Granberry's Parlor
tomierna
(Admin)
– December 07, 2007 09:46PM
Politics. Don Granberry on the old Spork Boards was quite fond of talking about them, and here we continue on in that fine tradition.
John Willoughby
– January 04, 2011 09:59AM
Homo Sapiens Sedentarius
El Jeffe
– January 04, 2011 01:31PM
What a journey.
From my understanding of other similar laws, they have the ability to COMPEL YOU to give them any/all your passwords, too. At least somewhere, some state, some court precedent. Unless something has changed since I heard it. It's nuts.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/04/2011 01:31PM by El Jeffe.
John Willoughby
– January 04, 2011 01:50PM
Homo Sapiens Sedentarius
But if you write your personal journal in Old Etruscan, they have no right to compel you to translate it.
johnny k
– January 05, 2011 06:02AM
Libertarians will revive Navajo to teach their kids. Or maybe Cherokee will be an easier sell with the iPhone support.
John Willoughby
– January 05, 2011 07:09AM
Homo Sapiens Sedentarius
Better still, use an
obscure conlang. Much harder to translate.
El Jeffe
– January 05, 2011 11:54AM
What a journey.
John Willoughby
– January 05, 2011 12:18PM
Homo Sapiens Sedentarius
Cherokee People, Cherokee Tribe, you have no bars, your call has died!
Tony Leggett
(Moderator)
– January 05, 2011 03:32PM
lol...
El Jeffe
– March 08, 2011 07:29AM
What a journey.
They do more than Car Talk?
NPR[/url
tliet
– March 08, 2011 10:05AM
From what I read it doesn't look like they're bashing, more like summing up facts.
johnny k
– March 08, 2011 11:53AM
It serves no one to say that liberals have more education (not to be confused with intelligence), even though that assertion is backed up by studies. It's impolitic to call the Tea Partiers "weird", but isn't it a weird thing to go after one of the more even-handed news sources with such fervor? I like listening to Diane Rehm to hear hard questions asked of both sides. The NPR guy makes a good point that Muslim voices are not heard enough in the media, unless you think the (apparently Jew-controlled) media currently fawns over Muslims. It's understandable that a broadcaster whose funding is being threatened by a group would not like that group.
But of course O'Keefe's shtick is posing outrageous questions and taping enough liberals until he finds one who does not immediately condemn an alternate viewpoint. (Um, because it's rude and unnecessary in private conversation?) I expect that the tendency to cast anyone to the left of themselves as ALL the way to the left, will eventually retard the Tea Party's advance. That, and a better economy.
John Willoughby
– March 08, 2011 03:38PM
Homo Sapiens Sedentarius
They hoped that about the Brown Shirts, as well. Yes, Godwin, again.
Tony Leggett
(Moderator)
– March 17, 2011 06:49PM
This guy is my hero. That takes guts to not just "turn a blind eye."
Tony Leggett
(Moderator)
– March 21, 2011 06:01PM
Quote
Right. It worked for this kid because of the video... or, more accurately, what happened because of the video.
Bullies act out of the confidence they get from feeling like they have more people on their "side". This kid now has more people on his side than those bullies are likely to ever meet in their lifetimes. In short, Casey Heynes has a posse.
I think that is wrong for anyone to condemn his actions, though. Under the circumstances, he did what was necessary. Consider the other possible outcomes.
What if he didn't retaliate? What if he either ran away or let himself get beat up. The video would then show him either running away from or getting beat up by a scrawny little brat. Sure, the brat gets suspended but the problem continues because the brat is not the only one who has been bullying him for the last 3 years. In fact, the bullying gets worse because now they taunt him with the video showing him getting beat up by a 13 year old or acting in a "cowardly" manner.
If you haven't seen the 1980 film "My Bodyguard" I would recommend watching it. That's a pretty accurate depiction of what happens when kids follow the "correct" procedure and tell a teacher. The bully gets a lecture, maybe detention or even a suspension. After that, the bully really retaliates. They may even escalate. They will usually be more careful about it... maybe they'll enlist the help of some friends so the continued attacks don't turn into a second strike for them. For the victim, it's just more abuse.
Almost everything about this event is good. The bully was humiliated in front of the world. The bully's mother even came out and said that he got what he deserved and that she expects him to apologize to Casey. Most importantly, Casey has very likely gained a lot of self-respect that he has been lacking for far too long. The only bad thing to come about from this is that Casey was suspended for 4 days because of a mindless school policy.
These "zero tolerance" policies are bullshit. My niece got suspended when she was 7 years old because she had a butter knife in her lunch. Anybody with an IQ above 40 knows that a butter knife isn't a danger to anyone. It was in her lunch so she could spread butter on her bread. A grown man couldn't cut or stab a person with a butter knife if his life depended on it, much less a 7 year old girl. But "zero tolerance" meant that she faced a mandatory suspension for possessing a "knife" on school property.
In Casey's case, zero tolerance did nothing more than further victimize a victim. I wonder how the school's policy would have been applied if this were a sexual assault rather than "just" fisticuffs.
The fact that he retaliated wouldn't have stopped the bullying by itself but when his retaliation was recorded and shared with the world, something bigger happened. He went from being friendless to having hundreds of thousands of friends.
I disagree with the psychologists and others who condemn his actions and say that it will encourage others to retaliate. It is more likely to prevent attacks in the first place. Bullies almost always target victims with low self esteem because it's easy to do. I believe that most victims of bullying who see that video will identify with Casey and will see themselves in his place. They will experience his victory vicariously and will benefit from the same esteem boost as he has. They will walk a little taller and their own increased confidence will do more to prevent bullying than zero tolerance policies and an oblivious faculty.
I think you're misinterpreting what I've been trying to say.
It worked in this instance (the bullied kid was a lot bigger - which is unusual) but quite often the "stand up to bullies and punch them back" routine DOES NOT WORK!
Gotta go - I'll have to elaborate later...
Cloudscout
– March 21, 2011 06:28PM
˙pɹɐoqʎǝʞ ʎɯ ɥʇıʍ ƃuoɹʍ ƃuıɥʇǝɯos sı ǝɹǝɥʇ ʞuıɥʇ ı ?ɹǝʇndɯoɔ ʎɯ ɥʇıʍ ǝɯ dlǝɥ ǝuoǝɯos uɐɔ
Oh, I agree with you completely. If the physical statures had been reversed here, as is often the case, fighting back could have been disastrous. Fighting back isn't even an option for most bullied kids.
My point is that it did work in this situation and that the end result was overwhelmingly positive, except for the fact that Casey got suspended along with the bully.
I don't think Casey is going to inspire victims of bullying to try fighting back when they're outmatched. I do think it will give them a much needed morale boost, though. Even if it doesn't change what happens to them, it can change their attitude. Remember, Casey said that he had contemplated suicide because of the torment he was suffering. There are many kids in that same state and giving them something to feel good about can help a lot.
I want to know more about the kid who filmed the fight. Was he just a bystander who got his phone out when he saw something interesting happening or was he one of the bully's cohorts who was intentionally recording his exploits? I read that he was suspended as well. If he was "in on it" with the bully, that makes sense. If he was a bystander, it's not as clear cut. In fact, I think students should be encouraged to capture evidence of bullying when they see it. I don't think they should do it with an eye for entertainment. They should do it with the intention of handing it over to school officials.
Tony Leggett
(Moderator)
– March 21, 2011 11:56PM
Quote
They should do it with the intention of handing it over to school officials.
Agreed.
And I do think Casey should have been given a "warning" rather than a suspension - but at the same time both kids "used violence" so I can kinda see why the school felt they had to suspend both. (schools are never great with the "but they started it" line)
I haven't watched the video yet - I should add.
The only point I wanted to make is I don't think parents should feel they should encourage kids to physically confront bullies - as it often ends up with the bully dishing out an even bigger beating than usual.
John Willoughby
– March 22, 2011 07:41AM
Homo Sapiens Sedentarius
Quote
Cloudscout
They should do it with the intention of handing it over to school officials.
And yet we live in a country where, in more and more places, it is becoming illegal to film police officers while they're on duty, no matter what they are doing. It turns out that it's cheaper to arrest civilians filming police atrocities than to actually get the police to stop the atrocities. I think that the same principles will be applied in other situations, like this school thing. (Yes, I know that it wasn't in the US, but the mindset seems pervasive.)
Cloudscout
– March 22, 2011 09:06AM
˙pɹɐoqʎǝʞ ʎɯ ɥʇıʍ ƃuoɹʍ ƃuıɥʇǝɯos sı ǝɹǝɥʇ ʞuıɥʇ ı ?ɹǝʇndɯoɔ ʎɯ ɥʇıʍ ǝɯ dlǝɥ ǝuoǝɯos uɐɔ
Have there been any successful convictions of that? I thought that all attempts by police to prosecute had failed so far.
John Willoughby
– March 22, 2011 09:55AM
Homo Sapiens Sedentarius
To some extent, it doesn't matter. It will have a surpressing effect. I don't know of any jurisdiction where the law itself has been overturned. I just can't believe that we can have laws like this passed and not rebel.
El Jeffe
– March 22, 2011 01:26PM
What a journey.
suppressors is what I was thinking....
