Books VS Television

News flash!!! -
"Children who watch a lot of television are more prone to push other kids around, according to the research. Conversely, four-year-olds whose parents tend to read to them, eat meals with them and go on outings together are significantly less likely to become bullies in grade school." - Yahoo! New 4-4-2005

Like this is news? When I was growing up I was friends with everyone. By the time I graduated from high-school I had never had a single fight, and was an accepted member of the nerds, the punks, the prepies, the jocks (though I did have a rather shy streak when it came to talking to girls).

Why? One of my earliest memories is of my mother reading to my sister and I The Secret Garden - by Frances Hodgson Burnett. Before I went to kindergarden I could already read. By third grade I had read Tolkien's trilogy.

Of course now I am an intellectual bully. Not a psuedo-intellectual bully. Psuedo-intellectual bullies like to try to impress people with their knowledge. Intellectual bullies tend to ignore anyone who isn't truly worth sparring with. I guess people don't notice intellectual bullies so much, since it isn't the same as being pushed in public and getting your pant's knee torn when you fall to the ground.

So who are the bigger bullies? TV heads or book heads? Is it worse to be beaten up physically or wrangled mentally? I know I have caused several people to question there entire value systems. Lord knows that's got to hurt.