Grab your tissues, another of those touching (more like ridiculous) stories on “bullying” about an aunt who organizes her facebook “friends”(correctly termed list of random people whom you might or not know, but what’s in the meaning of a word anyway, right?) to rally together to support her nephew in confronting his bully (story here at the Blaze ). With 101 against 1, geesh, even Napoleon would have retreated in the face of those odds. C,mon, what the heck is going on with this hyping bullying and turning it into a national crisis, where talk swirls about criminalizing this behavior? Are kids really so much more vicious than in previous times? Is the internet the catalyst? Or does the failure fall closer to home, with parents (most likely parent, actually) failing to teach and train (yes, kids need training just as much as dogs) basic manners and self-control? And will the solution come from parents doing their job or will the ever-intrusive state solution be what forces the cultural course correction? Or, as Gladius likes to phrase it, perhaps, “we are essentially doomed”.
Let’s face facts, this new media type event is becoming a typical ploy for media attention. If the aunt really thinks she helped her nephew learn a new survival skill, she’s very deluded. If the nephew thinks these clowns who showed up are really his friends, he’s in for a sad awakening when the cameras move off in search of another ridiculous antic that passes for a “teachable moment” in America these days. Let’s not forget the “reformed” bully, who didn’t want to look bad in front of the cameras, in addition to being surrounded by 101 opponents, c’mon does anyone believe this silly staged event changed his behavior for the long-term? The press eats up these absurd stories, but make no mistake they are playing to a deliberate push (“nudge” is the Cass Sunstein preferred term) to looking for outsiders to solve your problems. In the real world, you teach kids how to cope with bullies (I fought them, as my sisters can attest to how many fights I got into with bullies on our school bus), you don’t orchestrate some camera-ready moment seeking media attention. All this plays to the larger push toward sensationalizing a human behavior as old as human existence and casting it as a unique new problem in need of experts (usually in plentiful supply in academic and government circles) to impose new ways to deal with the behavior. Thus, boys who act like boys, wanting to run, play, hit and break things, become sufferers of ADD or ADHT, in need of relentless drugging and therapy and bullies present a new challenge, in need of national programs to combat. Like sheep, most Americans follow along, preferring to be led along this path that leads to relying on the government pastures and government shepherds to mind us. Yes, mean old libertybelle will continue to be the incorrigible black sheep, because I’d rather be the last voice in this American wilderness telling people, “Think for yourself!” and “This is a bunch of bs!” than to submit to having my mind controlled by this relentless stream of made-up problems with their government solutions at the ready.
libertybelle diaries 