Sarah's Got It

Sarah Palin just posted this on Facebook.  If you're on Facebook, I encourage you to "friend" her.  You'll get her notes at the exact time as everyone else.  It's lovely, lovely to read her thoughts at the same time as the MSM.  I like reading her thoughts without having to rely on some talking head or a snail trail.

Juan Williams: Going Rogue

by Sarah Palin on Thursday, October 21, 2010 at 12:45pm

At a time when our country is dangerously in debt and looking for areas of federal spending to cut, I think we’ve found a good candidate for defunding. National Public Radio is a public institution that directly or indirectly exists because the taxpayers fund it. And what do we, the taxpayers, get for this? We get to witness Juan Williams being fired from NPR for merely speaking frankly about the very real threat this country faces from radical Islam.

We have to have an honest discussion about the jihadist threat. Are we not allowed to say that Muslim terrorists have killed thousands of Americans and continue to plot the deaths of thousands more? Are we not allowed to say that there are Muslim states that aid and abet these fanatics? Are we not allowed to even debate the role that radical Islam plays in inciting this violence?

I don’t expect Juan Williams to support me (he’s said some tough things about me in the past) – but I will always support his right and the right of all Americans to speak honestly about the threats this country faces. And for Juan, speaking honestly about these issues isn’t just his right, it’s his job. Up until yesterday, he was doing that job at NPR. Firing him is their loss.

If NPR is unable to tolerate an honest debate about an issue as important as Islamic terrorism, then it’s time for “National Public Radio” to become “National Private Radio.” It’s time for Congress to defund this organization.

NPR says its mission is “to create a more informed public,” but by stifling debate on these issues, NPR is doing exactly the opposite. President Obama should make clear his commitment to free and honest discussion of the jihadist threat in our public debates – and Congress should make clear that unless NPR provides that public service, not one more dime.

Mr. President, what say you?

- Sarah Palin 

Funny.  What she's saying about NPR and Juan Williams also applies to my thoughts on the bullying discussion.  Are we becoming so afraid of offending the easily offended that we're dumbing down our ability to speak?  Is it possible we have looming issues before us because people are simply failing to speak truth for fear of being offensive?


~ G

Yet Another Suicide

Another young person has taken his life.

It's a tragedy.  I'm sorry for his family's loss.  My heart aches for them and I'm so sorry they have to pick up the pieces.  I'm sorry for the friends who will miss him and I'm sorry for all the things he'll never get to do, share, and be.  I'm sorry the world lost someone who had only begun to live.  It's a tragedy.

However...

When did the societal focus shift from teaching coping skills and asking for help to blaming society for not being appropriately warm and welcoming?  I remember a rash of suicides and attempted suicides when I was in high school.  The administration of my school took it very seriously and we had several assemblies and break-out counseling sessions to address suicide.  A decade or two ago, there wasn't a single discussion about blaming bullies, but rather how to cope with the difficulties in your own life and how to watch for the signs that alert you to an attempted suicide.  

When we did lay down the mantle of being responsible for ourselves and begin expecting the world to be nice to us?  Bullies have been around since the beginning of time.  Hey, it's not a coincidence that when someone's acting like an ass we call him a "caveman."  We aren't going to eradicate asinine behavior.  We aren't ever going to rid the world of jerks.

The only ones we can change are ourselves.  No one is ever the single Alpha all the time.  Someone who is a bully has been bullied.  Unless we're talking about lobotomizing society, it isn't going away.  Ever.

The only one who can change how things are perceived is the one who perceives them.  Why are we not focusing on how to cope with being bullied instead of blaming the bullies?  Why are we not focusing on teaching better coping skills (the world isn't going to be nice to you, so figure out how to make it work)?

And, by the way, when did "we" decide the only suicides that are newsworthy are those committed by homosexuals?  

~ G

"Bullycide"

There's now a name combining two things that have been around from the beginning of mankind: bullying and suicide.  "Bullycide."  The term wasn't coined by a doctor or a scientist.  Nope, a journalist came up with the name.  "Bullycide."  It's the new "-gate."  Just add "-cide" to something to make your theory valid.


Here's the thing that rankles me: Since the beginning of mankind there have been bullies.  And there have been suicides.  Terrible, but true.  No one - and I mean no one - can make you kill yourself.  No one.  They can make your life a living hell, but they cannot make you kill yourself.  They can literally kill you, but they cannot make you kill yourself.  Frankly, calling it "bullycide" is the coward's way out.


Yes, we have more technology than cavemen.  They wrote on walls.  We sext.  But the truth is (as someone who was both the bullied and the bully), when you're humiliated, it doesn't matter if it's 2 people or 2 million people who witness it.  It feels like the whole world. The emotion is universal and the emotion is timeless.  There is nothing new about the emotion of humiliation.


Calling it "bullycide" takes all the blame off everyone involved and lays it squarely at the feet of the bullies.  Yes, bullying is despicable, but do bullies deserve the entire blame for a suicide?  Chances are good that if someone's gone to the extreme length to kill themselves, there's more going on than just bullying.  Where are the parents?  What's going on at home?  Where are the teachers?  The school counselors?  The friends? The relatives?  The bullied one has a whole story that only partially includes the bullies.  


Taking the blame from those who should have known something was amiss is part and parcel of where we're going wrong as a country.  No one is responsible anymore.  No one bears their own burdens anymore.  It's someone else's fault.  It had nothing to do with me.  I couldn't stop it.  I'm weak.  I'm a victim.  Someone save me and fix it for me.  "Bullycide" is emblematic of what's happening to our country.  


Extreme?  Probably.  But does it strike at some truth?  Probably.


~ G