Whenever the established order suffers an embarrassing setback, some lower underlings are brought forth as scapegoats. Thus, were Lt. Calley and Lynndie England — while doubtless guilty of the offenses charged — selected to divert attention away from wrongs inherent in the systems of which they were a part. We are now hearing of the tragic suicide of a young high school girl in Massachusetts, apparently driven to her act by classmates bullying her and calling her names.
But where might any of these other teenagers have learned about “bullying” and “name-calling?” Might this trait have been picked up from American foreign policy practices, in which nations that pose no threat to Americans are threatened with bombings and/or invasion if they fail to abide by Washington edicts? Might these youngsters have experienced bullying, first-hand, from their personal dealings with sociopathic club-wielding or laser-armed police-officers? Don’t the government schools, themselves — apparently the situs of these bullying actions — deal with students through a constant battery of threats, warnings, etc., all backed up by the constant presence of police officers? Has it not become commonplace in politics and the media to resort to name-calling — rather than reasoned discourse — in response to critics of government programs?
Where, indeed, might the classmates of this young girl have learned their incivility?
7:10 pm on March 31, 2010
