2149: The Village Voice

[dannyhatch]

With Nat Towsen – The Village Voice’s KATG cover story; reacting to bullies; Elton John vs. Dolce & Gabbana; female condoms; Jimmy Kimmel’s dick hole and why to vaccinate your kids; Robert Durst’s many murders; Randy Quaid’s sex video; Nat interviews Bill Gates

Guest:
Nat Towsen



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[Enunciated Piffle]

Nat's Bill Gates story made me laugh. I can totally see 'The Great' Bill Gates getting secretly annoyed. Kind of surprised Ol' Bill didn't tell Nat to stop by Microsoft. I thought that's what smart rich people do, (after a discovery). Put other smart people on the pay roll. Hollywood movies. They're great, right?

I do disagree with Nat's approach to bullying. I think lifting weights, exercise, learning to defend oneself, and being assertive are important. I see little difference between being molested and constantly being bullied as a kid.

Either way, you grow up with a victim mentality. Not to mention the aggressors behavior is never corrected. Let alone addressed.

[Scumhook]

Originally Posted by Enunciated Piffle

I see little difference between being molested and constantly being bullied as a kid.

I agree.

We should teach little boys to pull down their pants and present their anus when they're getting punched.

I bet that will stop the beatings, and when the bullies start calling the kid a homo, you can have them arrested for hate speech; which as we all know, is way worse than punching.

[Eric M]

I remember liking this guy on myq kaplans show but I was thoroughly annoyed with his rambling on this episode. Felt like a small victory when Chemda said "sounds fascinating" even though he continued sharing his boring information on municipal id's. I hope Keith saying have a nice life at the end means what I think it means. It was a great article and a nice summary of everything I've learned about you two in the last year and a half. My heart warmed several times while reading. Love you guys.

[frog]

The bully talk is really interesting! I think when people say that "you just don't understand until you've had a kid", the only thing you're really missing is understanding what that individual kid can handle and/or knowing that level of fatigue a parent feels when they don't get space in the day to think for even a moment. The perspectives you are sharing are often very clear and the types of things I might think about if I had those spaces of time to think about a better solution. For me, that's the challenge, finding the clarity of mind and responding with patience when I feel frazzled and run over most of the day.

My kid, age 6, has already told me about several bullies. There are some who are his friends and awesome to play with in one context, but in another setting, they refuse to play with him. There are other things he tells me and I think that he's done something to hurt his friend's feelings and doesn't quite see it. For each of these, we end up talking about it, but at the end of the day, I can't make him stop trying to play with the one that calls him a baby at the after school program but plays awesome Lego games with him at camp. It's tough.

One day a group of girls were running around the playground, following my son and calling him a bully. Kids know this word has power. They're using it manipulatively sometimes, especially at this age, to get attention. I am not positive about what happened leading up to this situation, but I feel like I have enough information to know that my kid was not bullying them. He doesn't ever play with them. They were just trying to get him into trouble. This type of thing has been happening with other friends' kids at the same age, and it's such a difficult thing to work through when your child is this age and still has a very self-centered perspective. A kid can be labeled a bully because they didn't want to play the same game as you. You only get one side of the story unless you are lucky enough to get to be in the classroom and know the kids in the class.

I am enjoying the discussion and appreciating your perspective. I just wanted to share some stories that were related.

Congratulations on ten years! I've enjoyed them all!!!

[WSEIII]

Bullying the bully is just like the pedophile priests getting reassigned to another parish. They're just going to find another victim. Some effort needs to be made by the school, or who's ever in authority, to identify the root of the problem.

I think the ladies of KATG should try the female condom for science.

[Enunciated Piffle]

Originally Posted by frog

One day a group of girls were running around the playground, following my son and calling him a bully.

You say the girls were looking for attention. You sure they weren't just chasing the boys they liked? I feel like picking on the opposite gender was a kinda flirting back in the day.

My daughter is 12. She recently told me she lost a best friend to one of the girl groups that run around at recess chasing boys. She wasn't into it. Thank goodness there's still other girls for her to play with who aren't boy crazy. They're all weirdos, but they have great imaginations.

I wonder if your son's teachers could help put the situation in better context.

[WSEIII]

Did anyone else read Frog's book?

[dEadERest]

online

[dany35galzz]

I remeber lik reading here Astrology Junction: Astrology,Predictions,Tarot,Dreams and Horoscope bout like wat bullies pick on based on ur like zodiac sign, (doeznt do that anymore) but ur question made me think bout it ahahh. I have a tendancy to type out loud nd i get to lazy to like delete anything so sorry for my spelling errors. He did anyone see Waka Flockas mom like do a anti internet bullying campaign???