Bullying the Bullies

A few weeks ago, a video was released of a group of middle school students bullying the bus monitor on the school bus.  It's a 10-minute long video with an endless stream of profanity, insults, threats, and taunts.  The video went viral and sparked international outrage as well as donations topping $650,000 to help Karen Klein (the bus monitor).  But even more disturbing to me than the video is the aftermath for the students who did the bullying.  These 13-year-old students have received thousands of phone calls and text messages threatening their lives, have had people come by and bang on the door to their house, and the families have had to call 911 several times because they feared for their lives.  

Clearly, bullying isn't just an adolescent problem.  Considering the bullying that the students have received, it is not hard to figure out where the behavior comes from.  The bullying of the bus monitor by the students is absolutely unacceptable, and so is the bullying of those students by the enraged public.  Children learn how to deal with people who they don't like and who upset them from watching adults as well as their peers, and sadly that example is not good.

The political arena is a great example of socially-sanctioned bullying.  The airwaves are flooded with ads criticizing and condemning the character and person of their opponent (not just their policies and record).  Truth and civility are sacrificed for personal advancement and winning over the onlookers.  Is this reminding anyone else of middle-school bullying?  

Bullying is a big problem that's getting bigger.  Thousands of kids commit suicide every year because of bullying.  But kids will never stop bullying each other while they see adults doing the same thing.  So before you like that post on Facebook or repeat that piece of gossip you heard at work, think of the example you are setting.  Teenagers may not listen to us, but they are watching us.

Chad Hess