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Recently Burger King ran an ad about bullying:
I think this is an excellent ad. It speaks to a problem that we face in bullying. But it speaks to some other issues too – that unless something affects use directly, most people are unlikely to do anything or step in when they experience something “bad” going on.
We know something isn’t right, but do we step in? Or do we reason ourselves out of it? It’s safer to just sit by and watch. It’s safer to not get involved. It’s safer because we just don’t know what is going on. Or worse, we don’t know what to do. We just aren’t sure if we are going to do the right thing. And so many people sit.
Until it affects them directly. Then they act.
This is a powerful ad. It would be more powerful if people would act when they experience and see bullying of others.
I agree! One thing we can do is plan ahead on how we might respond in various types of bullying situations, such as children being bullied, women with head scarves, people of color, LGBTs, and so forth.
One method some people use is to walk up and start talking to the bullied person as though you know them, so that the bully will just go away–perhaps without creating a scene. Bullies often avoid victims who seem to have support.
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great suggestion. Thanks.
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Before I retired my school was beginning to focus on bullying and how to stop it, through the use of a nation wide program. I am curious about any data that shows improvement as a result of the various programs out there to teach standers by what to do and how to help.
I taught Emotionally disturbed students grades 6-age 21, and the incidence of bullying was high. I think our reticence to get involved stems from not wanting to make the situation worse, fear of personal injury and not wanting future bullying to be worse for the victim. Working in the environment that I did, there were frequent staff injuries, so self-preservation was important.
Would love to know if efforts to curb/stop bullying have improved in this country.
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Thanks for adding to the conversation Lynne. I don’t have any data on it, but it would be great to see.
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