BULLYING- PT 1DO WE REALLY WANT IT TO STOP?

This is a no frills, unfancy blog the purpose of which is to share my thoughts and insights with others.  I was considering the problem of bullying in schools and I came up with a number of ideas I had not heard elsewhere.

INTRODUCTION

Bullying by school children has been getting a lot of press lately.  The statistics are alarming.  Such statistics can be found on (www.kidpower.org).  I survived twelve years of parochial school.  In each of those years the bullies always outnumbered their victims.  In addition to the bullies in my classes, I also had to contend with bullies from upper grades during recess as well as public school bullies on the way to and from school.  Renewed efforts to correct the problem of student bullying have been noted in the news, probably because of the stories of suicide resulting from bullying.  But I wonder how successful any attempt to stop student bullying can be if those trying to do something about it ignore how pervasive bullying is and has been in our society and in our world.                                                                                                                 

My definition of bullying is illegitimately using one's superior intelligence, strength, status, power, position, influence, or aggressive tendencies in ways that intimidate, control, harm, deprive, or take financial advantage of another or others.  That definition certainly describes cyber bullying, cruel teasing and rumor spreading, hazing, violent attacks, humiliation, physical abuse and other forms of student bullying.  There are, however, a number of other human behaviors that conform to that definition.

For example, any unnecessary violence or roughness in sports is bullying.  Yet aggression in both amateur and professional team sports is encouraged and rewarded.  Domestic violence and abuse are forms of bullying.  Coaches having sex with their underage charges and priests sexually abusing children are examples of bullying.  Sons and/or daughters abusing their parents is bullying.  Date rape as well as other forms of rape are bullying. 

Big business is full of bullying.  Mismanagement of people's investments, hostile takeovers, price fixing, insider trading, causing the deterioration of environmental quality in the name of profit are a few examples of corporate bullying.  Bernie Madoff was a financial bully.

There's organized crime where bullying is a way of life.  The same goes for neighborhood and prison gangs.  Individuals committing most types of crimes, be it theft, extortion, fraud, assault, etc. are bullies.

Government is full of bullying examples, from police brutality to the incarceration of political prisoners

Legitimate punishment by appropriate authority figures is not bullying.  Parental, educational, and civil authorities whose jobs involve disciplining others, need to be aware of the sometimes subtle distinction between appropriate punishment and many forms of bullying, including abuse, endangerment, neglect and abandonment.  If any of those authority figures were targeted for bullying as children, they need to be hyper-aware.

Next installment: Why do some kids become bullies?