LNP Always Lancaster from Lancaster, Pennsylvania • 16

A16 MONDAY, JUNE 6, 2016 LNP I LANCASTER, PA 11111 llitillifillillI1111111111 111111 I111111111 11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111i1111111111111111111111111111i1111111111111111111111111111111 LNP I Founded 1794 0 0 FORMERLY KNOWN AS TWA INTELLIGENCER JOURNALLANCASTER NEW ERASUNDAY NEWS Beverly R. Stehunan Barbara Hough rtoda Chairman Emeritus Executive Editor (I) Robert M. Krasne Suzanne Cassidy Chairman or the Board Editor of the Opinion Page PUbliitterE 1866-1917 Andrew Steinman 11921-1962 J. Hale Steinman I 1921-1962 John F. Steinman (Co-Publisher) 11963-1980 John F.

Steinman I 2013- Robert M. Krasne pllinillam In our words '''l (41'1, 0, .1 I it- :...4060..1 -11. A clear stand on hazing CYNTHIA TUCKER SYNDICATED COLUMNIST THE ISSUE The real 800-pound gorilla: vicious social media users Gov. Tom Wolf signed House Bill 1574 into law May 24. The legislation expands the state's anti-hazing law to apply to middle and high schools.

The law previously only applied to colleges and universities. Under the law, hazing is a third-degree misdemeanor. Schools are also required to write and enforce anti-hazing policies, which schools must post online and distribute to their athletic coaches. Our public commons may have transformed into a virtual space, but it still lends itself only too easily to the lynch mob. fessors.

Yet, 84 percent of those do not consider themselves to have been hazed. Many cases are hidden from the public because some victims are too embarrassed or frightened to share their story. Victims are often physically and psychologically traumatized, while others are manipulated into accepting it as normal behavior. So we are glad Gov. Wolf and the General Assembly have acted to ensure that hazing, like bullying, are allowed no place in our public schools.

We laud local school districts that were ahead of the game. Documents show that all 17 public school boards in the county adopted anti-hazing policies in the last 16 years. Some districts have also adopted programs to create a positive and inviting culture in athletics and extracurricular activities. The LAX Men leadership program at Warwick pairs younger lacrosse players with upperclassmen. The team also hears from guest speakers who teach about healthy character traits and team building.

The football team has a similar program called Winner's Circle. The School District of Lancaster has a program called Building Victory with Honor. Taking these steps in schools allows students to relish the true benefits of athletics. Sports teach a wide range of values, be it teamwork work ethic, respect or perseverance. When schools use the power of sports for good, hazing can become a thing of the past.

Teaching kids the power of bystander intervention of stepping in safely to prevent others from being hurt, of alerting grown-ups when help is needed can also help. Parents, educators, coaches, students we all can play a part in making hazing history There may have been a time when hazing involved good-natured pranks that put no one at risk. But hazing seems to have taken a darker think the definition is shifting," Hank Nuwer, a journalism professor at Franklin College in Indiana and a founding board member of HazingPrevention.org, said in an interview with LNP. "Now there is sexual hazing, including rape and sodomy, which in no way can be condoned and does not in the least resemble the practice of welcoming newcomers." In March, senior football players from Conestoga High School, in Berwyn, Chester County, were charged with assaulting a freshman teammate with a broomstick. The alleged assault occurred during a weekly hazing ritual dubbed "No Gay Thursday." The ritual, Chester County District Attorney Thomas Hogan said, also included upperclassmen placing their genitals on other players' heads, players "grinding" up against other players and older players forcing underclassmen to undress them.

In 2014, football players at Central Bucks West High School, in Doylestown, allegedly performed similar hazing rituals, including a requirement that rookies grab another player's genitals while fully clothed in front of the team, and a rite referred to by the team as "waterboarding," in which players placed towels over their teammates' heads and led them into the shower. These stories are disturbing, and, sadly, there are more. Forty-seven percent of college students surveyed say they experienced hazing behavior before college, according to a report published in 2008 by University of Maine pro The judgment of the online hordes was instantaneous: The mother was to blame. After a 3-year-old boy managed to fall or crawl into a gorilla habitat at the Cincinnati Zoo on a Saturday visit in late May resulting in the zoo's decision to kill the rare silverback to prevent serious harm to the child the Twitterverse lit up with denunciations of the mom. So did other social media.

Shortly after the episode, an online petition was launched calling for police and child welfare authorities to hold the parents responsible for the gorilla's death. The petition drew more than 100,000 signatures within 24 hours, according to news reports, and had gathered more than 300,000 within a few days. (Apparently swayed by public opinion, Cincinnati police launched a criminal investigation into the incident but declined to press charges against the mother, Michelle Gregg, as of Stmday.) Never mind that none of those howling for justice for Harambe, the western lowland gorilla, were present during the encounter or had any evidence that any adults had been negligent. They wanted the child's parents arrested, incarcerated, flayed in public, displayed in stocks in the square. "Stupid people shouldn't be allowed access to endangered animals," one tweet read.

"This beautiful ENDANGERED gorilla was killed because of extremely poor parenting," said another. And after Gregg posted a statement on Facebook thanking supporters for their prayers, one tweeter had this response: "Don't hide behind your religion lady. God is not your babysitter. Ur an idiot." Some Facebook posters even suggested Gregg and the boy's father should have been shot instead of Harambe. For all our marvelous technological developments, for all our advances in science, medicine and even psychology, human beings remain what we have always been: irrational, judgmental and easily swayed by the instincts of the crowd.

Our public commons may have transformed into a virtual space, but it still lends itself only too easily to the lynch mob. Just tune in to the raw assessments of Twitter and Facebook, where the human capacity for wisdom, empathy and understanding, yes, but also racism, sexism, misoomy and tribalism are on full display. Indeed. misogyny is so deeply embedded in social media environments that women who dare to express themselves with authority have had to learn to steel themselves for the expected assault. FIND MORE ONLINE bitlyLancasterHazing I bitlyPAHouseBill1574 Recently, sports reporters Julie Di Caro and Sarah Spain joined forces to create a video to highlight the ugly abuse they draw from men who seemingly cannot stomach the notion that women have expertise in male-dominated sports.

They asked a group of male sports fans (not the culpable parties) to read some of the vicious tweets that have been sent their way, an exercise which, happily, made some of the readers uncomfortable. At least that small, select group of men was chastened by the experience. But the lesson has been lost on the so-called Bernie bros, a group of online commenters who, while not identified, present themselves as male supporters of Bernie Sanders. They are hateful misogynists who don't limit themselves to rational critiques of Hillary Clinton's policies, but rather spew vile criticism that reduces her and her female supporters to crude references to their gender. Psychologists tell us that social media lend themselves to that sort of repellent response because the writer is deprived of face-to-face contact with his target, reducing his capacity for empathy.

There is undoubtedly much truth in that. But it's also true that humans have always had a facility for meanness. for viciousness, for contempt especially toward those whom they don't know. As a black female columnist, I've endured my share of vile responses to my opinions, many of which predate social media. At least I stepped knowingly into the public arena (as did Hillary Clinton), so I knew what I was up against.

Not so poor Michelle Gregg, who only wanted to give her children an outing at the zoo. She has found herself pilloried by people who have little information upon which to base their judgments. Her critics would do well to learn a few of the things Gregg may be trying to teach her 3-year-old: respect for our fellow living creatures (including other humans). good manners and impulse control. 4 o- m11111111 (79'91 (71 1111 II 1 I 2 1 1, 1 3 Other opinions: School threats Manheim Central School District has had 10 bomb threats this school year the latest being Wednesday at Doe Run on Gramby Elementary School.

It was the school's fourth bomb threat since May 4. This school year, there have been six bomb threats at Manheim Central High School. Four of the six suspects at the high school were identified and criminally charged. Lancaster County District Attorney Craig Stedman called the high volume of threats particularly disturbing. 0 We need to put a an on markers.

pens, pencils and phones. That should solve the problem." Gary Hossier of PequeaFacebook 0 -Well maybe (Stedman) needs to do something about it. Stop giving these kids a slap on the Platt Muffins, location not disclosed Facebook 0 'This is getting old and is ndiculous. SeriousIy. fourth-grade kids leaving bomb threats? Everyone's day is I'm embarrassed to say I live In Jo Lynn Groft Cottle, of Manheim lantasterOnline.com 0 i know these lods are young, but they need to be held account ate under the law.

It should be made known to all students that hen they are ident.c.ed they have charges Dressed against them" Todd Getz location not disclosed tanCaSterOnline.COM CyntPna Tucker is a columnist and yrs ting pmfessor of in' at at tire Univers of Georg a Her column is vyqcticated tIrti versa ctuckerprof 4 44,4 '771Z22 TT 40 .10, 1Mb F..