"Bad Boy Baby Names".

*sigh* The culture of victimhood.

Although I don't actually watch the TODAY show, a news story on MSN.com talked about one of the segments of yesterday's show. One of the interviews was a Shippensburg University professor named David Kalist. His claim: giving newborn males "oddball, girly, or strange" firstnames has a direct corrolation to whether or not they wind up in jail.

This is one of the reasons that I don't watch the TODAY show.

Kalist had chosen 10 names not to call your son if you want him to be a law-abiding citizen. Thus we can assume that the vast majority of future crimes will be committed by people named (in alphabetical order): Alec, Ernest, Garland, Ivan, Kareem, Luke, Malcolm, Preston, Tyrell, and Walter.

Hmmm... in one of the early "Wallace and Gromit" episodes (claymation) the canine villain was named "Preston". Maybe he's got a point.

There's an old Calvin and Hobbs cartoon that I have had hanging on my file cabinet for probably fifteen years. Calvin says to Hobbs: "Nothing I do is my fault. My family is dysfunctional and my parents won't empower me. Consequently, I'm not self-actualized. My behavior is addictive functioning in a disease process of toxic codependency. I need holistic healing and wellness before I'll accept any responsibility for my actions! I love the culture of victimhood." To which Hobbs sagely responds: "One of us needs to stick his head in a bucket of ice water."

Add to that that they gave him the wrong damn name. Calvin is certainly not mainstream. How'd Walter make the list over Calvin?

Those of us (notice that I say "us") that have had less-than-ideal upbringings do have our work cut out for us. But we can't use that to excuse bad behavior! If Garland and John commit a crime together, does one of them get more leniency? Instead of finding all the ways that everyone around us is to blame for our negativity, can we begin to accept the blame for our own selves?

Maybe I'm being nitpicky, I don't know. If I am... it's David Kalist's fault.