Still More On Bullying

This is why we need the blogosphere. Claire Light on bullying. Per usual, Claire uncovers the buried truth beneath the cliches. I think her best point is that while homophobia, racism, sexism, and other assorted isms provide ample fodder for bullies, bullying itself is a more generic form of terror that requires only two things. And I quote:

1. A social hierarchy in which varying degrees of social power are delineated;2. An immediate community in which bullying is considered acceptable.If you have a situation in which both of these conditions exist, you WILL have bullying, regardless of the prejudices or social enlightenment of the group. A group of all white, straight boys, for example, who have been raised to tolerate racial and sexual difference will still bully within their group if the two conditions exist. Bullies do not need an "-ism" as an excuse.

I couldn't agree more. Further, since condition #1 will always exist, the only way to fight bullying is to eliminate condition #2. This is not out of reach. As I mentioned to Claire, I grew up in a zero-tolerance household. My brother and I NEVER, and I mean NEVER bullied anyone. Not that it ever came up, but I know with one-hundred-percent certainty that if either of us had ever said or done anything cruel or unkind to another kid, we would have been banished to the scary closet under the stairs. I think my parents considered it a fundamental part of their job to make sure we were, at the very least, not committing acts of cruelty. My question to the parents of bullies is:What's your job description?