JACK'S BLOG
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OpinionYOU'RE ONE OR THE OTHER, a bully or a victim. There is no third option for school children under Zero Tolerance. One day adults may also loose the right to defend themselves. Anyone caught fighting back will be as guilty as the person who started the fight just as it is now in schools. Is this lesson being taught to our children to prepare us? Bullying is similar to combat among males that determines mating rights in almost every herd. In the wild, bullying insures that only the strongest, most viable survival traits are propagated by the dominant male. The same was true among humans in the dawn of time. Do we want to return to those glorious days of yesteryear? (Please, forgive me, Lone Ranger.)
Predation is not bullying, but among humans, bullies often are predators. In the wild, the herd will shield their young and go to their defense when a predator breaks into their perimeter. Herds identify predators easily. They look like predators. However, in human encounters, predators aren't clearly distinguishable from their victims except by behavior and this recognition often comes too late. Humans have an uncanny ability to rationalize the abhorrent behavior of bullies as harmless aggression until it is too late. In fact, many bullies are celebrated. Influential Americans went so far as to praise Hitler for his domestic accomplishments: “Herr Hitler likes martial demonstrations, but he keeps the railroads running on time”. Similar praise was heard in France and England. Thus, although at the outset of World War II the French possessed a much stronger army than Germany and the British possessed a much stronger navy, they stood by as Hitler expropriated his neighbors' territory and people, deeming it somehow justified. Their reluctance to enforce limits only served to encourage the Nazis and millions of deaths ensued. They should have observed the common wisdom that held that the best way to handle bullies was to stand up to them. Such wisdom was common because it worked. When confronted with equal or greater force, the bully would seek a victim elsewhere. If victims could not apply sufficient force to defend themselves, they cooperated, presenting an unassailable front, much as a herd forces the lion to retreat. But, as I observed at the outset, this tactic has been outlawed by a new breed of bully, the progressives. Progressives seem to abhor individuality. They use the law to bully us into conforming. They are the ones who instituted Zero Tolerance in our schools. They arrange pointless games for our children so that no one should suffer the indignation of losing. They are now pressing to confiscate more and more of the money earned by those who succeed. The result is that successful traits are repressed and the human herd is weakened. Does anyone think that a weakened herd will survive? Progressives argue that the authorities will protect us from the bullies. Really? The school teacher will always be there to stop the bullies before they attack the victims? The policeman will always be there to stop the crime? Actually, they rarely are. Listen carefully to the introduction of the popular television series Law & Order: “In the criminal justice system, there are two separate and distinct groups, the police who investigate crimes and the district attorneys who prosecute the offenders...” The narration is absolutely correct. The police investigate crime. To serve and protect sounds nice, but even the dumbest criminals at least make an attempt to commit crimes when the police aren't there. In school, under Zero Tolerance, the teachers simply apprehend and punish everyone without any attempt to sort out the bullies and their victims. That is the world that the progressives will fashion for us when they deny us the right to protect ourselves.
4 Comments
12/31/2012 03:28:08 am
Life is never so straightforward as legislators of any ilk would like us to believe. Human beings are complex creatures, and one size does not fit all. We let alleged expediency be our bottom line.Then,on top of that, we don't bother to assist our young in the ways and means of possible conflict resolution leaving them to the vagaries of those laws when their frustration reaches a level where it becomes physical. We as adults have few, if any skills, in getting along, and seeming little interest or courage to alter that fact.(My consulting business involved conflict resolution. What an eye-opening experience that was.) So then the game becomes might makes right and we end up the pawn.
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Jack Durish
12/31/2012 03:36:45 am
No, might doesn't make right nor does right make might. On an interesting side note, my years of consulting also dealt with conflict resolution. However, in my case the conflict always arose in scenarios wherein a group was in conflict over agreeing on the best solution to a common problem. What I learned from experience is that their conflict arose not from the relative merits of the competing solutions, but rather from the lack of agreement over the definition of the problem. Once I helped them solve this issue, agreement over the correction solution became easy.
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1/2/2013 06:18:42 am
Folks always want simple solutions but human problems are rarely simple. I agree that the Zero Tolerance, while making many people feel good, probably won't have the effect we desire.
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Jack Durish
1/2/2013 06:27:49 am
Obviously, we are mostly in agreement. The only point that I want to clarify is that Zero Tolerance not only doesn't work, but also exacerbates the problem. Think about the lesson it teaches. The law is capricious. There is no possibility of justice. These are not the lessons that we should be teaching our children.
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