Some Bullies Grow up to be Bullies---this is copied from the Smirking Chimp---cl
by Brent Abrahamson | May 13, 2012 - 9:43am
We have all heard the story by now. According to an article in
The Washington Post,
"Mitt Romney’s prep school classmates recall pranks, but also
troubling incidents," then high school student Mitt Romney led an attack
on a student who didn't look the way Romney felt that he should. The
weaker student was perceived to be gay, and Mitt Romney didn't like the
way the bleached blond new student, John Lauber, wore his hair. Romney
took it upon himself to lead a group of boys to attack Lauber and hold
him down while Mitt Romney cut the boy's hair.
The attack against the story by the right has been swift. Those who
profess to believe the story dismiss it as a boys-will-be-boys prank.
After all, who hasn't done things in high school that they later regret?
Perhaps. But how do you even years later not even remember the
incident? Bullied people remember such incidents all of their lives.
Bullies, if the explanation is to be believed, have no such problem.
As I was considering this episode, I recalled an incident depicted in the 1985 movie,
The Breakfast Club.
A number of students were placed on Saturday detention for various
infractions of school rules. At one point in the movie, all the
students confess to one another what they did to earn a detention.
Andrew Clark, played by actor Emilio Estevez, makes this confession:
Andrew: I taped Larry Lester's buns together.
Brian Johnson: That was you?
Andrew: Yeah, you know him?
Brian Johnson: Yeah, I know him.
Andrew: Well, then you know how hairy he is. And when they pulled the
tape off, most of his hair came off and some - some skin, too.
Claire Standish: Oh my God.
Andrew: And the bizarre thing is that I did it for my old man. I
tortured this poor kid because I wanted him to think that I was cool.
He's always going off about how when he was in school and all the wild
things he used to do. And I got the feeling that he was disappointed
that I never cut loose on anyone, right? So I'm sitting in the locker
room and I'm taping up my knee, and Larry's undressing a couple lockers
down from me. And he's kinda, he's kinda skinny. Weak. And I started
thinkin' about my father, and his attitude about, about weakness. And
the next thing I knew, I jumped on top of him and started wailing on
him. And my friends, they just laughed and cheered me on. And
afterwards, when I'm sitting in Vernon's office, all I could think about
was Larry's father and Larry having to go home and explain what
happened to him. And the humiliation - the fucking humiliation he must
have felt. It must have been unreal. I mean, how... how do you apologize
for something like that? There's no way. It's all because of me and my
old man. God, I fucking hate him. He's like this mindless machine that I
can't even relate to anymore.
[crying, imitating his father]
Andrew: 'Andrew! You've got to be number one! I won't tolerate
any losers in this family! Your intensity is for shit! Win! Win! Win!'
You son of a bitch. You know, sometimes I wish my knee would give. And I
wouldn't be able to wrestle anymore. And he could forget all about me.
I believe that this exchange does give us some insight into the mind
of the bully. What motivates him? Can a repentant bully have remorse?
We can't know what happened later as Andrew Clark grew up. Did he revert to bullying? Did he ever forget this incident?
What we
do know is Mitt Romney, the high school boy, as a man. And his statements reveal that he grew into being an adult bully.
Who but an unrepentant bully could claim to have forgotten such a cruel act?
What kind of adult straps his dog to the roof of a car?
What kind of adult claims he likes to fire people?
What kind of adult says he is not concerned about poor people?
What kind of adult wants to amend the U. S. Constitution to restrict the Civil Rights of a segment of our population?
The fact is that some teenaged bullies grow up to become adult bullies.
As a retired middle school teacher, I have had the perspective of
seeing both the teen bully and the adult bully. This is a subject I
have written about several times, and lots of people seem to relate to
this reality.
Mitt Romney, in my opinion, is an adult bully, not because of one act he
did as a teen, but because of his actions and statements ever since.
Here is more that I have written about the adult bully.
http://massachusettsobserver.blogspot.com/search/label/bullying
You can decide for yourself if Mitt Romney is one or not.
©2012
The Massachusetts Observer
In an odd and sick sort of way, this is a
story that will actually help Romney. There's no question the story is
believable. Even those that will deny this story from the right believe
it.
But in an unspoken kind of way, this will help Romney. This will help
him with those on the right that criticize him most. Deep down and in
their guts they'll appreciate this. Because these narrow-minded,
Neanderthal fucks believe that everyone must live as they live, believe
as they believe, and worship as they worship. And everyone must look and
act a certain way.
And in their black hearts and even blacker souls, there will be a
certain appreciation for this kind of behavior. It'll never be spoken in
those terms of course. But this will give him bona fides in that
despicable circle that he never could have bought with the unlimited
largesse that will be at his disposal.
Beating up and humiliating those that are different is a badge of
honor with these people. Their fear of everything and anything not of
them demands it. It's perfectly fine. And now a lot of those people know
that Romney is more like them than they ever imagined.
He's the worst type of actor. I saw some footage of him where he grabbed a photographer and came out with this sentence, "Look, we celebrities work VERY VERY HARD." He was being deadly serious. Honestly as if he was part of a master race called "celebrities." I can't remember anything he's been in for years. Has he retired? Love the footage of him on Playaway though!