Chicago Tribune

Balancing Act: After boy stabs girl who rejected him, let's examine how we celebrate men who refuse to take no for an answer

If you, like me, read the story about the 14-year-old Oklahoma boy who recently stabbed a girl repeatedly at a school assembly for rejecting him and thought, "What is happening...?"

And if you, like me, fully understand that there's not one thing happening - not one thing that leads to a boy turning violent when he hears no from the girl he desires ...

But if you, like me, think it's high time we examine some of the cultural messages we've simply taken for granted, to see if they could

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