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Special Report
Phoebe and Neda: Bullying From South Hadley to Iran
The noose, the bullet or the bomb for Israel: the ceaseless chatter of Obama platitudes.
Phoebe Prince.
Neda Agha-Soltan.
Two young women a world apart. The first, 15, lived in South Hadley, Massachusetts. The second, 27, lived in Tehran, Iran.
Yet each died for precisely the same reason, a reason that is old as humankind. Both were the targets of bullies. And whether the tormentors were the so-called “mean girls” and boys of South Hadley, or the snipers of Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the result was the same: tragedy.
Is there a lesson here for President Obama? Yes. Will he learn it? Doubtful. Which may make Obama one of the worst heads of government to hold center stage since British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain displayed his inability to grasp the German bully named Adolf Hitler.
One would think that the Obama White House might take the time to assimilate the lesson taught over in the Obama Department of Health and Human Services where liberal bureaucrats are busy pontificating on what any sentient school official should be able to grasp without assistance from the federal government. In a website called “Stop Bullying Now!” we learn just what bullying is:
• Punching, shoving, and other acts that hurt people physically
• Spreading bad rumors about people
• Keeping certain people out of a “group”
• Teasing people in a mean way
• Getting certain people to “gang up” on others
• Sending mean text, email, or instant messages
• Posting nasty pictures or messages about others in blogs or on Web sites
• Using someone else’s user name to spread rumors or lies about someone
All of these are no more than plain old common sense, the kind of common sense once instilled by parents and others in positions of authority in places like schools — where teachers and administrators should have the ability to both recognize and stop bullying in its tracks.
About the Author
Jeffrey Lord is a former Reagan White House political director and author. He writes from Pennsylvania at jlpa1@aol.com.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (37) | Leave a comment
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Tennessee Budd| 4.20.10 @ 8:45AM
"Stop Bullying Now!" is full of crap. 'Keeping certain people out of a "group"'? Last I heard, that was called freedom of association. 'Teasing people in a mean way'? Is that a Barney Fruit or a Nazi Piglosi press conference they're talking about?
John Navratil| 4.20.10 @ 11:11AM
Tennessee Budd,
Are you trying to be obtuse or do you really see a moral equivalence between a group of friends choosing to include someone in a trip to the mall (or not) and ostracism? Is rowdy or rude banter -- part of the jostling through life -- the same as demonization?
This description is of an on-going assault. Can you suggest a description which would be more clear to you?
P. Smith| 4.20.10 @ 9:10AM
My thought is this: Many, like Obama, would actually like to see Israel wiped off the map. Not necessarily that they anti-Semites per say(even though secretly many of them are), but they see Israel as the root cause of the troubles of the Middle East, not seeing that the main issue of the Middle East is, well, Middle Easterners. They don’t see that after Israel is gone and the world celebrations subside, that the blaming will be renewed as the Muslim nations cast their paranoid gaze elsewhere.
This is the habit of the Middle Easterner to not look inward at his defective character, but to look outward and to blame other influences for his inadequacies. It is the nature of his religion and culture to do this. The Koran is a book of outward rules which are to be obeyed, and when they are not, condemnation comes. The Muslim attempts to a certain degree to obey these rules, but when he sees that he cannot, he lashes out at the decadent society around him which keeps him off balance. A very good example of this is seen in their misogynist culture: If a woman causes a desire within a man to rise up, instead of the man attempting to control his desires and restraining his self, she instead must be blamed, covered up and hidden away. This is why he does not seek freedom, because it is seen as his undoing. The Westerner on the other hand, through habits gleaned through Christendom, tends to look at his flawed nature and attempts to improve upon it, even if he is not a Christian; the true Christian ,by grace, sees his defective nature and then looks to GOD to save him from himself though the act of Christ redemptive work.
Obama and those on the left are like the Muslim, they look to blame the decadent Western World and endeavor to fix the problems superficially though rules and regulation, and when that fails…. annihilation comes. So, unless GOD acts though a miracle, Israel will be destroyed.
Spike| 4.20.10 @ 5:51PM
BRAVO!
The most succint, accurate analysis that I've read in a very, very long time.
P. Smith| 4.20.10 @ 8:20PM
Thanks,...now I just need to watch my back, because I’m sure some Muslim hacker will hack American Spectator, retrieve my email, and track me down.
Tyler S| 4.21.10 @ 2:01PM
But Obama is a christain laeding the US. Doesn't that make what he's doing exactly what you're advocating? Looking inside and trying to correct the country's flaws? It seems to me that what you (rather bigotedly) call the middle eastern habit would lead us as a nation to blame and attack other nations rather than looking inward to detect and correct our own flaws, as you accuse him of doing. You're kind of an argument with yourself here.
Pingback| 4.20.10 @ 9:12AM
Must Know Headlines 4.20.2010 — ExposeTheMedia.com links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Ryan| 4.20.10 @ 10:04AM
The parallels are a stretch (Israel is by no means unable to actively defend itself), but there's a good point to be made - America cannot turn a blind eye to the belligerence of Iran.
Iran has been fighting a de facto war via Iraq and Afghanistan for years against us, and have made no real attempt to curtail their unnecessary desire for nuclear power (when they could probably get all they need from natural gas). We should not sit idly by and not give at least moral support to the people in Iran who seem to only need a little more incentive to truly rise up and reclaim their country.
I DO think that the ruling elite in Iran is more bluster and talk than willing to put much more into action, but it will only take one or two "true believers" to really push forward a larger attack on Israel.
Ryan| 4.20.10 @ 10:07AM
To specifically address the bullying problem - it's a parenting problem.
It's parents who don't teach their children how to treat others; it's parents who don't teach their children to stand up for and protect the weak.
It's parents who don't bring their kids to church, it's parents who don't take their marriage vows seriously, it's parents who care more about themselves than their kids; it's parents who spare the rod and refuse to discipline their children.
It's parents who see their kids as either victims or unable to handle responsibility.
It's parents who don't realize that maybe we've been holding our kids far too long in an extended childhood, with kids who reach 16-18 and are unable to take care of themselves.
RAMIII| 4.20.10 @ 11:19AM
I agree! Where were the parents in the Hadley HS incidents?
Also where are the leaders with courage in the free nations of the world?
Both are too worried about their own little "important" concerns to be able to intervene in truly important problems.
It doesn't help that we have a self-absorbed, litigious society in which weighty matters are measured on the same scale as (what I call) the Michael Jackson Syndrome.
BREDBG10| 4.20.10 @ 1:21PM
Obama is not like Chamberlain.He is more like the bully who bullies Israel.From day one of his presidency,he has shown he sides with the little hitler in tehran and against Israel.
Old Soldier | 4.20.10 @ 2:23PM
Bullies have special weakness detectors built into their small minds. Weakness inspires them and their bad deeds. They detected it unfortunately in Phoebe - and maybe the teachers detected it in her parents. I have school age kids and this would have been stopped very forcefully early on.
The Iranians, Chavez, and others detect weakness in Obama - he reeks of liberal wimp. Jimmy Carter had the same stench and the Iranians smelled it from half a world away.
Ronald Reagan, on the other hand, was not a man to be trifled with. The Iranians detected this as well and wisely brought the hostage situation to an end moments before Reagan could walk into the White House and start issuing orders.
Gretchen| 4.20.10 @ 2:40PM
Old Soldier
Unfortunately for Phoebe, she was an exchange student from Ireland, so her parents were not in a position to help her. The family she was staying with should have done something if, in fact, they were aware of the problem. It inaction of the teachers who WERE in the know, on the other hand, is unconsionable!
Old Soldier | 4.20.10 @ 2:23PM
Bullies have special weakness detectors built into their small minds. Weakness inspires them and their bad deeds. They detected it unfortunately in Phoebe - and maybe the teachers detected it in her parents. I have school age kids and this would have been stopped very forcefully early on.
The Iranians, Chavez, and others detect weakness in Obama - he reeks of liberal wimp. Jimmy Carter had the same stench and the Iranians smelled it from half a world away.
Ronald Reagan, on the other hand, was not a man to be trifled with. The Iranians detected this as well and wisely brought the hostage situation to an end moments before Reagan could walk into the White House and start issuing orders.
RAMIII| 4.20.10 @ 4:25PM
Amen, Amen, Amen, I remember those days well!
Flee| 4.20.10 @ 3:21PM
As a basketball ref I see how bad parenting can bring out the worst in children. Some can only release their bullying instincts through lashing out at the game officials or coaches rather than cheering the play of the game. I am not one to take it very long and banish them from the premises, but the longer the jeering goes on the more influence it has on the children and other parents. Nipping it in the bud creates a far better environment for all involved. I think this serves as a decent metaphor for the world situation facing Israel. I don't suspect they will hang themselves but will take care of their own business whether we help them or not.
gene hauber| 4.20.10 @ 5:08PM
bullies are predators, but since they are human we can't shoot them outright.
however we could make quadriplegics out of them.
DatsunMark| 4.20.10 @ 9:30PM
Interesting that all the items sited in "Stop Bullying Now" is exactly what the *Regime* has been doing to the Tea Party?
erinlin | 4.21.10 @ 3:12AM
Are you want to join in the fahion ,are you want to be the one who grasp man's attention inadvertently?
gossip girl | 4.21.10 @ 3:14AM
Then you need someone or something to help you let yourself more charming.Just a fitted suit,an beatiful bag and whatever what about a pair of red sole high heels.
Ray ban wayfarer | 4.21.10 @ 3:46AM
this good article ,It's useful for me.thank you
Tyler S.| 4.21.10 @ 1:48PM
So what's the solution? we declare war on Iran? But then what? Iran isn't even the worst country out there. By the author's definition, N Korea will have to be attacked as well, they're threatening S Korea, who's our ally, and their people are so repressed that the population is actually shrinking as more and more people die from starvation or sickness. Of course China will have to be taken down as well, they don't like our buddies Taiwan and the Dali Lama, and they crack down violently on dissent (Tiannamen, anyone?). Russia should probably be hit as well, they're claim to democracy is countered by Putin's stranglehold on the government and we don't like the way they've been eying/invading our little buddy Georgia. Venezuela supports coups in latin american countries, so they gotta go. Sudan's all wrapped up in genocide, better make a stop there too. Libyan opposition figures tend to vanish without warning, can't have that happening. Syria's all up in Lebennon's business to a worying degree, creating anarchy which allows anti isreali organizations to thrive there. Yemen's authoritative and corrupt government barely hold the country's population centers, allowing Al Quiada to regroup in the hills and mountains. Somalia's a gawdawful mess, and they keep pirating our allies boats (at least the ones not actively invlovled in spreading islam to/killing their fellow Somolis. Mugabe in Zimbabwe is looking more and more tyranical these days. In Niger Muslim gangs have started ravaging christian villages with machetes. Myanmar imprisons popular leaders in an attempt to keep them from inciting revolution against the military junta that rules the country. Turkey won't quit with the whole Cyprus thing. Much of the Muslim world, and lingering parts of the Christian world, oppress women.
The author's logic would be compelling in a better world where only a few examples of governmental bullying exists, but we don't live in a better world, we live in the real world. If we're going to stop every bad regime in the world form oppressing its people and threatening our allies, we have our work cut out for us (and that list is just the examples I could pull off the top of my head. There are certainly more). We're already in two wars, do we even have the ability to get into a hundred more? None can reasonably doubt that America is, indeed, the mightiest nation, but do we really have the power to enforce goodness and morality on most of the planet? Especially after Iraq and Afghanistan went so well.
From a former White House staffer, I would have expected more than a pie-in-the-sky "in an ideal world" kind of analysis. We live in the real world, and we have to deal with it pragmatically. We fight the battles we must, but we can't stop bullying the world over. As it stands at the moment, attempting to force a regime change in Iran would be foolish in the extreme, especially since the people we like in that country dont like us any more than the people we don't like. I mean, we did install the Shah, a depsotic, tyrannical bully, to lead their country by collapsing their government. Uh oh, wait, does that mean we have to attack ourselves to? We've certainly supported bullying, and still do in some cases. I mean, its not like Karzai is a nice man. My head hurts.
Pingback| 4.21.10 @ 5:55PM
That Bully Schakowsky | Chicago Daily Observer links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
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