Oregon Teacher of Year threatened with discipline. He stands against bullying of LGBT students.

[madfloridian]

26. I just found something I wrote about 8 yrs ago at another forum.

Just some thoughts I put together about bullies on the left and the right.

I am not sure which is more dangerous to our country right now....the bullies from the right or those on the left.

Before I retired from teaching, we were working on tactics with various groups to end some of the bullying going on in our schools. It has become even more entrenched in our culture now. The tactics of bullies are used well by this administration.....Rove is a master tactician and bully. They are using college students to do this in a scary way. Professors, many of whom are my friends, have been ridiculed by these master bullies. Some of these folks are embedded among supporters of some candidates. It is part of their tactic, astroturfing, and bullying.

It is easy to identify the bullies on the right because they are in positions of power from which to assert their bully nature....DeLay is one, Frist is one, also Sensenbrenner. There are many others, and they are there because of 30 years of planning by the right.

We expect it from the right. It is a battle we have to fight as a party.

What I don't think most people expected was the bullying from the left wing of the party, many of whom want to have no party at all. A good way to hurt a party's effectiveness is to verbally assault and insult the chairman and those who supported him. If you don't want a party to succeed against the bullying right, send in the bullying left.

(I left out a portion that no longer applies...was about politics then not now.)


Things about bullies, both right and left wing, miscellaneous quotes:

"Bullies will pick on nice people. They operate on a risk-reward ratio. They throw their stuff out there and test to see if they can knock you off balance, fluster you. If you are weak or just swallow it, the bully owns you."

"Most people self-correct, they will even apologize. Bullies never self-correct, and the reason is they hold everyone else responsible for their behavior. To change, you have to be willing to take responsibility for your own actions, and bullies do not. All of our reasonable, logical, compassionate attempts to get along with a bully will backfire."

"To avoid being targeted, one should follow the example of the cat confronted by a dog: If the cat runs, the dog runs after it. But if the cat doesn't budge, the dog walks around it.

"When you watch TV, you see kids bad-mouthing their parents. You see shows like 'Survivor' and the reality shows where the more aggressive and manipulative and conniving you are, the more you are rewarded. We are growing up in a culture where 'dissing' each other is the norm.

"Even laugh tracks. Remember 'The Weakest Link?' The host would ridicule the contestants and everyone was laughing en masse at this individual and they were just supposed to buck up and take it. Boy, are our values getting confused when this is held up as an example!"

"The common stereotype of a bullied person is someone who is weak, an oddball or a loner. On the contrary, the target chosen by an adult bully will very often be a capable, dedicated staff member, well liked by co-workers. Bullies are most likely to pick on people with an ability to cooperate and a non-confrontative interpersonal style. The bully considers their capability a threat, and determines to cut them down."

Just a few thoughts.