Patrice Lewis: The PC Bullies Begin To Back Down

My husband, Don, is a short man, topping out at five and a half feet. In the eyes of his family, he’s a giant; but when he was a teenager, he was a bantam and a natural target for bullies.

He told me of one particular boy who, over several months, picked and poked and hit and tripped in a series of intensifying encounters. Don kept his mouth shut and his fists at his side and controlled himself for months of this torment. The harassment escalated until the bully, with no provocation, tripped him and caused him to fall. Don had enough. He hauled off and decked the other boy.

The bully, who never expected the strength of pure fury emerging from the shorter boy, left Don strictly alone after that. Sometimes, Don told me, a person has to stand up and defend himself.

There’s a war on bullying taking place around America, but it’s not what you think. It’s not about heavyweight teens picking on smaller contemporaries.

Instead, it’s people rebelling against their oppressors. There are a lot of people who are being bullied. They’re being picked and poked and hit and tripped in a series of intensifying encounters. Harassment is escalating. People are getting the tar beat out of them, physically or financially. Up to this point, most of them have kept their mouths shut and their fists at their side and controlled themselves.

But once in a while, control snaps and the bullied party fights back, hard, with the strength of pure fury. Many times the bully – surprised at being challenged – sputters in dismay but backs off and targets someone else. Students, Christians, business people, conservatives and others who are being punitively harassed are finally beginning to fight back against schools, judges, special rights groups, even the IRS.

Consider these recent examples: