Bully For You

Hel-lo McFly! Apparently we now throw parties to celebrate people lying, cheating, slandering, and manipulating. We love it. We tell our children not to bully. However, we love it. Mixed messages, no, try diametrically opposed.

• Gordon Ramsey spewing out enough spittle to drown most of NY –  don’t yell at people.

• Honey Boo Boo – don’t tease or call people names.

• Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Fox News, and Sun News – don’t spread gossip, rumours, lies, false ‘news’, propaganda, BS, innuendo, and slander.

• Apprentice – don’t backstab, lie, cheat, harass, intimidate.

• Real Housewives – don’t hit, yell, lie, spread rumours, harass, and abuse.

  

It’s embedded in our culture; all of society seems to feed off bullying. We pretend to value people, but really we value drama, electronics, money, power, and more drama.

Bullying is not only acceptable, it’s rewarded. This makes schools and social situations a developmentally deranged breeding ground of bullying.

As if the bullying in school wasn’t bad enough, now the latest tool – cyberbullying.  No sanctuary, no escape, and oh so public humiliation.

Bosses destroying you as you’re just trying to make a living; parents screaming, frothing, hurting instructors, coaches, teachers, refs, players, and other parents; governments with hate laws, calling citizens terrorists and radicals, lying, stealing, attacking – home isn’t even safe for some people.

This isn’t good-natured teasing or joking around. The victims are traumatized and even kill themselves to get away.

Certain characters, TV shows, etc. were supposed to be extreme examples of people conducting themselves poorly.  Now aggressive images penetrate so deeply into children, adults and society in general that we can’t remember that so instead we worship that bad behaviour.

We cheer when contestants scheme, lie, and manipulate to win.  We buy products to emulate spoiled, narcissistic meanies.  We hold parties to celebrate bad guys.  Our own governments bully and cater to bullies. Then tell our children not to be bullies.  Can you see their confusion?  The ultimate do as I say, not as I do.

Ways to stop bullying. Puppet shows? Lectures? Selective policies? Non-enforced laws? Ummm, waste of time.

Here’s a simple way – stop promoting bullying as glamorous and cool.

Stop celebrating it.

Stop electing it.

Stop buying it.

Stop showing it.

Most of all, stop watching it.