Senate passes (license to bully) legislation : Bill grants exception for religious views

Senate passes (license to bully) legislation : Bill grants exception for religious views

michiganmessenger.com

The full language of the insert is: “This section does not prohibit a statement of a sincerely held religious belief or moral conviction of a school employee, school volunteer, pupil, or a pupil and parent or guardian.”

(visit the link for the full news article)

So as long as you are morally convicted that your bullying is right.. then go ahead...

How can I prove that my bullying of those with political or religious views I find morally reprehensible was in fact based on my convictions?

This means it is now legal in Michigain for Atheists to bully Christians... for Christians to bully Muslims and for Muslims to bully Jews.

How about that!



michiganmessenger.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

reply to post by HunkaHunka


How about we don't pass any laws like this and just charge people with harassment?

Just seems a bit easier. This whole bit was a throw-away to the christian right.

reply to post by HunkaHunka
I'm a bit confused on this one. So they are including speech in their definition of bullying?

I can understand the exemption to some degree, though. To not include it would basically open anyone stating a controversial or unpopular opinion - which they might be entirely sincere in and NOT attempting to bully or harm another person with - to claims of bullying and whatever repercussions may ensue.

To me, this seems to be along the lines of legal distinction between freedom of speech and "fighting words" or shouting fire in a crowded theatre, etc.

I don't know about this one, but what I can perceive as bullying can be somebody else freedom of speech. So if somebody tells me something I don't like by all means you are going to get a mouthful out of me.

Because that is what freedom of speech is all about. right?

Humm.

reply to post by HunkaHunka


As far as I could follow the rather biased reporting, it seems to me the intent was to head off attempts to define protected classes in this and future legislation. As a female and a minority I am all for that. I believe the heterosexual Anglo Saxon white male deserves just as much protection from assault and threats and harassment as I do. ALL forms of bullying have no place anywhere at any time for any reason. And I would hope that our existing laws against assault and harassment and slander and defamation would be sufficient to cover these incidents. And for the cases that might fall between the legal cracks, schools can and should impose rules of student conduct and vigorously enforce them.

Where I have a problem with all these protected classes oriented legislation is that they create, rather than erase inequities. They will punish people for being born into what was once a traditionally empowered race, religion and gender.

As for that questionable proviso that allegedly permits bullying for religious reasons, I think the intent behind it was to protect the status quo, in which we have a certain level of free speech in the USA that has been severely eroded in the U.K. I don't live in the UK so I admit I could be utterly wrong but from my reading I gather that in some instances Muslims are being elevated to a highly protected class above Christians or Atheists or Agnostics who speak out with grievances against Muslims and are then branded and arrested for "hate speech".

I'm not saying this legislation is the right way to fulfill that intent. I think that it is trying to head in that direction.

I've been a victim of bullying for my race and my small stature, myself. Even coming from that perspective I don't think more legislation is the answer. I think better communication with victims, informing of their rights and remedies under existing laws and regulation, coupled with a more effective response by authorities, is the way to go. Again this is only my humble opinion. I seek no contentious arguments with anyone here.

I don't know about this one, but what I can perceive as bullying can be somebody else freedom of speech

We're talking about protecting children- not your freedom of speech to say what you want to other adults.

reply to post by CB328


I stand by my post, see I have some very bad arguments with the middle school my son attended in my neck of the woods after a teacher told my son that if he didn't attended church he was going to hell.

See, she was the wife of the local judge that happen to be a "teacher" I didn't gave a crap that she was so, I gave her a mouthful of what I thought about her comments about hell, so like I say what could be bullying for me could be just somebody else "honest religion expression", I just exercised my "honest" Freedom of speech.

Plain and simple.

And this happen without any laws been passed about what is considered bullying or not.

i think that the kids as well as adults that bully must have had it done to them so they dont know any better because its considered normal to them, so they dont know it hurts anyone or they just dont care. i believe that if someone is going to bully someone they should be tied up like the old days and let the victim get pay back

The full language of the insert is: “This section does not prohibit a statement of a sincerely held religious belief or moral conviction of a school employee, school volunteer, pupil, or a pupil and parent or guardian.”

reminds me of how my history and science teachers in high school would spend half of every class soapboxing whatever particular Christian-based irk they had for the day... homosexuals, teen pregnancies, athiests, and devil worshipers(it was the early 90s when everyone was obsessed with imaginary satanic cults)... anything at all besides actual history or science.

it always pissed me off, but it was a small town and i didnt want to start trouble with the stupid kids who wanted the free time off from learning.

so now i guess their rambling nonsense will be totally legal and protected.

might as well just toss the text books out the window.

i know how you feel, my 9 year old daughter was at the bus stop and some boys were bullying her calling her a lesbian because her and her friend were giving eachother hugs, so she pushed one of the boys accidently into the street (wasnt injured) and one of the adults at the bus stop seen and grabbed my daughter and was yelling in her face. my daughter got in trouble and the boys bullying her didnt.

I hate bullys. In school i bullied the bullys by not allowing them to bully others. Being the biggest/strongest in your school affords you some luxury.

I have protected my kids by doing the following:

1. Teach them to have a sliver tongue. I know some of you think that shiz talking with your kids is bad. It isn't words, it is intent. And the more you give them at home, the more ammo they will have in the real world. Teach them to have thick skin and a silver tongue. My son is a big kid, somewhat overweight (still...but he is still losing and is doing very well). Of course this leads to name calling, etc. Funny thing....few kids will name call him. He will verbally eviscerate any and everyone who wants to get into a linguistic duel. It has also made him funny, so the side effect is that kids and adults absolutely love him because he makes them laugh.

2. Teach them to be strong. Do not allow them to accept being a victim of anything. I don't care what your schools say, your kids have a constitutional right to protect themselves. Zero tolerance policies are unconstitutional, and if you kid is hit by another kid, he has every right to fight to defend himself. When my son was having issues with gangbangers at his school, i tried to press charges for sexual harrasment (boob grabbing). The campus cop talked me out of it, and told me to have my son defend himself. He advised me of the above. Over the course of a month he beat up about 25 kids. He was bigger than all of them, and has never been afraid to throw a punch in defense of himself. By the end of the school year, no one bothered him and he had a peaceful life. We still transferred him this year, as he just didn't want to have to go through that every year in that other district.

3. Teach them right from wrong, good citizenship. This will make teachers like them more, and be more supportive of them. You will be surprised how much easier your kids life will be when the school staff actually will repeatedly say, "He does not deserve to be treated that way. He is a good kid that just wants to come to school to get along and learn." If they can say that about your kids, then when it comes down to it in the end, your kid will have an edge.

4. Know who your kids adversaries are. Do not allow them to be confronted by true danger, like the kid who had a mustache in 6th grade and has flunked 5 times. Or kids who are known to carry weapons outside of school. Your kids should know the scoop on these people, and you should be taking an active role in helping them plan to deal with the social drama's of pre-teen and teen years.

This is what I did with my kids. The oldest one, who is gay, never had a bit of trouble as he knows how to blend in and go with the flow. The youngest one, who is a 6 foot tall, 280lb 8th grader (still waiting for puberty...this kid is going to be a giant once he starts his big growth spurts) handles all his problems, and still manages to never get in any trouble with the school. And yes, this includes physically defending himself by giving out bloody noses, black eyes, and one broken tooth.

Oh, puh-leeze!

All this line does is prohibit someone from redefining 'bullying' as anyone saying something someone else doesn't want to hear. It is an affirmation of free speech.

Yes, bullying is a bad thing, but stating one's beliefs is not bullying! Bullying is physical confrontation, or at least threats of physical violence. In my day, being bullied meant you spent at least some appreciable amount of time picking yourself up off the ground and attending to wounds.

The second someone decides that bullying extends to speech, especially speech concerning individual beliefs or opinions, is when that someone has actually increased the problem and put more kids at risk of being bullied. Anyone who thinks that a simple affirmation of free speech is an invitation to bullying knows absolutely nothing, nil, zero, zilch about the problem.

TheRedneck