Comments on: Who Would Oppose an Anti-Bullying Event?

By: think a bit

think a bit — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 17:43:25 +0000

KINDNESS COUNTS would be a much better theme instead of labeling little children BULLYS. Unfortunately Brad Dacus is correct when he labels the anti bullying programs as the product of gay initiatives. As a flawed humanity we are not going to eliminate name calling. It seems to be a substitute for serious expression of thought. In middle school, sex orientation should be discussed and the value of postponing the sex act as the wisest decision.

By: Buffy

Buffy — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 08:43:18 +0000

The RRRWers oppose anything that dares to suggest they can’t hate on LGBT people.

By: Maria

Maria — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 07:57:35 +0000

apparently this guy is a nutjob

By: llewelly

llewelly — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 01:52:07 +0000

Like Siamang, I was called “fag”, “queer”, “gay”, “homo”, and even “lesbo” (despite being straight and male … funny how confused childish bullies can be) because I was absolutely dreadful at any team sport. I got beat up ‘for being gay’ any number of times. Insults about one’s sexuality were the commonest insults heard at the schools I was at as a child. Much worse to be called a “fag” tnan a Nazi.

The conservative Christians want to defend that sort of behavior because they still engage it. They know repeated insults damage people – and that’s what they seek to do. They’re defending their ability to do harm.

By: Joanna

Joanna — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 00:30:32 +0000

The intentions of the “Anti-bullying Event” are good ones. But it’s hard to know if this sort of thing works. What works better is teaching kids how to spot bullies and to not become victimized by bullies.

Teaching kids to stand up for themselves is important. I would be soooo proud if my daughter responded: Yeah, “Well you’re a homophobe” and walked away. Bullies love attention almost as much as they love “drawing blood” by getting a reaction.
Hitting bullies with your backpack will only result in detention…what’s a nerdy kid to do but have come sort of comic retort?

By: writerdd

writerdd — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 23:15:08 +0000

Sad, sad, sad. It makes the baby Jesus cry. (And the big grown-up Jesus, too.)

This kind of thing is exactly what leads to people like Ted Haggard living pitiful lives in the closet.

By: hoverFrog

hoverFrog — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 22:56:18 +0000

It’s a shame really. I don’t particularly want to call them (religious people) names but they give me so many opportunities and now they are actually saying I should be allowed to. The world’s gone mad.

By: Siamang

Siamang — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 21:29:34 +0000

Miko said:

I know people here were earlier rejoicing about ending a minute or two of “silent reflection,” so we should be pretty much in agreement that public schools are not a place for reformers to waste our time by trying to force everyone into their mold if there isn’t a strong educational benefit to their programs.

I didn’t oppose the moment of silence mainly because it was forcing people into a mold. I opposed it because it was religious and the First Amendment is supposed to protect people from religious promotion or religious discouragement under color of government authority.

Non-religious mold-forcing is not the same thing. Which is why I don’t object on legal grounds to the tub-thumping patriotism indoctrination that begins in public-school kindergarten.

By: 5ive

5ive — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 20:46:57 +0000

It is actually none-too-surprising. When Prop 8 was on the ballot, I went to a high school where the yes on 8 group set up a booth. I did not it was appropriate to set up anything political on the campus even if it was a polling place. So a couple of my friends and I went there to cause enough of a stink that they will change the rules on that one. Well, I was talking with a woman who was a the yes on 8 booth and she outright said that she does not want her (fictional) kids (she doesn’t have any kids, she is just planning waaay ahead) to learn diversity training. I asked her what was so scary about people learning about other lifestyles and other choices and she literally said, “It is the diversity training!” She does not want children exposed to anything outside of her comfort bubble of Christian teachings she gets from her church.
IT is perhaps because the belief that homosexuality is bad is based purely in emotion that it is so tenuous that one cannot let their children hear anything outside of the church’s teachings. All reality points away from harming people based on “weight, height, intelligence, and sexual orientation/gender expression.” ( I would add skin color) so the whole of reality is against the belief that homosexuality is bad. That is a tough world to live in. You always have to on your toes, lest your child hear a possibility outside your own.

By: Tao Jones

Tao Jones — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 20:08:51 +0000

(e.g., if it reduces bullying which in turn increases academic performance, it’d probably be worthwhile).

Simply reducing bullying isn’t worthwhile enough for you? Don’t get me wrong, I understand what you’re saying… but not everything in school has to correlate to test scores.