I received an angry, shrill response to my previous post "A Problem With Gay Straight Alliances". Let me refer to the person as G.T. Part of his email that was sent stated:
"This sir is a step WAAAAAAAAY too far!! Shame on you.
You may
find bullying acceptable, but I do not, for ANY reason. If governments can
address reasons for SYSTEMIC bullying then that is what a civilized society
ought to do! Your argument that fat kids have to live with bullying ... then
so can gay kids ..? When was the last time a fat person was beaten to death
with a baseball bat for being fat? ..."
I find bullying acceptable? Read the post I wrote. It's immediately below this entry. At no point did I say bullying is acceptable. In fact, I was decrying ALL bullying. G.T. pretended I was asserting that kids have to live with bullying. I was saying nothing of the sort. I was writing against all forms of bullying not excusing it. But to clear up the contrived confusion of G.T., I went back to the post and inserted in capital letters NO BULLYING IS EVER ACCEPTABLE. And I think that G.T. knows that was what was being said. I even concluded the post with the tender song by James Taylor, You've Got a Friend.
What G.T. was really mad about was that I dared to say the gay straight alliances are not inclusive enough in dealing with the larger bullying problem that has become so pervasive in school systems.
G.T. IS ACTUALLY A UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR
It's one thing to receive a mindless knee-jerk reaction, and I have received many over the years, but I did not expect such an email from a professor at a respected Canadian university! That's what G.T. is and I must conclude he is not stupid and can read. He knew that I was not saying bullying is acceptable or that kids need to learn to live with bullying.
What G.T. was doing is a classic tactic I have encountered with people who may fancy themselves as "progressives" or have certain political agendas.They will twist words they don't like into something other than what was said and then attack it on that basis.
Notice G.T. asserts that homosexual bullying is worse than other forms of bullying. Really? Tell that to the parents of eleven year old Thomas Thompson. karl Pearl (16), Gemma Dimmick (15) Phoebe Prince, and many other children who have committed suicide because of school bullying.
Let me conclude with this: G.T. is a university professor. I am sure he expects his students to read material and understand it before commenting. Shouldn't he apply the same standard to himself?
Shame on you G.T.!
To read my post "A Problem with Gay Straight Alliances click here http://www.humanlifematters.org/2015/03/a-problem-with-gay-straight-alliances.html
Mark
2 comments:
Well said Mark. This is a very shocking response to a vey well articulated argument. I think you hit the nail on the head. ALL bullying should be condemned.
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