<p>“Righteous call for zero tolerance” here.</p>
<p>Frankly, I don’t care what unfortunate familial or cultural phenomena lead Phoebe Prince’s tormentors to behave as they did except insofar as understanding such things might help us to intervene and prevent such behavior in future. And I don’t think that holding the bullies – and the school system that knew what they were doing to a classmate and didn’t make reasonable efforts to stop them – responsible for what they did is tantamount to demonizing them. </p>
<p>I suspect that if potential bullies know from the moment they enter school that certain behavior will not be tolerated, we’ll see a lot less of the behavior, and a lot fewer Phoebe Princes. I suspect that if administrators know that unless they have a viable plan to intervene and prevent bullying, their jobs are on the line, we’ll see fewer Phoebe Princes. I don’t care if the bullies or administrators who tolerated them are confused/insecture/unhappy/watch terrible television/are unduly influenced by vile video games/have drinking problems and bad mothers – the kind of bullying experienced by Phoebe Prince is intolerable. It is not typical of the stress children are supposed to learn to deal with in later life. It is not typical of what any human being should be expected to put up with. It is not some cute varient of mean-girl exclusion. It is legally actionable bad behavior that should have been stopped sooner. Period.</p>
<p>The notion that people who condemn bullying are somehow bullies themselves, and that seeking consequences for children who make other children’s lives miserable through over the top bullying is somehow subtle “bullying by another name” seems to me counterproductive. Using that reasoning, I would be a bully for posting this post.</p>