I only watched a few episodes of friends. I’ll be honest, I thought it was stupid. However, I like your paragraph about your chess club students. I started a chess club at my high school my freshman year. We alternated between chess and D&D. In 1979 this was almost a high crime in satanism. Yes, some of us were bullied. I was not. I don’t know if it’s because I am female but the guys really seemed to get the brunt of it.

I was the person who bullied the bullies until they went away. Because I was probably 90 lbs soaking wet, I had to be sneaky. We were all smart and found many ways to torment the tormentors without leaving a fingerprint. Most folks in chess club are very non-aggression oriented, and I was just the catalyst, because I was so bored, it delighted me to come up with ways to make the jocks as miserable as they wished my friends were. It was very empowering for them to do something.

But, you’re wrong. Dan Quayle was right about Murphy Brown.