Got home safe from making the holiday family visits. The cats were very pleased to see that I returned.
-
2015 Con Schedule
Nothing currently scheduled.Recent Posts
Sci-fi Comic Links
Comic Links
Abominable Charles C.
Alien Loves Predator
Anders loves Maria
Bad Machinery
Bucko
Cat and Girl
CulturePulp
Diesel Sweeties
Dinosaur Comics
Dr. McNinja
Evil, Inc.
Family Man
Faraday The Blob
Finn & Charlie
Gastrophobia
Girls with Slingshots
Goats
Hark, A Vagrant
Kinokofry
Minimum Security
Nemu Nemu
Not Invented Here
Octopus Pie
Oglaf (NSFW)
Overcompensating
PHD Comics
Pvp Online
Rice-Boy.com
Sam & Fuzzy
Scenes From a Multiverse
Sheldon
Shortpacked
Sinfest
Skinhorse
Sluggy Freelance
SMBC
Snowflakes
Something Positive
Templar, AZ
The Book Of Biff
Unshelved
Wanderlost
Wapsi Square
Wondermark
Comic Related
SF/Fantasy Authors
Other Links
Good grief, I may be turning into a liberal as I almost agree with the parents. heh.
== John ==
Sorry for bullying in here, but you used a trigger word. It is not at all worth the lunch! See:
a bit older, a bit lengthy, a bit thoughtfully bitter, but nonetheless true.
ooops, forget to quote correctly:
linked text was “Nonviolence and its violent consequences” – William Myers
a short rundown on why there is a difference between peaceful opposition and the dogma of Nonviolence, and some example cases on where it went wrong…
Thanks for the link, @Heng, Although I kinda’ agree with the parents in this instance. And they are more advocating to make unfair acts accountable to the community, rather than simply to let people do whatever.
But this is a major theme of the story, mulling and gnawing over the different sides of violence v. non-violence. (and as you’ll shortly see, the community does resort to violent means in defense).
Putting down bullies is important. Educating them in how to act like people, not thugs. And lunch is very important to a growing child. Don’t throw it away.
This one is kinda complicated for me, too. I got picked on a lot in school. I was smart, skinny, nonathletic and socially awkward. One day the bullying escalated from the usual taunts to actual physical violence. I fought back. I was suspended for three days for violating school rules, but people actually high-fived me in the hallway on the way out. I wasn’t picked on anymore after that. Screwy as it sounds, getting into a fight in middle school was one of the best things to happen to me.
That being said, it probably would have been better if the school had paid some damned attention in the first place and laid down the law on the bullies before things got out of hand. Unfortunately, in twelve years of public schooling I never saw that happen. Not even after a classmate committed suicide over it.
I’m probably biased, but that seems like the situation here. The adults are preaching nonviolence, but they’ve let the situation reach a point where a little kid can be beaten up and have his lunch stolen without the bullies having any real fear of consequences. If the adults aren’t doing their jobs, they can’t really complain about others taking matters into their own hands.
All that does is teach them what they can get away with. Is that how to train a puppy to not piss on the carpet? NO! you swat its little nose, at the time, so it knows what is wrong.
And yes, they are little animals until their behavior has proven otherwise. Until then, you have to get their attention.
Sabreur has a point there…
Although I consider myself as a pro-Nonviolence, this time I’m with Julie, sometimes you just need to stand against the bullies. Moreover, we don’t know if this was the first time she confronted those guys, maybe she told an adult before but couldn’t prove it and they didn’t get punished… I don’t know.
I saw the completely wrong response to bullies by schools when I was a kid. The number one error is punishing the victims if they fight back. If it gets to that point the bullies need arrested for assault and battery then sent to a boot camp style school with strict rules and teaching discipline.
At the grade school I went to in the 70’s, if you told a teacher about another student picking on you during recess, you got told not to be a tattle-tale and had to stand against the library wall. Completely back-asswards response to bullying!
Bully-coddling has a very long history in American schools. See if you can find the 1966 satire film “Lord Love a Duck” starring Roddy McDowall and Tuesday Weld.
Remember reform school? That’s what that was. Kids who refused to behave, who insisted they were going to constantly disobey and especially if they were physically attacking other students got sent to reform school where such antics were not at all tolerated.
Kids in schools have to learn, but they don’t all *have* to learn “equally”. Not every student will or can go to college, nor do many even want to. Find the short story “Harrison Bergeron” online and after you’ve read it I bet you can think of some real situation where “equality” has been attempted to be enforced where it simply is not possible, unless “equal” means equally bad – or the best dragged down lower than the worst so they don’t have their feelings hurt.
That’s another disaster of education that launched in the 70’s. Self esteem. Feeling good about yourself no matter what, even when you’ve done something bad that should make you feel bad. “You beat up Jimmy. How do you feel about that? Why did you do it?” “Great! Because he deserved it!”
I really dislike public surveillance with video cameras, but in schools it makes sense, if they would be monitored at all times and the schools had a “flying squad” to swoop in and haul off bullies to detention. Then announce over the PA “Frederik Jamison has been sent to detention.” Followed by what the kid did get sent there.
Have an assembly at the start of every year about how bullying WILL NOT be tolerated and emphasize that bullies WILL BE CAUGHT and WILL BE PUNISHED. Anything a student does in school that would get them hauled off by the cops outside of school should have the same consequences inside school.
Some people like to point to Ghandi as an example of the success of non-violence. I say baloney. The only reason the actions of Ghandi and his followers got the British to turn loose of India is because it was the British. Had India been under the control of China or the Soviet Union, Ghandi’s first protest would have been his last, ended with gunfire.
What it comes down to is that self defense is a human right. Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. If a gang of bullies is beating you sensless, your Life is endangered. If you get punished for fighting back, there goes Liberty. Neither makes you Happy.
@Galane: The main problem is: Punishment doesn’t work. It is humiliating. How are you teaching somebody to behave humanly by treating them inhumanly?
The only way which works in the long time: Teaching by example. You need to build a loving, respectful environment so people may actually learn how to behave. That’s more work and takes more time. But it’s worth it.
There are no instant solutions. This needs to be understood.