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Should we be criminalizing bullies?
Washington Post ^ | April 7, 2010 | By Ruth Marcus

Posted on 04/09/2010 5:52:25 PM PDT by Ptarmigan

My heart aches for the parents of Phoebe Prince, the 15-year-old Massachusetts high school student who committed suicide in January after being relentlessly bullied at school and online.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Editorial; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: bullies; bully; bullying; enabler; homosexualagenda; phoebe; phoebeprince; psychology; southhadley
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To: stop_fascism

You advocate stop fascism and yet want to see more government/LE control regarding school bullies? I would like to see less control by govt authorities and more between parent and school admin. Problem is with govt control currently in place. School admin is too scared to engage with the parents to solve problems because of liability.


21 posted on 04/09/2010 6:20:25 PM PDT by antceecee (Bless us Father.. have mercy on us and protect us from evil.)
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To: stop_fascism

Oy! You are taking my words out of context. The goal is to take out the leader of the group that is trying to make your life hell. In school you should use fists; in the military or police-guns.


22 posted on 04/09/2010 6:21:04 PM PDT by Jack Hydrazine
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To: onyx

Right back at ya!


23 posted on 04/09/2010 6:23:40 PM PDT by antceecee (Bless us Father.. have mercy on us and protect us from evil.)
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To: Jack Hydrazine

When I arrived in the South from my NY birthplace I was a 6 year old, knobby kneed little black girl with a funny Brooklyn accent. Mine was one of the few black families in the neighborhood. In NY no one ever picked on me because I was a tiny little runt, but I learned to fight here in Virginia. I got called blackie, the n-word and all types of names. It took about 6 months and about 10 fights for the bullies to figure out they shouldn’t mess with this little kid (me) because I was crazy. I even had to fight a girl who showed up with a cut off broomstick and her mom to support her. Kicked her butt too. After that I made friends and had no problems.


24 posted on 04/09/2010 6:25:11 PM PDT by brwnsuga (Black and Free!!!)
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To: Ptarmigan

And sometimes “stupid things” are crimes, other times they are torts, and other times, they are just stupid things.

At minimum the “South Hadley 6” are guilty of the tort of outrage against Phoebe Prince and her family.


25 posted on 04/09/2010 6:26:28 PM PDT by The_Reader_David (And when they behead your own people in the wars which are to come, then you will know. . .)
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To: antceecee

You make a good point. What I actually believe is that there should not be compulsory schools. However, since there are, it is the authorities duty to keep those who are forced to attend safe. Just like in prison. For this reason, I have never found homosexual rape in prison to be amusing.

To go one step further - prisons use gangs, like schools use bullies, like Hitler used the SA. All proto-fascist organizations.


26 posted on 04/09/2010 6:27:57 PM PDT by stop_fascism
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Fact is, some students are more vulnerable than others. They should be protected. I’m on board for self defense as much as anyone but how about those teens who can’t fight back? I had a buddy whose son was kicked to death by a bunch of punks after getting off a school bus. Everyone of those scum bags are free now. And why? Well, said the Judge, “teens will be teens.” Bullshit! It’s a hard rain gonna fall.


27 posted on 04/09/2010 6:28:59 PM PDT by donaldo
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To: Ptarmigan

First — I don’t know the gory details of all that happened, so I probably shouldn’t comment. But, here goes.

Bits and pieces of this story have bubbled to the surface over the past week that raise some questions. As I understand it, (1) Phoebe moved here from Ireland and immediately got involved in a dating relationship with a popular senior. This made other girls in the school jealous. The dating relationship did not last.

(2) The other kids started harrassing Phoebe. Suddenly, she was in a consensual sexual relationship with the 2 boys who have been charged.

(3) Furthermore, there are reports that Phoebe had been bullied in her Irish school before she arrived here.

1, 2, & 3 put together make me wonder if there was a consensual sexual relationship between Phoebe and the first boy. He broke it off and blabbed to his friends. Then they black-mailed Phoebe unless she performed certain acts and they blabbed about that and threatened her. Girls got wind of it and started gossiping on-line and sending viscious notes to Phoebe. Girls can be very nasty when jealosy is part of it.

The school should have stepped in as soon as they knew what was going on, and Phoebe’s parents should have been informed. Phoebe should have been transferred to another school immediately, and they should have taken her to a counselor.

I’d like to know more about the previous bullying in Ireland and the cause. And I’d like someone to recognize that high school is too young for sexual relationships. I hope these boys are not let off the hook for their actions, and I’d like to see the girls punished too, depending on what they did. All of them involved need psychological counseling, as well as their families.

May Phoebe RIP and may God have Mercy on her soul. Such a tragedy! I hope that every parent of every teenager makes an extra effort to train your kids (boys and girls) to keep their pants on and their feet on the floor. It’s not healthy, mentally or physically to do otherwise.

(Ducking the incoming fire.)


28 posted on 04/09/2010 6:31:54 PM PDT by afraidfortherepublic
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To: Jack Hydrazine

That always works on TV. In real life, the leader and gang are likely to beat the kid into a coma.


29 posted on 04/09/2010 6:33:10 PM PDT by stop_fascism
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To: stop_fascism

Perhaps you are right about compulsory schools... I would at least like to see vouchers and more homeschooling options. You would think that forcing a kid to go to school, they should be safe, but the rules in force for teachers and admin preclude them from doing much to protect the kids. Discipline is not allowed in public skrools... (sorry... love that pronunciation by Rush).


30 posted on 04/09/2010 6:34:49 PM PDT by antceecee (Bless us Father.. have mercy on us and protect us from evil.)
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To: donaldo

Exactly what I’m trying to say.


31 posted on 04/09/2010 6:34:50 PM PDT by stop_fascism
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To: brwnsuga

Many years ago, my husband went to school in Detroit. Everything was fine until he started Jr. High. In the new school, he got picked on by some bullies. His mom (a tiny little Sicilian lady) told him the next time somebody started a fight to roll the bully onto his back and bleed all over him (my husband’s nose bled easily). He did that once and soaked the other guy with his blood. No more problems. I suppose that the other guy’s mom took a switch to him for ruining his school clothes. LOL.

Detroit also had a policy that they didn’t pass you along unless you passed the grade. So, my husband had some guys in his class in the 8th grade who were old enough to drive beer trucks after school. My husband was a pretty good student, so he bartered with a big Polish guy that he would help the Pollack with his math in exchange for body guard duty. Word got around about that, and nobody bothered him again. He moved to California the following year.


32 posted on 04/09/2010 6:43:27 PM PDT by afraidfortherepublic
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To: stop_fascism

So what is your solution? Just take it until they get tired of kicking your butt? These days they just may decide that they want to see how it feels to kill one of their victims. That has already happened more than once.

This country has allowed leftist morons to take over the education of our children. Now, due to several factors, we have a generation of dehumanized little creeps among us. Oh! I don’t want to forget the brainwashed wussies who are too civilized to adequately sanction these little monsters.


33 posted on 04/09/2010 6:43:28 PM PDT by SkipW
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To: Ptarmigan
Well, I don't know. We had bullies back when I was a teen (10 million years ago, and yes, the earth is now warmer!). I gave up a lot of lunch money to the street-corner thugs before I finally decked one of them.

Bullies are a part of growing up. Not necessarily a good situation, but it's going to happen as sure as the sun will rise in the morning. It's a part of the adolescence experience.

Perhaps what was missing in the recent suicide case was a strong family/friend network. I don't know. What I do know is that while the bullies were a major contributor to Pheobe's suicide, she was the one that ultimately decided to do so. She is not an innocent third-party. She isn't really the guilty party either.

Tough one to call overall, but I will say this - we CANNOT use this case as a tool to circumvent the first amendment. While undesirable speech is potentially a factor here, the slippery slope of banning undesirable speech is bound to also lead to the banning of unpopular speech, regardless of how true that speech is. And I don't think any of us is unable to see how the left wants to silence their opposition.

34 posted on 04/09/2010 6:50:45 PM PDT by meyer (It's time...)
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To: donaldo
I had a buddy whose son was kicked to death by a bunch of punks after getting off a school bus.

That's not bullying - that's murder.

35 posted on 04/09/2010 6:53:29 PM PDT by meyer (It's time...)
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Comment #36 Removed by Moderator

To: Jack Hydrazine

I agree with you 100%!!! And if it continued, I would get medievel on the parents!!!!


37 posted on 04/09/2010 7:01:41 PM PDT by panthermom
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To: meyer

But it wasn’t murder! It was accidental death. It was bullying that led to the death of a defenseless kid. It wasn’t even manslaugter. Accidental death, indeed!


38 posted on 04/09/2010 7:01:44 PM PDT by donaldo
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To: Jack Hydrazine
Actually it is not naive. That’s a standard tactic within military and law enforcement circles.

You really think young girls should behave the same way as grown men in the military?

39 posted on 04/09/2010 7:04:04 PM PDT by Straight Vermonter (Posting from deep behind the Maple Curtain)
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To: donaldo

>>but how about those teens who can’t fight back?

I was taught to stand up for them. Times have changed.


40 posted on 04/09/2010 7:05:57 PM PDT by LomanBill (Animals! The DemocRats blew up the windmill with an Acorn!)
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