Hey, did you hear that November 20th is now officially KICK A GINGER DAY? No? Don’t even know what that means? Well, that’s the day when non-redheaded kids are encouraged to beat the crap out of red-headed kids for no good reason other than they’re, well, different. Yeah. It’s true. And it happened the other day at a Calabasas, California Middle School where 5 red-headed kids were assaulted as part of this new holiday.

WHAT THE—????? It never ceases to amaze me the capacity of kids to be cruel and stupid. But usually, since they are stupid they typically aren’t smart enough to be cruel. Usually they’ll just sit around being harmful to themselves. Unless they get inspiration.

Guess where they got the inspiration for this horrific behavior? If you said television, you’d be right. Specifically an episode of SOUTH PARK. Of course the irony is that SOUTH PARK was making fun of intolerance. But as I said, mean kids are usually pretty stupid. So they didn’t get the point of the show. Instead, they took it as a call to cruelty.

And just to make sure other kids “got the memo”, they posted it  on Facebook, reminding other kids of the “meaning” of the day and urging the assaults.

There isn’t enough prejudice in the world, kids have to find new people to hate? What is wrong with these children? How can they do this to other kids? I know, I know. Junior high age is typically the worst age. Middle school kids far exceed even high schoolers when it comes to inflicting pain and humiliation on fellow students. But really? Why? Is it to bolster their feelings of superiority? Is it the pack mentality, where those that are different or perceived as weaker are separated from the herd and relentlessly tormented? Are there outside influences that foster this behavior?

Now some parents (likely the parents of the bullies) are going to blame it all on SOUTH PARK. But I say BULL! First of all, I’m sick of this trend toward blaming one’s actions on everyone else. Take some freaking responsibility! This goes for parents as well as kids.

Second, while TV can give you ideas, it cannot force you to go out and behave in a certain way. Like when parents were all over Ozzy Osbourne for that “SUICIDE SOLUTION” song, saying it promoted suicide (which it really didn’t).  No one makes a person behave a certain way. They MUST have the capacity within them already.

The kids that perpetrated this Ginger Day violence HAD to have the capacity for violence. They HAD to be mean-spirited bullies to begin with, or they wouldn’t have done this. And while bullies may be inspired by TV shows, they are created at home.  Sculpted by the bullying loving hands of their parents.

No charges have been filed yet. But I’m a firm believer that there should be. At the very least these kids should all be suspended and made to go to counseling. And I suggest counseling because suggesting corporal punishment is very un-PC. Also, I don’t think it’s really the answer… correcting violent behavior with violent behavior. But they should lose all their electronic devices privileges. They should be grounded from Facebook. And they should be housebound and made to do chores for the rest of the school year.

But you know that’s not going to happen. You know what WILL happen? At least one of the bully kid’s parents will sue South Park. And the studio will settle to avoid a protracted court battle that will cost them more money in the long run. And the parents will use the money to buy those his and her matching ATVs and buy their kid the latest MacBook Pro and that  big screen TV they’ve been wanting for their bedroom.

Meanwhile, red-headed kids (and I’m talking to you too Carrot Top) will now have to remain on their guard. At least for the next 150 years, at which point experts tell us that due to the mixing of the populations, there will be no more redheads.