Michelle Pippin, who lost her job when GateHouse Media decided to end the brief existence of the Joplin Daily, has been hired to handle public relations for Justice for Juveniles as the national group deals with the Memorial Middle Shooter case.
The Joplin Independent has the story on Friday's rally outside the Joplin Courts Building, which has been successfully spun as an "anti-bullying rally," shifting attention away from 14-year-old Thomas Gregory White's actions and alleged actions last October at Memorial.
The television coverage Friday heavily emphasized the bullying aspect of the story, much of which is featured in an article posted on the Joplin Independent website:
While many admitted that school bullying is not an excuse for school violence, they came to back Thomas White who allegedly was bullied repeatedly in school. Rosana Ladik of Diamond, a representative for Justice for Juveniles, would like to see more attention paid to stopping the practice. Ladik, who said that her two children were bullied when they attended school in Illinois, thought that, perhaps, Thomas White, like others who are shy, was "too easy-going" and "didn't know how to tell somebody to lay off."
Just to clarify on the JoplinIndenpendent.com article: That I've been "hired" by this organization suggests I'm being paid for my services, and that is not the case. I have volunteered to help this organization and BullyPolice.org to do whatever I can to envoke awareness and intolerance to school bullying in this town. It is directly tied to the Thomas White case because - despite your avid denial that school bullying exists in Joplin schools, Randy - I believe the root cause of this incident IS school bullying (and 80-percent of ALL incidents of school violence across this country, according to FBI statistics).
ReplyDeleteAdmittedly, I have come to know the White family in the course of following this case, and through his friends and family members, have come to believe Thomas White never intended to physically harm anyone. He chose a very, very bad method of ending the violence that was being perpetrated against himself. It is only my opinion, but I do not believe he deserves to spend any amount of time - much less the rest of his life - in an adult prison for this mistake, and I sincerely believe - with the right treatment - he can be helped. It is my opinion that this town needs to stop asking WHY this happened, and start listening to the answer. Stopping the bullying is the best course of action to see that this never happens again. Ignoring the bullying, in my opinion, ensures that it will. Again, and again, and again - God forbid!
Behavior such as bullying has been studied and debated, and has been given many kinds of treatment in thousands of cases for many, many years. It's nice to know that suddenly all we have to do now is start "...listening to the answer."
ReplyDeleteHow exciting to know that this group has the answer that has plagued society for generations.
I'm sorry, but when a person points a gun at someone and pulls the trigger, I can't muster up much sympathy.
Whatever happens,I hope the young man gets some positive help that apparently he has not gotten elsewhere.
I never said that listening was the answer to bullying. What I said is that bullying is one of the answers to "why this happened" - obviously coupled with the fact that they young man has some pretty serious coping issues. I have no idea what the answer to bullying is, but I do know that ignoring it and denying that it exists won't (and historically HASN'T) help to end bullying. Maybe, instead of debating the fine-points of this issue among ourselves, we should try pooling our resources and our collective intelligence to find a solution to bullying.
ReplyDeleteAnd, in the interest of finding a common ground, would you agree that time spent in an adult prison is likely not the "positive help" the young man needs?
Perfect choice. Michelle has sugar coated this story from the beginning. Her writing in joplin daily always slanted towards how poor little thomas was bullied, so that has to be the reason he took a gun to school, fired a shot and threatened to school officials. I wonder what the stance would be if the gun was pointed and fired above Michelle's daughters head? Would he still be the victim and the school to be the blame? I doubt it. He should be tried as an adult if he wants to play with adult toys.
ReplyDeleteToo often, children (and adults) resort to drastic means to stop torment. Would that teachers and administrators could have been more alert to the signs of bullying, and that Thomas had had a shoulder to lean on before things escalated.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I wonder what would have happened if the weapon Thomas brought to school had not misfired. You can call it an act of God or a cheap gun, but undoubtedly, that misfire kept a young man's rash decision from costing lives.
There aren't any easy answers. Thomas needs to realize the consequencies and possibilities of his actions. Yet, I'm not thoroughly conviced that adult prison will teach him anything other than how to be a better crook.
School bullying is a MAJOR problem and it does not have to be physical. My own son was bullied and I watched his behavior change dramatically.
ReplyDeleteAll this time we heard nothing from the school -- only that they had referred him for counseling (rather, we would assume, than the bully).
Often is is the victim of the bullying who is punished NOT the bully. Bullies are subtle abusers of other people--even if they're 9, 10, 12 years old. They know how to disguise their actions.
And the pain and frustration mounts up. Counselors can be more trouble than they're worth. In our case the counselor never spoke one word about what was really going on.
So, the person commenting better learn to muster up some sympathy. That's because the ones who have never experienced this problem need to be aware it is going on and that school officials have to much to do to care about one kid. If they suffer in silence, then they are being "good."
To the first in the recent line of anonymous people; if the gun had been pointed at his own head and he had shot his own brains out, would you care? Would any of you?
ReplyDeletei think it's pretty telling that someone refers to guns as adult toys.i also think that referring to what thomas was put through as bullying,underscores what it really was,psychological abuse,he also came home with physical injuries last time i checked that was called assault.where are these student's learning that it's ok to do that to another student?their learning it's ok from the school and obviously at home.schools have zero tolerance,well they tolerated this now didn't they,with the excuse being we didn't see it,thomas didn't report it,blah blah blah.when schools and bullies are held accountable for their actions or lack of actions there will be change.there has been schools that were sued and the victims have won,that will wake schools up.i'd love to see the data to back up the claim that bullying has been studied and debated and treatment has been given to thousands for many years.then it is said that this has plagued society for generations,that's the only correct thing i have heard,it's a plague that is brushed off as a right of passage.no one has the right to physically and or mentally abuse anyone,ever.people want consequences for actions of others,where's the consequences for the bullies?also in a recent article the principal said he didn't see thomas pull the trigger and in the first hearing he said he never thought thomas was trying to kill him,but people that weren't there would rather put words in his mouth.
ReplyDelete