Honorable men don’t chuckle at cruelty. [View all]
OP-ED COLUMNIST
Mean Boys
By CHARLES M. BLOW
Mitt the menace.
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........... If the haircutting incident happened as described, it’s not a prank or hijinks or even simple bullying. It’s an assault.
Second, honorable men don’t chuckle at cruelty.
Third, if it happened, Romney’s explanation that he doesn’t remember it doesn’t ring true. It is a searing account in the telling and would have been even more so in the doing. How could such a thing simply melt into the milieu of other misbehavior? How could the screams of his classmate not echo even now?
Fourth, “if someone was hurt or offended, I apologize” isn’t a real apology. Even if no one felt hurt or offended, if you feel that you have done something wrong, you can apologize on that basis alone. Remorse is a sufficient motivator. Absolution is a sufficient objective. Whether the person who was wronged requests it is separate.
Lastly, this would have been an amazing teaching moment about the impact of bullying if Romney had seized it. That is what a real leader would have done. That is what we would expect any adult to do.
MORE:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/12/opinion/blow-mean-boys.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20120512
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