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This Speakout has not been edited

By Dave Petteys, Roxborough Park

When a single mom sends her 12 year old son off to Middle School, often times she will instruct him “don’t hit!” which basically ties his hands in defending himself. The boy becomes a target for the school bullies, and his life becomes miserable owing to the intimidation. The mom’s response usually is to wring her hands and complain ineffectually to school officials or to move the boy to another school, where the pattern is repeated.

A Father, on the other hand, will encourage his son to defend himself. He will get him boxing or karate lessons, which gives the boy confidence and some options. Then, at the next confrontation, the bully gets knocked on his butt, ending the problem. Bullies concentrate on those who don’t defend themselves. But mom will still object, saying such a response is “stooping to the bully’s level!”

Our traditions were founded by tough frontier families who carved lives out of the primeval forests of North America. The musket over the mantle, powder horns and tomahawks were a necessity of life. The call to muster to defend homes and families against raiding parties was all too frequent for the men of those times. The women understood, appreciated and supported them. This doesn’t seem to be true today.

Modern America hasn’t seen major bloodshed on its soil since the Civil War. Even the attack of 9-11 seems to have sunk from memory, becoming nothing more than a forgotten TV event of sorts. To the modern woman, the idea of the frontiersman husband that defends his family is laughable. Masculine strength and courage are no longer necessary. And if there is a man in a woman’s life at all, it could only be a partnership with a “sensitive new-age guy” that will give her space. And if strength and courage are no longer necessary, neither are firearms.

Gun control is the national equivalent of “don’t hit". It assumes everyone abides in a feminine rational relational point of view. The problem is, not everyone does, and that seems to be hard for the feminine viewpoint to accept. Theo Van Gough’s last words to his Radical Islamist murderer was “can’t we talk about this?” Evidently not. And it’s painfully clear how Radical Islam treats their women! The VA Tech shooter Cho Seung-Hui didn’t want to discuss things either. Had any teacher presented herself to reason with him, she would have received a 9mm beauty spot between her running lights.

As the threat of radical Islam grows, and as the VA Tech media attention encourages “copy cat massacres” elsewhere, it may be time to realize America still may need masculine qualities of courage and strength, as well as the modern equivalent of the musket over the fireplace, to survive.

READER COMMENTS

From some of the things I've read, you can make boys into imitation girls. Just feed them lots of soy products. Apparently soy contains a form of estrogen the feminizes boys.

Hans you are correct. It's been around a long time.

However, just like we can't make women into imitation men, we can't make men into imitation women. girls have one form of bullying, boys have another. The tactics that work among girls do not work around boys. And vice versa.

Oh.

Hans, the guy who shot the bully was exonerated by the make my day law. The bully kicked in the door to this kids home in order to dole out some punishment. The boy who had already been punished by this bully didn't want any more, so after the door was kicked in, the victim shot the bully to end that cycle of violence.

Jay, what happened to the guy who shot your bully in the head? You're certainly not wrong that bullies need to be stood up to and stopped; I just question the "masculine" system of answer-violence-with-violence that Dave Petteys seems so keen on. I'm glad things worked out for you; others haven't been so lucky.

First line: single mom? Boy does that say something about you. Married moms often say the same. Wring her hands and complain, is that your mom.?

Some moms and DADS are pacifists, not just moms.

Hans, I know first hand that if the bullied, doesn't stand up to the bully, he will continue to be bullied. Growing up as the smallest kid in every school I ever went to, until my senior year, I got bullied all the time. Trying to talk my way out of fights got me labeled a coward and I became THE target of all the school bullies. 1 particular bully had me in his sights for a long, long time. That ended when some other kid, decided he would bully me too. He ran into my car in the school parking lot, laughed about it to my face and told me to "F" off. I smashed his face in with my fists and I was never bullied by anyone at school ever again. But, the bully who originally was hounding me, was shot in the head by another victim of his bullying a few years later. In the end, fighting back beats taking a beating or being labeled a coward every time.

Many a kid has been taken to boxing or karate lessons by well-meaning Fathers, only to get the crap beaten out of them by bullies anyway, if only because the bully is bigger and has been fighting longer. Even if the young kung fu or boxer does prevail, it's usually the worst for him in the long run. Many playground bullies have a secret weapon: they're popular (which is why so many adult playground monitors tend to look the other way when a bully is at work, or make excuses--"poor bully, he obviously suffers from low self-esteem"). The karate champ or boxer becomes the villain, the antagonist; the bully was simply minding his own business (bullying). The bully's parents may even sue the other kid's parents. I've even read psychologists' stating that victims of bullies should go into therapy to find out why they're bringing the bullying onto themselves! The underdog coming out on top sounds great on paper, but in real life it upsets the balance of nature, and nobody has been able to figure out what to do about it yet.

The irony of the frontiersmen defending their homes and families is that the frontiersmen were actually the aggressors, taking land away from the natives who were there first (see where defending THEIR homes and families got them!). Again, the bully prevails in the long run.

So there hasn't been major bloodshed on this continent since the Civil War. That's something to complain about?

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