# You're being bullied? Really? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 3, 2017, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-being-bullied-really/788007 "2017-06-03T15:00:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2017, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-being-bullied-really/788007/121 "2017-06-07T14:39:01Z")
> [@Count\_Blucher](#): > > If she ever wrote a book about the ugly truth about political harassment in America today, I’d only wish that I could help her out with it. Why? Were you a target of political harassment? ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2017, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-being-bullied-really/788007/122 "2017-06-07T23:16:08Z")
> [@Count\_Blucher](#): > > If she ever wrote a book about the ugly truth about political harassment in America today, I’d only wish that I could help her out with it. There is a book about this subject, actually. \*[So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed](https://www.amazon.com/So-Youve-Been-Publicly-Shamed-ebook/dp/B00L9B7IRC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1496877383&sr=8-1&keywords=so+you%27ve+been+publicly+shamed) \*by Jon Ronson. I haven’t read it yet, but I’ve heard quite a few interviews with him. Fascinating, if depressing stuff. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2017, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-being-bullied-really/788007/123 "2017-06-07T23:46:01Z")
> [@Corry\_El](#): > > That last line added real power to your argument, idiot. > > But seriously folks, ‘think of the children’ is correctly understood as a cheap appeal to emotion about children in general to make up for a lack of rational basis for a _policy_ argument. > > Saying particular kids shouldn’t have to see somewhat realistic images of their parents’ severed heads, or unkind ‘jokes’ made about them, the kids personally not the parent, isn’t ‘think of the children’. It’s ‘don’t be an asshole’. It’s literally the same emotional argument. You lack an ability to make an rational argument against the stunt, so you bring up a child who has nothing to do with it. Lots of things out there are things young Baron shouldn’t see. Does that make them wrong to do? No. Exactly the same as saying there are lots of things out there that children in general shouldn’t see. And that does not make them wrong to do, either. You’re making the same emotional appeal. You can’t deal with it rationally, so you bring up a child, hoping to get us to sympathize with him and change our opinions. If something is wrong, it is wrong no matter whether children see it or not. It is wrong whether or not it makes Baron feel bad. If something is right, it is right regardless of how it makes children feel. It is right whether or not Baron feels bad when he finds out about it. As is always the case, the rebuttal to the “think of the children” argument is that parents are responsible for what their kids have access to. It is not society’s job to parent your kid for you. An it applies just as equally to your argument. Because it is a “think of the children” argument. Which is never, ever, ever, ever, ever a good argument. And that’s called emphasis. It’s as effective as your “seriously folks” bullshit. It’s just a rhetorical flourish. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-being-bullied-really/788007/124 "2017-06-08T00:00:23Z")
It’s also up to Donald and Melania as to what he watches and reads about, not ours. That being said, I don’t think people should be mocking Barron himself, since he’s just a kid, and isn’t responsible for the actions of his parents. It was shitty when people did it to the Obama girls, and it’s shitty to do it now to Barron. His parents are fair game. Likewise, his older siblings, as they’re adults. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-being-bullied-really/788007/125 "2017-06-08T00:01:10Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Her hair was kinda ratty, too, if anyone noticed. !!!Stop the hirsute shaming!! :mad::mad: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-being-bullied-really/788007.md?page=6)