When the news began to fill up last year with stories of gay kids committing suicide after being bullied relentlessly, did you immediately think, “You know who’s really getting bullied? Blastocysts.” If you did, you are a wingnut. Here is a letter by a Stephen M. King, a professor at Southeastern University, which started sort of reasonably:
Sue Carlton of the St. Petersburg Times lauded (op-ed column, Aug. 17) the community responsibility ethic of some of the Tampa Bay Rays’ players, and some fans, who made a video. The effort is titled “It Gets Better,” and is aimed at bringing attention to the abuse and bullying endured by teenagers who practice homosexuality and lesbianism.
While I applaud the Rays’ players, front office and fans for bringing to the public’s attention the ever-increasing use of bullying in today’s public school system, and for their encouragement of the bullied teenagers to stay encouraged because “the world gets bigger and more accepting,” I do not agree with their efforts to highlight only a fraction of students who are bullied.
See now, this is where I thought this was going to go: He says “I don’t agree with their efforts to highlight only a fraction of students” who become victims of bullies. I thought he was going to say, “I wish, along with the emphasis on anti-gay bullying, we could really find ourselves with a renewed emphasis on all bullying, regardless of why.” That would make far too much sense, right? I would probably not have even written about it, but if I had, I would have agreed but pointed out that, sadly, it’s taken the well-publicized suicides of gay kids to really ignite a focus on bullying, in general. That, as a result of programs like It Gets Better and increased anti-bullying protections as a result of what’s been going on, all kids are likely to, ultimately, be safer in school.
Oh, but no. Here is where King went instead:
Why does the Rays’ organization, and other professional sports’ organizations and players, for that matter, want to bring attention to the bullying of teenagers who practice homosexuality and lesbianism? Because it is the chic and politically correct thing to do.
Would the Rays or other sports organizations, or other professional sports figures for that matter, come out strongly and enthusiastically for making a video for the protection of unborn life? Would they come out and make a passionate plea for protecting the natural right to life, to bring the public’s attention to infanticide? No, I strongly doubt they would.
Protecting life, or even advocating for the protection of life, such as former Florida quarterback Tim Tebow has done, is not politically correct.
Yeah, Tampa Bay Rays, why aren’t you making misogynistic videos about sluts like Dr. King wants you to? And why aren’t you standing up for poor, poor failure Timmy Tebow?
Because no one — NO ONE — gets made fun of more at school than Tim Tebow. And unborn fetuses. They get teased all day, and for the dumbest reasons.
Wingnuts are so weird.
