There’s been much ado about the problem of bullying in schools lately, especially after a fresh round of sensationalism in the news. Due to some unfortunate and tragic suicides that were linked to bullying, it seems that there’s a lot more focus on it, complete with the requisite overreaction and abdication of personal responsibility.

First of all: making fun of someone and bullying them are two very different things. We’ve all been picked on, sometimes rather cruelly. But that sort of “abuse” is not the same as the more serious kind that comes from bullying, when it’s constant and often inescapable.

The most ridiculous claim I’ve heard lately is that “bullying is a bigger problem than ever.” No, it is not. Bullying has always been a problem, but unfortunately, it’s part of growing up in human society. I’m not saying it’s right, and I’m certainly not saying nothing should be done when it comes to serious abuse, but making it out to be some huge insidious threat does nothing but hamper those who are trying to deal with it.

Another spanner in the works now is that a new tool has been added into the mix: the Internet. Anyone who’s read the comments on a YouTube video knows just how nasty and mean Internet denizens can be, as they safely hide behind their digital anonymity.

Often, officials take things way too far when dealing with bullies. How many news stories have we read where a student is suspended (or expelled!) because they made a not-so-nice comment about a girl’s outfit or whatever on a peer’s Facebook wall? Like I said before, that is not bullying. When you get a torrent of racist, homophobic, or other kinds of incendiary posts, that is a problem (especially since it’s sometimes illegal, and often against many Internet sites’ terms of service). Kids picking on each other is not.

I was bullied and made fun of as a child. A lot. My folks did what they could to help; they told me that I shouldn’t let the bullies get to me, that I should report them to teachers, and to defend myself if attacked. This is of course very hard when you’re a child, but it was still the right choice. Did my parents blame the school administration? Or town officials? Or the state legislature? Or other parents? Or the media scapegoat du jour? Of course not.

When we get into those rare circumstances where bullies severely beat or otherwise seriously abuse a fellow student, by all means, prosecute the little fuckers and throw them in the slammer. But overreacting to minor infractions only makes people oversensitive and unprepared for the real world.

Real estate mogul and all-around jackass Donald Trump has made headlines over the past few weeks by embracing the “birther” fringe. This refers to the right-wing, lunatic belief that President Obama was not born in the United States, despite loads of both federally and independently verified evidence to the contrary.

People need to stop calling these people “birthers,” and label them with the proper and accurate term instead:

Racists.

That’s all this is about, and all it has ever been about. Claiming otherwise is simply a delusion. Some folks, I’m sorry to say, just can’t wrap their brains around the concept of a President who isn’t 100% whitebread. It’s disgusting and embarrassing.

Obama is the President. Disagreement with his policies is perfectly acceptable, but this racist bullshit? He was born in America. Get over it. It’s high time that all pundits and journalists alike started calling birthers racists out appropriately.

There’s been a disturbing trend in right-wing politics lately, and that’s attacks on education. Conservatives’ complaints of “liberal bias” in colleges and universities have been around for a while, and they’re generally just as false as their infamous “liberal media” claims. In recent years, however, the anti-education contingent has really grown in strength. Scientists, economists, and other educated people are routinely heckled and smeared by the likes of Fox News, simply because they arm themselves with facts. With the popularity of Fox, talk radio, and the Tea Parties, millions of people believe — and are raising their offspring to believe — that education is something to be avoided.

Seriously…how the hell did this happen?! It’s flagrant stupidity on a level I can barely understand. Why would you ever want to shit on improving one’s mind, and instead reward the opposite, which is idiocy?

Most of the complaints I’ve seen don’t focus on public schools, as for the most part, it’s required by law for children to attend them. The exception is homeschooling, but even though that’s been slightly on the rise, it’s not as widespread as the anti-college sentiment. It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense; there’s boatloads of conservative pundits and politicians who have had excellent educations, yet they turn around and bash the very system that taught them.

Another part of these anti-education views is the increasing role of fundamentalist religion in the United States. Just look at how politicians and religious groups have tried to ramrod complete nonsense like intelligent design into taxpayer-funded public school programs! It never fails to amaze and anger me that people want to supplant rational thought and factual information with superstition, and that’s the very antithesis of a proper education. To return to the subject of homeschooling, there’s a lot of parents out there who feel that public schools are “too secular” at best and “evil” at worst. Thus, they homeschool their children according their religious beliefs, and this is another level of insanity. How can you expect a child to function in the real world when you’re consistently decrying the facts at home?

My theory is one shared by many others: conservatives and über-religious folks hate the educational system because it teaches people to think for themselves, and that may lead them to question these same politics and religions. As well it should! You should question and learn about everything, be it right or left, god or godless. The whole point of a good education is that you can make your own well-informed decisions borne out by facts, not hearsay.

Do you need a college education or higher learning experience to succeed in life? Not necessarily. But dismissing education out of hand is idiotic, no matter which side of the political fence you sit on.

When I go to the gym after work, I often watch the local news on the televisions attached to the cardio machines. The news is fine, but the advertisements in between the reports thoroughly disgust me, often to the point of changing the channel.

Lame commercials are nothing new, but as we’re rapidly approaching election season, an overwhelming majority of the ads are for political campaigns. Specifically, we’ve got our state primaries coming up very soon, so the candidates for governor, Senate, and Congressional positions are making their final pushes to sway voters and secure their parties’ nominations. Why does this bother me? Because the ads are nothing but attacks, hit pieces, and smear campaigns.

Ads aired earlier in the spring and summer did indeed discuss critical issues. Those are what’s really important, so why not just stick with that tactic instead of this lowbrow mudslinging garbage? The candidates are all behaving like children.

Instead of talking about important issues at hand, such as the state economy, unemployment, infrastructure, et cetera, the candidates would much rather smear one another. Usually, this is done by pointing out “lies” in one campaign, and claiming that the opponent would never do such a thing. (Guess what: that’s probably a lie, too.) I understand that candidates can and should defend themselves from false claims, but doing so by viciously counterattacking is just sinking to their opponents’ scummy levels. It’s a sad indicator of just how low political discourse in this country has fallen.

Just in case any of my readers decide to run for political office, here’s some friendly advice. I’m one of those rare voters that casts their ballot based on multiple issues that are of critical importance to my state and country, rather than single issue, special interest nonsense (like gun rights). The serious issues are of utmost importance. However, personal conduct does carry some weight. If the centerpiece of your campaign is to smear your opponent rather than discuss the critical stuff, then it’s unlikely I’m going to vote for you. I’ll take a beleaguered underdog who can actually help my state over a shifty blowhard any day of the week.

I can’t stand the fact that we Americans have become such an extremely litigious culture. Granted, some lawsuits have merit; if you injure yourself in a store due to an unsafe environment, for example, then by all means, the store should pay your medical costs and reimburse you for the time you have to take off from work while you heal. If they refuse, then take their asses to court. But beyond that, I don’t buy the “mental anguish” nonsense that so many people throw into lawsuits. It’s not anguish…it’s only money that they care about.

I get angry when I hear yet another story about parents suing school systems for the most inane reasons, such as playing competitive games like tag, or exclusionary games like dodge ball. Just because your kid may not be as good as the others on the playground doesn’t mean the school district owes you money. Nobody’s perfect; if your kid doesn’t excel on the baseball field, I’m sure they excel elsewhere. How would you like it if other parents sued you because your kid surpassed their own in mathematics, for example?

What really drives me into a rage is when someone is tragically killed..and the family sues for millions. That’s disgusting, as they’re literally trying to profit off of their loved one’s death!

You have the right to sue anyone for anything, but the problem is that too many people take extreme advantage of that right just to get rich quick. I think this practice needs to end, or at least be severely lessened. Believe it or not, there’s a very simple way for people to fight back.

It goes like this: say someone falls on your sidewalk because you forgot to shovel the snow off of it, and they sue you for $4 million. That’s obviously way more than what’s necessary to cover medical bills and recovery time, so it’s clear that the plaintiff is just a greedy scumbag. So…don’t give them a dime. Ignore the lawsuit. The cops come to arrest you? Let them. A judge wants to throw you in jail over it? Fine. You’ll end up in a minimum security prison, and likely only have to serve a fraction of your sentence, anyway. The end result is what’s important: the greedy bastard who sued you won’t get one cent, and they’ll have likely lost a ton of their own money filing the lawsuit in the process! They’ll think twice before trying that shit again, now won’t they?

Now, the prospect of jail time will naturally put most people off. But if enough principled individuals stood up against this frivolous nonsense, the rest of the population would take notice. Civil disobedience can be a very powerful tool, and people might start to rethink wasting taxpayers’ time and money in order to further their own foolish greed.