Innocent Bystander: Is The Bully The Self Reflection of Our Society?
Up until now bullying was simply and incorrectly viewed as a right of passage. Now after many years of incidents of preventable death, untold emotional terrorism, and negative psychological effects it has inflicted upon its victims. American society has finally opened its eyes to this problem and social injustice. Not unlike, the injustice America inflicted upon Afro Americans. Who just two generation ago were subjected to discrimination; at the time this too was never viewed as an injustice in the eyes of many Americans. This was simply dismissed as merely a right of passage that the downtrodden must face to gain acceptance into main stream American Society.
We are all aware of the basic psychology of the typical bully, using their strength to inflict fear when preying on helpless victims. As history repeats itself we are now asking ourselves again- why? Maybe before we examine the profile of the bully, we should take a deeper and clear look upon the society that empowers the bully, and we may find the bully is in essence a self reflection of our nation’s morals and punitive ethos. One that is based on an individualistic society that arrogantly promotes survival of the fittest, and not the needs for our society in whole. Where power trumps justice and the need for an equitable and just society for all.
Where does the bully learn this behavior? Possibly by our nation’s laws, actions and examples set by our society. Our current economic conditions may serve as an example in which the bully emulates. As record numbers of productive Americans are unemployed and underemployed, they are now finding themselves bullied by banks to foreclose on their homes, repossess their cars, and charge excessive interest and punitive charges on delinquent credit cards, and not to mention their loss of good credit. America offers no remedy or safety net to these victims of economic hard times. Though will bully them with punitive financial terrorism for a condition they did not create. Our bullying is not limited to within our borders. We have been exporting our bully mentality with our never ending foreign interventions and wars by seeking military solutions rather then diplomatic and peaceful solutions.
If as a nation we are to honestly look the bully in the eye, sadly we will see our nation’s self reflection and come to conclusion we have met the bully and it is us. Regretfully, like in the past, America’s soul will not catch up to a higher morality until it has inflicted much pain and suffering on innocent victims. Until such time when we reach this level of enlightenment our children will learn by the poor examples set by our nations morality or lack there of.
Dr. Richard Cirulli is a professor of economics, statistics and ethics. Hosts a weekly cable show “The American Condition” dealing with current economic issues. He can be reached at profcirulli@optonline.net
Adam has worked in the local news industry for the past two decades in Westchester County and the broader Hudson Valley. Read more from Adam’s author bio here.
