August Loneliness
Bullying, sociologically speaking, is an unwanted behavior that brings a power imbalance. You are surely bullied if someone spreads rumors about you or attacks you physically or verbally, and you feel excluded by the rest of the group (ex: work team, class, etc).
In recent times is born cyber-bullying that takes place using modern technology (ex: creating fake social network profiles, e-mails, text messages, and phone calls). One in every four children is bullied, but in 85% of case, there is no intervention. Often people who belong to subcultures, or are viewed as different from the majority of people, are bullied to such an extent that it leads to them commit suicide. One method to help avoid suicide is to socialize with other outcaste members of society (ex: punks, nerds, metalheads), but it’s not the solution to the problem of bullying. To avoid to be picked on the only weapon is education, because only through education can bullying be prevented.
Through education, the mentality of adults who tolerate bullying can be changed such as children who are bullied can find support, and children who bully can be helped to redirect their behavior.
The Weird of the 3rd Floor
But why are Goths bullied? Goths are bullied simply because it’s easy. People love to pick on Goths for how they dress, for the music they listen, and so on. Classmates and co-workers hurts you on purpose, calling the gothic one “freak”, “satanic”, “weird”, thinking that you are different from the others, but words hurt, and so does physically aggressions. There are almost three ways in which you can answer a bully. The first one is the passive answer: ignoring the comments. This shows that the actions and words of the colleague who bully mean nothing to you. The second one is the assertive answer: answer to the bully without yelling or attack them physically.
The mask of indifference
But the key here is not becoming emotional or violent in your response unless you are being physically attacked and need to defend yourself. The last answer is the aggressive one: never yell or physically be violent unless the bully is attacking you in a physical way. Always remember to tell to a supervisor (ex: a teacher, a superior) about your situation, and never forget that you are perfect just as you are. I myself was bullied during the high school period, by both classmates and professors, but instead of conforming to the others, I kept my clothes and makeup goth and I answered the discrimination by socializing with Goths from other classes, making the bullies realize I was not alone like they wanted me to be.
In the first paragraph, I supported the importance of education versus the ignorance of bullies. As a philosopher, I don’t want to believe human beings are naturally evil, but I want to assert the importance of a right education in both schools and families. Bullies are often children who suffer power imbalance in their family, and bullied children are just viewed by others as “different”. Teaching both bullies and victims that they aren’t derelicts of society could help in dealing with bullying problems in both school systems and work places. How can education improve bullies behavior? Education has a great power on human being because everything we do or we think has been taught to us.
