Bullying is a growing issue that has led to young people facing depression and even committing suicide. It has created an environment that forces us to look at the causes and find a way to combat the social practice. The most critical step in the student’s guide to research that is necessary to analyze bullying is the gift of wonder and skepticism. No longer can we blindly follow others without asking why? Society can shift quickly from civil to genocidal behavior because people allow themselves to be influenced. They allow themselves to build contempt for another human being based on characteristics that differ from their own. Analyzing bullying requires one to see how the hate grew and so many people followed blindly. For example, Hitler was able to influence all of the society that Jews were less human and that it was ok to kill them. The followers didn’t question authority; they believed what Hitler said and bought into his solution for the problem. Hate can be fueled by race, gender, social class, sexual orientation, or other sociological factors that makes one different. One needs to employ skepticism in understanding why people do what they do. Asking questions will allow for an understanding and even a rationale as to why a person is acting with hate and contempt for other human beings.
The most critical step of research is to consider the three steps that lead to genocide. First, identifying a group of people who will not question. Understanding why people follow blindly without questioning the leader’s intent or purpose. How does the leader gain their position and why are people feel they need to comply with their views? The followers are willing to adapt to their opinion and act without concern for another human being. Next, it is essential to consider the routinization of cruelty. Having such contempt for another human life that we can act with violence and ill disregard for a person who is different. There is no valid reason for practicing cruelty towards someone who is dissimilar to us or even poses a threat to our social standing. Instead of focusing on how we can improve ourselves or embracing difference, we employ cruelty to make sure they do not pose a threat to our perceived social image. Lastly, the most critical step of research is to identify the dehumanization of another human being. When one fails to see the value of human life, no matter how different they are from us, it establishes an environment where one can act with violence without feeling guilty.
Bullying relates to a formal organization because it establishes a basis for the members to conform to the standards of the group. The leader creates an environment that questions the sociological aspect of inequality to build a stage for hate. The constituents want to belong to the formal organization to feel that they are a part of something. There is a comradery within a group, and it allows the leader to set the stage for bullying. A target is identified, and a platform is established as to why they pose a threat or danger to the formal organization. The leader shows contempt for another human being and promotes the idea that it is socially acceptable because they are in some way inferior. The group begins to gain pleasure from another’s pain. The organization is set up to have the instigator and the Hedgeman. The organizer can influence the position of the group and does not have to the dirty work. It fuels hate and allows the members to act in a bullying manner without regards for the human life. Hate is not normal, natural or necessary, it is learned, and the organization can build off of that ideal.
- Coloroso, Barbara.(2014). From School Yard Bullying to Genocide. TedXCalgary. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkG0nssouFg.
