Do That And I Will Tattle On You

This guy is demonstrating proper school yard defensive behavior -- perhaps too late.

Making schoolyards safe is an ongoing project for school teachers and administrators. Those in charge believe that children must be protected from bullies. Their method of protecting children is to eliminate bullies and any semblance of bullying from schoolyards and classrooms. We are raising a class of weenies, scaredy-cats, namby-pambies, and milk toasts.

All aggressive behavior gets smothered without regard for natural interactions between normal kids who are developing skills and learning how to react and protect themselves.

If kids do not learn the three Rs while in kindergarten or through elementary grades, when might they ever learn the basic skills needed to go on and attain higher educations? It will be nearly impossible to be successful in today's high-tech world. Similar logic and practicalities apply to learning how to get along culturally once kids leave the schoolyard.

Decades ago kids grew up and skillfully handled bullies on their own. Some stood up straight and punched back. It did not matter if they were then punched, bloodied, kicked and knocked down again. The point was that they didn't accept bullying. Instead, they defended themselves.

Another aspect was that bullies were free to bully. The positive aspect of bullying was that bullies left themselves wide open for repercussions. If they failed to successfully defend themselves from their victim and his friends, the bullies could be stopped and potentially taught a lesson. Of course, if they mounted a successful defense, they would go on to bully. However, in Darwinian fashion, usually at some point, bullies over-reached and ended up getting beat up themselves. Perhaps then they learned lessons and gained perspective used to more wisely guide their adult behavior. Some failed to learn and we see their names in the headlines and obituaries. Darwin does win eventually.

Some schoolyard victims would mount the relativistic defense. Rather than using physical force to defeat a really-big bully, the victim might just shout back, "Don't make a federal case of it".

Today's perversion of the US legal system is a consequence to some degree of victims and bullies' failure to mount self-inspired, self-motivated self-defenses. Too often, instead of a good punch in the chops, the natural defense is whine and escalate possible injustices and unfair situations into state or federal cases.

An example of making a federal case out of an ordinary patent dispute is the four-year long legal battle between a patent attorney-owner operating under the corporate name NPT being waged against Research In Motion (RIM), manufacturer of the Blackberry device.

In a recent admonition to the litigants, Judge Spencer said at the conclusion of a four-hour-plus hearing, "I am surprised, absolutely surprised, that you have left this incredibly important decision to the court... This was really a business decision, but you have left it in the legal arena and that's what you are going to get -- a legal decision. The case should have been settled."

The judge most severely admonished RIM, which he said still refused to acknowledge the fact that in 2002 it lost in court to NTP. Judge Spencer said nothing RIM has done, including all the lobbying, patent re-examinations and appeals, has "changed the reality of the jury verdict... The hallmark of sanity is to remain firmly tethered to reality. One unfortunate reality for RIM that they want to forget is that there was a trial... When all is said and done, RIM infringed on NTP's patents."

Darwin may yet prevail in this protracted schoolyard fight. The winner may not be a winner when RIM considers how much business it lost due to potential customers' concern that their Blackberry devices could be shut down and NTP considers its lost potential royalties.