Wednesday, January 23, 2019

Bullying, a cultural ‘norm’ that I hope to eliminate

As I’ve previously mentioned, I am taking a child development course, and this week, the class has been discussing the influence of culture on children.

Asked what value or cultural practice that we would like to eliminate, my answer is that I’d like to eliminate bullying in all spheres of society.

We currently exist in a social culture where bullying seems very much “the norm.” This is embodied by the “Bully-in-Chief” who sits in the U.S. White House.

(I’ve mentioned that I label subjects in my blog by the Dewey Decimal numbering system. Library catalogers might appreciate the classification I’ve assigned to U.S. President Donald Trump, 302.34092. Non-catalogers, I’m saying that Trump’s “most noted contribution” is in the field of bullying.)

Setting aside face-to-face bullying that might happen in the workplace or in school, one realm that’s particularly rife with bullying is people’s conduct on the Internet.

People think nothing of publicly shaming others, of going out of their way to dredge up past “dirt” that might not even have been a crime; it might simply have been a moment of poor judgement.

People do their best to ensure that someone is forever defined by that one thing — even if that means destroying someone’s life and their career in the process.

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