0) What a privileged fucking answer. "Can't Anna stick up for herself?" Maybe Anna appreciates having an ally instead of having to argue all by herself against a strong able-bodied boy while wondering if everyone's silence means they agree with him?
" I am also surprised that his instinct was not to speak to Anna herself, directly, both assuring her that Sean is a jerk who isn’t worth her attention and that he is her friend. " We don't know he didn't also do that, and also he may not yet know to, because...
0.5) That said Todd is not quite doing allyship correctly, in part because...
1) TODD IS TWELVE YEARS OLD. I think it's 'developmentally appropriate', as it were, for him to have heard that hate speech is violence (it is) and to conclude that speech and violence are interchangeable (they are not). I agree that LW needs to teach him the difference but I don't agree with Michelle's punitive attitude, which risks having Todd think he's being punished for standing up against bigotry instead of the way he did so.
2) I think a lot of people think that words and actions are completely different and very far apart but I really don't think that's true. "Speech is violence" is a probably-too-short way of expressing some profound truths. Both LW and (especially) Michelle seem more concerned that Todd punched Sean one time than that Sean has been regularly ridiculing a classmate for her disability. Legally they're right but ethically I think Sean has likely doled out more damage than he took. But that probably wouldn't help LW to say.
3) "I’m concerned that Todd doesn’t seem to know (or care, now that he’s been told by his school) that punching is wrong, even when it’s “for a good cause.” What the fuck ever. What WOULD help LW is reassurance that one single punch doesn't make Todd some kind of violent monster in need of muzzling. I'm concerned that Sean seems to be being allowed by his teacher, parents, etc, to unleash ongoing cruelty on a disabled classmate. I think that says a lot more about Sean's essential character than Todd's single punch does about his.
*uses icon with weapons*
" I am also surprised that his instinct was not to speak to Anna herself, directly, both assuring her that Sean is a jerk who isn’t worth her attention and that he is her friend. " We don't know he didn't also do that, and also he may not yet know to, because...
0.5) That said Todd is not quite doing allyship correctly, in part because...
1) TODD IS TWELVE YEARS OLD. I think it's 'developmentally appropriate', as it were, for him to have heard that hate speech is violence (it is) and to conclude that speech and violence are interchangeable (they are not). I agree that LW needs to teach him the difference but I don't agree with Michelle's punitive attitude, which risks having Todd think he's being punished for standing up against bigotry instead of the way he did so.
2) I think a lot of people think that words and actions are completely different and very far apart but I really don't think that's true. "Speech is violence" is a probably-too-short way of expressing some profound truths. Both LW and (especially) Michelle seem more concerned that Todd punched Sean one time than that Sean has been regularly ridiculing a classmate for her disability. Legally they're right but ethically I think Sean has likely doled out more damage than he took. But that probably wouldn't help LW to say.
3) "I’m concerned that Todd doesn’t seem to know (or care, now that he’s been told by his school) that punching is wrong, even when it’s “for a good cause.” What the fuck ever. What WOULD help LW is reassurance that one single punch doesn't make Todd some kind of violent monster in need of muzzling. I'm concerned that Sean seems to be being allowed by his teacher, parents, etc, to unleash ongoing cruelty on a disabled classmate. I think that says a lot more about Sean's essential character than Todd's single punch does about his.
4) *rolls eyes elaborately*