Assholes reproduce. They want their children to be feared by other people's children. Fathers who are assholes are "devastated" when their oh so manly sons fail to make the baseball team. And an awful lot of the mothers are really just belligerent men in women's bodies. And that's where the vast majority of bullies come from. It's the parents stupid!!
In the 13 1/2 years since the Columbine massacre there's been an increasing tendency to either dismiss the incident as water under the bridge or to insist that bullying was not a significant causal factor.
Then Jason came along and reminded me why this weblog exists. Chicken Soup fans should take notice of the fact that Jason openly admits being a bully and targeting Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, yet no one asks him why he did that, why he thought it was acceptable behavior, or why none of the "innocent" people who knew he was a bully didn't ostracize him for being such an asshole. Even the Great and Powerful Oprah steered clear of The Problem. Thank you Porkah Belfrey for showing your customary concern for victims of bullying. Have a donut on me. And here's a video of Jason the ruggedly hansome Columbine sociopath explaining how much he's changed. Chicken Soup fans will take notice of the fact that mommy and daddy also have substance abuse problems. What I find most interesting in all three links is the willingness of all involved to pretend that The Problem doesn't exist. The facts loudly declare the existence of The Problem but none of the people do.
Thank you Jason for openly admitting that you proudly helped to fill Harris and Klebold with a homicidal rage. Thank you to all of the talk show hosts and producers, and all of the magazine writers and editors for successfully making Jason look like some sort of hero instead of the monster he really is. And a big thank you to all those mommies and daddies out there for producing sadistic assholes like Jason.
Are you feeling the love yet? Have some more Xanax bitch.
Jason, they're called consequences.
ReplyDeleteIf you feel guilty that your intentional assholery may have led to the deaths of non-assholes, then instead of drugging yourself away, how about (a) admitting your assholery; (b) purging it from your psyche as you purge the drugs from your body; and (c) learn to live life as a non-asshole. I DARE YOU.
For the record, his full name is Jason Brown.
ReplyDeleteYes I know. He's on Facebook talking about his amazing rehab experience.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.facebook.com/notes/intervention-on-ae/past-intervention-participant-jason-b-answers-your-questions/380815246089
I think you're looking at it the wrong way....
ReplyDeleteHe's the ONLY Columbine jock to publicly acknowledge he was a bully and apologize! He also was driven to his addiction by the pain of that guilt whereas good ol' Rocky simply told Mark Ames "I regret nothing" after threatening to murder him.
Also, if Izzy doesn't show up before New Year's, you automatically win the debate with him.
Izzy responded to my questions a few days ago and I posted them. I also either deleted or altered a few of my Izzy posts per his request. I dialed down the vitriol considerably in one of them. I thought he avoided both questions and commented as such in my rebuttals.
ReplyDeleteWhen a bully comes along many years later and apologizes, it means nothing. Such apologies have all the substance of Mitt Romney's character. If his majesty explained why he bullied, why he enjoyed it, who taught him that it was acceptable behavior, how the student body and staff of Columbine High School reacted, and whether or not he was rewarded socially for his behavior, then I'd begin to believe that he was truly regretful. If he named names: this girl rewarded me lavishly and routinely referred to my victims as twirps, wimps, faggots, etc. and Coach Smith chuckled about the whole thing and his parents ignored it and so on...then I'd really believe he'd changed. As is I just think he's an asshole lucky enough to be chosen for a television show and lucky enough to live in a society dominated by people who couldn't give a rat's ass about his victims.
There have been plenty of cases when people who have bullied others have grown up and come to regret their actions with the benefit of hindsight. It has happened plenty of times. There are people who feel this way and simply say "I'm sorry, what I did was wrong." Saying that because he didn't name names or why he did it or enjoyed it and all that other stuff he's insincere is not entirely fair. And considering that the guy was addicted to drugs for a long time, and that his guilt for helping cause the massacre helped make the addiction bad in the first place, he didn't get off easy. Overall his body language, word choice, and bearing imply that he might well feel remorse. There are people who give detailed apologies and are full of shit, and simple apologies that are sincere. Calling him a "monster" is a little much
DeleteThere's a critical, personality forming decade between the age that most men reach puberty in their early teens and the age that most of them have left college and entered the workforce. During this period the process for transforming otherwise healthy, potentially civilized individuals into serial killers, mass murderers, and domestic terrorists is well known and aggressively defended. This process can be described as follows.
DeleteSoulless, social climbing whores reward the bullies in the hope of trading the use of their bodies in exchange for association with a high status male.
Gutless, bottom feeding cowards blame bullying on the victim in the hope of avoiding any obligation to openly criticize the bullies.
Toadying sycophants fawn for the bullies' favor by complementing their manliness, their fighting skill, the size of their dick, etc. in the hope of being allowed to be associated with a high status group.
Not all victims become homicidal or suicidal or both, but then...not all drunk drivers kill people either. Sympathy for communities that subject victims to such a humiliating process is a waste of time. They want to be hated and now they're whining about their own success.
That is rather simplistic. There are bullies who act out of insecurity and a desire to feel stronger. Some are immature idiots who really think that it's just a harmless laugh. Some bullies grow up and acknowledge that what they grow up. Some are sadistic assholes.
DeleteWhile some people are driven over the bend by bullying, many also had problems
And bullies and their enablers get their secret hard on making those problems worse. Who cares if we inspire a mass murderer. Let's impress the campus whores by bullying the freak.
DeleteGo Rebels!!
Way to ignore my point. Bullies are not monolithic. Some are idiots who think it's just a harmless laugh; some grow up and realize that they were assholes. Some are deeply insecure and need to feel better about themselves.
DeleteSome people go mad and do crimes without being bullied.
Some people really do transcend their problems and don't become killers
You're correct. Bullies are not clones, but they are all responding to the instinctive need to dominate others. In nature this is how a social hierarchy is established and maintained. Dogs do this. Chimpanzees do it. Human animals do it too. The difference is obvious. No matter how much cruelty the pack imposes on the weakest dog, it won't show up with a gun, a bomb, a gallon of gas, or a stolen truck full of gas. Bullying in nature serves a purpose. It provides individuals who are bigger, stronger, and healthier with a greater opportunity to survive and reproduce. In the human world it only creates people like Adam Lanza, Eric Harris, and Timothy McVeigh. In our world, negative feedback is expensive.
DeleteIt's time to stop enabling them.
True enough, but assuming that the guy is a "monster" who is utterly unrepentant is rather unfair. What he did was wrong, but it's been many years, their's no reason to doubt that he hasn't reflected and maybe even changed. You say that
Delete"When a bully comes along many years later and apologizes, it means nothing. Such apologies have all the substance of Mitt Romney's character. If his majesty explained why he bullied, why he enjoyed it, who taught him that it was acceptable behavior, how the student body and staff of Columbine High School reacted, and whether or not he was rewarded socially for his behavior, then I'd begin to believe that he was truly regretful. If he named names: this girl rewarded me lavishly and routinely referred to my victims as twirps, wimps, faggots, etc. and Coach Smith chuckled about the whole thing and his parents ignored it and so on...then I'd really believe he'd changed. As is I just think he's an asshole lucky enough to be chosen for a television show and lucky enough to live in a society dominated by people who couldn't give a rat's ass about his victims." That is extremely unfair not to mention needlessly vindictive. It isn't the a same is mitt romney. Some give simple apologies and really do mean them, and some give lavish apologies that are full of horseshit. There are bullies who are unrepentant and deserve scorn. But if someone acknowledges that they were assholes, than continuing to go after them is pointless and mean spirited. Hell it's little better than what bullies themselves do. Given that JAson Brown was a billie a decade ago, it's entirely possible that he's since changed his behavior (he's definitely felt guilt for indirectly causing it.)
Society has problems with bullying. But at the same time there is differences between real criticism (what you did for Joe Paterno) and harping on something.
From personal experience the guy who made my life miserable later turned out to have a lot of issues (was worried his parents wouldn't accept his sexuality, hated the school, desperately trying to fit in the totem pole etc.)
Assuming he genuinely wishes he hadn't been a bully, what is he doing to prevent further abuse today? Did he emphasize in his interview that what he did is still going on, that bullies are still far more popular than victims, that more school shooters, serial killers, etc. are in the pipeline? What does he do to demonstrate even a token commitment to prevention? Considering his role in inspiring a massacre, one would suspect a genuinely remorseful person might at least make an attempt of some sort to address the problem.
DeleteMaybe, but that doesnt' mean he doesn't personally regret what he did. He flat out stated that the massacre was partially his fault (he flat out stated that things spiraled out when he learned he had been one of the people cited by Harris and Klebold as being a bully). Given that, he isn't some Sociopath
DeleteIf he isn't a sociopath, he would have explained why he enjoyed bullying others, who he knew to be entertained by it, and why no adults in authority bother to care about the victims. He would have emphasized that when he was a bully it was thought to be socially acceptable and harmless. Now he and everyone else knows better and anyone who continues to bully post Columbine is knowingly imposing harm upon others and should be punished like any other violent criminal.
DeleteI got away with drinking and driving in the late 1970's but I don't try to convince anyone that it's safe or acceptable today simply because it was acceptable back then.
SO unless he gives a detailed explanation he's a sociopath? Really? The guy was addicted to drugs for years after the attack, and he's certainly done more than other guys who try and claim Harris and Klebold were sociopaths (he at least Admits that the massacre was partially his fault)
DeleteFact of the matter is, many of the people who bully aren't sociopaths. Many are just dumbasses who honestly think that it's just harmless fun and not that big of a deal. I read a similar story, that while taking place in a fantasy verse, touches down on what i have to say. The hero goes home to track down a guy who has been committing massacres to blacken his name. He finds out that the perp is a guy who he had tormented when younger; after the fight he realizes that he basically set the guy on his path to evil, because while his antics were stuff he thought of as just good fun, it was actually a lot more damaging.
In essence, the hero wasn't some monster; at the time he was basically just a stupid kid who had no idea just how damaging his actions really were. Once he realizes what his actions caused he feels horrible about the whole thing, and basically admits that the guy's rampage is technically his fault, and that he shouldn't have been such a bastard.
From what I saw, Jason was most likely just some dumbass idiot who thought it was all just harmless good natured fun, without realizing just how bad it actually was until Harris and Klebold snapped and went on a rampage
Harry potter has a similar plotline: Harry finds out that his father was kind of a douchebag growing up, and when he talks to his dad's friends even Sirius (who still hates the guy they tormented) acknowledges that he's not particularly proud of that, while the other friend admits that he should have been willing to stand up to them and ask them to cut it out.
Jason enjoyed what he did I don't believe his sob story about regretting it for a moment.
DeleteJason appears on national television, rolls his cute, puppy dog eyes and confesses his sins. The audience emits a collective sigh and claps. What a nice young man. How brave of him to admit to his problems. We certainly wish him well and hope he continues to make progress.
DeleteEvery bully in America must be laughing and getting their secret hard on knowing that the public couldn't care less about their victims.
This weblog isn't just about assholes like Jason who like to hurt people. This is about enablers like the audience above who make it very easy for the next Eric Harris, Timothy McVeigh, or Adam Lanza to slaughter what appears to most observers as a random group of people. The victims of mass murder are not random. They represent in the mind of the killers a surrogate for the public who displayed the customary depraved indifference when they were being tormented by someone like Jason.
And if I'm wrong, why was their no follow up to Jason's admission? Why are journalists not descending upon Littleton, Colorado to put some fear into the hearts of other bullies and their asshole parents?
I hope you don't mind the off-topic post. I've enjoyed and generally concurred with your analysis of the causes and factors of domestic terrorism and the lizard-brained collusion of society with bullies.
ReplyDeleteRecently, I watched atheist philosopher and neuroscientist Sam Harris interviewed by Joe Rogan. At first, I was pleased so see some original Sam Harris material since I enjoy his books and public appearances. Rogan overall came across as a thick-necked stoner flailing at deep thoughts, but I was listening for the guest, not the host.
More recently, I came across other YT vids of Joe Rogan, about whom I knew very little. It turns out that Rogan shouts down detractors and hecklers and physically intimidates people like Carlos Mencia in public. His style of confrontation relies upon his relative size (he backs down from equally large guys) and pulling around a gaggle of equally unfunny and even more obscure comedians whose job is to agree loudly with whatever Rogan says. "Hey am I right? See, they say I'm right, bitch!". ("Bitch" seems to be his favorite insult.) When he isn't setting up and ambushing more successful people, he delivers a "comedy" routine that you'd expect from a stoked high school jock / college frat boy sitting a pile of plastic beer cups and spent joints. This guys fits the profile of the eternally adolescent bully. He is what Rocky Hoff would be if only Daddy Hoff could afford it. Finally, Rogan comes across with such misogynistic spew that he almost has to be a closet case.
Why bother mentioning him here? First, my respect for Sam Harris just plummeted. Other professional skeptics such as Randi and Hitch did obscure interviews with barely-journalists, but at least they weren't loathsome bullies like Rogan. Second, a *disturbing* plurality of YT comments to everything Rogan does are fawning. To paraphrase Bill Hicks, just how far up your ass does his dick have to be to realize he's the sort of person who fucked with you in high school, maybe even at college? And yet he's cobbled together enough unearned respect as a transcendent thinker to score an interview with Sam "Ben Stiller doppleganger" Harris!
It reminds me of an old video I saw that was made at a Red State University; seriously, it's filmed in a college classroom that looks just like a trailer. The class is there for a seminar on applying NLP to martial arts. It's full of deep-deep-South rednecks with long nasty bears, facial piercings, and Metallica t-shirts meditating and talking about fighting and drugs.
I posted here to reaffirm something you already know: that bully worship is virulent not only among the white middle class but also the white trash.
Joe Rogan's website is information rich.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that he has a public following only confirms my low opinion of humanity.
"Information rich" the way that cow manure is "nutrient rich"?
ReplyDeleteGot nothing to say about the recent massacre in Connecticut?
ReplyDeleteI've been preparing a post but I wanted to wait until the media stopped contradicting itself.
ReplyDeleteHis mother was a teacher, then a teacher's aid, then a volunteer at the school, then she didn't have anything to do with the school. The killer's name is Ryan Lanza...um...no it isn't. His name is Adam Lanza and he attended school there...um...no he didn't...THIS JUST IN...space aliens replaced him with an evil twin...
You get the idea. Whenever one of these attacks takes place, media outlets stampede each other in an attempt to gain audience market share. Some of them will report any rumor that someone throws through the studio window tied to a brick. I wanted to avoid quoting the hysteria.
What I don't yet understand is why he chose an elementary school. If he was abused by his peers I would have expected him to attack a high school or a mixed group with limited avenues of escape like the Aurora Theatre. The only plausible explanation I can think of is that he was so timid he couldn't bring himself to face anyone larger. That's a bit thin but his photograph looks like the least masculine male I've ever seen.
I hate this guy so much. But at least he had some guilt for bullying Eric Harris and he and others played a large part in the rage Eric and Dylan had to kill others and themselves
ReplyDeleteStill waiting for Rocky to express some of that phony remorse.
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