Bullying

It's a funny thing... I remember when I was a kid, I had my fair share of run in's with bullies. I was a math geek and didn't play any sport, so I kind of had it coming.

But I was always told to just walk away. And I think a few times I may have been told, that walking away was the sign of a true man.

And then on one occasion, my mother accused me of 'using my girlfriend'. Which was funny because she'd tried everything she could to break us up, and my sullen mood was because things were getting rather rocky. I remember her saying though that if she found out that I was, that she would never forgive me. I think using a girlfriend would qualify as a form of bullying as well.

Looking at my own life, I'm not sure how I'd handle it if one of my kids ends up being bullied, but I do know that if they were ever the aggressor, we'd be having a serious chat, and likely more.

I think these feelings towards bully's are pretty universal. No-one likes them unless you're some dysfunctional turd.

Anyway, so with this all came to mind as I was reading an article posted on facebook by a friend. Despite very right leaning opinions, this person didn't dump me as a friend when I voiced support for Obama's speech to school kids, so I felt I'd return the favor and honestly consider her ideas too.

The article was in the Telegraph, a british newspaper, and you can read it in it's entirety here.

The paragraph that got me thinking about this was this one though...

The president scores highly at the UN for refusing to project American values and military might on the world stage, with rare exceptions like the war against the Taliban. His appeasement of Iran, his bullying of Israel, his surrender to Moscow, his call for a nuclear free world, his siding with Marxists in Honduras, his talk of a climate change deal, have all won him plaudits in the large number of UN member states where US foreign policy has traditionally been viewed with contempt.

Refusing to project American values and military might on the world stage... OK... I like the Constitution of the United States and I like the way of life it affords me. However, just because I like it doesn't mean everyone has too. It's like people who get involved in religion or pyramid schemes. They think it's great, but it gets really annoying when they project it on you, doesn't it.

So the president doesn't want to bully other countries in to following our beliefs. Amen to that!!

Bullying of Israel... Let me state up front, that the holocaust was horrific and should never have happened. That said though, using that as an excuse to mistreat people who you think are second class citizens is dead wrong, and pretty hypocritical. I'm not excusing either side in the middle east conflict, but the fact remains that Israel exists because of the money the US continually sends to prop them up. Has Obama proposed withdrawing that funding, and is that what we mean by 'Bullying' here, or has he decided that to attempt peace, perhaps we need to consider the rights of all parties involved.

his call for a nuclear free world... That Bastard!! How dare he try to end production and use of nuclear weapons. From those in Southern Utah who died of cancer due to nuclear fall out from testing, to the masses of civilians killed at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, I think they all join me in shouting down this 'Bully' who has the audacity to try and rid the world of the horror of nuclear weapons.

I'm going to stop there, but I'm sure I could fill another couple of paragraphs just answering this one paragraph.

Please feel free to disagree, but in your answer be sure to address the following as well:

The huge profits made for certain US industries as a result of the US war in Iraq under George W. Bush and the lies he told to get us there.

The fact that the removal of Saddam Hussein is now considered to have been an humanitarian mission, but the Bush administration did nothing to stop the humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe or Darfur.