It's not just the bullying. It's the cause of bullying.
Yesterday there was a CBC report of an assault by a 16 year old who threw his victim's cell phone and wallet in the lake told him to remove his clothes and walk home naked. Then a video of the event was posted on social media to show other people jeering and laughing at the victim. The victim was picked up soon after he was spotted walking. Whatever brief thrill the offender received from performing this cruel, demeaning act, and whatever the other kids felt next morning when they woke up, needs to be interrogated.
If causing shame to the victim is a laughing matter then we all need to ask ourselves how did we get here? I believe all who were present will be traumatized by this, even if older hardened drug dealers are involved.
The first question is, if power is so hard to attain, do we need to traumatize youth to establish our position, and if the answer is yes, it means human society is a failed experiment. If we (and by we I mean all who live here) cannot live without torturing others, it means we are homeless in a fundamental sense.
I know that there is institutional cruelty in prisons, corporations, and politics, and that has trickled down into social and mainstream media. I know many of us have experienced bullying as bully or bullied. I know there are many situations where power has been so abused we no longer recognize what real power is.
Cruelty for cruelty's sake is a numbing example of social fascism which alienates us all from belonging. Alienates us from our own family of beings.
Traditions of masculinity training in young boys, makes them lonely and isolated candidates for gangs, the military, police forces and political movements. They are trained to be nothing until they are invited to be something.
I would like to ask the bully how he feels about this today? I recommend that schools, parents, priests and social workers get engaged with the emotional and mental health of citizens who live in a society that values money more than health in our community. But mostly I suggest that corporate business and media examine these questions in their publications and broadcasts.
Further reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_suicides_that_have_been_attributed_to_bullying
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bc-teenager-robbed-nanaimo-1.5984957
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