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There is a lot of discussion today about bullies In talking with people of an older generation – Today’s bullying takes on so many more shades and The new complexity of bullying lies in the Humanizing our society and teaching empathy and Will you take a stand?<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There is a lot of discussion today about bullies and the sometimes deadly cost of bullying in the news. Some wonder if the there is an increase in bullying, or if we are just becoming more aware of the problem. Naturally any time it becomes more culturally acceptable to come forward as a victim of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[68],"tags":[56,18,57,55],"class_list":["post-25","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mindfulness","tag-bullying","tag-jonathan-ellerby","tag-social-media","tag-violence"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nand the sometimes deadly cost of bullying in the news. Some wonder if the there
\nis an increase in bullying, or if we are just becoming more aware of the
\nproblem. Naturally any time it becomes more culturally acceptable to come
\nforward as a victim of any type of abuse, there will always appear to be an
\nincrease in incidence. But is bullying actually different or more frequent
\ntoday than in the past?<\/span><\/p>\n
\nborn and raised pre-television or in the early days of TV – it seems that
\nbullying in the past was certainly common, but straight-forward and fleeting.
\nYouth spent more time together in play and unregulated sport. There is no
\nquestion that pecking orders were established and the strong would “push
\naround” the weak from time to time, and then there was the occasional
\nmenace that people simply learned to respect and avoid. Though we can never
\njustify or excuse bullying, it seems there was a simpler time when bullying was
\na less socially complex. Of course, this was also in a time and context when
\nbrute force was more acceptable in parenting, relationships and conflict – and
\nwe cannot forget the pure racism, bias and bigotry of the past that likely
\nexcused a lot of violence from even being considered bullying. But when we
\nspeak of the cruelty of children and what happens within communities, we must
\nwonder if things have gotten better or worse?<\/span><\/p>\n
\ntones. We now have the physical bullying by the local oversized menace, plus
\nthe small gangs of bullies (which can be made of girls or boys of any race or
\neconomic background), and we have two additional factors that I think make
\nmatters much worse. We now have virtual bullies – for example, teens that
\nharass, victimize and torment others by text, email, Facebook, Twitter and
\nother social media means. In this there is no accountability, there is a much
\nhigher psychological intensity and potential for humiliation, and there is a
\ndiminished sense of remorse in bullying from a distance, rather than
\nface-to-face. At the same time the scale of humiliation can be enormous. Which
\nbrings us to the next and final area of concern, and it’s something we can all
\ndo something about.<\/span><\/p>\n
\ndehumanization of strangers and people who are different than us in our culture
\ntoday. Social networking sites, biased websites, video games, and movies that
\ncelebrate massive amounts of violence all diminish the perceived value of a
\nhuman life, and the capacity for empathy and remorse. This is no small issue.
\nThroughout history, it has always been the dehumanization of an enemy that has
\nled to or allowed horrific acts of genocide, torture and persecution to exist.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nreflection about our impact on others is something we can do in our school
\nsystems, our homes, and in our social circles. Violence starts in the mind, as
\nan attitude towards problem solving, judgment, and how we deal with difference.
\nIt starts in subtle ways and that<\/i> is where you can make a difference.
\nTake a stand, teach a friend, empower a child or try a new perspective
\nyourself. Bullying is the tip of a dangerous iceberg of cultural immaturity. I
\nam certain we are better than that.<\/span><\/p>\n