Does The Right to Free Speech Need Fine Print?

Westboro Baptist Church is abusing Freedom of Speech. Picketing a dead soldiers funeral, and hoisting signs of 'Thank God For Dead Soldiers' and 'Semper Fi Fag' is not what I think our forefathers had in mind when they wrote up the details of freedom of speech.

Are soldiers not dying in wars to protect Free Speech (among other things?) So what gives this group of inbred fanatics the right to picket a funeral? Maybe constricting the Freedom of Speech is the right thing to do. The Westboro Baptist Church was apparently well within their rights to protest because they were 1000 feet away from the funeral. So let's change that to a 2 mile radius near the church and graveyard. If you want to protest the funeral, find somewhere not near the church or the grave site.

Same thing with marriages. I don't care if gays and lesbians want to marry each other. If they're stupid enough to want to get married, you might as well let them get married. It's their problem, not the problem of society. So you ban protests within a two mile radius of a church or graveyard, and the problem there is solved. If you want to protest gay marriage, do it in front of city hall. There's probably a sign up sheet of other protests just inside the front door. Do it every time a gay couple gets married. Just don't do it at the church.

Hospitals should be given the same treatment. If another Matthew Shepherd story comes around, I'm about 95% sure the Westboro Baptist Church is going to protest at the hospital that he should not get any form of medical attention because he's gay. No protest within two miles of a hospital. Boom, problem solved.

How about the case of Phoebe Prince? The faculty isn't going to see any repercussions, they should be picketed. Should you do it in front of the school? Yes. Why? Because the school system and structure failed. A soldier fighting for Freedom of Speech does not deserve a protest at his funeral. A couple getting married, no matter your views, are not bothering anyone, they don't deserve to be singled out either.

Recently, a local high school had demonstrators from the Westboro Baptist Church in front of the school because their Drama Club was performing The Laramie Project. You should be allowed to demonstrate for or against art. The current guidelines for demonstrating and protest would apply just fine in this case, meaning the 1000 feet rule. As long as they are not disrupting people from getting in and out of the building, and the protest is not violent, it shouldn't be a problem.

If you want to protest, then protest. Protesting something like a funeral, that's despicable. You should not be using someone else's pain for your own personal gain when you protest or demonstrate. The man suing the Westboro Church should not have to pay their court expenses, and should be reimbursed for all the trouble the church has caused him. If they are dumb enough to demonstrate at a painful place and time, like a funeral, then they should be hit with the repercussions.

Endure

It came from a small paragraph in a paper which means you kill yourself and you make a big old sacrifice and try to get your revenge. That all you're gonna end up with is a paragraph in a newspaper. Sixty-three degrees and cloudy in a suburban neighborhood. That's the beginning of the video and that's the same thing is that in the end, it does nothing … nothing changes. The world goes on and you're gone. The best revenge is to live on and prove yourself. Be stronger than those people. And then you can come back. - Eddie Vedder

This one goes out to all the would-be Phoebe Prince's in the world.

Suicide is not the answer.

It's cliche. It's heard often. It's the truth. Eddie Vedder makes a great point. The quote is referring to when he was asked about the music video for Jeremy. It starts and ends the same way. Suicide may seem like the answer. Suicide may seem like the best way out of your situation. It's not. The day will end the same way it always has. A new day will start the same way it always has. The message you want to send will not be sent. It will break your parent's hearts, and make them question things they have done, could have done differently, or never did. It may not even be their fault at all. You will be missed. Over time however, the pain will heal. There will be a scar, but the pain will heal. Your death will not bring along great changes in society.

The suicide of Phoebe Prince has brought the nation's attention to the new kind of bullying going on at schools today. In the end, nothing is going to change. Her bullies will go on living, and their trial will eventually fade out of memory. There won't be great changes in how schools monitor their students. There won't be a great change is how schools handle bullies. In the end, the death of Phoebe Prince is a sad story. The real tragedy is that with a case like this, there will be no changes made to prevent future suicides from happening.

If a story as strong as this can not bring about changes in society, how can your suicide, your story, bring about any changes? It won't. The real revenge is surviving. Make it one more day. I know that High School is supposed to be the best time of your lives. You have no responsibility, no bills, no one to provide for. It's just you, some stupid homework, and being with your friends. I understand how the day to day living in High School can be viewed as a nightmare, and it seems like it will never end. This is all you know, and it's a hellish reality. Persevere. Get through another day. One day, when you think just get through the day, it will be your last day of High School. You can leave, and never look back. You can remake yourself in the real world or in college. You can go out and be successful, be who you want to be. Your goal should be to embarrass your bullies by becoming rich, powerful, successful, famous. Your killing stroke to the people who bullied you can be to use your power, your influence, your money, to bring about changes in the way the system works. You can use your fame to tell the story of how you were bullied, and use it as a shield to make sure it does not happen again. That should be your goal. That would achieve a greater glory, and have a more profound effect then a suicide. Your suicide will go down as a statistic somewhere, and you will be forgotten. Imagine if you could change society where kids like you were won't be bullied, because YOU made that change happen by becoming an activist and speaking out about what you endured.

Suicide is not an effective motivation for societal changes. The only person who can right the wrongs in your past is you, as an adult, in the future. Make something of yourself to bring about changes. You can do more damage inside the system then you can outside of it. Use that as your motivation. It's a lot stronger then any rope, or bullet that is readily available.

Sympathy For The Devil

Today on the news this morning, there was an update as to the ongoings in the Phoebe Prince case. Six teens have been arraigned on charges from stalking, assault, civil rights violations, and criminal intent. One of the lawyers for the Mean Girls issued a statement, saying that the Mean Girls are now the victims of being bullied, and death threats have been made against them.

I'm not endorsing bullying the bullies. I understand why the lawyer came out and said this. He wants to draw upon some kind of sympathy for the Mean Girls when their trial begins.

How, exactly, do you expect anyone to have sympathy for these girls? They are not victims. Yes, they're being exposed to the same bullying that brought about the suicide of Phoebe Prince, but they'll survive it. Why? Because they will be getting the help Phoebe Prince should have received. These girls will have support from their family, and be watched over closely at school to make sure nothing happens to these girls. The school is clearly going to try and rectify it's biggest mistake (not putting an end to the bullying of Phoebe Prince) by protecting the Mean Girls from being bullied themselves. Their parents are going to lend support, and a shoulder to lean and cry on. This isn't an indictment on Phoebe Prince's mother as not showing support to her daughter. Teenagers won't tell you what they don't want you to know. Phoebe Prince was bullied, was most likely ashamed that she was getting bullied, and that is why after three months she told her mother what was going on, a week before her death. The bullying of Phoebe Prince was not common knowledge until she died. Because this story has been brought to the attention of the country, the parents of the bullies can now support their children. Where was the support for Phoebe Prince?

When the school was informed of the bullying Phoebe Prince was receiving, the school said they took care of it. New details came out today about the last days of Phoebe Prince's life, that the Mean Girls confronted and bullied Phoebe Prince in the library and in the bathroom. The school handled the issue? How is that? Not only did the bullying NOT stop, it was STILL occuring DURING school hours. I've been in trouble in school before also. If you are not a frequent visitor to the principal, vice principal, whatever, you are going to get a five minute lecture, and slap on the wrist, and sent on your way. Clearly this is what happened with the Mean Girls.

How am I supposed to feel any kind of sympathy for the Mean Girls? The Mean Girls mentally abused Phoebe Prince to the point of death. Phoebe Prince didn't have anyone to help her, even when the school faculty knew of the bullying. The support being given to the Mean Girls is done in retrospect. The school knew they were wrong in not taking better, and more appropriate steps in stopping the bullying, so now they are taking the protection of the Mean Girls to a new level to make sure they don't get pushed as far as Phoebe Prince was pushed. If the roles were reversed, would their parents know they were being bullied? Most likely not. The consequences of reporting bullying, and not having it crushed immediately, are far worse then if you don't report the bullying. There is only so much someone can take. Bullying is far different from when most of us were growing up. Back then, and this is only going back roughly fifteen years ago, bullying pretty much stayed at school. It's not that way anymore. Everyone has a cell phone. Everyone has a Facebook page, or a My Space page, or both. If a bully wants to get to you, they will get to you. There is no way out unless the problem is exposed and obliterated quickly, and immediately.

I also find it hard to give them sympathy when this is all going to go away for them with time. Their lives will go on. But Phoebe Prince is still dead. They most likely won't serve any form of jail time, or actual repercussions stemming from their bullying. But Phoebe Prince is still dead. They should be convicted on felony charges of civil rights violations. Make them put into writing when applying to jobs or colleges that they were convicted of a felony, and what that felony was. Make them remember the price of what their bullying was. Their loves will go on, and may be difficult, but they go on. Phoebe Prince is still dead.

I titled this Sympathy For The Devil, not because I think the Mean Girls are the Devil, but because of the correlation between the two. When I think about the saying 'Sympathy for the Devil' it makes me think that the Devil wants sympathy for being the Devil. He is not bad, but his job is the exact opposite of what God's is (no matter what form of Devil or God you want to use) and therefore is forced into being bad, and doing bad things. He doesn't really mean the things he says that are harmful. He doesn't want to do the things that he does that are evil. It's just his nature. The Mean Girls may not have wanted to push Phoebe Prince into suicide. They may not have wanted Phoebe Prince to fall so far into depression. Their actions did all the talking for them. So now they are being bullied. Their actions have been turned back onto them. So now we should feel sorry for them? I can't do that. The bullies are now bullied themselves. At least they will live through it and continue on with their lives. Phoebe Prince will not.

MTV Generation Killed MTV

How sad is that? Most of the people who are going to read this blog grew up watching MTV. I remember watching the Beach House during the Summer while cleaning the house after school, and jamming out to Summertime by DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince. So what happened? The people who grew up watching MTV went to college. Became executives, took over MTV and for some reason thought shows like 'Date My Mom' and 'Room Raiders' were BETTER then playing music videos. When your name is Music Television, shouldn't you be playing music?

Granted, some of the videos put out today by musicians aren't exactly the best, a little weird, a little irreverant. What happened to the days when music videos actually told a story? The best examples are Wham's Careless Whisper, Michael Jackson's The Way You Make Me Feel, and Guns and Roses November Rain. Instead we're stuck with Telephone by Lady Gaga (I like the song, but the video is kinda weird, and has practically ntohing to do with what the lyrics talk about) and BUttons by The Pussycat Dolls. They're singing about a guy who talks a lot of junk, and won't follow through. Is it that hard to feature them in a club with an air of sexual frustration because the guy is chump? What happened to the days of ZZ Top doing their spin on Cinderella?

The quality of music videos has declined, but is that a reason to remove them from the air entirely? MTV and the MTV Generation is an abusive relationship like that of Ike and Tina Turner, Chris Brown and Rihanna. The MTV Generation loves MTV so much, they couldn't help but destroy it. By taking off the very essence of a channel called Music Television, they have beaten up, stripped down, and kicked out something that was supposed to be a channel teens and young adults could relate to, it has been turned into a Jerry Springer version of Reality TV. The Discovery channel has it's own reality TV series, but it doesn't detract from what the channel is essentially.

The MTV Generation somewhere along the way lost their way. It's all about making money now. Clearly, these executives think music videos don't make enough money. So they have to flood the channel with some of the worst programming ever. What exactly was the point of Total Request Live? Watched it once or twice, I became annoyed when they would have a new song on, that I liked, and show a 30 second clip before going back to Carson Daly....What was the point in that? That's like turning on the TV to see Castle, or V, or Scrubs, but instead of the show playing for 45 minutes in an hour, it playes for 15 minutes, and you get 45 minutes of commercials.

The MTV Generation grew up. It was going to happen, it was inevitable. The sad part is, the MTV Generation grew up and became money grubbing sell outs and killed one of the greatest things to come out of the last century, especially in the 80's...MTV.

Phoebe Prince, Cyber Bullying, And The Failure Of The Educational System

Phoebe Prince is not just a victim of bullies, and the new ways you can be bullied, she is also a victim of the schools failure to provide an environment that should be considered safe for kids of all ages to gather. I understand why Phoebe Prince committed suicide. When every single day of your existence you are tortured verbally and mentally, and you have no way to get away, what other option is there? Everyone has been bullied at one time or another. So you know that you can't go to an authority figure to try and get this settled. The repercussions are minor, and insignificant, and you just pissed off your bullies even more. The consequences of reporting your bullies, and getting them in trouble is much worse then trying to deal with the bullying day in and day out.

Phoebe Prince told her mother what was going with these three girls, known as the Mean Girls, and the mother calls the school. According to the school, they took care of the issue. A week later, Phoebe Prince hangs herself after an incident after school. Walking home, the Mean Girls drove by, threw a drink at her, and verbally assaulted her. Calling her an 'Irish whore' and 'Irish slut' and the back breaker, 'you should just kill yourself.' So how exactly did the school take care of this issue? Clearly whatever was said to the Mean Girls was most likely along the lines of 'Stop bullying Phoebe Prince. You have after school detention. Now go out and be all you can be.' What? How about, the mother called the school, TRUSTING the school to watch out for her daughter's well being, to put an end to the bullying, why not call the parents of the Mean Girls and inform them of their kids actions? Just show them the Facebook page. Clearly that did not happen. I'm willing to bet, that when the Mean Girls found out Phoebe Prince killed herself that their first thought was not of remorse, and second guessing what they had done. I'm pretty sure they had to stifle a laugh because of how far they were able to push Phoebe Prince.

Speaking of the parents, maybe the school did call the parents of the Mean Girls. They clearly didn't do anything at all either. The bullying didn't stop, and now a life has ended prematurely, and should be held over their heads. Too many times in today's society parents want to blame everything and anything but themselves for their children's actions and reactions. It was the video games! It's that damn rap music! How about trying to be a PARENT instead of their friend? Stop buying your kids new cars, and giving them cell phones. Make them EARN the car. Just handing your children anything they want is not going to help prepare them for life on their own when things get really tough. And why exactly do teenagers need cell phones? If they're at school, and you need to get a hold of them, call the school. If they want to talk to their friends, give them their own land line at home. If they want to go out with friends, give them your cell phone. There is no reason for teenagers, living at home, to have cell phones. Nothing that could happen during the course of the day is THAT important where they need to have a cell phone with them. Parents need to be more active in their children's lives, and instead of handing them whatever they want, when they want, they need to be shown you are the authority here. What you do will have repercussions. If those parents were contacted about the bullying, they had the power to stop it, and they didn't.

The Mean Girls have been brought up on charges of Violating Civil Rights. What exactly does that mean? Will the Mean Girls carry a black mark on their permanent record from here on out? or is this one of those crimes where they're going to serve community service, be given a fine, and it goes away after some time? What good would that do? The parents will just throw money at a lawyer to get any sentence reduced, pay the fine, and brush the whole thing under a rug. Phoebe Prince is dead because of these three girls. There should be a charge added to the Violating Civil Rights charge...Manslaughter. The definition of manslaughter is the unlawful killing of a human being without malice or premeditation, either express or implied; distinguished from murder, which requires malicious intent. Put that mark on their record. Sure it'll make their life more difficult when applying for jobs and such, but they robbed a young girl of her innocence and her life. They robbed a mother of key moments in her daughter's life, like graduating high school and college, getting married, and even becoming a grandmother. These three girls pushed Phoebe Prince over the edge, and her life ended. Her mother's life is now shattered. These three girls have destroyed two lives, not just one. So make things difficult for them. This is not something that should be swept away after a few years. They should carry the burden of what Phoebe Prince could have become, they should carry the burden knowing that they robbed a mother of her child. No parent should ever out live their children. To have one taken away as a result of such harsh and cruel manner is a monumental tragedy.

The school Superintendent has said there will be no consequences given out to the staff of the school. This is absolutely absurd! There is more to being a teacher then teaching reading, writing, arithmetic, and science. They take care of others people children for almost 8 hours a day, for 5 days a week. They are supposed to help shape the minds of today's youth. What kind of shape are they molding when they sit idly by as kids berate other kids to the point of suicide? Stop hiding in your classroom, and be involved with what these kids are doing in between classes, and after school. Part of the problem here is, once again, the parents of the students. It's discouraged that teachers have a Facebook or MySpace account based on what kids can claim was said to them from the teacher. Granted, there are probably instances where the teacher did something wrong. But what about the times the student dislikes the teacher, and is trying to get them in trouble? Student A is a bully, and has been picking on Student B all semester. Student A picks a fight with Student B and Teacher X steps in and breaks up the fight. Student A has a bruise on his upper arm from Teacher X. Teacher X then gets sued by the parents for being too forceful with their kid. He broke up a fight your kid started, and you're going to sue the teacher? How would you expect that fight to be broken up? Use the Jaws of Life to separate the two? Who knows what would happen if the teacher stands by as one kid pummels the other. But this is something teachers have to worry about. How can they show any form of authority, if when they actually do flex the authoritative muscle, the parents castrate the teacher publicly with a lawsuit, even if their kid is wrong?

The entire faculty should be reprimanded for basically turning a blind eye, and not trying to help Phoebe Prince. The School Superintendent should resign, because a school under his watch performed woefully in protecting one of it's students. The three girls, the Mean Girls, should have to carry around a big black mark on their record so they can be reminded of what they have done, and what they stole from a family. The parents of the bullies should have to suffer some form of consequence for being negligent as to what their own children were doing. Everyone should be held accountable and made an example of in order to ensure these things from ever happening again. Bullying is something that is, unfortunately, a timeless tradition. It will never stop. However, consequences need to be developed, and displayed on a public forum to everyone, to show what could happen if you go too far. Teachers, parents, and students, should all held accountable for the loss of a life. No one should ever have to feel like they have no way out at such a young age.

Phoebe Prince is the 21st century version of Jeremy by Pearl Jam. Jeremy is based upon a small, true story seen in a newspaper. The boy's name was Jeremy Wade Delle. He was 16. He was described as quiet and always acting sad. He stood in the front of his English class, stuck the barrel of a .357 Magnum Revolver in his mouth, and killed himself. It should not take a story like this to evoke changes in the way things are done.