What in the World was Florida talking about when she said.......

[TVFactFan]

Michael handled the bully situation like a man?????? This is the episode when the Bully was taking Michael's lunch money and Michael invited him to spend the weekend with him to avoid fighting the bully. So how did Michael handle this like a man if he was scared to fight? Thoughts Please

[Kitt]

I don't know. I guess she thought he was being mature by not getting into fisticuffs. One of those sappy, unrealistic morality plays that TV shows are infamous for.

[TVFactFan]

Originally posted by Kitt
I don't know. I guess she thought he was being mature by not getting into fisticuffs. One of those sappy, unrealistic morality plays that TV shows are infamous for.


That wasn't being mature, that was MIchael being a wimp with a capital W.

[Kitt]

Yeah, I know. I'm just telling you what they were trying to pull off. I don't agree with it. A kid can't get away with that. You have to get your nose bloodied sometimes. That's part of the "Good Times" of growing up.

[GeeBee]

Sitcom Analyzer and Kitt, you two have got to be kidding.

As for this episode itself, I would hardly call it sappy. If anything, it was a promotion of child abuse and its ultimate message was that violence, in one form or another, is the only answer.

[Kitt]

Originally posted by GeeBee
Sitcom Analyzer and Kitt, you two have got to be kidding.

As for this episode itself, I would hardly call it sappy. If anything, it was a promotion of child abuse and its ultimate message was that violence, in one form or another, is the only answer. Have you ever heard the saying, "Boys will be boys"? Come on. Child abuse? Let kids grow up without stepping into their everyday squables. I had little boxing matches when I was a kid. It happens. If my dad or even worse, my mom, had stepped in I would have hated that. As I said, it's part of growing up. And no, I wasn't kidding, and I doubt that Solomon was either.

[GeeBee]

Hello, there were two different thoughts in my posts; hence the two paragraphs. I said that you and Sitcom Analyzer had to be kidding because of your absolutist ideas about how to handle a bully, being a real man vs. wimp, etc. There are many different ways to handle a bully and in these days of school shootings, conflict/resolution tends to be preferred.

The child abuse aspect I spoke of was how James beat the kid with a belt. I know some do not consider this child abuse, but I do. Corporal punishment was wayyyy overdone on that show. Unfortunately, it was a probably realistic portrayal of how many impoverished families deal with stress of daily living. However, I'd rather see TV families that present the ideal rather than the real. One reason that I liked the introduction of Penny's character is that it at least conveyed that child abuse does exist and that there is a limit to physical discipline.

These are my opinions and I'm sticking to them.

[Kitt]

Originally posted by GeeBee
Hello, there were two different thoughts in my posts; hence the two paragraphs. I said that you and Sitcom Analyzer had to be kidding because of your absolutist ideas about how to handle a bully, being a real man vs. wimp, etc. There are many different ways to handle a bully and in these days of school shootings, conflict/resolution tends to be preferred.

The child abuse aspect I spoke of was how James beat the kid with a belt. I know some do not consider this child abuse, but I do. Corporal punishment was wayyyy overdone on that show. Unfortunately, it was a probably realistic portrayal of how many impoverished families deal with stress of daily living. However, I'd rather see TV families that present the ideal rather than the real. One reason that I liked the introduction of Penny's character is that it at least conveyed that child abuse does exist and that there is a limit to physical discipline.

These are my opinions and I'm sticking to them. Hi back at you. I agree with conflict resolution alternatives. Just not with taking too seriously kids fighting it out if that's how it turns out. Actually, my knowlege of this particular episode is limited to what I've read in this thread. I haven't seen it. I didn't know what you just told me about the belt. I completely agree with you about "the belt" being child abuse. My dad used that method and I hated him with a passion, to be perfectly honest, for doing so. Not only because of the discomfort, but, at least as importantly, for the domination he had over me because of it. So maybe we agree on more than we thought. :wave: