Rachel Giese's dangerous thinking
COMMUNITY NEWS / Has bully talk gone too far?
Xtra staff / National / Thursday, May 31, 2012
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After being called into the principal’s office at her son’s school to talk about his recent bad behaviour, Rachel Giese, senior editor and writer for The Walrus, wondered if all the talk about bullying had gone too far.
 
“I feel like every act of aggression or conflict between children is getting pathologized in a way,” Giese says.
 
She also questions whether children are being held to standards of behaviour that politicians and other adults clearly don’t abide by.
 
Below is a video interview with Giese and Elle Flanders. 



Read Giese's essay, "Bully Pulpit," from the May issue of The Walrus. 
 
 



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Reader Comments


 
the biased leading the boring
Elle Flanders? Is she not the QUIA kook? Why would I watch anything that had anything to do with that biased nutcase? Or for that matter former Xtra skank manipulator Rachel Geise who used Xtra and the gay community to build a career.
Sassa-fraz Plimpest-lakshmi-faa, Chloroform Ontario
06/03/12 7:53 AM EST
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Skank? Seriously?
Ok, how goofy is it that an article about bullying has some yahoo calling a respected journalist like Giese a "skank?" I mean, come on... I get that this is the internet, and that there are plenty of trolls who get their rocks off by sending out their little messages of venom, but Giese did what any journalist does: she started at the bottom and worked her butt off to build a career. That's how real careers are built, but it might be hard to understand that when one's only real achievement is sitting on their butts in front of a computer screen, trying to make other people feel as miserable as they do about themselves. Part of you must realize that the majority of us just look at the poison you create and think "hmm... what a sad excuse for a life this person must have..."
Serafin LaRiviere, toronto Ontario
06/03/12 12:39 PM EST
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Sometimes kids are simply little s**ts
Hmmm....I imagine her child has behaviour problems and she's trying to deflect this. But I agree with her. Not all forms of poor child behaviour is bullying. It's more a lack of respect for the classroom and the teacher. I also don't agree with her about her examples. Not inviting a kid to a party is not bullying.
woka, woka woka
06/03/12 12:47 PM EST
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bwa ha ha!
Xtra bashing is a hilarious hobby as it gets such hysterical responses. Anything Xtra is open season. Especially with an infant like you running the show. Shit and run trolling is the only response to the entire Xtra "journalism" JOKE!
troll-by shitting, Saltinwound Ontario
06/03/12 1:48 PM EST
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Typical
parents not accepting accountability for their own kid, who in spite of claiming they may not be perfect believe them to be perfect and better and more entitled than all other children. I don't know why they allow heterosexuals to have kids, truly? The heterosexual act is no longer a requirement. Save the children! Isn't Elle Flanders the self-hating anti-semite behind Queers against Israel? Now talk about bullying. I love JEWS!!!
dodge, toronto on
06/03/12 8:36 PM EST
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Editor
Pls remove the above post. The info is wrong. TY
dodge, toronto on
06/03/12 8:43 PM EST
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Enough is enough
I agree with Serafin. If Xtra doesn't do something about this nastiness you are going to find fewer and fewer people willing to submit work or be the subject of an interview or take unpopular positions contra prevailing views of the day. Why would someone subject themselves to this? It is one thing to be the subject of homophobia out there. That we are used to and expect and have all grown a thicker skin about. It is quite another to encounter abuse on here. Sharp criticism about ideas is one thing. Personalized insults are quite another. On another page, Kamal and I are hounded by another nasty '20 times a day' poster of nonsense who makes ridiculous comments about my appearance. Hello? How about some moderation? Some editorial control? Not all comments are of equal value, and many are simply off-topic crap that adds nothing to the discourse. Rache Giese has a lot of integrity on all kinds of issues, including parenting. She made a very good argument years ago in favour of less over-adulation of everything a child does - overpraise. This is an extension of that. Not every picture a child draws is the most amazing thing ever, and not every playground act of aggression is about bullying. It's high time for some normative parenting unless we want a generation of psychopaths or eternal subjects whose every move is rife with meaning as if we all inhabit some reality TV demimonde.
Alexander MacLean, Toronto Ontario
06/04/12 5:22 PM EST
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Can of worms...
Rachel: Not inviting someone to a party is evidence of bullying, is it? Because then the exclusion of men from the Dyke March is a rather awesome example of politicized social exclusion that would also have to be examined as an act of bullying since it is based on gender alone - profiling by any other name. Leading to exclusion over which we have no control. I don't really feel bullied buy it, but I do feel judged in advance, and isn't that just another form of prejudice?
K.M, Ottawa Ontario
06/04/12 5:57 PM EST
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Agree with
Serafin all you want, and overlook the fact she bullied a little gay guy in her teens? NP. I wonder, did he kill himself? Do we know? Does she know? Has she gone on a little trek of discovery and meet-up with the poor by, now a man and apologize? I'm just sayin is all. As if by then one's character isn't already formed by their teens. Here's news for you, YES IT IS! And why oh why do I need to hear from someone who is clearly benefiting from heterosexual privilege about parenting? Seriously?
agree, toronto on
06/05/12 10:30 AM EST
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