Thank you.
For some reason bullying isn't taken very seriously. It's this whole "boys will be boys" "it's always happened" thing. "Everyone gets bullied," and those are just "growing pains."
A few years ago I read an article on Jewish World Review (I forget the author, but I think it was Paul Greenburg) about a boy who was cruelly bullied for no apparent reason. He was just one of those people everyone goes after. The things done to him were absolutely heartbreaking. And why? He wound up committing suicide. And he was a good boy too, volunteering to help people (I suppose that makes him a "liberal?"). And after he was dead none of the students (who either participated or didn't say a word of protest) had a bad word to say about him. So why did they torment him???
I think the same people who apologize for wedgies, swirlies, and other forms of physical and psychological torture (for that's exactly what it is) in the name of "conservatism" are the same people who tend to defend conservatism in purely social Darwinist terms: "The cowards never started, and the weaklings died on the way!"
The fact that no one has ever tried to stop it doesn't mean that bullying is "all right" and that only a "liberal" would be horrified by it. As a victim myself, I can assure you that the "bullying" you see portrayed on television is nothing compared to what it's really like. I'm sorry and ashamed that there are conservatives out there who feel compelled to defend bullying and public humiliation of children because they think anyone who complains is a "liberal crybaby."
Most victims suffer in absolute silence, and the "good" kids are the primary ennablers because they refuse to do a thing against it (no social penalties are ever visited on the offenders). Perhaps if there had been more "crybabies" long ago something would have long since been done about it.
And no, I am not a utopian advocate of "changing human nature!" Sheesh, if you don't have to be a homosexual, you certainly don't have to be a bully!
I’ve always said that social Darwinism is not conservative, although I get ignored for it.
Until, years later, the child who was bullied goes on a rampage somewhere and kills anyone in bullet range.
That Korean, whose name I have thankfully forgotten, who just tore up the VaTech campus...I bet there are a lot of folks out there, young men and women that went to junior high and high school with him, who are doing a lot of "Maybe I shouldn't have..."
Let's give them an award.
I can assure you that the "bullying" you see portrayed on television is nothing compared to what it's really like.
Trust me, I know what it was like. And I'm female. :-)
For some reason bullying isn't taken very seriously. It's this whole "boys will be boys"
I have three sons, and boys tend to be more physical with the roughhousing, etc. So there is a certain truth to "boys will be boys." But, the key is to make sure they don't cross the line. It's easy to tell the difference between "roughhousing in fun" and "picking on someone." And, when the line is crossed, the adults should step in.
The problem is, too many parents don't step in when their own sons go overboard. They'll even defend their sons even when their sons are clearly in the wrong. My husband and I lay down the law with our kids, but too many other parents don't do that. A lot of parents are teaching their sons to push everyone else around. Sometimes I even wonder if we should be raising our kids to be nice guys when they're living in a world run by the not-so-nice guys.
And bullying isn't limited to boys. I set what I thought were very clear groundrules with my sons, and one of them was never to hit or push a girl. But, a lot of parents seem to find it "cute" when their little girl walks up and pushes or hits or kicks a boy.
And I agree with you: Bullying is not a conservative thing to do. We live in a blue state, and we're surrounded by Democrats. Many raise their kids to be bullies. Considering the rhetoric you hear from the Left - the name calling, throwing food at speakers on stage, etc. - the Left is where the bullies are.