Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Bullying is becoming an accepted part of society

Teenagers are dying because other teens are bullying them. At the risk of sounding like an old person that is set in her old person ways, I know why teens are bullying each other. It's more of an accepted thing in todays' society that's why.

Turn on any reality TV show, and see adult women pulling each other's hair out. Flip through any fashion magazine and you will see girls, women, pre-teens and young girls wearing next to nothing. Look at any model with her thin arms, and too large for her body, obviously fake breasts.

We accept bullying as a part of society today; that's why teens think it is okay to bully each other. Teenagers, preteens, younger children, and young adults say things to each other that this old person could not have said years ago. I would have been yelled at by my mother, given a hard time by my friends, or had it thrown right back by my older, nastier sister.

Bullying is becoming more of an accepted part of today's world. You may blame the kids that bully, but you might just want to look at the media these kids are tormented with everyday. Reality TV shows announce fighting, back stabbing, yelling and mistreating other human beings as a way of life. "Rock of Love," was one of the first reality TV shows that showcased young women fighting over a rock star, by actually fighting over Brett Michaels. They swore, spit, pulled each other's hair, and made out with each other as well as Brett Michael's.

If you have cable TV in your house, and a TV in nearly every room, chances are your kids are watching programs including people mistreating each other, having sex, and acting like Divas from the time they can see and figure out what is going on.

Teenagers have been viewing young adults, older adults and teens mistreating, bullying, talking smack to each other probably for their entire young lives. MTV showcases programs where young adults live together in a house since 1992.Teens' cartoons, kids' shows, entire networks devoted to your children are basically garbage filling your young child's mind. My kids can quote Spongebob cartoons from memory. It's not something I am proud of, but my college sophomore and my middle school child both watch too much TV. Watch a few moments of  "Almost Naked Animals, " and you will see what I mean with cartoon characters mistreating one another.
Sample a few minutes of any Housewife of series, and you will see bullying, backstabbing and lying  from the housewives and  their relatives.

Peruse your teenager's Facebook account, and you will discover how he  talks smack with his friends. Discover his girlfriend's suggestive sexual promises to him. Grab one of your kid's cellphones only to find out how many naked sexts he has received from friends. Find out how your teens make fun of other kids online, on their cellphones, on their blogs, etc. Unless you are doing the same thing your teens are doing, then you will not enjoy discovering your child Skyping his girlfriend in his bedroom while they have their clothes off.

What I'm saying, by going slightly off course, is kids are used to seeing shocking things. This means they are not shocked by saying mean, horrible, fierce, rude, idiotic things to each other. But kids do have feelings as any adult does. When adults are given a hard time at work by a co-worker, it hurts, and for teens who have hormones raging and whose brains are not fully developed it hurts even more.

Teens, and young adults may think it is okay to bully someone else, because they can do so without seeing or being seen by the recipient's of their bullying. We live in a world where instant gratification is the norm ,and we can do so by making comments on numerous websites, social networks, and on each other's blogs. We can say rude, nasty, horrid things to each other, and about other people without having any real consequences. But when a young person reads bullying comments and hears them everyday at school, after awhile it settles in and that person thinks something is wrong with them. Copyright 2011, written by Kate Johns who has been freelance writing professionally since 2004.

Thursday, September 8, 2011

9/11: The Tenth Anniversary of Losing America's Innocence by Kate Johns

With the tenth anniversary of 9/11, America and the world are reminded of how a powerful, but innocent nation was brought to it's knees for one horrible day as we left our youth, our superpower status, and our innocence behind. As a jealous, more hostile world terrorized America ruining our freedoms, and our more rich ways of living, we will always remember the 3,000 souls that died on that fateful, yet beautiful September day.

You see, on 911 not only did thousands of people die, so too did America as we knew her. America has become a less innocent place to live, as we are body probed before boarding airplanes. America has become a more watchful, yet scarier place to live. With the 9/11 anniversary arriving, America now has border patrol, vigilant police forces watching for even a sign of terrorism. America's airspace is surveyed, as are her shores, land, and roads.

We as Americans are less innocent to the horrid, nasty ways of jealous, menacing nations. We no longer think of any person as a friend, but more of a foe, unless we have lived with that person for our entire lives. Billions of lives were changed that day.

Hundreds of people knew they were going to die on 9/11, and they took action ensuring that more people did not die that horrible day. They were courageous, selfless, beautiful human beings. They were the stuff action-adventure movies are made of. They took quick action on those planes headed for Washington and New York City on 9/11. And they did it with pride of being Americans.

As I watched in horror as cable news stations started covering the first building having been crashed into with huge plumes of smoke blowing out of the building, I knew something was wrong. I was learning as many millions of Americans were learning that this crash into the World Trade Center building was not a mistake,it was a planned terrorist threat to our very freedoms.
America has never been the same since that fateful, but beautiful late summer day in September. As my husband hurried out the door, I worried  if I would ever see him again, and my thoughts were with keeping my children safe.

At that point in time, my husband was working at a local radio station, and we would be celebrating our fourteenth wedding anniversary the very next day. We never did celebrate our 14 anniversary that year. Neither did we celebrate our fifteenth wedding anniversary the next year. It was more important to cover the chilling news that was taking place in front of us that the World Trade Center, and our American way of life was forcefully ending.

After realizing that thousands of people died on 911, and that hundreds of people gave up their lives so that more people would not have to die, I figured celebrations were not warranted at the time.