We Are A Nation Of Wusses
Oh come on. After a spate of anti-bullying laws were proposed throughout the country, the latest version targets not schoolyard meanies but one grown man. Apparently a conservative New Hampshire House speaker once made a legislator cry:
A group of moderate Republicans and Democrats have taken aim at Republican House Speaker William O'Brien with a bill banning bullying of any member of the state's House of Representatives, including behavior that causes physical harm, inflicts emotional distress or creates a hostile environment.
Violators could be subject to civil penalties of up to $2,500.
The bill's author, Representative Susan Emerson, a Republican, was subjected to a lengthy tirade by O'Brien last year that left her weeping after she proposed a number of amendments that would restore healthcare funding to a budget bill, said Representative Tim Copeland, a fellow Republican who said he overheard the incident.
The incident is in dispute, not that it really matters. As Sonny Bunch writes:
To paraphrase Kid Rock in the immoral Joe Dirt: Maybe we can get a wah-burger with those French cries? How about a Whine-akein? You don’t like that someone yelled at you? Then don’t be a politician, honey. Really, don’t get any job at all. If you can’t handle your boss getting tough with you because you’ve screwed something up or done something that he doesn’t like and break down in tears as a result, then you probably shouldn’t be in the workforce, period. Fining people for making their coworkers and subordinates cry? Absurd and a sign of America’s decline.
Seriously. This is getting ridiculous. We are raising children to be unable to handle anything. What a horrible example for young women in particular.
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Jan '11
Re: We Are A Nation Of Wusses
A rational observation, but too true, too bad, and too late.
We have seen the wussed, and they are us.
Jul '10
Re: We Are A Nation Of Wusses
I recommend this spot for Rep. Emerson's future strategy sessions.
Mar '11
Re: We Are A Nation Of Wusses
Wussy Pet Peeve: Beginning statement with "I feel...." rather than "I think...."
Aug '11
Re: We Are A Nation Of Wusses
It's not about being "a wuss" it's more dangerous than that. We are moving away from respecting freedom of speech. We have been, as a nation, less and less comfortable with free expression for everyone. Certainly we like free expression when it deconstructs things we feel need to be deconstructed ("the patriarchal structure") but outside of those boundaries, we are losing the respect for free speech.
May '10
Re: We Are A Nation Of Wusses
I am somewhat reassured by the fact that there are still people in politics who will give a good dressing-down in the smoke-filled backrooms. How do you survive in politics if you cry when yelled at? Especially as a Republican!Don't you have to have skin thick enough to be called homophobic, racist, and sexist by every person that disagrees with you?
Dec '10
Re: We Are A Nation Of Wusses
There's no crying in baseball. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWoD2sQ9LiU
Aug '10
Re: We Are A Nation Of Wusses
It's simply another way to preemptively silence any opposition to activists' wants and needs.
Aug '11
Re: We Are A Nation Of Wusses
Young adults (who still consider themselves children) raised by helicopter parents, never went trick or treating, and never fought or argued to defend themselves are completely unprepared for liberty. That's got to be one reason they prefer socialism over capitalism. They grew up in a world that denied reality, now they are lost.
Re: We Are A Nation Of Wusses
Unless, of course, your statement is about how you're about to vomit. Then I have no problem with "I feel sick...."
Oct '10
Re: We Are A Nation Of Wusses
Molly, males are hardwired to be sensitive to women crying (there are some interesting studies on this). I suspect that if it had been a man bullied, this bill wouldn't have happened. But, there's nothing quite as difficult for men as seeing a woman bullied, especially if she can't fight back.
Apr '11
Re: We Are A Nation Of Wusses
I think Adam Corolla put it best in the title of his new book..."In 50 years we will all be chicks".
I mean if the legislator in question was not a woman would any one even feel bad for her?
The anti-bullying laws are the product of people passing on their moral responsibilities to the government. Teachers jobs are to make sure people don't get bullied and miss treated by their peers in school. If you are a teacher and you see this happen and let it continue you are a bad teacher. You should punish the bullies. Now though you can't do anything to any one without having some sort of government regulation involved....madness I say...utter madness...naturally these government laws and rules must be broad and vague since they are seeking to control broad and vague actions. Such laws are usually bad laws...
Feb '11
Re: We Are A Nation Of Wusses
Mollie, you hurt my feelings when you call me a wussy... boo hoo...
Re: We Are A Nation Of Wusses
Fine, send the cops over.
Feb '11
Re: We Are A Nation Of Wusses
A few points:
1. It seems like there should be some House rules about civilized behavior. If I had an employee who berated another employee until she cried, he would almost certainly be severely reprimanded. He might be fired, depending on the circumstances. Making this a House rule seems a better way to go than making it a law. Really easy to abuse.
2. Does this bill have a name? Is the text available somewhere?
Jul '11
Re: We Are A Nation Of Wusses
Actually I have been wondering if the bullying laws are a side effect of our country’s trend for smaller average family size. In a larger family you learn to fight and defend yourself as a reflex. You fight with your siblings over food, clothes, chores, cars, friends, words or just because you are bored. The children of these larger families have much more interaction with others and have thus developed more methods of handling people in a variety of situations. The women I know that come from larger families are tough. In the face of a dressing down of the sort above most would have been able to say one or two sentences that would have made the attacker look like a complete idiot and then smirked at him for being dumb enough to try that BS on THEM. In smaller families I think that children are not given as much opportunity to develop the social skills to defend themselves and tend to look to authority more to resolve their issues. Thus we are generating a group of people that do not relate well to each other and wants government to sort it out for them.
Mar '11
Re: We Are A Nation Of Wusses
Diane Ellis, Ed.
Unless, of course, your statement is about how you're about to vomit. Then I have no problem with "I feel sick...." · 2 hours ago
Very true. "I think sick..." is a horse of a different color.
Jul '11
Re: We Are A Nation Of Wusses
Mollie Hemingway, Ed.
Doesn’t this effectively restrict the discussion of anything political?
May '10
Re: We Are A Nation Of Wusses
America is circling the porcelain bowl.
Jul '11
Re: We Are A Nation Of Wusses
All your picture did was make me want to hunt a wolf. You're not really allowed to most places but the ranchers have a policy. Shoot, shovel, shut up. No wusses here in the old west.
By the way, you forgot calling the wahmbulance.
Apr '11
Re: We Are A Nation Of Wusses
The culture is both decadent and effeminate.