Bullying – Grownup Style

Something I witnessed not long ago has had me rather upset. I was at an after hours party at a friend’s house and had brought another friend, James, along. James and I were standing around talking to another person (as people are wont to do at parties) when this other person reached over and backhanded James on the cheek in a very offensive way. It offended me so much so that I instantly began to chide this other person on the inappropriate nature of his action, whether it be toward my friend James or any other person.

This scene has literally niggled at my mind since then, leaving me more and more disappointed each time I think of it. This larger man reached over and smacked James – not overly hard; but not caressingly – in such a way as to express dominance over and belittle him. This wasn’t a taunt committed across a playing field in sport, which would have been a foul in almost any game. It wasn’t a joke. And it certainly wasn’t funny. And I am still reeling over the sudden realization that a guy I thought of as an amicable acquaintance – if not a friend – is really just a big bully.

Let me tell you a little bit about this person. His civic resumé reads like a model citizen. He volunteers with the local VFD and for a branch of the local community chest. He is involved with some church or other. His family owns a local business. He works full-time. He is also gay, which might lead one to assume he has an understanding of the damage bullying can cause. But alas, no dice.

This has been a huge lesson for me. Bullies come in all colors, shapes, sizes, ages, incomes and sexual orientations.

Faking Persecution

Yes, bibles are allowed in public school. No, bibles are not banned from public schools. Anyone who tries to tell you bibles are banned is selling you something: that is a flaming bag of malodorous fakery.

Bibles ARE allowed in schools. Just because a kid might feel embarrassed to bring a bible to school is not proof of any claim that the kid is prohibited from doing so. Peer pressure and prohibition are not the same things. Kids can have bibles in school. Kids can talk about religion in school as it may relate to history or literature. If such a discussion goes off on a tangent, I can see how a teacher would want to bring the discussion back onto topic. I can see how a teacher or other students might feel uncomfortable about talking about it. But that doesn’t make it against the rules.

Additionally, I hold that attributing the increased incarceration rate to lack of bible reading is not wholly truthful. Consider the role institutionalized racism has played in increasing the incarceration rate in this country. I believe that racism is the most influential factor in our increased prison population. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics‘ report “Prisoners in 2010,” Black men are imprisoned at 7 times the rate of white, non-Hispanic men. Black women are imprisoned at 3 times the rate for white, non-Hispanic women. Racism stymied education. Racism motivated the War on Drugs, which is singularly responsible for the imprisonment of nearly 20 percent of today’s prison population. Racism drives people to the streets and to crime to earn a living.

Racism is built into our social and government institutions. Urban centers with majority Black populations tend to have poorer schools, higher teacher-to-student ratios, higher teen pregnancy rates, and higher dropout rates. If one cannot get a job because because he or she lacks the necessary education, what does one do? Many people take the easy way out: sell drugs, become a prostitute, go on welfare, join a gang (all of which are arguable harder than taking the high road in the end). Sure, some people can and do turn to a church. But the church doesn’t have jobs for everyone. And joining a church won’t magically earn one a diploma.

Injecting religion into schools serves only to violate the rights of those – like me – who choose not to observe any religion as well as those who observe a different religion. The solution to every problem may seem simple when ones solution to everything is more religion. But religion doesn’t make racism go away. (Heck, religion even motivates bigotry in some cases.) And the fact that a simple claim of religious piety does not elicit the blind respect of yesteryear does not prove that our society needs to dump the First Amendment.

Personally, I’ve got no problem discussing the role religion played in shaping our society. But I draw the line at using lies to support giving religion a higher priority in public schools.

Faking Hate

If you follow the femme rampage that is my blog space, you might have experience my utter disgust with a certain local radio personality. Let’s not mince words: I think Mark Madden is a racist jerk.

Now, that is not really saying much. So many people say racist, insensitive things nowadays, it would be impossible to preserve the meaning of the word racism if we attached that label to every person who tried to argue that Black people should “turn white” to get ahead in their careers. (NOT!) It has become politically correct to apply a hierarchy to racist behavior such that, those who say things that are only moderately offensive to minorities are labeled “insensitive,” while reserving the harsher “prejudiced” label for blatant discriminators and the full-on “racist” label for imbecilic, teenaged assholes who attack the first Black person they encounter and murder him by running him over with a truck.

Well, the lovingly racist radio jock Mark Madden took to the airwaves once again this past week to rail against another supposed injustice – this time aimed at him. It seems poor, portly little Markie is mad because Krystal Cozzo of the Pittsburgh Passion called him a fag or something.

OH NO! Poor Mark Madden!

He got called a mean name. He feels personally insulted – insulted enough to spend 15 minutes of airtime ranting and raving about how he doesn’t deserve this kind of treatment and sponsors should drop the Passion and they must hate gays and dont allow gay people into their stadium and…blah, blah blah…

OH SHUT THE HELL UP YOU HYPOCRITICAL MORON!!!

The only thing I feel sorry about Mark Madden for is that he can’t stop shoving crappy, unhealthy food into his mouth and get off his lazy, palid butt long enough to do something healthy for his body before it quits on him for good. It’s no wonder he only speaks highly of women who take their clothes off for a living, since he couldn’t get a decently intelligent woman to put up with his arrogant, sexist drivel for more than the few minutes it takes her to chug the beer he pressured her into accepting.

Maybe Mark Madden should spend less time being offended by random twitter remarks and spend more time learning why his own public, on-air, racist, sexist, and homophobic comments, which he and Clear Channel broadcasted to an entire city, are offensive to other people.