Friday, April 20, 2012

Why Do Kids Bully?

Why Do Kids Bully?
Bully paralyzes middle school student with a punch to the abdomen.

NJ bully's paralyzing punch nets $4.2M settlement
AP – Wed, Apr 18, 2012

RAMSEY, N.J. (AP) — A New Jersey school district has agreed to pay $4.2 million to settle a lawsuit by a middle school student who was paralyzed when a known bully punched him in the abdomen.
MORE HERE http://news.yahoo.com/nj-bullys-paralyzing-punch-nets-4-2m-settlement-161933503.html
When I hear stories like this, I am saddened to the core of my being. A 12 year old boy goes off to school to learn and prepare for his life as an adult. Then some sick bully (who was most likely bullied himself) punches him in the stomach, paralyzing him. More and more I am realizing that when we send our children to school (especially middle school) in reality, we send them off, to spend hour upon long hour, each day, in a prison resembling the LORD OF THE FLIES, in which there is NO ESCAPE. What is wrong with our adult world? I ask this question, not expecting an answer because the answer is already WIDESPREAD. Too many adults watch FOX FAKE NEWS (where they get the WHOLE LIE AND NOTHING BUT THE LIE and where they learn who and what to hate!) and of course there’s Rush Limbaugh (Whose talk radio show should be called BULLYING 101). It seems so simple to me, turn the channel and turn that sick radio program off and maybe our children won’t find it necessary to punch someone in order to rationalize his inadequate feelings about himself. I guess I’m the simple one. thinkingblue
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EXCERPT: In "Lord of the Flies", British schoolboys are stranded on a tropical island. In an attempt to recreate the culture they left behind, they elect Ralph to lead, with the intellectual Piggy as counselor. But Jack wants to lead, too, and one-by-one, he lures the boys from civility and reason (JAKE = FOX FAKE NEWS?) to the savage survivalism of primeval hunters. In Lord of the Flies, William Golding gives us a glimpse of the savagery that underlies even the most civilized human beings.
The three most important aspects of Lord of the Flies:
1.The major theme of Lord of the Flies is that humans are essentially barbaric if not downright evil. The stranded boys begin by establishing a society similar to the one they left behind in England, but soon their society has degenerated into rival clans ruled by fear and violence; (Limbaugh's BULLYING 101) before the book is over, three boys have been killed.
2.The novel is an allegory, which is a story in which characters, settings, and events stand for things larger than themselves. For example, the island represents the world; Ralph and Jack symbolize different approaches to leadership.
3.William Golding wrote Lord of the Flies following World War II, during which the Nazis exterminated six million Jews and the United States dropped two atomic bombs on Japan. In this context, the novel's profound pessimism is understandable. MORE HERE http://www.cliffsnotes.com/study_guide/literature/lord-of-the-flies/book-summary.html
(NOT TO MENTION SAD!)