The latest "zero-tolerance" debacle...

...comes to us from the vast Junior Nanny State to our north - specifically, Keswick, Ontario.

See if you can guess which high-school student was suspended, arrested and charged with assault and informed that they most likely will be expelled, after reading the following:

1. Bully approaches Asian immigrant honor student after an argument during gym class and calls him a "F***ing Chinese".

2. Bully then shoves the Asian student backwards and proceeds to hit him in the mouth.

3. Asian student, whose father is a Korean martial arts master, strikes the bully once with his left (non-dominant) hand, as his father has taught him to only strike in self-defense, as a last resort, and with his weak hand in order to use restraint. The blow lands square on the bully's nose, breaking it and pretty much stopping the altercation right then and there.

Any guesses? Yep, it's the Asian student who was thrown out of school and criminally charged with assault in the matter. The bully, who's responsible for this entire mess, was merely suspended for his role in causing the fight.

The story isn't quite over yet, though, thanks to over 400 of the Asian student's classmates at Keswick High School, who seem to be much more understanding of how life should work than both their school's administration as well as the local cops. They heroically (and correctly) staged a walkout at their school in order to protest the unfair treatment of their fellow student, which has embarrassed the "authorities" into taking a second look at things:

"After the public outcry, the York Regional Police hate crimes unit reopened the case. Although the other student has not been charged, further charges are possible, a spokesman said yesterday."

Right idea, wrong execution. This isn't a "hate crime". It's battery, committed against an innocent person who lawfully defended themselves against the unprovoked attack. The victims color, gender or sexuality shouldn't enter into it at all, as the law should be completely color-blind in order to deal with everyone in a fair and consistent manner. The only charge here should be lodged against the bully, not for some nebulous thought-crime "hate" offense, but instead for your garden-variety assault complaint. Prosecuted correctly and fairly, his punishment will hopefully impress upon the little thug in no uncertain terms that he should keep his hands to himself.

The Asian student? As far as we're concerned, he should be given a commendation for showing such uncommon restraint in his reaction to being attacked, and needs to be immediately placed back into class with a formal apology for how he was treated by the administration. One's natural-born right to self-defense doesn't just magically disappear because that person is attending a public school, you know.


Coincidentally, before reading this story yesterday we found ourselves at a bookstore purchasing two children's books for an unrelated affair. Perusing the children's section, we spotted "Jay McGraw's Life Strategies for Dealing With Bullies", authored by the TV guru Dr. Phil's son. Seeing the title, we remarked to ourselves, "A baseball bat would make a great 'Life Strategy'".

We really can't stand bullies.