Why has bullying suddenly become a major concern when for
ages it has been dismissed as child’s play? Social media has forced people to
get to know bullying victims pushed to suicide, to hear their last words and
see the pain on their faces. To see their humanity.
Those who created social media, as well as the programming
and technology that make it possible, are nerds. Nerds are in charge, all of whom have
experienced sustained levels of bullying and been changed for life, sometimes
for the better, more often not. They
know bullying for what it is the basest, most primitive expression of Evil.
Evil, as I understand it, is a negative force, resulting
from the exercise of free will that informs, tests, prunes, and strengthens Good.
Its root is Selfishness, acting for
personal pleasure or benefit at the cost or harm, often unnecessary, of others.
It is the opposite of the enlightened self-interest often at the heart of
altruism, charity, compassion, and love. Bullying is the intentional inflicting
of harm upon others for personal gain, usually power or control, real or imagined,
through physical or psychological means.
In childhood, it is most often direct
and brutish; adults can be much more subtle and dangerous. Bullying is the most direct expression of
selfishness. A child can become, or create, and adult abuser, tyrant, or
mass-murderer. Those who practice
bullying usually start because they lack control over their own lives and wish
to gain the sensation, or they have pain inflicted upon them and wish to get
rid of it by spreading it to others. Bullies push as far as they can get away with,
cowards who act only when they outmatch or outnumber their victims, giving in
to the predatory urge to cull the herd by picking on the weak.
Bullying isn’t an innocent, but brutal, part of childhood;
it is the beginning of the growth of evil and must be treated as such.
Otherwise, we allow ambitious individuals like Hitler and Stalin to rise and
less stable ones, often victims themselves, to murder scores of people at a
time. Lives are litteral at sake, as
well as minds, and souls.
Allowing evil to flourish is at best callous and at worst
implicit. Evil is often callous to the suffering it cause. Lack of empathy is a
sign of psychopathy. Psychopaths make the best, often most charming,
bullies. Bullying is abuse. It is
assault. It is immoral and illegal to all but those we call children, even
those old enough to have the basic knowledge of good and evil, old enough to
make adult mistake intentionally. Bullying is about power and abuse. When you
get down to it rape is a form of bullying. It’s not surprising that it is often
perpetrated by privileged male athletes and frat boys while drunk. – no inhibitions
or limits. Those who get away with it in college often do it to society at
large when they get into positions of real power.
I have bullied, briefly, and know the thrill and
satisfaction of being in perceived control over another person. For far longer
I was bullied and know well the terror of having no power over yourself or
life. I did the former to try and relieve the latter.
I actually agree with Harper, for once ( ironic because he
is a prime example of a bully), regarding what he said about the impression of
bullying being of children’s play, but that in reality it included criminal acts.
Bully ranges in severity from a single teasing to a sustained campaign of
violence and degradation with deadly potential. It needs to be nipped in the
bud, with the bully and victim both attended to early with measured, thoughtful
intervention focused on eliminating the behaviour and fostering empathy. Punishment,
as always, should be measured and reserved for more serious offenses, to stop
it becfore it takes root.
Limits, boundaries, and respect need to be taught and
reinforced. Bullies need to know they can’t get away with it. That is why we
have laws. When all other reasonable alternatives have been exhausted, legal punishment
is required. There needs to be a series of educational and social nets that filter
out everyone who can be helped, leaving only psychopaths, revealed hopefully before
they become dangerous.
Blessed, and cursed, with the knowledge of good and evil, we
are children of Heavenly parents, learning about the power, benefits,
consequences and responsibilities of free will. Heavenly Father doesn’t
interfere with that, but bullies do such as Satan do. That learning needs
guidance, as soon as we can tell the difference between good and bad, which my
church believes is at eight years of age. It is up to parents and society to
provide that guidance.
Otherwise, the bullies will thrive and our children will
not.
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