Hatred of Bullies Turns Smart People Into Idiots

When people hate…when they are on a crusade against a group…they become irrational. Their higher level thinking functions disappear as their crude, violent emotions take over. And they not only turn into idiots, they often turn into monsters. Intelligent, educated, cultured Europeans attempted to exterminate their hated Jews, foolishly believing it would make them safer. Intelligent, educated, cultured Americans tried to wipe out their hated Indian (Native American) nations, foolishly believing it would make them safer. They burned their hated women at the stake for being witches, foolishly believing this would make them safer. White supremacists believe that wiping out their hated Blacks and other non-white groups would make them safer. And we all eagerly embark on campaigns to eradicate our hated bullies from our nation’s schools and workplaces, foolishly believing this will make us safer.

Consider the following scenario:

Government (to parents): We can no longer ignore the evidence that children are tormented by their siblings in almost every home in our nation. Sibling rivalry affects many people for the rest of their lives. Children have a right to live in safety and dignity at home, so we have decided to make it a national priority to protect our children from the scourge of sibling rivalry. Sibling rivalry will now be conbatted with full force of the law.
Parents: Thank God! We have been waiting for this blessed moment from the time our second child was born! We are made miserable by our kids’ constant fighting and can’t wait for it to stop. How will this happen?
Government: You will inform your children that tormenting their siblings will no longer be tolerated.
Parents: Great idea. We have been doing this anyway. What else?
Government: You are going to keep a constant eye out on your children and will immediately stop them whenever a fight begins.
Parents: Good idea. We’ve been doing that, too. What else?
Government: You are to investigate every complaint your children make. You mustn’t let any incident go unaddressed.
Parents: Good idea. We’ve already been doing that. What else?
Government: You are to punish any child who is guilty of tormenting their sibling.
Parents: Good idea. We’ve been doing that, too. What else?
Government: That’s pretty much it.
Parents: Well, we’ve been doing all of these things, and our kids still fight all the time. There must be another part of the plan?
Government: Yes, we have one more secret weapon. A truly powerful one. This will definitely make sibling rivalry something no family can afford to tolerate.
Parents: What is it?
Government: The sibling rivalry law holds you legally responsible for making your kids stop tormenting each other. If you fail, we will sue you.
Parents: That’s a wonderful idea! How much will we have to pay if our kids continue to torment each other?
Government: If the torment is verbal, it will probably be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. If there is physical injury, you are looking at millions.
Parents: Wow! That will surely do the trick. Thanks, government! Finally, a weapon that will make our kids stop fighting!

What would you call these parents? Absolute idiots, to put it mildly. No parent would agree to such a plan. Yet this is exactly what is being done to our schools with our anti-bully laws. Now, you can’t blame parents for being excited by these laws, because it enables them to sue their schools. But the truly amazing thing is that educators and school administrators eagerly welcome these laws! These laws require them to perform anti-bully interventions that are bound to make the situation worse while giving parents ammunition to sue them for failing to make the bullying disappear! They are literally inviting parents to sue them! So why are they so excited to have these anti-bully laws passed? It is because they are blinded by their hatred of bullies. They so mindlessly support anything that’s called “anti-bully” that they don’t bother to notice that it is not bullies that are endangered by these laws, but the schools themselves!

And it’s not only intelligent, educated teachers and principals who are blinded by their hatred for bullies. Reporters are generally highly educated (though not usually highly paid) people who tend to see themselves as moral guardians of society. They are trained to look for truth and examine all sides of a story. Yet reporters are also blinded by their hatred for bullies. Get a load of the following news report out of Florida, a state that has recently passed a super-tough school anti-bully law: Broward County schools ready to take on bullies.

The first two sentences of the article are consistent with the title:
"Bullies beware.

"When school starts today, Broward County schools will be armed to take action against you.

"

The next paragraph tells us about “the new range of punishments” for bullies. What do you think comes next? Stories of bullies being punished for their crimes? Right?

Guess again! The entire remainder of the article is about a 17 year old girl who is suing her school because her boyfriend cyber-bullied her after they broke up! That’s right! She is suing her school (and the court is obviously willing to spend our tax dollars to try this ridiculous case) because of her difficulties with a former boyfriend! This is not a joke. Read the article.

Doesn’t the reporter realize that his article is completely different from the title and introduction? Instead of beginning the article with, “Bullies beware,” it should have read, “Schools beware.” Schools, not bullies, are the ones who are truly endangered by these anti-bully laws. The article is about the use of this insane law to attack a school! Why doesn’t the reporter see this? After all, he wrote it. And how about the editor? Didn’t it occur to the editor that there is something very wrong with this story. Apparently not. Because, like everyone else in the civilized world, reporters and editors hate bullies. And hatred turns smart people into idiots.