Spot The Bully

The word is used so loosely one wonders who is the hurting party, and who is being hurt. A Swedish graduate student named Dan Olweus had just finished his PhD in psychology 1969 when he decided to study aggression and victimization among boys. Until the 1990s, the Americans in his field largely ignored bullying as a research topic. "We didn't get in in the U.S.," said a school psychologist from the University of Nebarasa-Lincoln, "until Columbine."

Olweus' key contribution was a definition of bullying that went beyond the general emphasis on large anonymous groups acting in a mob fashion. Bullying, he said, had to satisfy three criteria:
it had to be verbal or physical abuse;
it had to be repeated over time;
and it had to involve an imbalance of power.

A one time episode of meanness or violence by one stronger party against a weaker one, or repeated clashing between equals, can cause problems, but it certainly isn't bullying. The examples in "Sticks and Stones" by Emily Bazelon are mostly about behavior among children which could lead to potentially devastating consequences in the school zone. Problems get carried over to adulthood only when some kids just refuse to, or lack the EQ, to grow up.

When politicians make innuendos about bullying, they should give concrete examples. David may have fell Goliath with a sling shot, but he can hardly be termed a big bully. Sometimes the little people have to fight back, after tiring of being shoved around and taken for a ride. Better the battle be waged in cyberspace than on the physical landscape. Just see how ugly the mess Thailand is in now.