Meanies. That’s what they were when we were young. Then there were bullies. That was different. Today they’re considered one and the same, and now we have a real problem. We can’t stop bullying any more than we can stop rude behavior.

But when a Metuchen student laughed after another boy took his shirt off and was deemed a bully by the school administration, his dad decided to fight back by suing the school district for labeling his son a bully. And I hope he wins.

This is the beginning of the slippery slope that I always predicted when these bullying laws and policies in schools first came to be. Because the definition of bullying is so open ended and subjective, unless our children walk around like emotionless automatons, any of their reactions could be misconstrued as rude and therefore “bullying.”

Are we trying to turn human beings into something that they are biologically incapable of being? Remember: hate, guilt, insecurity, anger, resentment, frustration, amusement, (and all the other emotions that could cause a child to act rudely toward his peers) are all natural emotions that cannot be suppressed. And while the behavioral manifestations of these emotions can be controlled, I think we have taken it a step further than that.

I think we’re trying to remove these emotions completely, and mandating a motion never works. Just go to North Korea or any other countries where they have suppressive regimes and see how it’s working out for them.

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Dennis & Judi are on the air weekdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tweet them @DennisandJudi or @NJ1015.

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