Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Walled Lake hazing incident way overblown

It seems a football player at Walled Lake Western was recently "hazed" by his teammates at the home of a coach. Reports say the player was taped to a pole with his mouth taped shut and beaten with pillows. Other players have been suspended, coaches fired, the cops are involved, prosecutors are likely on-deck, and some lawyer is probably licking his/her chops. People are outraged.

So am I, but for different reasons.

A football player was ganged-up on and hit with pillows? In junior high school, I can remember some of the girls gossiping about similar things. They were called "pajama parties". I don't seem to recall anybody getting in trouble over that, much less it becoming a media spectacle.

They can make all the rules they want, but there will always be bullies. For every group of Potsies there will be a Fonzie. I suspect it's always been that way, and always will be. Trying to change that through legislation has about the same chance of succeeding as banning babies from being born redheads. At that, from my experience, bullies seldom went on to become successful as adults. Life has a way of evening things out like that.

Used to be people would drop their pants and show their butts. It was called "mooning", and everybody laughed. Now the same thing is called indecent exposure, and it's a felony that could land one in prison. If a couple teenagers wanted to swap "hickeys" on their necks, they might have been teased at school. These days they'd probably be labeled sexual deviates. Months of counseling would likely be mandated and no more contact between the two would be allowed. Is this what we've turned into?

Kids need to be allowed to be just that -- kids. They'll fall down, get bumps and bruises, chip a tooth, maybe break a bone and, yes, they'll mess up once in a while. It goes with the territory. Kids used to ring doorbells and soap windows. Those were considered pranks. Nowadays, it might be harassment/stalking and malicious destruction of property. Hello rap sheet. Gimme me a break. Better yet, give THEM a break. Growing up is tough enough. What they DON'T need is to be micro-managed by an army of strangers that have more rules and regs than the IRS tax code. They'll get enough of that when they eventually venture out into the real world. Let them enjoy their childhood, with a healthy dose of tough (parental) love when required, and it just might work out.

Today's bullying was yesterday's hazing and yesteryear's rite of passage. Sometimes the old ways are better, not to mention more effective. Don't believe that and times change, you say? Fine. Surely our founding fathers couldn't have envisioned what modern-day American society has become. Want to tear up the Constitution and start over?

So here we are. Calling all counselors, therapists, cops, prosecutors, social service workers, and lawyers. Suspend the players, fire the coaches, interrogate the parents, sue everybody you can think of, and have the whole Walled Lake school system probed from top to bottom. News at 11. And just exactly what will have been accomplished? Money might change hands, positions will be re-staffed, resumes and reputations forever tarnished, and family relations strained. Other than that -- not much.

Just a thought, but perhaps somebody somewhere can stop this particular tsunami of political correctness running rampant if they really want to.

Two words.

Lighten up.

14 comments:

  1. John, well said. Bravo!

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  2. It's about time somebody finally stood up and said the obvious. Nice job JL.

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  3. Teasing a classsmate about a hickey would make me a bully. Why not just throw us all in the juvy and get it over with. I'm sorry, I should have said children's village. Does that make me a criminal?

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  4. John -- i'm surprised your take on this didn't get published in the paper..... by the way bubble wrap is the answer for those parents worried about their kids when they walk out of the door every morning...

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  5. Wow. And I thought I'd get tore up over this. Maybe there's hope after all. As far as it being published -- you'd have to take that up with Jeff Kuehn, the sports editor. He's the boss. Wish I'd have thought of the bubble wrap thing. Good stuff. Thanks for commenting.

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  6. Bubble wrap for the nerds would be good. Bubble wrap tied around the head of the parents that raised them would be better.

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  7. Hey JL. It's almost Halloween so how about this one on the hazing thing?

    I was reading the OP late one night
    When my eyes beheld an eerie sight
    For the parents from their slabs began to rise
    And suddenly to my surprise

    They did the whine
    They did the monster whine
    The monster whine
    It was a PC sign
    They did the whine
    It's catching on just fine
    They did the whine
    They did the monster whine

    Call me Boris

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  8. You're a sick puppy, Boris, but I like it. Just don't tell me your significant other is named Natasha, because then I'd be scared -- very scared. Have a good one.

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  9. Pillows were NOT involved. You should wait until you have the facts before writing a column. Some overzeleous and SCARED team parent put that rumor out there to downplay the seriousness of the situation. Sad, that it is being reported as fact, with zero information to support it.

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  10. Obviously, I wasn't there when whatever happened -- happened. I wrote the column based on the initial media coverage. Tear me up all you want and that's fine. Goes with the territory, but in this case, if my facts were misplaced, you might be going after the wrong person. Who are you going to believe these days? Funny, or maybe not, how stories seem to morph over time. Yes/no? Thanks for commenting and have a good one.

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  11. Hey JL what is school policy??

    Stick with what you know - nothing.

    Entertain kids - wow - initial media get the facts next time.

    Oh stick to your boring life of posting on something you have no knwoledge of.

    Sad thing is there are certain personal that knew about this, been apart of this for years at WLW - Coach's, Principles and others - sad.

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  12. I have no idea what school policy is these days except that it's a lot different than when I attended back in the day. I would think that's up to reporters and other officials to find out, not me. I just merely run with what they say and print. And yeah, there's a lot of stuff I'm totally ignorant about. I'll own that. How about this? If you know of certain personnel at WLW, be they coaches, administrators, whatever, that were aware of such behavior for years -- and can back it up -- then OUT with it. Stop whining and DO something about it. The Oakland Press has a forum for such matters on the editorial page. As for my life being boring? Maybe at times, but never when I'm responding to reader comments. Differing opinions are always welcome here. Have a good one.

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  13. dear sad thing above. just make a point and leave it at that. ive known john for a very long time and trying to push his buttons to rile him up wont work because he doesnt have any, and hes right anyway. if you dont like it join the PTA, or sit in on a town council meeting to have your voice heard, or write to the voice of the people or write your congressperson. just stop being a closet crybaby.

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