The following letter appeared Friday (Good Friday, no less) in the Fresno Bee. The writer claims that new laws making school bullies take responsibility for their actions are in fact, unwanted government intervention. Completely absent from her observations of these new laws, and the new film Bully, is what is happening to bullied kids in schools across America. Click the link to check out the comments as well…not much support for bullied kids…
With all of the recent acclaim about the new film, “Bully,” I can’t help but wonder why I have seen no public exposure of possible ulterior motives behind its implied message. Could it be possible that this film is an elusive means to implement more government control over our lives?
In Arizona, new anti-bullying legislation (HB 2549) is a blatant violation of our First Amendment rights. It states that a person cannot “annoy or offend” another person. Who is to determine what is annoying or offensive? This law is overtly designed to restrict Arizona residents’ free speech rights and, ultimately, criminalize just about everyone. If you think that this is solely Arizona’s problem — don’t worry, anti-bullying legislation will surely be coming to you.
If we want to stop kids from persecuting others, maybe the answer is not allowing bureaucrats to turn our country into a police state. Maybe the answer is for parents to promote a strong family structure, a religious foundation, and a sense of morality so that our kids don’t have a psychological need to bully someone else. I suppose this has become too radical of an idea.
Kathryn Shahbazian – Fresno
