Wednesday, April 07, 2010

Now I Get It

Doug, on the recent rash of bullying cases in the media;

Before I finally put up my dukes and defended myself, the bullies were a constant problem. I can remember as a twelve year old being knocked to the ground and beaten by half a dozen boys until they became board with kicking me, or felt that I had bled more than enough. Finally, I had my fill, and challenged one of them to a fight. The first fight was horrid. It was two hits. He hit me, and I hit the ground. Then I demanded a rematch, and though I didn't necessarily kick the other kid's butt, the fact that I stood toe to toe with him, and got a few hits in, convinced the bullies that I was no longer a soft target, and the bullying stopped.

Suicide never entered my mind. I knew what was at stake, and that only I could stop the problem by standing up to it. But now, in today's world, we are seeing an increase in the number of suicides that are said to have resulted from bullying.

Is the media sensationalizing it? Were the bullies not as difficult when we were that age? Are the bullies more fierce? Why weren't kids committing suicide before?

A number of factors seem to be at play here. When it comes to the bullies, we are in a society where discipline has gone from a good spanking, and a father that struck a healthy fear into his kids, to time-outs and a family with no dad, or a dad that is ineffective because either the wife disagrees with the disciplinary methods in front of the children (which neutralizes a father's effectiveness), or the father does not take the appropriate actions.


It's weird the way Doug simply throws something out there as if it's obvious, without even bothering to substantiate it. The suicide rate among teens is higher now then back in his day?

Really?

Well, no, not really. The suicide rate for teens has been mostly dropping since 1991. I should just start calling him Fact Free Doug.. but then, that really doesn't describe it correctly either.

What he does is just state something as if it's true because he has a political agenda that is more important than whether or not it's based on any reality. In other words, he's just a simple propagandist.

In Doug's twisted world, everyone should be like he is. He "stood up" to the bullys. Everyone else should do this as well. Those that don't are "weak".. or something, and enable their own torment by not resorting to violence.

This is usually described as the "battered wife" syndrome. He hits me.. but I deserve it..

When you look at the strange craziness that his mind drifts in, the more he explains his past, the more it makes sense why he's a religious nutjob with a war fetish. His father was gay.. and he was obviously very scarred by that because of the abandonment issues... issues that had nothing to do with Teh Gay, but rather his father just being a jackass. He got his ass kicked regularly in school, and so he fantasizes the Iraqis as the bullys and dreams about "turning sand to glass, and destroying a few cities".

There is a very disturbed personality somewhere in there. When it comes to the stranger parts of conservative ideology, I suspect that the heart of it lies in some childhood trauma. Maybe some therapy would help.. but then.. therapy is for the weak.. or something.

4 comments:

Douglas V. Gibbs said...

I didn't say the suicide rate is higher, I said the rate of kids committing suicide as a result of bullying is higher.

Douglas V. Gibbs said...

You are amazing how you come up with stuff, never said I got my ass kicked regularly in school. When I was 12, 7th grade, I had a problem with being bullied, stood up for myself, the bullying stopped. I was a new kid to the school and city, and often new kids are targets. I never had a problem with fighting again. But you somehow got out of what I wrote that I got my ass kicked regularly in school - - - I think you have it wrong, it is actually you that is the dumbest person on the planet. BTW, your therapy comment is hilarious - in most cases therapy causes more problems than it resolves, but in some cases it is beneficial, especially when humanism isn't being shoved down the patient's throat.

Tom said...

And you still haven't substantiated in any way, shape, or form how suicide as a result of bullying has incrased.

How about a fucking link? God damn.. everyone else who blogs and makes factual assertions does that, but not Doug.. noooo...

And so you stood up to some bullies.. Great.. Awesome.. you are the fucking man, Doug! That still doesn't mean that the way you resolve your issues is how everyone else should do it. Your point of view is not a one-size-fits-all solution to the trials of life.

I'm really not surprised by your view of mental health professionals. It's par for the course from somehow who thinks Adam and Eve are literal, date back 6000 years, and co-existed with the dinosaurs.

Seriously.. whenever I start to slip into the mistaken notion that you might have some sort of rational thought process going on, I need to remind myself of that.

You begin the debate from a position of scary-crazy loon-ville. If you want to be taken seriously, you actually have to make cogent arguments with substantive points, rather than this constant analogy driven, fact-free "I'm a man Damnit!" crap that you like to shovel.

Tom said...

Oh.. and Doug.. notice how I directly quote you.. link you.. and THEN make my argument, so that anyone reading can see all the relevant information?

That's how not-crazy people do this type of thing.

So you didn't like my characterization of your post. Well, I quoted it and linked your original and attributed it to YOU and not some "annonymous" person.. so that people can decide for themselves whether or not my characterization is accurate.