Is bullying human nature?

Now that our recent election is over, the right wing is free to tell us more about what happened. During the election run-up, the media was too full to allow any reasonable message to get through.

This may be why the initiative to dampen down bullying had a weak beginning. The anti-bullying campaign may strengthen with time. Bullying, vital to campaigning, was the message that got lost in all the clamor. The TV footage of a woman protester in [Kentucky] being trampled by [a GOP volunteer] can stand as an example of how campaign bullying can get out of hand.

Maybe the effort could start all over — but so long as human nature prevails, we look forward with faint hope to somehow seeing an end to bullying.

Bullying evidently needs several ingredients: first, an initiator who intends to become a leader someday; then, a target thought to be weaker or more vulnerable — maybe someone who dresses differently, speaks differently or is somehow
“different”; and, initially, there must also be some name calling. Of course, a crowd of noisy people hoping for some excitement must gather.

True, name-calling recalls the fifth-grade school yard for many of us. Trouble is, many of us stopped growing about then. Bullying evidently is going to be with us, maybe, for good.

— Allen Thomas
Asheville

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4 thoughts on “Is bullying human nature?

  1. phantom28804

    I have to agree with the writer. I think every group out there bullies people to follow there beliefs/agendas; whether it is passively or actively.

  2. Jessica B.

    timpeck says: “The writer must be referring to the New Black Panthers.”

    No points for lack of reading comprehension, Tim. Simple fact is that for “adults”, bullying has become profitable, a cash cow for making easy money. All you have to do is look at what passes for the “news media” nowadays. Opinion and editorializing have replaced journalism and reporting. Shouting matches have replaced debate. It doesn’t matter if it’s from the right or the left, the poison pen has become the rule of the day and snide comments have become the coin of the realm.

    Another simple fact is that it’s easier to scapegoat than to deal with reality. Give someone something or someone to blame and you’re guaranteed an audience. We do it on a daily basis in the so-called “adult world”, so why are we surprised when the young follow our lead? So long as we continue the bullying on the airwaves and in print and in the pulpit and on the campaign trail, so long as we treat anyone with a different opinion or idea or appearance or belief system as less than ourselves, we’re just encouraging bullying.

  3. Cheshire

    You don’t even have to look that far, Jessica B.
    Look at traffic: tailgating, flashing high beams, and honking at someone to make them move faster is classic bullying behavior. Aggressive behavior with the intent to intimidate someone else.

    Bullying is EVERYWHERE.

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