The Consequences of Hate
by David Atkins
DailyKos diarist beantown mom writes:
You see, my 16 year old daughter came home from school on Friday in tears and has been in a state of utter despair since. She was told, in no uncertain terms, that she is a slut, a prostitute, a horny piece of trash that is out to sleep with every guy in school! The horrid little monsters who started harassing my daughter had the audacity to tell her their mothers were the ones who labeled her with these despicable opinions- they were just "telling it like it is, you know, like that guy on the radio! The one who isn't afraid to tell the truth!"
Here is the note that one of the hatemonger classmates who attends her school gave her:
Little miss innocent, huh? Whatever slut- you take birth control pills so you can f*&# every guy in school! What a joke- u are nothin but a whore! Pretty bad when some guy on the radio who isn't afraid to tell the truth has to break it down for everybody- if u on the Pill u are nothing but a skank ass ho! My mom said girls on the pill are tramps who just wanna get laid and don't care about nothin- is that how u are?
This is the consequence of the hate being peddled by Rush Limbaugh and his ilk. It's not just "entertainment" or "humor" as he and his defenders like to claim. The bullying these folks do on the airwaves trickles down to bullying in the workplace and in the schoolyard. It has very real, very negative consequences to people's lives--including to these "mean girls" bullies themselves, who are at significantly higher risk of teen pregnancy and doomed shotgun weddings due to a learned prejudice against basic birth control.
Now, I might also point out that this woman's daughter is taking the pill to address horrible cramps. But while that clarification might matter to the pearl-clutching prudes, the fact is that it doesn't matter at all. If she's taking them because she needs birth control, then good for her. That's her decision to make, and hers alone.
This is also, incidentally, why I'm a big proponent of liberal homeschooling for those with the capability to do so. If it were up to me, every kid who engaged in this sort of horrid behavior would be subject to significant suspension and/or expulsion. There should be a zero-tolerance policy for this sort of behavior, and it should be rigorously enforced. If this ever happened to any daughter of mine at a public school, I would first have the heads of the principals and the administrators, then the kids' parents would get a personal visit, then my kid would get yanked out of the school. I would encourage as many parents of her friends to do likewise as possible, and then I'd get an op-ed and letter-to-the-editor campaign in every local newspaper. Either the parents of these bullies would be humiliated in the community, or I would find a different community in which to live.
But then, I'm an activist like that.
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