Friday, December 20, 2013

Chicken Soup with the Employer/Employee relationship...

A few weeks after starting my first job way back when I was 16 years old my boss complimented my work ethic in what had to be the worst possible manner. He said, "You're a really good worker. You know the harder you work the more money I make?" He laughed when he said it and he probably thought he was being funny and clever.

He was funny. He was not being clever.

It was one of those shining moments where the truth came crashing in, never to leave. The peculiar nature of the Employer/Employee relationship suddenly presented itself in all its one sided glory.

If you are the CEO of a corporation and you work your employees hard, supervise them closely, and dump them whenever you can get away with it...and you reward all of that hard work and job insecurity by paying them as little as you can get away with, you will be described in business circles as a good business manager. They will say wonderful things about you in the Wall Street Journal and your company's stock will no doubt reach stratospheric heights.

Now let's look at it from the employee's point of view.

As an employee you decide to follow the example of your boss by demanding as much pay and benefits as you can get away with. You join a labor union that manages to consistently extract high wages and generous benefits from your employer. In return for all those goodies, you decide to work as little as possible, take as much sick time as you can get away with, read novels in the bathroom, and generally save your energy for more enjoyable pursuits, you will be described as an asshole who never did a day's work.

This is one of the more obvious double standards you'll encounter in a capitalist economy, yet almost no one is willing to admit that something's wrong with it. In fact, it's very common to encounter people who look upon corporate executives not as professional business managers to be rewarded for competently managing a business, but as deities to be worshipped. A CEO who's annual compensation is $23,000,000 is the equivalent of $11,000 per hour based on a 40 hour week. And you can bet that every CEO in America is wringing his hands and whining about having to pay someone $15 per hour. Mentioning this insanity to the average republican is like walking into church in the Bible Belt and questioning why God is so powerful and humans are so powerless. Bu..bbbut...but...he's the CEO!!

Here's my solution for better or worse.

Pass a federal law that requires corporations to limit the total compensation of their highest paid employee to no more than 20 times the total compensation of their lowest paid employee.

I can almost hear Ann Coulter puking from here.

Sunday, December 15, 2013

Chicken Soup considers developing programs similar to Izzy Kalman's Bullies2Buddies...

Izzy Kalman's Bullies2Buddies program is an interesting business idea. I'm working on developing a few similar programs like Burglars2Buddies, Rapists2Romeos, and my personal favorite: Nazis2Nannies. I'll be basing my programs on the argument that criminals aren't really trying to harm anyone. They just want respect and when victims are harmed it's because as Kalman claims, "too many kids see themselves as victims and not enough are learning to respect their antagonistic peers."

Yes...you read that right. Victims of bullying aren't really victims. They're just being punished for not displaying that toadying, subservient respect young sociopaths are entitled to.

I'm certain that my programs will embolden America's more than generous stock of young sociopaths, legitimize the criminally incompetent parents who role model their behavior, and degrade victims every bit as effectively as Bullies2Buddies.

And I get to charge a fee as well...

Stay out of the hot sun folks and don't forget to leave a comment for Izzy Kalman on his Psychology Today site. I'm no longer allowed to.

Friday, December 13, 2013

Chicken Soup with the "affluenza" criminal defense...

Just when I'm tempted to believe I've seen or heard it all, along comes a trial lawyer who just couldn't resist providing the world's terrorists with yet another reason to sleep soundly.

Let's begin, shall we?

Ethan Couch is a 16 year old from Texas who has very wealthy biological parents...but apparently no parents. He was convicted of killing four people and injuring eleven others while driving under the influence of alcohol. His attorney conjured up a brilliant defense in an effort to keep his client out of prison. He argued that Ethan Couch suffered from "affluenza" by claiming that his wealthy parents did not teach him right from wrong or that his behavior has consequences.

Think about that for a moment...

The biological parents paid an attorney to argue in open court that their decision to avoid doing their job as parents resulted in four deaths and eleven serious injuries. The attorney was supported by testimony from an expert witness. Psychologist G. Dick Miller testified for the defense that Couch suffered from "affluenza," a condition in which "his family felt that wealth bought privilege and there was no rational link between behavior and consequences." I smell a massive civil suit about to boil over where the jury will be repeatedly reminded of the parents' admitted criminal incompetence and depraved indifference. Yes...this is what happens when assholes reproduce.

Let's continue, shall we?

At a New Years Eve party way back when I was nineteen years old someone gave me something called a purple microdot. Those of you who know what that is can see where I'm going with this.

Purple microdot turned out to be a psychedelic drug that radically distorts reality. My teeth took on a metallic taste, my eyes turned black, the wallpaper seemed to be slowly flowing toward the floor, and the music was so loud I could see colored waves coming out of the speakers. At the time, the "affluenza" defense probably would have seemed perfectly logical. Today it sounds exactly like what it is: a desperate attempt to keep one's client from actually facing the consequences of his actions.

There's only one problem...

It worked.

I can only assume Judge Jean Boyd had been indulging in psychedelic drugs because the affluenza defense seemed perfectly logical to her. Or...like all the other head cases who've graced the pages of this weblog, it's entirely possible that she simply doesn't place any value on the lives of the victims or the quality of life for those whom Ethan Couch didn't quite kill.

And now for Dr. Chicken Soup's assessment of "affluenza."

Contrary to what psychologist G. Dick Miller claims, Ethan Couch doesn't "suffer" from anything. His victims suffer. Affluenza isn't cancer or smallpox. It isn't a disease or a mental illness. Ethan Couch's criminal behavior is the direct result of his parent's criminal behavior. He was knowingly taught to place no value on the lives or the safety of others and that's what he did.

Consider the following...

A parent's duty to the rest of society is to transform an infant member of an aggressive, predatory species into a civilized, young adult, preferably by consistent role modeling. This fact should be written into the laws of every state in the country, but don't hold your breath waiting for that to happen. Paying an attorney and an expert witness to admit in criminal court that they chose to neglect that duty, and that their decision was the principle cause of the death and suffering in question should result in a very long prison term for the parents. That won't happen of course. America is a Christian nation where parents, like the Pope, are considered to be infallible.

As always folks...

Terrorists, mass murderers, serial killers, and all those considering such behavior can thank Ethan Couch's parents, their defense team, and Judge Jean Boyd for making it that much easier to rationalize that victims simply do not matter.

Stay out of the hot sun folks. And stay the hell away from microdot. It's not a pleasant buzz and it lasts about ten hours.

Saturday, December 7, 2013

Chicken Soup with early sociopath training...

My earliest memories of bullying date back to the first grade. That would be way back in the fall of 1966, just about the time I turned six years old. A group of five or six third grade girls formed a circle around me, held hands and began dancing around in a circle and chanting something. Then they began spitting on me and laughing. Each time I tried to get out of the circle I'd be kicked in the shins or elbowed back into place. One girl hit me in the side of the head hard enough to knock me off my feet. I was smaller than most of my classmates at the time and these girls were two grades ahead of me.

It gets better...

Recess was patrolled by women who were called noon aides. These were mothers who volunteered to help out at the local schools in one way or another. While I was being conditioned to hate, one of these women slowly walked by and scowled at me. She didn't seem to notice or care that I was busy wiping spit off my face with my sleeve. She just kept walking. When she was about ten feet away I caught the eye of one of my classmates. His real name is Frank but I remember him being called "Chip" by just about everyone. He was one of those big husky kids who looked two or three years older and bigger than everyone else. He charged into the circle, scattering the girls and almost knocking one of them to the ground. As I tried to run away one of them grabbed me by the collar and yanked me back. The noon aide grabbed Chip and began scolding him.

The circle closed and the early sociopath training continued.

When Adam Lanza massacred his way into infamy I was initially confused about his choice of targets. Then I remembered that he was an Asperger's sufferer and wouldn't be learning the social skills that allowed me to have a normal life after graduating high school.

All he had were his memories, possibly including some very ugly memories.

Saturday, November 30, 2013

Chicken Soup with Timothy McVeigh's early life conditioning...

The creation of an individual like Timothy McVeigh is a two step process.

The first step is to establish a relationship between the potential, future killer and the rest of society that allows him to place a lower value on the lives of his victims than he does on the completion of his task. This usually involves the imposition of arbitrary cruelty on the trainee during his adolescence, cruelty that is either ignored or shamelessly defended by the majority of the community and by adults in positions of authority. Like so many others who've managed to acquire the attention of the media, this appears to have been the conditioning process imposed upon McVeigh during his adolescence. Read the fourth paragraph of this report and take notice of how familiar it sounds. And before you engage in a chorus of, "I was bullied and I never killed anyone" please remember that this is only the first in a two step process.

The second step is to simply wait until the trainee rationalizes that committing a media worthy act is not only necessary, but worth the risk of losing his freedom or his life. This step usually involves a relatively unbroken record of failure in life that the trainee can reasonably attribute to conditions beyond his control. The lack of opportunity to further one's education, the lack of jobs that pay a living wage, the inability to establish a normal relationship with a woman...the absence of conditions that provide one with a sense of belonging, a sense of purpose, and a sense of security tend to produce some very dangerous individuals.

And Timothy McVeigh appears to have been just such an individual.

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Chicken Soup with Izzy Kalman's censorship policy at Psychology Today...

An anonymous comment in my last Richie Incognito post suggested that I read the latest Psychology Today article by my old nemesis Izzy Kalman. Readers may recall that last Spring I was banned from leaving comments. Apparently, in spite of his stated policy, "I believe in free speech and rarely censor comments, no matter how nasty." there's something about my rhetoric he finds unusually threatening. I attempted to leave a comment and was rewarded with the customary blank white screen.

Then...something interesting happened...

I returned to my weblog to see that a visitor from Brooklyn, New York had dropped in. It may be coincidence, but I suspect he receives a message whenever I attempt to leave a comment. If Kalman really is monitoring me that closely, he may simply be curious...or something else.

During our extensive e-mail exchange where his Bullies2Buddies approach to my behavior catastrophically failed, he mentioned considering some sort of legal action to stop me. It's possible he's still considering a lawsuit, but that contradicts his most likely motive for preventing me from leaving comments. Legal action would draw attention to my weblog and if the media takes an interest it could backfire on him badly. Considering the huge number of Americans who've been badly damaged by bullies and their enablers, widespread publicity may not work in his favor.

Here's what I'd like readers to do. Leave a polite comment on Izzy Kalman's Psychology Today weblog. Don't be accusatory, insulting, or vulgar. Just ask him why I'm not allowed to post comments.

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Chicken Soup with Richie Incognito's violent past...

I'm only slightly hesitant to believe every word of this article because it's from the New York Post.

Remember readers...sociopaths reproduce and when their violent progeny are not only tolerated but treated as heroes by the American public, the world's terrorists can feel a lot better about what they do.

Monday, November 11, 2013

Chicken Soup with James Walker of ESPN dot com...

Years ago I saw a news item that I found to be simultaneously disturbing and revealing. After a hate crimes bill was put into effect in the state in question (I've forgotten what state it was.) there was a news clip of a couple of police officers arresting a man for assaulting and battering a gay man. Apparently this hero of Christian America enjoyed what used to be referred to as "fag bashing." While the officers were literally wrestling him into their cruiser, the suspect protested loudly, "But he's a fag!!" He was so accustomed to believing that gay men were created by God for his sadistic amusement that he must have felt shocked and betrayed when they arrested him.

Sound familiar?

A recent article by James Walker claims that Richie Incognito also feels "shocked" and "betrayed," probably for the same reasons. Incognito was so accustomed to believing that everything a sadistic sociopath does to its victim is charming, clever, and riotously funny that he in all probability felt as shocked and betrayed as the homophobic bigot described above.

In this interview Richie Incognito claims that he is not a racist. That may be true, but he's certainly a bigot.

Bigots belong to a particular set of individuals who've chosen to target certain groups of people for mistreatment. The following individuals belong to a subset of bigots: racists, anti-Semites, homophobes, misogynists, and bullies. There are others but I'll stick with five subsets for simplicity. The first four subsets target victims who belong to legally well defined groups while bullies tend to bravely choose targets of opportunity, usually victims who are far less powerful than the bully. While watching the interview linked in the preceding paragraph you may have noticed Richie Incognito's claim that if Jonathan Martin simply told him he was going too far he would have stopped.

Yeah...right.

When was the last time a bully stopped because the victim asked him to? Usually the bullying gets worse.

As always folks...terrorists who want to sleep at night need only study the barbaric behavior of America's heroes of the gridiron and take note of the depraved indifference of their enablers.

Friday, November 8, 2013

Chicken Soup with Ian O'Connor of ESPN New York...

Ian O'Connor believes that "football builds character" and I couldn't agree more.

Football builds the kind of characters who rioted at Penn. State after a pedophile enabler was fired nine years after he should have been tossed in prison. They didn't riot because they felt betrayed by Joe Paterno. They didn't riot because men they looked up to and admired allowed children to be fucked up the ass by one of their own. They rioted because the university dared to fire the one and only living God...Joe Paterno. Football builds the sort of characters who are just fine when someone else's children are being sodomized by the coach.

Football builds the kind of characters who burned down the home of a Maryville, Missouri rape victim because she dared to complain about one of the local high school players.

Football builds the kind of characters who beat TCU student Bryan Boyd so badly the hospital asked his mother about donating his organs.

Football builds the kind of characters who punished a high school cheerleader for refusing to cheer for the young man who raped her.

Football builds the kind of characters who sodomize younger players with broomsticks...you know...to toughen them up.

Football builds the kind of character who got drunk and ran down a pedestrian, then attempted to defend what he did by claiming to have "flashed his headlights" as a warning.

Football builds the kind of character who shamelessly explained to Time Magazine how he helped to inspire a homicidal rage in the Columbine killers...then becomes a motivational speaker pandering to an audience that's eager to forget why Columbine is a household word.

Football builds the kind of characters who reward children for intentionally injuring other children...all in the name of Pee Wee football.

Football builds the kind of character who murders his girlfriend, then kills himself in front of his coaches.

Football certainly builds some interesting characters. Football is not a game. Football is a training aid and propaganda source that any terrorist, serial killer, or mass murderer can refer to whenever he is having difficulty rationalizing the morality of his own behavior or the evil of the society he is attacking. Football shamelessly protects and enriches some of the most sadistic and loathsome characters the American Family produces; just the sort of emotional reassurance the next Timothy McVeigh, Eric Harris, or Adam Lanza might need before slaughtering his fellow Americans. It is a fundamental tenet of America's football culture that the lives and well being of pedestrians, cheerleaders, bar patrons, students, wives, girlfriends, and just about anyone else a big, brave titan of the gridiron chooses to victimize is a nonissue. After all...what is the safety of violent crime victims when compared to the football player's need to satisfy his passion for sadistic pleasure. Victims mean nothing, and every terrorist in the world knows it.

As I follow the Richie Incognito story it's become obvious that waiting for someone in authority to impose any sort of meaningful punishment upon him is like waiting for Hitler to punish a member of the Gestapo for beating up a Jew.

So here's my advice to Ian O'Connor: The next time someone stages a massacre in a school or some other crowded venue, please remind those who have to bury their children that "football is a sport worth preserving" because football builds character.

Thursday, November 7, 2013

Chicken Soup with Ross Tucker of NBC Sports...

This is a follow up post to my previous post about Richie Incognito.

Richie Incognito is like a cancerous tumor. Once you surgically remove it and incinerate it with the rest of the biological waste it doesn't return to hurt anyone. Ross Tucker of NBC Sports is a shining example of a much larger and more entrenched problem.

Near the end of this video he expresses approximately the same opinion as Mike Ditka did in my previous post. And at about two minutes and twenty two seconds into this video he does it again. Completely ignoring what happened when Bryan Boyd stood up for himself against the awesome and oh so manly heroes of Texas Christian University, he blames bullying on the victim's unwillingness to "stand up for himself." Then he states that he's "not blaming the victim."

Actually Ross...you are blaming the victim.

Ross Tucker's decision to blame the victim and then state that he isn't blaming the victim reminds me of the classic bullying tactic of holding a smaller, weaker victim down, hitting him with his own hand, and loudly yelling to his admiring audience of bully enablers, "He's hitting himself! Look everybody! He's hitting himself!"

Ross Tucker of NBC Sports...one more bully enabler who makes it really easy for the next Timothy McVeigh, Eric Harris, or Adam Lanza to rationalize that Americans are vile, soulless, loathsome creatures worthy of only the most horrific punishment.

Sleep soundly Ross. The next group of parents who have to bury their children thank you.

Chicken Soup with Richie Incognito, Mike Ditka, and the American public...

I walked into the break room at work the other day and found the television tuned to ESPN.

No surprise there.

What did surprise me was the subject matter being discussed by the panel of commentators; the behavior of Richie Incognito.

I'd never heard of Richie Incognito before. Now of course, I'll never forget him. Apparently Richie Incognito is a six foot three inch tall, 319 pound sociopath with a history of bravely torturing and intimidating smaller, weaker victims. Historically, a guy like Incognito would have been hailed as the darling of both the NFL and the American Family. The good news is that things seem to be changing. The bad news is that not everyone seems to get it.

The camera moved from one commentator to the next as each one struggled to feign shock and indignation. Obviously, someone who controls the purse strings for these guys ordered them to do so. They all said something suitably generic and politically correct except for Mike Ditka. He wondered why no one took Incognito outside and took a swing at him.

Well Mike...let's start with some simply arithmetic. Six feet...three inches...319 pounds...

Perhaps none of his victims wanted to end up like Bryan Boyd. Remember him Mike? Here's a link to the sociopaths who maimed Bryan Boyd for life. And here's another link to a woman who shamelessly reminds the world why George Sodini hated women. Enjoy a glass of Dickhead Vermeil's top shelf vintage and study hard Mike...you'll be tested later.

Enough ranting for now.

This weblog really isn't about the Richie Incognito's of America. It's about their enablers and how they make it easy for terrorists, mass murderers, serial killers, and other similar types to rationalize that the public deserves to be killed. I'm not a big fan of men who detonate truck bombs in front of buildings or spray bullets into crowded theatres and classrooms, but I understand why they do these things.

Terrorists feel comfortable attacking the public because the public dehumanizes itself by routinely displaying support for violent sociopaths like Richie Incognito, and by displaying depraved indifference toward their victims. No one who is civilized enough to have earned the right to complain about terrorism would be caught dead attending a game where an obvious sociopath like Richie Incognito is playing.

Stay home stupid. The life you save may be someone you've never met.

Friday, November 1, 2013

Chicken Soup with America's weakness phobia...

How many Americans fear being perceived as weak or vulnerable to the point where they'll risk their health or even their lives in an effort to avoid it?

How many Americans have devoted time, money, and effort to developing fighting skills, not because they expect to do much fighting, but only so they can avoid being perceived as a legitimate target for harassment?

And most important...and most embarrassing...and least likely to be written about in the media...

How many Americans have been injured in amateur fight clubs or while training for a stellar career in MMA, not because they had any real interest in fighting, but because they feared being perceived as weak?

Show of hands folks.

Monday, October 21, 2013

Chicken Soup with Matthew Barnett and the loyal football fans of Maryville, Missouri...

On the surface this is just another case of a small town football player doing what small town football players are best known for. And before the existence of social media, that's where it would have ended.

According to multiple news sources, Matthew Barnett, a football player from a politically connected family had intercourse with a drunk and incoherent 13 year old girl. And of course it was consensual. Barnett then dumped his date's limp body onto her parents' front lawn in 22 degree weather with nothing but sweatpants and a t-shirt to protect her from the cold.

Uuuuuh...here...I'm done with this...heh...heh...

What a man.

The victim's mother found her three hours later. In my book that's attempted murder, but I've found nothing in the news that suggests anyone else feels the same way. After filing charges with the police, the small town rapist fan club harassed her family so badly they had to move to another community...then the good Christians of Maryville, Missouri burned the victim's house down. Wonderful people those Christians are.

Did I mention that the prosecutor mysteriously dropped the charges? It sure must be nice to be politically connected.

Matthew Barnett is currently a student at the University of Central Missouri.

They like mail. Send them some. A copy of this post would make a fine addition to the student newspaper...or possibly any on-campus rape crisis types would appreciate a copy. Do your best. The bought and paid for prosecutor certainly did.

You can find more interesting reading here...

and here...

and here too... Goodness he's very popular with the media.

Matthew Barnett's family claims that he is the real victim in all this...Please stop...I'm peeing my pants.

Imagine being someone like Timothy McVeigh. You want to do something "big" but you're not sure...

And then the good citizens of Maryville come along and help you make up your mind. I can't say it often enough. Every time an American community displays the customary depraved indifference toward victims of violent crime...every time they put a rapist or some other violent animal on a pedestal, they make it very easy for criminals to rationalize that demolishing a building full of people, or spraying bullets into a crowded theatre or school, or committing some similar act of mass murder is no worse than what good American Christians do every day.

Enjoy the game...and don't forget to buy a $60 t-shirt on your way out.

Sunday, October 20, 2013

Chicken Soup with the NFL's league of denial...

A recent episode of Frontline titled, "League of Denial" reported on the disturbing tendency of retired football players to develop degenerative brain disorders and the NFL's equally disturbing tendency to deny the existence of a link between this problem and football.

On the surface this story has all the earmarks of an industry shaking scandal, but I found nothing surprising about it. Make no mistake. I like PBS. I like Frontline. I like almost anyone who's willing to investigate and report on the depraved behavior of large, powerful institutions. What I did not like about the report was the feeling that Frontline expected viewers to be surprised by the NFL's denial and avoidance. One of the main characters interviewed was Dr. Ann McKee, an expert on brain trauma. On May 9, 2009 she was invited to present her findings to a panel with the comical title, "Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Committee." From what I could tell, this committee consists of individuals who owe their financial well being to professional football. Obviously they don't want to be told that football is responsible for causing any problem that would present the possibility of financial liability. When interviewed by Frontline, Dr. McKee acted as if she were surprised by the committee's negative reaction to her report.

Physicians are smart, but they can obviously be as naïve as anyone else. Dr. McKee admitted to being a football fan. In fact, she loves the game. This blinded her to what she needed to know. In order to alleviate her ignorance, Dr. McKee need only focus on two facts: Professional football is not a game, and professional football players are not people. Football, from the local Pop Warner league to the NFL is a multibillion dollar entertainment industry and players are highly valued commodities. Anyone who has ever been employed by a corporation should understand the concept of disposable "Human Resources." The football industry takes this concept to extremes. Scan down to the fourth paragraph of this link if you want to understand what football is really all about.

Readers should understand that most human relationships are utilitarian, not personal. Your best friend's well being is important to you because he or she is your best friend. You have a personal relationship that adds to the quality of your life. A football player's well being is important to the entertainment industry as long as he is generating cash flow or is likely to generate cash flow in the future. He is an investment, nothing more. This is a utilitarian relationship similar to that between smokers and Big Tobacco. Both football players and smokers generate cash flow for their respective industries and if they suffer and die off camera...what of it? Football players who die after retirement are a blip in the headlines, unlikely to deter children from becoming entertainers, and smokers who die in their 50's or 60's have no detrimental effect upon the tendency of children to start smoking.

Compared to most of the world America is a pretty good place to live. For example...I'm unlikely to be arrested for writing this. But there are aspects to life here that are ugly and shameful. For any individual who is angry or desperate enough to be considering an act of terrorism, these "aspects to life" in America present the opportunity to rationalize the idea that killing and maiming people in pursuit of a cause is no worse than what Big Tobacco and the NFL are doing.

Enjoy the game folks...and don't forget to buy a $60 t-shirt on your way out.

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Chicken Soup with the quote of the week...

Polk County, Florida Sheriff Grady Judd caught my attention recently by arresting a couple of young sociopaths after they drove a 12 year old girl to suicide and then bragged about it on Facebook. Once again, this is what happens when assholes reproduce. Sheriff Judd was brave enough to reveal their names to the media and brave enough to place the blame on the bullies' parents in a society infamous for protecting the worst of the worst...so I conducted a bit more research on Sheriff Judd. And here's my favorite quote:

When asked why a man suspected of killing a deputy was shot 68 times for failing to surrender, Sheriff Judd responded, "That's all the ammunition we had."

I like this guy. He's both honest and politically incorrect.

Monday, October 14, 2013

Chicken Soup explains how society isolates victims...

To put it mildly and in strict technical terms, victims of bullying suffer from a problem. And all problems have common elements.

There are three basic methods available to solve any problem:

1) You can use your bare hands.

2) You can combine your efforts with others.

3) You can employ tools.

Method 1: Bullies rarely make the mistake of targeting individuals who are able to punish them using nothing but the strength of their own bodies. When the victim uses this method, either the bully escalates the violence until the victim is injured or killed, or the victim is forced to injure or kill the bully. When the victim is injured or killed, brave and caring adults are certain to blame the victim and tell him that fighting is not the answer to our problems. When the bully is injured or killed, the victim will be aggressively railroaded for going too far. Bare hands are rarely, if ever an effective option for victims of bullying.

Method 2: American culture aggressively attacks and condemns victims who attempt to address the problem by ganging up on the bully. And the number of fellow victims willing to make the attempt is vanishingly small anyway. In the unlikely event that a group of victims actually did make the attempt, the bully's toadying sycophantic associates would attack the victims. Again, brave, caring adults would condemn the victims, not the bullies. There is a second scenario to Method 2. Complaining to an adult in authority about the bullying is condemned as tattling. Adults don't really think this is tattling. They're just avoiding their responsibility as adults. And if any witnesses become willing to make a report, this is referred to as snitching. Remember the immortal words of the assholes over at Sucker Punch Athletics dot com, "Snitches Get Stitches."

Method 3: This is what the Columbine killers did. They didn't try to become the Karate Kid. They just bought a few guns and took their revenge. Once again, American culture came to the rescue of the bullies who precipitated the massacre. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold were widely condemned as cowards by those who wouldn't dare say the same thing about any of Columbine's precious steroid trash. Method 3 is rarely used. It requires victims who are both homicidal and suicidal, a statistically unusual combination.

Fifteen years after Columbine should have pulled everyone's heads out of their asses, Americans still love bullies and still hate their victims. Search your memory of that critical decade between the age you reached puberty and the age that most people who attend college either graduate or drop out, and consider the following stereotype:

Soulless, social climbing whores reward bullies. Toadying, sycophantic cowards blame their victims. Insulting as it is, it probably rings true for an awful lot of people.

And if that's not a steaming bowl of Chicken Soup for the Terrorist Soul, I don't know what is.

Sunday, October 6, 2013

Chicken Soup comments on Columbine Principal Frank DeAngelis...

Media coverage and analysis of just about every mass shooting since Columbine includes an interview with Frank DeAngelis. As far as I can determine from watching or reading these interviews, not once has DeAngelis commented on his efforts to minimize our society's production of new killers nor has he admitted that community sanctioned bullying was a precipitating factor. Mostly he talks about his faith, how bad he feels about Dave Sanders, his PTSD, his divorce, the advice his "counselor for maintenance" gives him, and his commitment to stay at Columbine until those in kindergarten in 1999 finished high school. I'd never heard him say anything substantive until he slipped, perhaps unintentionally during a September 16, 2013 interview with Washington Post's Nia-Malika Henderson after the shooting at the Washington Navy Yard.

In response to Henderson's inquiry about gun safety and mental health, DeAngelis stated that Harris and Klebold did not come out of their mothers' wombs hating the world. "What happened between the time that they were born and April 20, 1999?"

And that's as close as he got to admitting that the environment at Columbine High School might have precipitated their homicidal rage.

You can find the interview here.

Saturday, October 5, 2013

Chicken Soup with the stereotypes...

Every demographic group has at least one negative stereotype and occasionally several, and includes an unknowable number of individuals who behave in a manner that reinforces one or more of those stereotypes. I don't hate black people, but if you behave like the knuckleheads I see on reruns of COPS or The Judge Hatchett Show, I'm probably going to develop a negative opinion of you. COPS is a cornucopia of young black men being chased down allies and over fences after robbing someone. And Judge Hatchett leaves me rolling with laughter. My favorite episode involved a black woman who was grossly overweight, ugly, and hostile. She must have done something awful in a previous life because God or nature or whoever's in charge of such things really slammed it to her. She had several children by several different absent fathers and was currently seeking paternity for her youngest. The defendants were three young men and I don't remember a thing about them but there were three of them. The woman was moving her head back and forth as if it were on roller bearings and bulging her eyes out and demanding a "dee-em-nay" test...because "one-a-dem be my baby's daddy." Judge Hatchett's bailiff, Lex Luther handed an envelope to the judge and after a few moments she announced that none of them were the father.

Imagine my surprise...

Women have a few negative stereotypes as well. Up until a few decades ago women were systematically prevented from entering most career fields. This created an environment where a woman who wanted to be successful had to marry a successful man. Thus, the stereotype of the payday seeking whore was born. The fact that men created and maintained this situation never seems to be mentioned.

Enter the women's rights movement...

During my lifetime women went from being Nurse Chapel and Yeoman Rand to being Captains and Admirals. That's obviously fiction, but it reflects a sea change in what the American public will accept as perfectly normal. Today we have female senators, senior military officers, fighter pilots, doctors, lawyers, engineers, and just about everything but President and Vice President. And I expect to see one or both of those before much longer. The point here is that woman clearly no longer have to marry success. They are free to make it themselves.

So when I see woman throwing themselves at high status males from their early teens into their mid-twenties, I tend to use uncomplimentary terms to describe them. They're behaving like the worst female stereotypes and usually rewarding a violent sociopath at the same time.

Individuals who behave this way only reinforce the hatred of tomorrow's serial killers, bombers, arsonists, and domestic terrorists. They truly are Chicken Soup for the Terrorist Soul.

Chicken Soup with Obamacare...

I've been accused from time to time of being a liberal. In reality I'm neither liberal nor conservative. When asked, I generally refer to myself as "issue specific." My opinions cover the spectrum from extreme left to extreme right. On the issue of health insurance, I tend to be politically liberal and economically conservative. I underlined the word "insurance" because I keep running into people who are too stupid to know there's a difference between healthcare and health insurance.

At this time there are a relatively fixed number of doctors, nurses, hospitals, ambulances, etc. available to treat patients. These numbers can change, but unlike insurance salesman, it takes a long time to train competent medical personnel, build hospitals, and manufacture all of the supplies and equipment they use. Politicians have chosen to ignore this reality. Instead of proposing a single payer health insurance system that could be introduced gradually as additional healthcare personnel are trained, they've decided to pass a law that simply requires every American citizen to buy health insurance from people who have a vested interest in blocking access to healthcare by denying even the most legitimate claims. Human life clearly has no value to these people and human suffering is someone else's problem. And they've managed to dupe the public with empty rhetoric. The rhetoric they've chosen to use to sell Obamacare to the public is characteristically unimaginative. In fact, the rhetoric of any universal healthcare system is always the same, and always an obvious lie. It usually goes something like this:

Today there are millions of Americans who do not have adequate access to the healthcare they need. If my plan is adopted every American citizen will have access to the healthcare they need. I can't do it without you. I need your vote! TOGETHER WE CAN DO IT!! THINK OF THE CHILDREN!!!

Politicians seem to take a lot of liberties with the laws of economics. On occasion they stretch the laws of physics as well. They get away with it because the average American who bothers to vote is shockingly stupid. Most of them can't even tell the difference between health care and health insurance.

As I stated above, both medical personnel and the physical plant and equipment they need to treat patients exist in relatively fixed quantities. Suddenly increasing the number of patients by "millions" won't magically precipitate a corresponding increase in the number of doctors, nor will it increase the number of hours in the day those doctors can work. In a capitalist, market driven system, when the number of customers at your door increases beyond what you can comfortably serve, you raise your prices, restrict access, and make sure your wealthiest customers have a key to the back door. In other words...the situation we have today where the quality of health care available to an individual is a direct function of that individual's personal wealth will remain intact. What will change is the amount of money that flows into the health insurance industry. (Those are the people who put you on hold, drag their feet, deny legitimate claims, and hope you die quickly when you really, really need them.)

This is one more example of people in positions of wealth, power, and influence leaving no doubt that human life is cheap, plentiful, and disposable. Not only do they have no intention of increasing access to healthcare to American citizens, but they've come up with a brilliant plan to rip off the ever shrinking middle class even more than they already do.

And that is Chicken Soup for the Terrorist Soul.

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Chicken Soup with Home Depot...

This is way off topic, but it was funny and it'll introduce a lighter subject to an otherwise depressing weblog.

I bought a large item a few days ago at Home Depot. It came in a box that would have been difficult for one person to lift into the back of a pickup truck and it probably weighed about 80 pounds. I had it on one of those orange flat carts and while paying for it, the cashier said that she'd call someone to help me load it into my truck. I rolled the cart outside and waited for about a minute or so before my "helpers" arrived. One was a woman who appeared to be in her 60's and the other one was also a woman. She was probably in her 20's but she was wearing a leg brace and limping. Neither appeared to be unusually strong. I laughed and said, "So you're the muscle around here." The younger one responded flatly, "Yup."

The three of us lifted the box into the truck bed and parted company.

Sunday, September 29, 2013

Chicken Soup with America's astronomical divorce rate...

I recently celebrated my 25th wedding anniversary and contrary to statistical expectations, we still like each other and enjoy each other's company. My children have told me many times that most of their friends' and classmates' parents are either divorced or clearly should be. The contrast between my own success and the failure of so many others has given me an opportunity to think about all the reasons so many marriages fail. I've put together a short list of some of the more obvious reasons. Feel free to add to it.

1) Men marry women they don't particularly like and don't even find physically attractive in order to avoid being the only guy in the neighborhood who doesn't have a sex life. In America, celibacy isn't just physically uncomfortable. Men who've reached their 20's and are still virgins or suspected of being virgins are treated in an increasingly unpleasant manner by their peers. If you've ever wondered how women who look like Honey Boo-Boo's mother manage to get pregnant, here's your answer. Men who fear being outcasts will screw anything...just to avoid being teased, ostracized, or otherwise punished for not screwing something.

2) Men marry very attractive women they have no respect for, don't like, and frequently abuse for the same reason rich guys buy expensive sports cars. Nyah! Nyah! See what I have? You wish you had one of these don't you. You're not man enough to get one of these. Nyah! Nyah! What could possibly cause such a relationship of equals to fall apart? Yes...that was sarcasm.

3) Oops! I'm pregnant. Shotgun weddings are like leaking fuel tanks. It's gonna blow sooner or later.

4) Believe it or not there are still a lot of women around who won't have intercourse with their boyfriends before they get married. This used to be the normal way to do things. Today it's almost as much of a disaster waiting to happen as a shotgun wedding.

There's my short list. Feel free to add to it.

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Chicken Soup asks, "Whatever happened to David Salmon?"

Whatever happened to Franklin, Massachusetts gridiron hero and all around sociopath David Salmon? To no one's surprise, I received no response to this...not that I expected anyone to take it seriously.

When I do an internet search the latest articles are from May of last year. A few months ago I e-mailed several of the reporters who covered the story, asking for a follow up. No one responded. I even called a newspaper that is headquartered in a town very close to Franklin, Massachusetts and asked for information. I was transferred three times to the reporter "who has been assigned to cover the story." I started feeling like I was asking which of the nuns in Catholic school would be teaching sex education.

Is David Salmon an ambassador's son? What gives?

The reason I'm trying to follow up on His Majesty should be obvious to regular readers. Every present and future bully and most of the assholes who raise bullies were probably aware of David Salmon's criminal behavior. What did they learn from it? Was His Majesty locked up in prison for a few years? Was anything at all done that might convince a bully raising parent to clean up their act?

The fact that no one is covering the story almost certainly means that David Salmon walked with little more than a finger wagging and a slap on the wrist.

Once again...Americans worship violent males, praise their amazing manliness, shower them with female attention, and then whine incessantly about violence. I listened to a report on National Public Radio this morning about the recent massacre in a naval facility in Washington, D.C. It was mentioned that this was the 20th mass shooting in America during Obama's Presidency. There was some loose talk about gun control, but no one mentioned the fact that violent males are treated like gods in America.

Perhaps it's time for Americans to pull their heads out of their collective asses and treat violent males as the cancer they are. Once again...what ever happened to David Salmon?

Sunday, September 8, 2013

Chicken Soup offers a little advice for victims of bullying...

In my last post about Izzy Kalman, someone asked a question (September 8, 2013 at 1:39 A.M.) that deserves a post of its own. I was asked if I had any advice for victims of bullying. What can victims do while they're still being victimized? The reader specifically asked how the victims could escape and who could they trust or turn to for shelter and advice.

Until now, I haven't approached the problem from the perspective of offering advice to victims for several reasons:

First and most obvious, I think more like a terrorist than a counselor. Bullies and their enablers are vermin.

Second and almost as obvious, if I offer advice to a victim, it doesn't work, and the victim decides to take his/her own life, you can bet there will be a lawsuit. Vast legions of scum sucking bottom feeders will demand to know what my qualifications are. Do I have a graduate university degree in psychology or some similar discipline?! Who do I think I am offering advice to a teenager who may be contemplating suicide?! You get the idea. Lawyers operate under the assumption that problems are best addressed by suing the party that offers the greatest cost/benefit ratio. It won't occur to them to go after the bully or its enablers. That would be too much work with too little cash to be had.

Third...and this should also be obvious...bullies and their enablers are criminals. They won't magically transform into civilized people if a few of their victims receive good advice. The problem will be solved when the public places bullies and their enablers in the same category of hate mongering vermin as skinheads, wife beaters, and child molesters.

With that in mind...I saw a public service ad just last night involving a website called Stomp Out Bullying. I looked over their site a bit but I haven't contacted them and therefore cannot say whether or not they are effective at solving the problem. Since they spent money to advertise on television, I feel relatively safe passing the information on.

Best of luck.

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Chicken Soup with the value of human life...

There's an old joke that goes something like this:

It's your anniversary and you're on a cruise ship with your wife and your mother. The ship starts to sink and neither of them can swim. If you only have one life preserver, which one do you give it to?

The answer is of course...you'd give the only life preserver you have to your dog.

This joke may be intended to make you think about who's more important to you: the woman who brought you into the world, the woman whom you found attractive enough to want to spend your life with, or a four legged animal that drools on you, chews holes in your sneakers, and urinates on the rug. It could also be just another petty insult to women, something familiar to those who enjoy mother-in-law jokes. Or it could be a reminder that your dog might really be man's best friend. As readers are hopefully aware by now, I don't perceive the world the way most other people do. I see something else entirely when I think of this joke...

It's your anniversary and you're on a cruise with your wife...and your mother?!! Why is your mother there?

Is your mother so possessive and controlling that she has to accompany you and your wife on your anniversary cruise? Is she like the mother in Pink Floyd's, "The Wall?"

Mother's gonna screen all your girlfriends for you. Mother won't let anyone dirty get through."

Goodness...what could go wrong with that kind of parenting?

And what sort of woman would marry a man who was so thoroughly controlled by his mother? Is your wife so out to lunch that she thinks this is normal? Or are these two women good friends and you're just the sucker who brings home the money? Or...and this is just my opinion...is this joke just a thinly disguised story about three very sick people who share an extremely dysfunctional relationship?

I used to sell real estate many years ago. This allowed me to closely observe how people lived, how they managed their homes, and how they interacted in those homes. I routinely encountered some very sick, dysfunctional families. More about that later perhaps...

Did you catch the most important word mentioned so far? "Relationship" is a word you hear a lot on the Oxygen Channel and on daytime talk shows like Oprah and Dr. Phil. The word "relationship" tends to get shuttled into the category of petty female concerns, but it's actually quite important. The relationship you have with others determines whether you want to save their lives or watch them drown while you pet your dog. And since this weblog features people who commit some remarkably uncivilized acts, the kind of relationship that exists between men like Eric Harris, Timothy McVeigh, Adam Lanza, and the rest of humanity is probably worth devoting a little effort to understanding.

And now for the value of human life...

The primary reason for having laws against homicide is simple. People have to be intimidated into pretending that other people's lives matter because human life has no intrinsic value. If you don't believe me, just consider all of the thousands of people who die every day without affecting your life at all. As long as you have no significant relationship with any of them, their deaths simply don't matter. In other words, human life, like gasoline, cotton socks, and crescent wrenches only has utility value. And the utility value that any individual places on any other individual's life is a function of the relationship that exists between them.

I'll be adding to this post in the next few days. Until then, think about the sort of relationships that exist in your life.

Thursday, August 22, 2013

Chicken Soup with Izzy Kalman...yet again...

Izzy Kalman is at it again.

His latest criticism of anti-bullying laws published over at Head Shrinkers Monthly (from which I am banned from expressing an opinion by the way) is basically the same badly flawed argument he's been making for years. He's once again arguing that anti-bullying laws increase rather than decrease bullying, possibly because he's confusing an increase in the willingness of victims to complain with an increase in bullying. That's as flawed as equating an increase in the willingness of rape victims to file criminal charges with an increase in the commission of the crime. It's a common misconception, but his readers should expect more from a guy with a masters degree in psychology.

Let's begin with a few basics about human behavior, a subject that Izzy Kalman should be somewhat familiar with.

Laws that are widely perceived as necessary are reasonably effective when enforced. No one argues that burglary increases when victims file complaints with the police and even Izzy Kalman isn't dumb enough to promote a Burglars2Buddies program. Anti-burglary laws are effective because the public does not look upon burglary as a right of passage or some other legitimate activity. Burglars are considered to be criminals...period.

Anti-bullying laws are difficult to enforce effectively because the public is extremely bigoted toward low status individuals. Americans envy, admire, and fantasize about the sort of cocky, belligerent sociopaths who enjoy hurting others, and absolutely despise kids who are physically weak, unaggressive, non-athletic, lacking in social skills, or otherwise different or non-conformist. Americans shamelessly enable bullies and don't give a damn about victims.

And don't let the fact that we elected a black guy to be our President fool you. Bigotry is still alive and well in America. Only the demographics have changed. If the jocks of Columbine concentrated their attention on black students, they would have been expelled and probably subject to criminal charges. But since they primarily bullied students who were simply low status, their criminal behavior was and still is considered to be normal and acceptable.

There was a lot of noise in the media about the claim that one of the Columbine killers referred to one of the victims as a nigger, yet when a high status student sunk a basket in gym class and screamed, "another Jew in the oven," it attracted relatively little attention. In the eyes of the good Christian citizens of Littleton, bigotry is charming, clever, and riotously funny when displayed by a genetically superior member of the gridiron elite but absolutely unforgivable when displayed by a student of relatively low social status.

The American public's tolerance for bigotry obviously varies with the status of the bigot.

Izzy Kalman is correct about one thing. Anti-bullying laws alone will not solve America's bullying problem. Our culture needs to change and Izzy Kalman could inspire some of that needed change if he chose to do so. If you don't like men who want to emulate the behavior of Eric Harris, Timothy McVeigh, and Adam Lanza, then stop creating them. Think of, speak of, and treat bullies as you would treat any other bigot. When you hear someone refer to a victim of bullying as a faggot, pussy, or wimp, just imagine someone in a white sheet referring to someone as a kike, spic, or nigger and you'll have a very accurate assessment of their character and the sort of values taught to them by their family and community.

Perhaps Izzy could add his two cents worth here.

Friday, August 16, 2013

Chicken Soup with Sucker Punch Athletics dot com...

I've given up on the idea of taking a serious break from blogging. Every time I make the attempt, I see something that tops the last colossally stupid example of why terrorism exists.

A few weeks ago I was in my local Home Depot when a man secretly hoping for another school massacre walked by. He was wearing a black t-shirt with the words, "I'm not a BULLY. Your just a Pussy!" in big, white letters. I would normally expect to see such a shirt on the back of one of those wedge shaped Mad Max extras one can find on the Ultimate Sociopath Channel. But the wearer was anything but muscular. From the way he artificially held his arms out as he walked, he clearly thought he was a body builder. He wasn't. When I got close to him in the checkout line, I was able to get a better look. He could have been in his late twenties, or his late forties, or anywhere in between. His physical condition suggested someone who'd possibly eaten out of a dumpster at some point in his life.

Enough about homeless Harry.

My real concern is with an industry that shamelessly promotes criminal behavior in the wake of media events like the Newtown Massacre. The individuals who designed, manufactured, and advertised the shirt in question obviously place no value on the lives of the next group of kids to be slaughtered. If you place a bit more value on human life than they do, here's something you can do.

Write to the knuckleheads at Sucker Punch Athletics and ask them why, 14 years after Columbine they've chosen to display such a heinous level of depraved indifference toward the next group of parents who have to bury their children...and there will be a next group, and probably many more groups after that. In a culture that glorifies brutality and lavishly rewards the most violent sociopaths the American Family can produce, a steady supply of mass murderers is almost inevitable.

After you've written to Knuckleheads, Inc. courtesy copy a few other interested parties like Columbine Principal Frank DeAngelis, some of the gun control advocates in Newtown, Conn., Sports Illustrated, Izzy Kalman, etc. Be imaginative.

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Chicken Soup with Trayvon Martin, George Zimmerman, and the American lynch mob...

Let's begin with the facts.

Trayvon Martin was a healthy looking 17 year old man. (And stop calling him a boy. It's very insulting.) George Zimmerman is a pudgy looking 29 year old man. Trayvon Martin could easily have sprinted the 70 yards or so to where he was staying and been contentedly munching on Skittles in front of the television before George Pudgymon Zimmerman had a chance to exit his vehicle. He could have called the police and reported being followed by a weird, pudgy looking pervert.

Trayvon Martin chose not to do that for reasons I consider obvious. In the environment Trayvon Martin grew up in, running away is considered to be pussy. A man...a real man doesn't run away. A real man doesn't attempt to deescalate conflict. A real man escalates conflict until someone is injured or killed.

Trayvon Martin wasn't raised to take the most prudent course of action. He was raised to be confrontational. In his environment, a man who isn't feared by others isn't a man. He's a pussy. Trayvon Martin did exactly what his real man role models taught him to do. He turned on a pursuer whom I could probably out run and escalated the conflict until someone was dead. He just didn't expect the life lost to be his own.

George Zimmerman has been widely accused of practicing what is generally referred to as "racial profiling" usually by individuals who are shamelessly displaying the same behavior. Here's how the racial profiling practiced by America's Zimmerman hating lynch mob works:

All young black men who are accused of a crime are innocent...period.

All members of the law enforcement community who arrest young black men are racists...period.

Anyone who openly admits that the demographic group known as "young black men" boasts a stratospheric rate of incarceration and a tendency to react to every conflict or disagreement with violence is a racist.

Trayvon Martin was a young black man and was therefore innocent, just another tragic victim of racism.

I'm not buying their story and contrary to what many would like to believe, I'm not a racist. I've spent my entire life, the better part of half a century in America and I cannot recall a single incident where a young black man made me feel unusually threatened. I spent my adolescence in the 1960's and 1970's in a community that was politically progressive, yet had only a handful of black families residing there. There was nothing particularly threatening about the few black kids I went to school with. They behaved and talked like everyone else...

Then came middle school and something called the "Metco Program."

In the sixth grade I suddenly came in contact with a dozen or so kids who grew up in an inner city environment. I wasn't abused or threatened by any of them, but they were clearly different and reminded me of characters I only saw on television. At the age of eleven, I learned an important lesson. Skin color did not determine your behavior. Your behavior is determined by your environment and especially by your role models.

I'd like to learn more about Trayvon Martin's environment and role models before the lynch mob hunts George Zimmerman down. What do you think?

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Chicken Soup with another Ryan Tucker fan...

Someone using the clever name "anonymous" left the following comment on my Chicken Soup with Ryan Tucker post a few days ago:

"Nothing like dragging out a 15 year old story for your blog, eh? You fail to mention that the 'victim' started the fight. Many witnesses testified to as much. Tuckers only offense is that he didn't stop after successfully defending himself. Get your facts right if you're going to rake someone through the mud with your biased agenda Fowl Ideas. And try being a 'real' reporter and start writing these blogs under your real name. Easy to slander someone and be an internet tough guy behind a fake persona, eh?"

There's an important rule to remember when you engage in any sort of debate:

When they criticize your ideas, you might be wrong.

When they criticize or threaten you, they're stating clearly that they are unable to effectively criticize your ideas.

Only a criminal needs to know my real name. Try explaining why Ryan Tucker was allowed to maim a college student for kicks without serving serious prison time instead of posting thinly veiled threats.

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Chicken Soup really needs a break...

It's been fun, but I have a ToDo list a mile long and a novel to write and this weblog has proven to be an enormous distraction. I know...I tried to retire before and was pulled out of retirement by David Salmon, but this is different. I really have too much to do. I had the privilege of sparring with Izzy Kalman for a while and I left little doubt that his Bullies2Buddies technique doesn't even work when dealing with a pest who lives hundreds of miles away and unlike a real bully, has no physical access to him. He eventually stopped e-mailing me and actually banned me from commenting on his Psychology Today articles.

If you are a new visitor to this site, it might be best to start by reading about bully enablers and then learn how children are systematically transformed into violent, NFL sociopaths. After that, you may want to simply start at the beginning and moved chronologically forward. There are 116 posts dating back to November 7, 2010. Admittedly, some of them are either written poorly or just plain silly, but most of them are intended to draw attention to one of America's most serious social problems.

So long folks. I'll occasionally drop in to publish comments, but it won't be often, and even His Majesty Aaron Hernandez won't be pulling me out of retirement. I love watching Bob Kraft scurrying for cover...don't you?

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Chicken Soup with the Trench Reynolds defense...

A few posts back in my "banned from Psychology Today" post I mentioned being banned several years ago from Trench Reynolds' site as well, largely for the same reasons. Apparently I just wouldn't come around to their way of thinking.

One of the points that Trench Reynolds and many of his toadying sycophants repeatedly emphasized is that he was bullied and never even considered killing anyone.

Yeah...right.

In fact, you can find this same basic claim repeated ad nauseum in the comments section of articles about school shooters.

These claims are nonsense of course. What they really mean is that they would never give up their lives or their freedom for the opportunity to kill people they hate. Given the subject of Trench Reynolds' website, I'm betting that if he had the power of invisibility and the power of teleportation, he'd grow very comfortable with killing very quickly.

At about a minute and 20 seconds into the video you can witness Trench Reynolds complaining about Craigslist as if criminals responding to personal advertisements hadn't been going on for decades. I'm thinking Santa Cruz, California around 1968 or so.

Chicken Soup with assholes who reproduce...

Even when the source of the problem is obvious, the forces of denial demand that the public blame almost anything except the father's violent, criminal behavior.

Let's blame the NRA...or maybe the Jews...or perhaps Jews in the NRA.

Take a deep breath everyone and say, "Bad parents are a serious, nationwide problem."

There...your tongue didn't turn to fire did it?

Saturday, June 8, 2013

Chicken Soup with the community of Laramie, Wyoming...

What do you think of when you read or hear "Laramie, Wyoming?"

I think of Matthew Shepard, Columbine, and The Simpsons.

Friday, June 7, 2013

Chicken Soup with the Kyle Maynard Defense...

Kyle Maynard is a man who was born with no arms or legs. His website promotes his accomplishments as a motivational speaker, athlete, and author of the New York Times bestseller, "No Excuses." At the bottom of his "bio" is the following statement:

HBO Real Sports corespondent, Bernie Goldberg, summed it up best when he said, “Kyle’s taken away the right to complain from the rest of us.”

The misspelling of the word "correspondent" is theirs, not mine.

Bernie Goldberg's observation is one of the social forces that allow serious societal problems to persist and fester. It's called the Kyle Maynard Defense and it's a familiar experience for many Americans.

If you're a relatively low status individual in your community and you complain about a problem that's being caused by the behavior of a relatively high status individual (bullying for example...or being raped by gridiron heroes), a relatively common method of brushing you off is to site an individual who suffers from a problem that is much worse. The logic behind this sort of brush off is simple. As long as someone in the world suffers from a problem that's worse than your problem, then you don't have a problem and you're just being a crybaby.

The basic flaw in the Kyle Maynard Defense is obvious. Medical Science isn't even close to developing a method of growing human limbs. Kyle Maynard has every right to complain, but complaining serves no purpose because no power on Earth can solve Mr. Maynard's problem. In contrast, communities could easily address behavioral problems like bullying and rape. They just don't want to because it would require them to place the safety of low status individuals ahead of the petty desires of high status individuals. And they're not above employing the Kyle Maynard Defense (and other, similar put downs) in a futile effort to hide their depraved indifference.

Tomorrow's terrorists learn a lot about right and wrong from the communities they grow up in.

Perhaps your community is nursing a viper in its belly right now.

Thursday, June 6, 2013

Chicken Soup with the victim blamers of Torrington, Connecticut...

Here we go again...

Another community has chosen to provide every serial killer, mass murderer, and domestic terrorist wannabe with the ability to rationalize their behavior by deifying a couple of criminals and blaming their victim. Good job folks.

The answer to the question asked by this news headline is yes, Torrington is another Steubenville. Not that the behavior of its rapist enabling, victim blaming dregs of humanity is unique. Just about anywhere in America, the ability of high status individuals to abuse relatively low status individuals and get away with it is considered a privilege of rank. In Torrington, Steubenville, Columbine, and a thousand other less well reported communities, the abusers were football players. But football isn't the problem. The willingness of the local population to elevate football players to high status and then grant them immunity from personal accountability is the problem.

And that's what the next Timothy McVeigh, Eric Harris, or Adam Lanza is going to be focusing on when targeting a crowd of allegedly innocent people. The next homicidal maniac to grace America's headlines will need to be able to rationalize that the public is evil and deserving of his wrath so he can feel justified in his actions. And those who express their outrage at the 13 year old victim of a couple of 18 year old rapists blithely provide killers with everything they need. Consider the following examples of Torrington ethics:

"Even if it was all his fault," Mary J. Ramirez, whose Twitter handle is @LoryyRamirez, wrote, "what was a 13 year old girl doing hanging around 18 year old guys[?]"

And another gem of wisdom...

“I wanna know why there’s no punishment for young hoes,” Twitter user @asmedick wrote.

America's next mass murderer thanks both of you.

And the victims of the next mass murderer can thank the community of Torrington, Connecticut...and a lot of other communities for making it so easy to rationalize that even the most heinous crimes really are the victim's fault.

Go Team!!

Monday, June 3, 2013

Chicken Soup with South Hadley's leading citizens...

As the television commercial says, "You can learn a lot from a dummy."

Well...terrorists can learn a lot about right and wrong just by observing how families and communities teach young people right from wrong. Or whether they even bother.

Regular readers know that this weblog is only partly about bullies and bullying. The real problem is the behavior of bully enablers, especially the mature, responsible, child loving adults inhabiting the community in question. Segway to the small town of South Hadley, Massachusetts. (Close your eyes and spell that state three times fast in your head.)

Read this and ponder the quality of character of South Hadley's leading families.

Darby O'Brien is not the local child molester who got off on a legal technicality. He's not some criminal who deserves to be harassed. Darby O'Brien did what any adult who is civilized enough to have earned the right to complain about terrorism would and should do. Darby O'Brien is the guy who committed the unfathomable, inexplicable, and unforgivable act of placing more value on the life of a 15 year old girl than he placed on the bloated egos and the public reputations of a local football player and his coterie of hair pulling Jerry Springer rejects.

My god!! What was he thinking?!! Doesn't he know that football is second only to God? How dare he sully the reputation of His Majesty?!! He should be dragged before the House Un-American Activities Committee for such heresies.

As readers can see, the moral values modeled during His Majesty's upbringing are still a source of family and community pride. Between shoplifting, bullying a little girl to death, and petty burglary, I think it's safe to assume that we'll be reading more about His Majesty over the next few years.

There's one characteristic of the American Family that the world can always count on:

Those who are raised to believe they can do no wrong rarely surprise us by doing no wrong.

Monday, May 27, 2013

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Chicken Soup has been banished from Psychology Today...

I believe this is the comment that finally broke the Kalman's back. Ever since then I get a blank, white screen whenever I attempt to leave a comment.

Some guy named Trench Reynolds banned me from his website years ago. Some people just get very insecure when someone who writes complete sentences and uses punctuation openly disagrees with them.

I am of course...crushed by rejection.

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Chicken Soup with Marine Sergeant Joshua Charles Brightman...

Nothing inspires respect for America's men in arms more than witnessing one of them throw a temper tantrum while calling a paralyzed female marine a "WHORE! BITCH! CUNT!" The main subject of the link below is Marine Sergeant Joshua Charles Brightman throwing a profanity laced tantrum and threatening to commit murder.

Before you watch what the American Family is proudly producing these days, pay close attention to the following:

Brightman's excuse for criminal behavior will of course be that he suffers from PTSD, and he'll have no shortage of supporters both in the military and in civilian society. There are a few problems with offering PTSD as an excuse for violent behavior. First, lots of people who've never served a day in the military suffer from PTSD after spending their adolescence being terrorized and abused by someone, and I don't hear the experts making excuses for their violent behavior. Second, it forces the rest of us to live in fear of being attacked by a violent, alpha male sociopath who knows he can pull out his Get-Out-Of-Jail-Free card whenever he feels like hurting someone. Third, there's never been a shortage of young men who behave as Sergeant Brightman did, not because they suffer from anything, but because they were raised to believe that they have the right to commit assault and battery in order to establish and maintain their high place in the social pecking order. Fourth, citing PTSD or Intermittent Explosive Personality Disorder, or some other questionable ailment as a root cause for violent crime creates a self fulfilling prophecy. Men who would otherwise control themselves now begin to feel confident that they can attack someone and get away with it by claiming a behavioral disability.

And there's another problem I noticed after watching the video several times. In spite of being in what appears to be an enraged state of mind and in spite of being physically strong enough, Sergeant Brightman made no attempt to break the window of the truck in order to get to his intended victim. Obviously, he knew exactly what he'd be allowed to get away with and what he wouldn't.

Most criminals at least make an attempt to avoid becoming a suspect. Sergeant Brightman paced around his victim's vehicle screaming profanities and throwing his arms up in the air like an alpha male chimpanzee. And he did this with the full knowledge that he was being videoed. He also must have been aware that all such videos end up in the public domain where his parents, his wife, his future children if he ever has any, his future prospective employers...if he ever has any, members of the law enforcement community in whatever community he settles in, and just about everyone else on the planet will be able to watch him behaving like someone whom no one in their right mind would want to live near or work with.

Sergeant Brightman did not simply want to attack his victim. Sergeant Brightman wanted his victim to step out of his vehicle and create the illusion that he was a willing participant in a contest of manliness. That's why Sergeant Brightman repeatedly insulted his victim with the words, "whore, cunt, bitch, and pussy." Sergeant Brightman was hoping that his victim would be inspired to defend his own sense of manliness by stepping outside like a man. This often happens in a culture where a socially acceptable display of depraved indifference allows almost everyone to blame bullying on the victim. Sergeant Brightman was obviously raised in a culture where the least violent, least intimidating males are considered to be legitimate targets for his abuse. He was obviously raised in a community where females need to be shown who they better service and who they better shun. Sergeant Brightman was obviously raised in America, the home of the brave. If the victim had stepped out of the vehicle, he would have been blamed by brave, bully coddling Americans for whatever injuries Sergeant Brightman imposed upon him. Sergeant Brightman tried the handle of his victim's door a couple of times, but he made no serious attempt to enter the vehicle by breaking the window. There's a good reason for this. Sergeant Brightman was not out of control. He knew exactly what he would be allowed to get away with and what he'd be punished for.

In civilian life, Sergeant Brightman is the kind of bully who creates personalities like Timothy McVeigh, Eric Harris, and Adam Lanza. In places like Afghanistan and Iraq, Sergeant Brightman is the kind of soldier who abuses and terrorizes civilians, thus inspiring them to join terrorist groups, build IED's, and kill Sergeant Brightman's fellow marines. If America was half as civilized as it so often claims to be Sergeant Brightman and so many others like him would spend a very long time in a very strong cage.

But this isn't the America that conforms to its own rhetoric. This is the America where "a woman should know better than to walk down a hallway full of drunken aviators." This is the America where violent sociopaths are widely praised and admired for their ability to harm others and are held in the highest esteem. This is the America where victims are often blamed for the behavior of violent criminals.

Don't hold your breath waiting for anyone in authority to place much of a priority on the safety of Sergeant Brightman's intended victim. While enjoying his majesty's show of manliness, consider how big, brave, Marine Sergeant Joshua Brightman would have behaved if the driver of the truck turned out to be large, physically powerful, and intimidating in appearance instead of some skinny teenager. I'm certain his majesty's PTSD symptoms would have come quickly under control.

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Chicken Soup with American wealth inequality...

Take a look at this and then attempt to explain why so many American's voted for Mitt Romney.

A large, diverse national economy is healthiest and strongest when the vast majority of its population are paid well enough to purchase an enormous variety and quantity of goods and services it does not absolutely need in order to survive. This requires either the presence of strong labor unions or federal regulations that limit the ratio of executive to employee compensation.

One need not have earned a PhD. in economics to understand this concept. To the contrary, it's well within the educational and cerebral capacity of most Americans to grasp. Yet tens of millions of American voters attempted to elect a man who is not only an obvious sociopath, but who's ideas about employee compensation are indistinguishable from 19th century robber barons.

Are Americans really that stupid, or is there in our culture a blind worship of the rich and powerful that overwhelms both self interest and common sense?

Friday, April 26, 2013

Chicken Soup with Dr. Susan Eva Porter...

Dr. Susan Eva Porter is another victim blaming, bully coddling, and of course...highly educated and widely experienced critic of the anti-bullying movement. Many thanks to Izzy Kalman for bringing her to the Chicken Soup kitchen.

Read this article, listen to the interview, and take notice of the fact that she refers to cocky, sadistic adolescents as "kids who make mistakes" and reminds readers that bullies "are also victims." And if those enlightened words from the article don't make you want to puke or indulge in homicidal fantasies, just wait until you listen to the interview.

At about 55 seconds into the interview, Dr. Porter reminds us that children are no meaner than they ever were and that it's not the children who've change. We've changed.

I can agree with that.

After an embarrassing series of victim suicides and schoolyard massacres, we, the enlightened, child loving adults of America are finally showing an iota of willingness to address the problem. I graduated from high school 35 years ago and many adolescents were raised to be sadistic assholes back then just as they are now. Neither sadistic adolescents nor the criminally incompetent parents who raise them have changed much since then. They've had no reason to change because until recently, no one seriously criticized their behavior. Fortunately, not all of America's sociopaths have been so coddled.

Racists, homophobes, anti-Semites, batterers, date rapists, child abusers, and child molesters were also no worse 35 years ago than they are now. Those criminals haven't changed. We have. We now openly recognize the previous list of hate worthy characters as the public menace that they've always been and take steps to punish them. What we don't do is refer to their criminal behavior as a "mistake" and even Dr. Susan Eva Porter hasn't been foolish enough to blame their victims.

At about 2 minutes and 25 seconds Dr. Porter states that referring to a bully as a bully is "character assassination." We all know how sensitive and fragile violent sociopaths can be and we wouldn't want to assassinate their character.

At about 2 minutes and 47 seconds she serves up the piece de resistance. She shamelessly blames bullying on the victim with the statement, "Bullying is never a one way street." Sure lady...tell that one to Alex Libby. I'm sure he invites cruelty by choosing to look different or talk funny.

And finally, at 3 minutes and 55 seconds into the interview, Dr. Porter reminds us that the brain of a child is not fully developed and therefore isn't capable of completely comprehending how much harm its imposing on the victim. What a load of psychobabblesque bullshit. None of the bully enablers who make this claim can ever explain why the smallest and weakest kids in school seem to have no problem comprehending what will happen to them if they talk back to the bully or otherwise display any form of disrespect. Perhaps the brains of victims develop more quickly.

As always...terrorists who want to feel good about what they do need only observe the behavior of Americans like Dr. Susan Eva Porter, bully enabler extraordinaire.

Saturday, April 20, 2013

Chicken Soup with East Middle School Assistant Principal Kim Lockwood...

Kim Lockwood has been voted: School Administrator Most Likely to Inspire a School Massacre by Chicken Soup, the Society for the Advancement of Chicken Soup, and the World Chicken Soup Council.

For those of you who haven't seen the documentary, "Bully" here's an example of Kim Lockwood's professional incompetence and all around failure as a human being:

"An early sequence shows Kim Lockwood’s attempts to settle one dispute between two students by forcing the two boys to shake hands. As I am a teacher who refuses to force children to apologize as I feel it is nothing more than a social “Get Out Of Jail Free Card,” this particular scene actually set my blood boiling. This is because we see Lockwood letting the bully off the hook because he simply offered a conciliatory, yet obviously dishonest handshake. This moment was followed by Lockwood beginning to accuse the victim for the bad behavior, even going so far as to suggest that his unwillingness and reluctance to accept the bully’s handshake made his behavior as negative as the bully’s persistent abuse, which has continued even after talks from teachers and the local authorities."

When a bully hold its "hand of friendship" out to its victim and pretends to apologize, it isn't a display of empathy, sympathy, or regret.   It's not an apology.  Are you paying attention Ms. Lockwood?

It's a test stupid.

The victim of bullying was being tested.   The adult in authority, Kim Lockwood was also being tested.   Has the victim learned to accept the fact that he is inferior to the bully?   Has he learned his place?   Does the adult in authority also accept the natural order of things, or will she need to be punished by the bully's belligerent, lawsuit happy parents?   As a trained and educated professional entrusted with the care and education of other people's children, Kim Lockwood certainly understands this process.

Here's your homework for today:

Find Kim Lockwood and explain how her behavior could be the catalyst for a future massacre.







Saturday, April 13, 2013

Chicken Soup with the Imperfect Plaintiff Defense...

People who are thinking about mass murder or terrorism as a solution to their problems love it when the public presents itself as worthy of hate.

During my e-mail exchange with Izzy Kalman, he asked why it was so hard to find out who I am. In truth, it isn't all that difficult to find me. The law enforcement community could easily find my real name from my i.p. address. Any hacker worthy of the title could do the same. And if one of the sociopaths I've blogged about were to hire a private detective, he or she could also find me quite easily. Thus far, I've been contacted by none of these people, probably because they have no interest in doing so.

Kalman may have simply been curious, but he was looking for information that no one needs if they only intend to criticize or present counter arguments to my ideas and beliefs. In fact, the only kind of person who wants my real name is someone who intends to attack my character, my person, or my property. And criminals aren't the only demographic group to practice this sort of behavior. Take notice of the following gems of the American Family.

Politicians on the campaign trail are famous for attacking the character of their opponents while avoiding any substantive discussion of how they intend to address America's problems. I'm old enough to have witnessed numerous election cycles and most of the candidates haven't a clue about solving America's problems...so they smile a lot, toss out power words like "children", "family", and "JOBS!, JOBS!, JOBS!," and accuse their opponents of one damned thing or another. Rape victims are routinely accused of being promiscuous or described as sluts or whores, or even threatened with homicide, particularly in human cesspools like Steubenville. And victims of bullying are referred to as faggots, cowards, freaks, wimps, and pussies in an effort to justify the criminal behavior of the bully. In reality, bullies are no different from people who refer to black people as niggers and the public appears to be too stupid to notice.

This behavior is called the Imperfect Plaintiff Defense and it's employed by those who want to justify victimizing someone, or when they disagree with, or feel threatened by someone's arguments, words, and opinions but are unable to present an effective counter argument. The purpose of employing it is to diminish the subject's value as a person in the minds of anyone dumb or bigoted enough to want to believe it, thus undermining any chance of being punished.

Remember the following two rules whenever someone who's unable or unwilling to debate you chooses instead to attack you:

When your critics and opponents debate with you, there's a chance you may be wrong.

When they attack you as a person, physically or otherwise, it's a near certainty that you're right.

I'm Chicken Soup, and I approved this message.

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Chicken Soup with Bill Dobsy...

Yesterday, someone using the pseudonym "Bill Dobsy" asked the following question in the comment section of my "Chicken Soup with the Bullies of Newtown, CT." post.:

"Where is the evidence that he carried out this massacre because he was bullied?"

On the surface it's a valid question. But just beneath the surface, from the viewpoint of anyone who attended America's public school system, it could hardly be a more ludicrous question.

Imagine meeting a black man who grew up in Georgia during the 1950's and asking for the evidence that he was mistreated. He would have difficulty producing any. But no one would believe you if you claimed that the absence of documented evidence meant that he wasn't treated badly. That's because it is common knowledge that the prevalent culture in Georgia during the 1950's dictated that black people needed to be routinely mistreated so that they would not forget their proper place in society.

And so it goes today with society's least masculine young males.

I don't need documented evidence that Adam Lanza was subjected to a considerable degree of cruelty during his short life because the prevalent culture in America today is that young males who are not physically powerful, aggressive, and socially confident are considered to be legitimate targets for cruelty. Boys will be boys and all that...

I don't need to know in specific terms what happened to Adam Lanza. All I need to do is look at his photograph to realize that he lived in fear throughout his adolescence, and that he had few, if any real friends.

The process of turning a child into a mass murderer is well understood, and widely practiced. Millions of Americans blithely condition other people's children to hate everyone around them and then feign bewilderment when things turn out badly. December 14th was not the last time we're going to witness such a massacre. It's going to happen again...and again...and again until Americans stop putting violent males on a pedestal and stop referring to non-violent males as faggots, pussies, and wimps. If you wouldn't refer to a black man as a nigger, you should think twice before using similarly demeaning terms simply because the target isn't violent enough to punish you

Have a nice day.

Monday, April 8, 2013

Chicken Soup with the victim hating whores of Steubenville...

When I was a child, women had a very narrow field of careers from which to choose. They were even depicted as second class in even the most progressive television shows. Witness what happened to Majel Barrett. When Gene Roddenberry produced his Star Trek pilot "The Cage" in 1964 he cast Majel Barrett as the first officer on a starship. Men treated her with respect and followed her orders. The catty women in the test audience hated her so much she was demoted to Nurse Chapel in the television series.

Enough nostalgia.

Things have changed a lot since then. Today we have female senators, astronauts, CEO's, military officers, airline pilots, and just about everything else. Few, if any career fields are closed to women.

Here's your homework question for today.

Why does the American Family continue to produce such large numbers of young women who behave as if they believe that the road to success requires them to whore themselves to high status males?