ON BURKAS AND BULLIES!

Now that we know it apparently is not a crime to torture and murder people for being “morally corrupt”, according to the Iranian Supreme Court (see my April 22nd blog), it is time for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to crack down on some real criminals. I’m speaking, of course, about women who wear skimpy overcoats in Iran. Now that Spring is here, some wild and crazy, yet stylish, Iranian women have been anarchistic enough to wear overcoats that are too tight. According to the Associated Press, nearly 300 women have been arrested for wearing too tight an overcoat or letting too much hair peek out from under their veil, in a crackdown by Iranian police. So far, according to the AP, 278 women have been detained, 231 of whom were released after they signed papers promising they wouldn’t appear “inadequately dressed in public.” Another 3,538 women have been given “warnings and Islamic guidance.” Twelve men have been detained for wearing tight pants or short-sleeve shirts. Boy, a day beside the pool wouldn’t be too enjoyable over there I suppose!

I really hate to breach this subject, but I’ve been asked by an anonymous visitor to this site to opine on victimhood and serial killers. The commonality being, are people who are bullied a good share of their lives and then choose to whack innocent people, victims, too, as some in the press would portray them? That’s a scary question and undoubtedly one that few people are politically incorrect enough to tackle. So here goes…

My personal opinion? (Deep breath). A little disclaimer…When I was in middle school, I was bullied unmercifully…for four years. Now, some smartass is chuckling thinking it took me four years to attend middle school. Real funny! But it continued into my freshman year in high school, until I changed schools in tenth grade. When I arrived at the new high school, I picked out the first person who mumbled something under his breath, made an appointment for after school and then pummeled him senseless. I established myself in my new school as someone not to be messed with and I haven’t put up with any crap since.

So did the bullying drive me into a deranged stupor that has me donning wild west dusters and microwaving cats? No. Did it affect my sensibilities permanently? Yes! I still harbor anger and disbelief at the cruelty kids can level at one another. I fight an occasional temptation to confront my onetime tormentors, to face them as adults and let them know what imbeciles they were/are. What a colossal waste of time that would be. But I sure don’t hate anybody enough to go Russell Crowe on them, let alone shoot them. No, though I can certainly relate to some serious internal rage, I can’t think of anyone I hate enough to kill! Do I have sympathy and feel some empathy for Mr. Cho? I’ll be the first to admit, yes. Do I think he’s anything less than evil for what he’s done? A resounding NO! Do I think the press in all their infinite…and you do understand the fondness I have for the mainstream press…in their infinite wisdom, have a point when they try to describe Mr. Cho as a victim? Not at all in the sum of the events that took place on that sad, sad day.

I’ll say this, and mean it. None of us should tolerate bullies and bullying! We should know what our kids are up to, what their friends are up to and never stop teaching them a lifelong lesson against that useless and killing behavior. It at least kills the spirit, if not, eventually, human beings.

Now I am going to leave that subject alone for a while and let the 32 victims of that maniac rest, and leave the memories of them to their grieving families. Enough on that subject for now, and unless you were personally touched by the Virginia Tech massacre, I hope you don’t exploit it either.

JD.