It’s been quite a week for those in the mental health profession and those in government and the media who like to pretend they are. Yes, the narrative of the week, kicking off with President Trump’s North Korea tweet on Tuesday and continuing through the weekend (and surely into next week), is that Trump is mentally unfit for office and must be removed.
With that in mind, consider this unrelated entry from psychologist Barbara Greenberg, who writes in US News that “the word ‘best’ encourages judgment and promotes exclusion,” and so children should be banned from having best friends in school.
Should schools ban kids from having best friends? https://t.co/V695aqcEH3
— U.S. News (@usnews) January 6, 2018
Home schooling FTW https://t.co/R7YcJuVIMo
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) January 7, 2018
“So, what do I, as a psychologist, think of this trend where schools are banning best friends?” asks Greenberg. “I have thought about it long and hard, and I say bring it on.”
What does this even mean? https://t.co/2JJ7ql91En
— Josh Hammer (@josh_hammer) January 6, 2018
OK, bring it on … how? Are schools supposed to “ban” friendships, or simply ban the use of the words “best friend”? In either case … nah.
No. But we should ban this author from writing. https://t.co/tLv82hmcFh
— Ben (@BenHowe) January 6, 2018
I keep hearing that homeschooling my kids will make them awkward, and that only a prison run by animals who think up things like this will properly "socialize" them. https://t.co/1FSNa7pu3X
— Mr X the Ever-Living (@GlomarNeverDies) January 6, 2018
I can’t even. No. The answer is NO. One more thing on my list of 274,345,824 reasons to homeschool. https://t.co/7frpWNsPop
— Kate Paredes (@Paredes44katie) January 7, 2018
I’ll write more later, but here is an actual adult arguing that schools should ban best friends bc they are “inherently exclusionary.” We are dumb as bricks. https://t.co/Rua2dL1iu6
— a very stable genius at that (@the36review) January 7, 2018
What the hell is wrong with people? As someone who to this day struggles with making and keeping friends, banning me from having the only friend I had in school would have been beyond devastating. STOP PRESUMING EXTROVERSION IS NOT ONLY THE NORM BUT THE ONLY HEALTHY WAY TO BE! https://t.co/B4mJfvwtOm
— alexandriabrown (@alexthechick) January 7, 2018
I am going to yelp about this more. The adolescent psychologist who wrote that article sets a standard of no best friend, but a small circle of close friends, but not too large a circle of friends. That is a ludicrous standard that will only amplify social anxiety. https://t.co/B4mJfvwtOm
— alexandriabrown (@alexthechick) January 7, 2018
Ever wonder how we got so many emotionally stunted adults who fail to grasp how life works? Well, our education system (and some parents) think their job is to protect kids from reality. https://t.co/6HNejX3Y3z
— Jesse Kelly (@JesseKellyDC) January 6, 2018
Schools should ban all human nature https://t.co/3EfYI1lLsy
— Fusilli Spock (@awstar11) January 6, 2018
Someone really had a rough, jealous-filled childhood https://t.co/PbS510ptWW
— Benji Backer (@BenjiBacker) January 6, 2018
Eureka! We have just discovered there is no limit to the insanity… https://t.co/22y2LWPw0t
— Jim Henderson (@DrJBHenderson) January 7, 2018
“Hey boss I have a really dumb hot take I wanna write about.”
“Say no more get it in by the end of the day” https://t.co/zn4nwQcXEp— Funny Libertarian (@funlibertarian2) January 7, 2018
We are only 6 days into 2018 https://t.co/knEkFx3V7A pic.twitter.com/rjy593ucIz
— Harry Khachatrian (@Harry1T6) January 7, 2018
It only took five days for 2018 to reach peak stupid. https://t.co/s9YhUSmkLn
— Ian Parish (@IanTreyParish) January 7, 2018
Remember, 2017 did its best:
Opinion: Can My Children Be Friends With White People? https://t.co/BRfO6tRVuW
— The New York Times (@nytimes) November 12, 2017
Related:
WOW! NYT pisses EVERYONE off with ‘friends’ op-ed that pushes the segregation of children