First you put them down, any way you can or any way you have to, then you get away from them.

Many of us developed coping strategies with bullies a long time ago, and a few of them, but not many, involved physically putting them in their place (like Ralphie does with Scut Farkas). Dealing with and coping with bullies used to be part of growing up; everyone over a certain age seems to have stories to tell, many of them funny in retrospect.

But something happened a while back, especially in public schools. Administrators and teachers aligned themselves with Teh Bullies, supposedly to keep order in the chaotic public education system. And then all hell broke loose. That's when school shootings became all the rage, often apparently due to the complete powerlessness some of the put-upon students felt because of that very alignment of school administration and faculty with those students committing depredations and torments. The Order being sought turned into massacre.

The only coping strategies left were to yield to the outrages of Teh Bullies/Admin/Faculty or to lash out at them with violence and bloodshed.

The problem with alignments with Bullies is that Bullies aren't very good at running things. They only know about the uses of fear. They lie. They deceive. They aren't too smart. They enjoy causing pain and suffering too much. They are superstitious. They live in fear that one day what they have done to others will be done to them.

So the whole point of Bullying is to fend off their fears by imposing their will on others.

And when those others fight back, even rhetorically? Very often Bullies' whole invented world collapses.

Our national problem right now is that Bullies -- in the persons of the Busheviks -- have been given enormous, unwarranted powers by a compliant "administration and faculty" (our Congress). As our national situation deteriorates, the Congress looks like it's prepared to yield even more power and authority to these Bullies who have amply demonstrated they don't know what they're doing, haven't a clue. To say they're winging it is to be charitable. All they are capable of is expanding their already bloated powers, through intimidation, deceit, and theft.

Surprisingly, that's not enough to run a great republic such as ours, let alone the Empire of America they fantasize about. It's no wonder the United States is in decline (though much of that decline has been shielded from domestic view). The people in charge simpy can't handle the responsiblity. Yet Teh Bullies and their enablers are clinging ever tighter to one another, turning their backs on The People.

My "Rehab" post suggested the difficulty we're in, a situation where The People are trying everything they can -- within bounds -- to get their representatives in Congress to Get Help, "get to rehab," and the Congress is fighting The People, "No, no, no." They won't go. They won't do it. They're lashing out at their own constituents, fighting the very idea that there is something wrong, desperately wrong.

Nancy Pelosi lashes out at constituents who challenge her decisions; Harry Reid steamrolls and filibusters anyone who brings up the failures of Congress and the Senate to put a stop to -- or even any brakes on -- the catastrophe in progress. Rahm Emanuel did the same thing the other day, and was righteously booed and blasted for his cant. Far too many Democratic members of Congress unite with Republicans and with Joe Lieberman to condemn The People who raise questions, and to embrace more war, destruction and bloodshed.

How can this situation be corrected before it is too late? Or is it already too late?

Some of us have been calling for action, working for change, or just for simple awareness for years and years, only to be rebuffed time and again.

Others hope that a tweak here or a ruling there will somehow gradually bring this headlong rush into regression and calamity to a halt.

"Just try to make me go to rehab, I won't go, go, go."

Like geese dung meeting you, glad we were still treading water.

How kind and cordial Fox T.V is to Glenn, you, and we "left" folk!

Nothing much: "A little gift of black coal in cold wintry weather.

Yet, that is such a nice gesture, and to know people still exist?

Good News.

A Blessing.

When F**ks News does it, it is alright. Anybody else would be a treator. Typical Repugnican.

And to say: you need to forgive me.

saint sugarman!

the joy of sinning?

There is no left over bitten pain.

saint sugarman. no gripe. no hype.

i hope i never call you bitter again.

You're welcome. No problem. If I haven't figured out by now that I can be a bit over bearing at times, I never will. Just ask Holly McClatchlan ;o). That's sort of an inside joke. Or at I least I think it is. She might not.

you sweet sugarman!

me sometimes mr. baloney.

see my response (pg 29, estrich thread)

is that GG is just short for Great God. same for "concern troll" (thanks for the def). it's merely a paranoid exclusionary principle, made to ensure that everyone thinks alike.

bop, sorry about offering sympathy when none was needed. you did SAY you were lonely - i didn't take it as metaphor as it hardly ever is. In return i ask you to stop calling me "bitter" - people will feel i'm ungrateful; i have a happy family.

I just can't help it some days. I just posted a comment @ MahaBlog today @ 10:00.

I like that Blog.

You are no spotted owl, aha Anonymous @ 7:o7.~.~ GG still snoring? I bet, no.

KB,

I chopped up your post a little for the sake of brevity. Hopefully I can address it well enough without having quoted your entire post.

Unlike you, I think the definition you quoted from wiki for concern troll fits perfectly well for some of the posts and comment people over the past couple of days. Like you, I don't include Mona in that definition. I don't see how you extrapolate that out to fit with some of the others though. That seems to be a disconnect in your post. Mona has a lot of background for us to work with. Some of the other posters do not. And some of their posts, in my opinion, were precisely what I would consider to fit into the concern troll category.

I don't see anything wrong with the use of the 'knife/gun' phrase. Overused, no doubt, but I think it fits perfectly well as a descriptive phrase in a lot of cases in regards to actions and reactions of 'progressives' versus 'neocons'.

From your post:

Concern troll

A concern troll is a pseudonym created by a user whose point of view is opposed to the one his/her sockpuppet claims to hold. The concern troll posts in web forums devoted to its declared point of view (for example, Democrats or fans of the Prius), and attempts to sway the group's actions or opinions while claiming to share their goals but with some "concerns". The goal is to sow fear, uncertainty and doubt within the group.

Democratic/Progressive response using metaphors like "bringing a knife to a gun fight ..." etc does nothing to further the dialog.

There's no fake postings involved, no sockpuppets. NO concern troll behavior is going on!

-- KB4Hire