The Bully's Public Makes The Difference

Piper said that despite the seemingly passive title, bystanders typically hold the balance of power in school because they far outnumber both the bullies and the victims of bullying....Westridge students get anti-bullying message, Harold Reutter, Grand Island Independent, 11/03/2006

There's been a lot of laughter expended around the country at anti-bullying efforts in public schools. Here's another example, we often hear, more often at bars and parties than in the press, of the nanny state gone wild, substituting behavioral training for education. But in the neat summary by Haley Piper from Respect Squared, we see the difference between a republic and even the soft tyranny of the nanny state. It's the public for a bully that matters. If the public gapes and does nothing, the bully wins. If the public turns away, the bully wins. If the public waits for somebody in authority to show up, the appearance of power next to a bully gives the bully respect and the bully still wins. But, if somebody in the crowd takes the measures of his or her peers and shouts out "that's enough of that crap," the republic wins. It's the oldest message. Astounding that they'd have to bring that message to school -- where were the parents, the media? Gaping, turning away, waiting for Senator Clinton to show up?

Luther