'ROMNEY MITT, THE DEMON BARBER OF WALL STREET'

The latest from Roy Zimmerman.  The make-up....




Thanks to Paul (A.).

BULLYING...WHAT IS IT GOOD FOR?

Please read the excellent post at Dirty Sexy Ministry on bullying.

Bullies don't exist.

At least that's the viewpoint held by some who think that the intentional harm they cause to others is just what happens in the course of a day's work or in the course of human relationships. And yes, we who live in community together do things to each other through thought and word and deed that hurt others.

Bullying, however, is another matter. Bullying by adults covers a range of behaviors from teasing which gets out of control (i.e. the person being teased has said or indicated that it's troubling, but the person doing the teasing refuses to stop) to serious criminal activity like verbal threats and physical assault.

I know adult teasers who don't get it that enough is enough. "Oh, it's just teasing," is the excuse. There is no excuse. When a person asks you to stop, just stop.

Bullies are a magnified example of how our own hurts and wounds can hurt and wound others. Most bullies don't see their actions as bullying; they may not even be aware of just how damaging their personal actions are to others. Perhaps a first step to healing may be admitting that there are bullies in both clergy and laity and, even more difficult, admitting that all of us are capable of bullying others. I've yet to meet a person that didn't have places in our self-image that were sensitive and lacking. I've yet to meet a person that didn't, on some level, have issues with authority and issues with misuing it at times. I've yet to meet a person who didn't crave acceptance and attention, and who didn't coerce someone to salve that craving.

I absolutely agree that we all need to examine ourselves for 'subtle and covert' signs of bullying, which is far easier to recognize in others than in ourselves. And yes, there's no denying that bullying happens in the church, at times with catastrophic consequences.

Read the entire post.

BRAVO, BISHOP ALAN, FROM ACROSS THE POND

Bishop Alan Wilson, Bishop of Buckingham in the Church of England, wrote a fine post about bullying in the church titled Bullying of and by clergy: a way ahead?.

It seems to me, along with some comments earlier this month, that everyone knows what bullying is, and when they feel bullied, but the description needs to be in terms of the behaviour that has to change. If we don't do that the onus stays in the wrong place, and things will never improve. The vast majority of claims I have drilled into dissolve into mutual recrimination. So I have to say that the perception of "bullying" boils down to a symptom of organisational malaise, the abuse of power.

We need procedures in place, as for whistleblowing, available to individuals; but this is not enough.

The key to progress is to have a public framework describing the proper use of power against which all behaviour can be measured.

Such a framework makes any anomaly look like an anomaly, rather than just a random incidence of "shit happens."

Much of what Bishop Alan says could apply to any church, not only to the Church of England, but especially to hierarchical churches. And bullying goes both ways, even in hierarchical churches.

Bullying is very much about the abuse of power, the exercise of power in unacceptable ways. The focus must to be on examining behavior and measuring behavior against objective standards.

One final frontier remains, however. Church culture, deferential, hierarchical and often inclined to hypocrisy, breeds an alignment gap between aspiration and active accountability at the top. The Church is full of good intentions but some bishops, forgive me for saying but it's the truth, fear and loathe that kind of open accountability. Confronted recently with a proposed standard policy on appointments, out poured reasons why this was an impossible bureaucratic imposition to clip their wings. Ironically, much practice is consistent with what was proposed, and the law will probably carry my Lords kicking and screaming where they don't want to go.

In my humble opinion, the words above are so very true and are those of a courageous bishop. Bishop Alan quite often goes boldly where other bishops fear to tread. When we met over dinner while I was in England, I asked him, only half-jokingly, if he was content with his status as a suffragan for the rest of his service as a bishop. I do wonder if, because of his willingness to openly and publicly tackle subjects that few bishops are willing to take on, his advancement in the church might suffer. I hope and pray not.

ONE STUDENT'S COMING OUT

From the Advocate:

At a “Breaking the Silence”-themed assembly to honor Martin Luther King Jr., a high school senior used the opportunity to come out to the entire school and discuss the importance of diversity and acceptance and speak out against antigay bullying in schools.

“I’m terrified to share my message,” Kayla begins. “I’m afraid of losing friends and losing loved ones. I’m afraid of losing my reputation at this school and the way people look at me. This speech will change my life forever, but I hope that my words can change more.”

Watch Kayla in the video at the link above. Her words are moving and powerful.

Thanks to David@Montreal for the link.

HOW MANY DEATHS WILL IT TAKE...? - PART 3

From the Houston Chronicle:

Asher Brown's worn-out tennis shoes still sit in the living room of his Cypress-area home while his student progress report — filled with straight A's — rests on the coffee table.

The eighth-grader killed himself last week. He shot himself in the head after enduring what his mother and stepfather say was constant harassment from four other students at Hamilton Middle School in the Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District.

Brown, his family said, was "bullied to death" — picked on for his small size, his religion and because he did not wear designer clothes and shoes. Kids also accused him of being gay, some of them performing mock gay acts on him in his physical education class, his mother and stepfather said.

The 13-year-old's parents said they had complained about the bullying to Hamilton Middle School officials during the past 18 months, but claimed their concerns fell on deaf ears.

When will school authorities begin to take the bullying and abuse seriously? How many kids will have to die before the members of our communities take note and force those authorities to implement policies to prevent such tragedies from happening?

Cy Fair ISD officials said Monday that they never received any complaints from Brown's parents before the suicide about the way the boy was being treated at school.

School district spokeswoman Kelli Durham said no students, school employees or the boy's parents ever reported that he was being bullied.

That statement infuriated the Truongs, who accused the school district of protecting the bullies and their parents.

In an opinion piece in the Chronicle, gay dad, Barry Baxter, writes:

There’s a great deal of outrage directed at the students who bullied Asher consistently during his two years at Hamilton, and rightly so. There’s additional focus on a school administration that Asher’s parents and others say looks the other way when students suffer abuse at the hands of their peers. That scrutiny must continue.

But there’s an even broader and more insidious force at work in our country when it comes to gay teen suicide. Granted, gay rights may be inching slowly forward in the court system, but that progress has contributed greatly to unprecedented levels of self-esteem battering rhetoric in the media and from the pulpit.
....

Yes, the bullies and their despicable behavior are responsible for Asher’s death. But so is the toxic, virulently anti-gay environment that continues to swirl around all of our children.

And when will the rest of the people in the country take responsibility for contributing to the toxic environment in which LGTB persons are forced to live and that drives so many young people to take their lives?

May Asher Brown rest in peace and rise in glory.

May God give comfort, consolation, and peace to Asher's parents and to all who love him.

May God have mercy on us all!

H/T to Timothy Kincaid at Box Turtle Bulletin.