Can Columbine happen here?:
When I read the headline I thought “Finally someone who gets it.” Well after reading the article I was only half-right. The author of the article is Kathy Hersh who is co-chair of the Miami-Dade Community Task Force to Eliminate Bullying. While she admits that school shootings can happen anywhere her reasoning is questionable. While trying to eliminate bullying is indeed a noble cause she’s guilty of perpetuating the myths that bullying led to Columbine and Red Lake…
A Miami-Dade County grand jury convened last year to answer that question. The jury studied 37 deadly incidents in schools across the nation, hoping to find a common characteristic among the perpetrators that could be used to profile potential killers and possibly prevent a similar tragedy. The only common factor that it could identify was that all the killers had been the victims of persistent bullying, victimized to the breaking point.
And…
The same day that we visited Arza to try to persuade him to support the bill, a boy in Red Lake Reserve, Minn., shot his grandfather and his companion, then went to school and killed 10 classmates before turning the gun on himself. Michael Weise had been a frequent target of bullies, and he couldn’t take it anymore.
First off it was Jeff Weise not Michael and he was a bully, not the bullied. Secondly I’d like to know which incidents they studied because I can name several where bullying was not a factor. The fact that a legitimate organization that aims to end bullying does not have their facts straight is scary. Not only that but since they buy into the bullying myth it just lends legitimacy to would be school shooters who think they are justified in what they are doing.
And the three things that students asked for to help with the bullying problem don’t sound like things that students would request. I mean did students really request an “active peer-mediation programs”. That sounds like something feel good adults who forgot what school was like came up with. If a victim were to engage a bully in an active peer-mediation programs it would just lead to more bullying. The only thing that can be done to stop bullying is to catch bullies in the act. If you don’t bullying will remain the age-old problem of the victim’s word against the bully’s.
And the myth just continues to perpetuate.
As always it was your pleasure.
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Of course this group is going to lie, or at least stretch the truth when it comes to bullying. They’re fighting to eliminate bullying, so of course they’re going to try to say that bulllying was a factor in everything they can use. School shootings are shocking, so they’re going to use these tragedies to propel their cause. This isn’t the only organization to do this. These people are using PETA-esque practices to get their message across. Except this time they’re not trying to save chickens from KFC, they’re trying to save kids from bullying and the emotional trauma that is sure to follow from every attack by a bully! (Sarcasm)
It just occurred to me that school shootings
are like domestic violence. In domestic
violence it starts out with name calling,
then shoving, then hitting and finally
the abuser might actually kill.
In the school shootings, it has been the
bullies that did the shooting and not those
that had been bullied. The cylce of the bully
is, name calling, shoving in the hallway,
punching, and finally a shooting.
Am I being simplistic in my comparison? Maybe.
I am just surprised that I am just now seeing
the parallel between the two.
Continue to marginalize victims of bullying. Terrorism is a function of relationships so it’s very important to remind potential terrorists that they are considered to be legitimate targets of abuse and that no one is on their side. Make sure they fear the bully and hate those who support what the bully does. Oh, and be sure to feign shock and bewilderment when one of them slips through the cracks and does something newsworthy.
Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy?!!
Step away from the crack pipe. All these school shooting incidents do is take the focus away from the bullying problem and put it on would be shooters. Your heroes are just making the problem worse.
And tell Bert I said hi.
you’re just an idiot trench..
So tell me how you’re going to kill me all the way from Lithuania?
For those curious about what I’m talking about you can go here.
believe me i can. i hate stupid assholes like you!
you don’t even know what happened in Red Lake. Jeff Weise was my friend.
Really? So are you a Nazi too?
no I’m not. but you didn’t know jeff, so stop doing this.
What’s to stop? He killed 9 people in cold blood. There’s no excuse for his actions.
you’re lucky that he didn’t kill you!!
Do you have a point?
yep. i wanna see you dyin
You were fun for a while but since you have no real point you bore me.
Welcome to Bansville. Population: You.
i have a point. i wanna you to shut up. you didn’t know jeff so you can’t write bullshit about him.