Maybe it is just me, but I am getting a bit tired of reading about the left’s aggressive push on the whole bullying issue. I am no bullying expert, nor am I a child psychologist, but I have been bullied before (after all, I am vertically challenged and wore braces growing up). Haven’t most of us been bullied at one point or another? Maybe many of us still are. And isn’t that part of learning how to cope with adversity and challenges in this cold, cruel world that we live in?
So why all of a sudden this outrage for something that has been happening since the beginning of time? A loaded question, I know. Let me offer a concession, identify a problem or two, then a general assessment.
First, a concession (with a caveat): bullying is no good. People shouldn’t bully. It is a serious issue, but one that should not be hijacked for political gain or to push an agenda.
Second, let me point out a problem or two with trying to prohibit bullying. Perhaps you’ve never thought about it, but how is bullying to be defined? I am not just talking about a general description or definition, but rather one that permits a fair and even-handed application. (More difficult is an application that is even possible with young children especially.)
Here is what I mean. How do you draft and then enforce a bullying policy, say, in an elementary school? Would it look like this?
1. Students must be nice to each other.
2. Students may not say mean things to each other.
3. Students should tell their teacher if someone says something to them that hurts their feelings.
Mind you, I am not trying to make light of bullying but rather to point out the difficulties in identifying it. You see, when “bullying” crosses the line into physically threatening or hitting someone, you don’t need a bullying policy to prohibit that. But bullying policies usually have the added (and often unconstitutional) component of prohibiting “mean or hateful or offensive” speech. And if each child was punished every time they said something hurtful, the biggest class would be in the principal’s office. So when do you enforce it, and when do you chalk it up to children being children? And what about each time an adult said something hurtful or offensive? Where should we be sent?
And now the assessment. In the tone of the late Andy Rooney, one might say, “Have you ever noticed” that, when a bullying policy is pushed, it is usually accompanied by the promotion of the homosexual agenda? I have yet to see any major push to address bullying that was not tied to the left’s sexual vision for our children. The bullying outcry is not so much about students being mean to each other as it is about the left taking advantage of a volatile issue to promote their own agenda. I mean, after all, who is going to defend bullying? Not even those crazy right-wingers (although I am sure that is what some will say that I am doing in this article). So if someone dare oppose any anti-bullying measure, they must be really mean.
Just one recent example, among many, that was forwarded to me recently is located in the Huffington Post’s “Gay Voices.” The title: “Elementary School Climate, Anti-Gay Bullying Examined in New Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network [GLSEN] Report.” If that title alone doesn’t prove my entire point, then nothing does. And let’s look for a moment at the first line: “Given that more and more youngsters are self-identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) at younger ages, a new report hopes to shed light on school climate, biased remarks and bullying among elementary school students.” Really? Five-year-olds are “self-identifying” as “gay” or “transgendered”? Or are some groups (consisting of adults) pushing it on five-year-olds who, by the way, have no idea what any of that stuff is.
And what was the major finding of this “report?” That the number one reason students didn’t feel safe at school was…“personal appearance.” Sounds about right. But that won’t stop these groups from using this “report” to promote their sexual agenda. How do I know? The article goes on to state: “In conjunction with the report, GLSEN officials also released ‘Ready, Set, Respect!’ which they describe as ‘a new instructional resource informed by our findings to address homophobia, gender expression and LGBT-inclusive family diversity at the elementary school level.’”
Still think the anti-bullying push is really about stopping bullying?
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