St. Michael’s (Catholic) College, Toronto

In some ways, it was a story waiting to happen: media outlets inform the police that an indecent video is being shared on the internet. The incident happened at a Catholic boy’s private high school.

Why this should be so upsetting is that eight students have been expelled from school, and the local media have been camped outside the college trying to get further information from the school authorities and/or the parents. The parents are furious.

Oh, and the fact that the Toronto Police have been a presence at the school since Wednesday, because of some unstated threats to their school’s safe environment.

More ‘Boys Will Be Boys”?

Bullying is nothing new, especially at school. For years, incidents like this have gone unchallenged because it would be one person’s word against another’s. And gossip would be the medium by which news spread.

What is new is the technology that can record and disseminate the images through social media and cellphones. This two-edged sword can cut both ways: the victim is humiliated (as usual) and the perpetrator is caught (which is new).

These boys probably thought the broom handle lark would be fun to do, fun to record. Now they’re probably regretting ever dreaming it up (or thinking to imitate a scene from a movie). Their parents are also extremely embarrassed, and other students at the school are being bullied outside of school for attending there.

It has turned out to be in nobody’s favour.

Privilege

If you were rich (or lucky) enough to attend an English Public School like Eton, you would have had to endure this kind of abuse from your earliest days there. It was considered part of the way the hierarchy of higher society was ordered. After all, Prime Ministers and other government officials were chosen from amongst their alumni.

It was a ‘right of passage’.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t right. The upper social classes in Britain are full of very perverted individuals (in my opinion), mainly because they were subjected to these perversions.

Hence, the rumours for years and years about some very decidedly nasty goings-on with homosexuality being used as the way the Russians entrapped otherwise loyal English countrymen into spying on their own people.

Conclusion

If you want to lay blame (as most people do), blame society for admiring the ‘winners’ in life. The ‘losers’ always get forgotten, and nobody wants to be a forgotten one.

St. Mike’s has a reputation for sports excellence. Now that reputation is tarnished.

Will they recover from this scandal? Probably. All they have to do is wait for the next news cycle and then bury the evidence.

But will the victim be able to recover? Not likely. And that’s the real scandal.