Anderson Cooper Blows a Hole Through the Utopians' Anti-Bullying Logic

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-- A new study commissioned by CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360°" found that the stereotype of the schoolyard bully preying on the weak doesn't reflect reality in schools.
Instead, the research shows that many students are involved in "social combat" -- a constant verbal, physical and cyber fight to the top of the school social hierarchy.
"Kids are caught up in patterns of cruelty and aggression that have to do with jockeying for status," explains Robert Faris, a sociologist who "Anderson Cooper 360°" partnered with for the pilot study. "It's really not the kids that are psychologically troubled who are on the margins or the fringes of the school's social life. It's the kids right in the middle, at the heart of things ... often, typically highly, well-liked popular kids who are engaging in these behaviors."
Faris, along with the co-author of the study, Diane Felmlee, also found that bullies, who they call aggressors, and victims are not defined roles, but in many cases, they can be the same person. The higher a student rises on the social ladder, the more they bully other students and the more other students bully them.
"When kids increase in their status, on average, they tend to have a higher risk of victimization as well as a higher risk of becoming aggressive," Faris says

http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/10/us/ac-360-bullying-study/index.html?hpt=hp_c1

I dont think that ending bullying should be attempted, but it would be nice if the anti-bullying proponents came to the debate with something more than victim culture fairy tales. Some grounding in reality should be reguired by those who desire to push an agenda.

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@hawkeye10,

Well good luck to him with that!

I once mentioned on here that the kids I saw being bullies in the early grades were the "smart" kids. They were the ones that got all the head pats and they seemed to think they were better than the other kids. Before peer grouping really kicks in all the validation comes from adults and the smart/good kids could be real assholes.

I was heartily shouted down.

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@boomerang,

Quote:

I was heartily shouted down.

I keep going back to Phoebe Prince, because her killing herself was used to push for criminalization of bullying. But later we learned that the story told of what happened was so not like what really happened that you have to wonder if her story was hijacked by the utopia builders on purpose, if the "journalism" accounts of her life and her death were intended to be more agenda promoters than the truth. To this day we have basically one journalist on Slate who is devoted to the telling of truth, even though it is very late in the day and almost everyone has long ago bought into the lie and stopped listening.

You will notice that the piece I linked felt the need to go into apologetics, as almost always happens now when some bit of truth that is perceived to be not wanted is published...the bit about how the study claims to see that bullying does not work. First of all I seriously doubt that this is what the results show, it is probably more like that the worst bullies are seen as going too far so they are not rewarded, and that those who dont bully are seen to be too timid so they are not rewarded, but because there is an intense desire to find some good news here the results are highly spun. But second of all, how dumb are we supposed to be anyways? People dont do what does not work, kids are highly perceptive so they know what works, and those of us who are not idiots know damn well that adults bully each other ALL OF THE ******* TIME! We are constantly testing each other, this is a requirement in human behavior, so where do these utopia builder hacks get off telling stories that there should be no bullying, and that those who do it should be made into criminals? Why do we pay these fools any attention?

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Adults who are bullies frequently are criminals. Assault and intimidation are crimes, and have been crimes since long before the alleged rise of any "victim culture." If you come over to my house and try to push me around, and threaten me or my family, i'm calling the police, right now, and i'm going to get a peace bond against you. Peace bonds have been around longer than Chicken Little here, and for the very good reason that society does not tolerate bullies. Does that mean that all children and adults will stop being bullies because it is not rewarded, or even because it is punished? Hardly. Bullies who remain bullies into adulthood aren't the brightest pennies at the bank, and their reward is the fear they inspire. They don't give a rat's ass about pats on the head, so it's incredibly stupid to suggest that bullying will not be rewarded and children will therefore stop being bullies. The most extreme example of what bullying leads too took place in Skidmore, Missouri 30 years ago.

Wikipedia wrote:

Ken Rex McElroy (June 1, 1934 – July 10, 1981) was a resident of Nodaway County, Missouri, near the town of Skidmore. Known as "the town bully", his unsolved (as of 2011) murder became the focus of international attention. Over the course of his life McElroy was accused of dozens of felonies, including pedophilia, rape, arson, hog and cattle rustling, and burglary.

In all, he was indicted 21 times, but escaped conviction each time, except for the last. In 1981, McElroy was convicted of shooting and seriously injuring the town's 70-year-old grocer, Ernest "Bo" Bowenkamp, the previous year. But McElroy successfully appealed the conviction and was released on bond, after which he engaged in an ongoing harassment campaign against Bowenkamp, the town Church of Christ minister, and other individuals who were sympathetic to Bowenkamp. He appeared in a local bar, the D&G Tavern, armed with a semi-automatic military rifle and bayonet, and later threatened to kill Bowenkamp. The next day, McElroy was shot to death in broad daylight while he sat with his wife, Trena, in his pickup truck on Skidmore's main street. Evidence indicated that he was struck by bullets from at least two weapons, in front of a crowd of people estimated to be between 30 and 46. To date, no one has been charged in connection with McElroy's death.

Society does not tolerate bullies for very long. In an instance such as the one in Skidmore, if the authorities in society don't act, eventually the members of society will act. This is just another typical bullshit Chicken Little rant against the idea that people have any right to attempt to control their lives and make them better. Far more harm would be done with an ethos of tolerating bullies than would ever be done by vilifying them, no matter how far "over the top" such an effort might be alleged to be.

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Chicken Little here is just an opponent of change--of any change in society as he, with his limited understanding, remembers it from his childhood.

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anderson cooper blew somebody through a hole

i suppose it was only a matter of time before the stories got out

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@Setanta,

Setanta wrote:

Chicken Little here is just an opponent of change--of any change in society as he, with his limited understanding, remembers it from his childhood.

I am opposed to forced change that is a violation of human nature and/or is not good for us. The anti-bullying ninnies qualify on both grounds for my derision.

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@hawkeye10,

You haven't demonstrated either that any change is being forced on you, or that opposition to bullying is against human nature. Typical hysterical bullshit from you.

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@Setanta,

Setanta wrote:

You haven't demonstrated either that any change is being forced on you, or that opposition to bullying is against human nature. Typical hysterical bullshit from you.

the criminal code is proof that the change is being forced, and that it is human nature is self evident....go no further than any presidential debate for proof.

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@hawkeye10,

Assault and menacing have been against the law since before you were born, Chicken Little. Peace bonds have been around for just as long. Presidential debates are exercises in peddling bullshit and have no relevance to this subject. Once again, this is just another one of your hysterical bullshit rants.

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@Setanta,

Setanta wrote:

Assault and menacing have been against the law since before you were born, Chicken Little. Peace bonds have been around for just as long. Presidential debates are exercises in peddling bullshit and have no relevance to this subject. Once again, this is just another one of your hysterical bullshit rants.

the anti-bully propentents themselves say often and loudly that the new laws are new and an expansion of the law. Your comming to the table with only BS indicates that my argument is correct...but perhaps someone else can challange my assertions better than you can.

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I don't think this report is an attempt to say we should just let things be, I think it's trying to point out that we need to reexamine who might be guilty of bullying.

Understanding why kids bully is important to finding a solution to the problem.

Just yesterday morning, when I woke up way too early, I happened across this commencement address by David Foster Wallace:

It seems somehow appropriate to this conversation.

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@hawkeye10,

No, saying that your bullshit is bullshit is just pointing out the truth. This . . .

Quote:

the anti-bully propentents themselves say often and loudly that the new laws are new and an expansion of the law.

. . . is meaningless. First because you haven't demonstrated that this will result in any new laws, second because you haven't demonstrated that any such new laws would be a bad thing, and finally because you ignore that appellate courts have the final determination in whether a law is needed and whether it is correctly applied.

What i "bring to the table" is the undeniable fact that society has and long has had laws against the behavior which is known as bullying. And you have presented no argument to rebut that.

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Anderson Cooper Blows a Hole Through the Utopians' Anti-Bullying Logic

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