saying that they over-reacted when a man killed himself, because he was humiliated by his peers?
That, sir, is a HATE CRIME, and hate crimes, in the USA, are ILLEGAL.
I don’t know what planet you live on, but the reality is, every single day, a person somewhere takes their own life, or they are bullied and beaten to death. Every single day, a child goes home crying, because they don’t fit in and every single day, someone runs a razor blade across their wrists, because they gave up all hope of ever being liked.
It is anything but a knee-jerk reaction to enact these laws and from the point of view, of both a mother, and a person who has suffered abuse from my own peers, I can also tell you that the bullying I went through has effected my own life SO severely that I now have Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. You know…the stuff soldiers come back from WAR with!
Your article states that you are against anti-bullying laws, clearly, and it states, even more-so, your own state of mind; Bullying is okay. It’s a rite of passage. It’s part of life.
Listen to your own statements.
You advocate terrorism. It is terrorizing when someone bullies someone else, and terrorizes them. You are advocating terrorism.
Every bully who read your article, including yourself, felt empowered by your words, but everyone else in the world (you know, the other 90%), saw it for what it was; A bully defending himself.
Next time someone’s child takes their life, or a man takes his life because of peer torture, your awful article will be the first thing I think about.
How can you look yourself in the mirror?
carlosgvv
September 2nd, 2011
4:06 pm
WOW
Maybe you’ll win millions, but when I counter-sue you for being a moron, I will win even more millions than you.
Missy
September 2nd, 2011
4:38 pm
Obviously you have not lost one of your own children’s life due to bullying. Obviously, you have not read in the news how many kids are committing suicide on a daily basis because these bullies have bullied them to death and made their lives a LIVING HELL. Before you go putting your two cents in on the laws and bashing them, maybe you should talk to a parent that has lost a child because of bullying. It is is clear that you don’t have a clue about why these laws were put in place. Maybe if it was on of your own children dying that might make you stop and think. I really hope if this is the way you feel, that you do no have children at all.
Love
September 2nd, 2011
4:39 pm
Now in my mid 30’s I’m a surviver of childhood bullying. I live on Disability that the tax payers pay for, Housing that the tax payers pay for, and Medical that the tax payers pay for… due to childhood bullying from grades 3-9. Shall we pay for it now or later? I live with major depression, the effects of multiple attempts to end my life and a crushed spirit with little to no faith in humanity. Bullying is not something you get-over, it’s effects are long lasting…sometimes forever.
Philosopher
September 2nd, 2011
4:42 pm
Survival of the fittest is not pertinent, anymore, and hasn’t been for quite some time. Anti-bullying laws were enacted by people who now use their brains to live and survive and know that those who haven’t evolved that far yet need to be reined in.
Baker
September 2nd, 2011
6:05 pm
The reason that there should be no law against bullying is that the founding finks always ratted out the founding bullies which served to perpetuate the founding wimps who were allowed to evolve into the total morons who make up the Tea Party now. (Impeccable logic, Watson).
Philosopher
September 2nd, 2011
6:48 pm
Understood that logic perfectly, Baker.
Devilish Black Minion
September 2nd, 2011
7:00 pm
I have always suspected Bob thinks “The Lord of the Flies” is a fine example of what this country should aspire to be. Now I know it’s true.
Grapedrankisha
September 2nd, 2011
8:46 pm
The best remedy for bullying is force on force.
I was bullied one time, in like the second grade. I screwed up my courage and at recess I waited for him at the bottom of the slide and when he got to the bottom I pasted him in the face hard as I could. The bullying stopped, and we actually became best buddies after that.
jarvis
September 2nd, 2011
10:09 pm
Help us Big Brother. We can’t (or won’t) take care of ourselves without your big bloated over reaching help.
The Absurdity Of Anti-Bullying Laws
September 3rd, 2011
11:48 am
[...] the same time, though, I find mysel f agreeing with former Congressman Bob Barr that these laws tend to do more harm than good: Other states are following suit; but New Jersey’s effort may take the prize as the most [...]
Ora Munter
September 3rd, 2011
1:46 pm
Mr. Barr argues that bullies help teach kids survival skills and anti-bully laws will cost schools money, which they do not have. First, acting like a “bully” is a learned behavior. In almost every instance, an innocent child is bullied and hurt by someone who was bullied and hurt by someone else. It’s a vicious cycle. Kids, like adults, prefer kindness. Just like we all prefer joy to tears.
When a bully attacks a “weaker” child, maybe they get a power hit for a brief moment. But they usually regret it. Their actions inevitably hurts and haunts them sometimes into adulthood. They may try to cover it up with another bully attack. But, their actions are only repressing their own pain. And as the cycle repeats itself one child believes he/she is a “Bully.” And the other believes he/she is a “Victim.” These are only beliefs. And for many, these stupid beliefs turn into painful, false identities. And these false identities cloud kids from seeing the truth of who they are and their value to society.
Bullying is anti-evolutionary for the individual and our society. Bullying on all levels is spiraling out control and threatening our economy, our health, and our planet. Here’s my suggestion, which will cost schools absolutely nothing.
Each class creates a “Tattletale team.” Yes, telling is good. Expressing pain for the sake of healing is good. Pain creates dis-ease. And disease costs a lot more money to heal. So, here’s how it works. A team of maybe five kids are elected by their classmates. When a child is bullied, he/she tells someone on their Tattletale Team. The team sets a time to hear the complaint. Like a courtroom, both sides are heard. Parents are invited. The Tattletale Team judges whether or not the claim is valid. If so, the bully must offer an apology to the other child before his peers and parents. If the bully refuses, he/she gets a strike. Three strikes and they’re expelled.
Of course, details need to be worked out. But those rules of engagement can be created by the kids with guidance from a volunteer adult. Some parents like to get involved with their kids’ school. So getting a volunteer shouldn’t be a problem.
Being a lawyer, Mr. Barr, should see the merits of such a system. After all, lawyers make their living on tattletales and bullies.
Ora Munter is the author/illustrator of THE ICE VEIL TALES, 12 fantasy/adventures that show kids how to be happy no matter what! http://www.theiceveiltales.com
Slinking Toward Retirement | “Anti-bullying” law nonsense | The Barr Code | News, Travel, Opinion and Just Odd and Funny Things...
September 3rd, 2011
11:01 pm
[...] “Anti-bullying” law nonsense | The Barr Code. Anti-bullying, Behavior, broad reach, bullying in school, georgia legislature, gibson guitars, [...]
Michele
September 3rd, 2011
11:43 pm
I agree with Barr. As much as I dislike bullying, I do believe that it is a rite of passage because it’s out there. It’s always going to be out there. Let’s say that they do take bullying out of schools, everyone is going to think that the world is full of great and wonderful people who care about each other and love each other…then they will grow up and realize that it’s a cruel world out there and have no knowledge on how to deal with it.
Dorothy
September 4th, 2011
12:03 am
Michele, in the “real” world that type of behaviour is not tolerated. How about the bullies are going to be the ones who will be in for a shock when they try that in the work place and find themselves arrested and unemployed. I really don’t what this “real” world is that you people live in but I live in a civilized world where might does not make right and people live by laws and we protect the weak.
I say all of you that want to live by primitive ways should move to some jungle some where. You’ll love it. I also believe that all of you who are trying to defend bullies are or were yourself bullies and you’re just trying to justify your own bad behaviour. And everyone knows that lawyers are bullies.
Jeff
September 4th, 2011
12:21 am
I’m writing my autobiography because i want to speak out and communicate with society explaining the permanent effects that childhood bullying and abuse can have on an abuse victim in adulthood, because the effects of childhood abuse don’t… end at the playground and school classroom. The abuse I endured in childhood destroyed my adult life, until now.
My heart bleeds for abuse victims because I know and understand the pain and humiliation they have experienced from school peers. I also know what it feels like to be labeled and stigmatized as the weird one, and how that causes a child to feel different and isolated from the other students, and that too escalates to feeling different and separate from society as an adult. Being labeled and pegged also creates a target on a child’s back for continued and repeated abuse from even more peers..
Humiliation from school peers can be very painful for a child, and the emotions that are instilled in abuse victims can evolve into severe inferiority complexes and insecurity as adults, as well as instilled anger that can also be triggered in adult relationships. I know because I was an abused victim in my childhood. Rejection along with abuse can create deep seated feelings of inadequacy causing social disorders that can paralyze an abuse victim from functioning as an adult.
I believe the school system should do all that it can do to stop schoolyard bullying because of the permanent damage that schoolyard bullying can do to destroy a life of an abuse victim. I know this very well because i was a victim of schoolyard bullying, and I know the permanent effect it had on me as an adult, and those here who don’t believe that intervention should be made to stop schoolyard bullying are as wrong as they can be.
Jeff
September 4th, 2011
12:52 am
I just want to share a link to a psychiatric evaluation of me from my psychiatrist 25 years ago, to show the permanent effect that schoolyard bullying had on my adult life. Some of my depression in adulthood was caused from adult relationships, but the severe social disorder and anger instilled within me from childhood caused adult situations damaging adult relationships with significant people in my life.
The system has spent over a hundred thousand dollars on my hospital stays alone, and I also have been on disability for the last 24 years because of the effects that schoolyard bullying had on me as a child creating inferiority complexes causing a social disorder that paralyzed me from functioning as an adult.
My wife was also a victim of schoolyard bullying and she too has been disabled from functioning as an adult, and so the price tag for allowing schoolyard bullying far out ways the cost of intervening to stop it. It’s possible for a victim of schoolyard bullying to cost the government over a million dollars as an adult because of the cost of psychiatric hospitalizations and treatments for emotional and social disorders in adulthood with the cost of disability payments stacked on top of that.
Too all tax payers, you are paying the bill for schoolyard bullying, because it’s your tax dollars that paid for my hospitalizations and disability. It all might have been prevented if teachers who actually heard me being mocked and humiliated on school grounds would have done something about it, but instead, they just turned their heads as if they didn’t notice, and then you tax payers have been paying for the effect it had on me as an adult.
https://sites.google.com/site/childhoodabuseeffects/home/
Elizabeth Bennett
September 4th, 2011
10:36 am
Dorothy, I believe that you hit the nail on the head. Those who are trying to justify this behavior are probably bullies themselves and could not care less about anyone but themselves. It gives them carte blanche to keep up their own bad behavior. Animals behave badly and that is one thing. People behaving badly with the capability of righting these wrongs is quite another.
Oh believe me, I was abused by my peers for 27 years and always lived in the real world. It nearly destroyed me not to mention kill me. Realistically will this problem ever completely stop? No, probably not as someone is always going to be there to push the envelope so to speak. However, as an adult, I can choose to live in an abuse free world as I lived in a world full of abuse growing up and know exactly how it affected me. The real world is a beast, I learned that at the tender age of three. Life is not fair and nobody will always get what they want. However, it is no excuse for anyone to contribute to hurting another person. People have hidden behind their bad and exclusive, elitist behavior for far too long. Life is life but abuse and excusing it is quite another entity….and there is NO EXCUSE for hurting another individual. BOTTOM LINE!
Elizabeth Bennett
September 4th, 2011
11:01 am
Forgot to add…..those who still believe this is some right of passage…..I guess it is okay for abuse to occur elsewhere also? Child, domestic, sexual, animal, elder and sibling abuse……yeah, these are horrible and need to stop. Want a reality check? Bullying IS abuse also but people fail to lump it in there with other forms of abuse. We frown on other forms of abuse and go after the perps full force for their actions. Well, it’s there also and always will be there so I guess this is also some right of passage? WRONG! This is the core reason why I put bullying in with other forms of abuse. People, wake up! Abuse occurs in friendships just as much if not more than in other types of relationships out there. The cycles exist as well. Is it because this involves children as the perpetrators that we cannot see it as abuse? Well, it involves children in sibling abuse also and it gets seen as abuse. It involves children as the perps in animal abuse and it gets seen as abuse. Grown children (yet, they are still children in the eyes of the adults in this case) abuse elderly parents and it is considered abuse. Bullying is no different and it has yet to be considered abuse and taken seriously. This is why we still have ignorance out there.
Do I think the people on here defending this problem are horrible animals? No! I just do not think they are educated on this problem and still see it as school yard behavior in kids in some cases. Yes, kids are cruel….they fuss, nitpick and get on each others nerves. They are children and they are learning. However, they are also old enough to understand concrete thinking and that involves knowing right from wrong. They can be taught that this abuse is not acceptable. Yet we continue to allow and excuse it because they are kids. It is not about living in a bubble or a lilly white world. It is about teaching kids right from wrong and that this behavior is WRONG. Everyone has a right to an opinion but I wish people would open their minds and hearts up is all.
gamom
September 4th, 2011
2:30 pm
With all due respect, laws are needed to combat bullying in school. Funny thing is, its often the educators that are the bullies. In Georgia it is legal for schools, teachers and administrators to still use corporal punishment on any child in school, even up through high school. If that isn’t absurd, I don’t know what does. For all you that say it is needed, that is simply not true. We don’t live in the 18th century, we live in in 2011 where more than half the states in the country educate children without hitting them and are doing just fine. Georgia students deserve better. It is down right embarssing that teachers still beat children hear… legally. Don’t believe it? Ask the Georgia Dept of Education for the stats and data. They have it, available with an open records request
fedup2
September 4th, 2011
6:16 pm
Those yammering for tougher anit-bullying laws are damaged people who are still seeking revenge for the perceived damage done to them at some point in their lives. They want revenge even if it is a symbol of the people that they want it on. They speak about caring and concern. They lie. They want revenge. They don’t care that children might be incarcerated for thoughtless acts. Does anyone remember why we categorize children separate from adults? It would be because they don’t have the skill sets and life experience to make adult decisions. So lets criminalize them for what they can’t. That sure sounds to me like great judgements from adults. Which leads one to believe these are not adults in mind but still children with adult bodies. It’s a shame that psychiatrists are still unable to repair the psyche of damaged people.
thewindwhistler
September 5th, 2011
9:02 am
I was sort of worried the last couple of days, not seeing Bob’s column on the computer. The first thing to come to mind was that some democrat bully had HIB him. That’s harassed, intimidated and bullied him. This nanny statism has to go. This great country is tooooo independent minded to put up with it. Do not forget the “tea party” when revolutionists dumped all that tea in Boston harbor to protest taxes. The great state of Georgia will field a great candidate for President, John Barrow, Harvard educated, astute tactician, he will win.
Pete
September 5th, 2011
9:50 am
As an educator, I can tell you that Mr. Barr is WRONG. We are talking about hateful,bigoted talk and action that leads kids to kill themselves. Bullying is actually on the rise, and is extremely serious and deadly. Mr. Barr has taken some irresponsible positions in the past, but this one may win the prize.
GreatATLGuy
September 5th, 2011
10:00 am
Physical and cyber bullying are absolutely on the rise with no end in site and should be stopped and punished… an example is those militant and angry Stepfords at http://www.onemillionmoms.com, trying to bully everybody from A&F to Chaz Bono and Carson Kressley for being picked on DWTS. Bullying people are scared hysterics like the Dallas Bryce Howard character in The Help, and Bob Barr is no better than that kind of bigot.
Grits
September 5th, 2011
10:13 am
Barr is exactly right. Nobody needs a Nanny State law to report a bulling incident. Stupid government kneejerk action.
GreatATLGuy
September 5th, 2011
10:22 am
@Grits – your name is appropriate for your comment. PS, you should also run spell check before you post.
reality check
September 5th, 2011
10:33 am
Here’s a novel approach. We all know parents are responsible for their children’s behavior. How many times have you heard someone say “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.” The new rule should be that parents are accountable for their children’s behavior. Take away the right of a free, public education if their child’s pattern of behavior (or the parent’s behavior) affects the learning environment of others. That alone would eliminate the majority of “silly rules.” So many parents believe that their child should get special treatment, are perfect, or the first one at the school yelling when their child is punished. Hold parents accountable for home training. We’ll pay to educate your child up to the point they continually infringe on another student’s right to a free, public education. It should become the parent’s responsibility to educate their child at that point.
LOL
September 5th, 2011
10:42 am
LOL….this dude made his career using snitches….now they are bad
teacher
September 5th, 2011
10:43 am
Kids have always picked on other kids. Heck, adults pick on other adults. Having a law won’t change behavior.
Borat
September 5th, 2011
10:54 am
I still LOL when I youtube the breast milk cheese bit with Bob and me.
Sam
September 5th, 2011
10:56 am
I remember when Roots was on television. Boy, did the next day suck. Every black kid and his brother was on a mission. And you know how early many black kids develop physically. They have pectoral muscles before they have pubes. Definitely an argument towards gene selection during the days of slavery. But the white kids survived that episode just as they will today. Unless it’s one of those deranged broken-brained gang-bangers. They might shoot you. I suppose the bullying specialist will throw their body in front of the intended victim like a secret service agent.
C Smith
September 5th, 2011
10:59 am
Spoken like someone who has never had a child victimized by relentless bullying. Email and social media and cell texting no longer confine bullying to the class and lunch room, but now give the bully 24/7 access to the victim. “Rite of passage”? What planet are you from?
myother
September 5th, 2011
11:04 am
Bullying takes away a childs right to learn because all you think about is the bully and not learning. School is for “reading, writing, and arithmetic” and the state should do anything needed to keep it that way. There is plenty of time for “rite of passage” after school.
Friendly Mentor
September 5th, 2011
12:41 pm
Well, let’s also understand that there are TEACHERS who are big bullies. As I was growing up, I knew a number of bullies who mistreated me, but the ones who left the lasting scars were my 5th grade teacher (a lady to put me in front of the class and asked the whole class to ridicule me for sending a love note to my girlfriend across the aisle), my 8th grade math teacher who hit me hard with a stick in front of the whole class, (which had my girlfriend in it) because I thought something he said was funny and I laughed aloud, and my band teacher who mimicked my way of marching because I had a physical handicap, in front of a hundred kids. These aholes who do the teaching are often the ones who cause the bullying. If a teacher has little respect for a kid, the kid’s peers take it out on the kid. These days my best bet would have been to have these teachers locked up, where they belonged, for assault, harassment and emotional injury to a child. That is equivalent to child molesting right out in front of everyone. Bob Barr, you are so full of crap it is an insult to human beings.
Friendly Mentor
September 5th, 2011
1:15 pm
To make this issue even clearer, think about this for a minute or a lifetime: Bullying doesn’t start with bullies at school, it starts with children who don’t understand how to defend themselves because the adults around them don’t treat them right to start with. A person who is treated with respect at home and at church will naturally defend himself or herself correctly if a bully appears anywhere else in their lives. But if one or both parents, provided they have both parents, don’t treat their own children with respect, it leaves the child vulnerable to other people’s whims and aggressions. I don’t think that more laws will help much unless people are willling to go through the motions of getting involved with our legal system, but I do think that good parents make good kids, and bad parents can either create bullies or victims or both. And bad teachers, who have the power to create or destroy a child’s self esteem, need to find a job working in coal mines and not handling the minds and emotional welfare of those who will be choosing their nursing home some day. What goes around does come back around, and that is a law of nature that no one can overcome by becoming more civilized. If you are in a position of power over your kids or over any group of people, you reap what you sow, even if it takes 50 to 70 years to come back to visit you. That is what justice really is. Bullies eventually get what they deserve, although many of us don’t have that kind of patience to wait that long.