Tag Archives: bullying

Ann Arbor teen who fought "anti"-bully bill takes on another "Bully" issue

Posted on March 2, 2012 by | 6 Comments

Look out world, here comes Katy Butler. Again.

Last November, I wrote about an amazing teenager from Ann Arbor named Katy Butler (HERE and HERE.) She and her friend Carson Borbely put a petition on Change.org to try to force legislative change on what became known as the “License to Bully Bill”.

Well, Katy is back at it. Because she has been such an activist on the issue of bullying, starting at the tender age of 16 and continuing now that she’s 17, she is very well-informed about the issue. She recently found out about a new documentary film called “BULLY” that follows several teens who are dealing with bullies and reveals the impact this has on them and their family and friends.

But there was a problem.
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Posted in Do The Right Thing, Eclectablog, Read Me!, Respect

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"Hey Disney: Fat People Aren’t Evil, But Your Exhibit Is" by @DCPlod

Posted on February 25, 2012 by | 10 Comments

[Guest post from @DCPlod comin' atcha. -ABLxx]

Via Jeff Fecke (who is constantly having to wage war against fat-shaming and fat jokes), this story was brought to my attention. As someone with a mother and grandmother who have both struggled with weight issues, this enrages me:

Disney World has officially joined the fight against childhood obesity — and the reactions are mixed.

An interactive exhibit named Habit Heroes opened on February 3rd as part of Disney’s Innoventions, a two-building playspace at Epcot, the Orlando Sentinel reports. It’s co-sponsored by Blue Cross Blue Shield, and features protagonists Callie Stenics and Will Power who lead participants through a series of activities aimed at destroying “villains” bearing names like Sweet Tooth, Lead Bottom and The Snacker.

Disney, in their infinite moral wisdom, have decided that ‘fighting childhood obesity’ means ‘let’s make overweight kids feel like shit by portraying causes of obesity as villains, and we’ll make these villains fat and ugly too, in case you didn’t get our point that being fat makes you an awful human being.”   Continue reading →

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Posted in Body/Health Shenanigans, Criminally Stupid, Please Die in a Fire, What the Crap!?

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Jerry Sandusky Victim Bullied Out of High School for Snitching

Posted on November 21, 2011 by | 10 Comments

Just when you thought people couldn’t be any worse…

(via Angry Little Girls)

This is madness:

Victim One, the first known alleged victim of abuse by former Penn State coach Jerry Sandusky, had to leave his school in the middle of his senior year because of bullying, his counselor said Sunday.

Officials at Central Mountain High School in Clinton County weren’t providing guidance for fellow students, who were reacting badly about Joe Paterno’s firing and blaming the 17-year-old, said Mike Gillum, the psychologist helping his family. Those officials were unavailable for comment this weekend.

The name-calling and verbal threats were just too much, he said.

Other alleged victims are turning to each other for support, since they fear others will out them and cause a media swarm. The only encouragement for Victim One, Gillum said, is watching other alleged victims come forward because they felt empowered by his courage.

“He feels good about that,” Gillum said. “That’s the one good that’s come of all this.”

Where the hell are the high school administrators on this?!  It is their responsibility to protect students like Victim 1, especially at a time when they had to know that tensions would be running high.  It is also their responsibility to explain to these nitwit bullies that Victim 1 should be commended for coming forward and empowering other victims to come forward. Continue reading →

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Posted in Balloon Juice Cross-Posts, Please Die in a Fire, What the Crap!?

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The Colbert Report Points Out Hypocrisy in "Anti-Bullying" Bills

Posted on November 10, 2011 by | 2 Comments

Cognitive dissonance, thy name is Leviticus.

Religious nutbags across the country are getting more and more desperate when it comes to slapping homosexuals upside the head with the Bible.

Fighting against a tide of equality, these people are determined to inflict their bastardized version of Christianity on all of us — including our children.1  And if that means sanctioning the physical assault of young people, then goddammit, that’s what they’re gonna do.

Eclectablog’s post on the anti-bullying bill which the Michigan Senate passed last week lays out just how vile and abhorrent this new trend is.  Essentially, wingnut Michiganders carved out an exception from an anti-bullying bill named after Matt Epling, a young man who committed suicide after being assaulted for being gay by students at his high school.  The exception permits students to cite a religious or moral conviction as an excuse for their bullying behavior.

The exception reads:

“This section does not prohibit a statement of a sincerely held religious belief or moral conviction of a school employee, school volunteer, pupil, or a pupil and parent or guardian.”

Setting aside that the phrase “sincerely held religious belief or moral conviction” is so vague as to be entirely meaningless, the notion that elected representatives — and not just in Michigan — are legislatively sanctioning gay-bashing is appalling.

In West Virginia, for example, conservative groups are criticizing a proposed school policy which would protect LGBT students from student bullying and harassment.  Their claim?  Freedumb of speech, of course: Continue reading →

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Posted in LGBTQ Shenanigans, Please Die in a Fire, Teabilly and GOP Mendacity, What the Crap!?

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Michigan Senate Republicans pass "License-to-Bully Bill"

Posted on November 3, 2011 by | 3 Comments

“A blueprint for bullying”

In one of the sickest and most vile acts of irony yet seen in Michigan under the current Republican regime, Michigan Republicans yesterday passed a bill that lays out specific pathways for legalized bullying in our schools. It is effectively a “Blueprint for Bullying”. The bill passed 26-11 along party lines. It now goes to the House of Representatives.

Legislation that would require Michigan’s public schools to adopt anti-bullying policies has been approved in the Republican-led Senate, but some Democrats say the measure wouldn’t do anything to protect students.

The bill was approved today by a 26-11 vote along party lines. It advances to the Republican-led House.

Some Democrats want a more detailed measure that specifically outlines reasons students can’t be bullied such as race, weight and sexual orientation. Democrats said a clause in the Senate-approved bill would provide students with a license to bully based on religious beliefs.

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Posted in Criminally Stupid, Eclectablog, Teabilly and GOP Mendacity, What the Crap!?

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Pastor Ordered Flock to Beat *His Son* and His Son's Boyfriend in Parking Lot of Church

Posted on October 5, 2011 by | 1 Comment

This is revolting.

image via Addicting Info

I am appalled:

No one would be surprised to learn that there are right-wing Christians in this country who disapprove of homosexuality. Neither would it come as a surprise that in rural parts of this country, Christianity and homosexuality when brought together, can create a highly combustible mix.

But who could imagine the hate and rage that would motivate a Pastor to instruct deacons and members of his congregation, Grace Fellowship Church in Fruitland, TN. to physically attack a couple arriving in the church parking lot last Wednesday?

The fact that one of the gay men attacked happened to be the Pastor’s own son, Jerry Pittman, Jr., no doubt contributed to Pittman senior’s noxious edict. According to Pittman Jr., after hearing his Dad yell, “SICK’EM!”:

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Posted in Balloon Juice Cross-Posts, LGBTQ Shenanigans, What the Crap!?

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Montana: We’re against bullying but homosexuality is totally gross, mirite? Ewwwwwwww.

Posted on November 8, 2010 by | Leave a comment

Houston we have a hypocrite.  I repeat: Houston, we have a hypocrite, over.

It is amazing to me how oblivious to their own mind-numbing fuckery some people are. Why is it that when confronted with their own prejudices, bigotry, or plain old bad behavior, the first reaction of an asshat (be it a racist, homophobic, misogynistic, or “any combination of the three” asshat), their first instinct is not to examine their own thoughts and behavior and to determine why it is they are fucked in the head, but rather, to get defensive and circle the wagons.  “I’m not a racist, but black people are so stupid, mirite?” “I don’t have anything against Muslims, but I really wish they’d stop blowing our shit up with their anchor babiez of terrah.”

These are the same people who preface their bullshit statements with, “With all due respect” or “No offense, but” and then proceed to spout some garbage that makes you want to crush their heads with your thumb and index finger.

A person who starts a sentence with “with all due respect” is essentially saying, “you’re stupid and I hate you.” A person who starts a sentence with, “No offense, but” is about to say something untoward about having relations with your mom:  “No offense, but you look like you fell out of the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down.  How  come your mom is so hot when she’s naked?  Oh whoops! Did I not tell you about that?  Well don’t get all mad, I said, ‘no offense!’”

No one ever says, “No offense, but you are the smartest person in the world.” Or “With all due respect, I think everything you just said is stunningly intelligent and I am smarter for having heard it.”

So when I read the latest bigoted bullshit coming out of Montana (which is, as I wrote here, the land of the free and the lynched gays!), my eyes couldn’t help but roll themselves into the far reaches of my brain: Continue reading →

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Posted in Balloon Juice Cross-Posts, Culture Critic, LGBTQ Shenanigans, Please Die in a Fire, Political Shenanigans

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