You know this whole blame the victim mentality goes beyond annoying. A “study” was just released that attempts to explain why some kids get bullied:
Kids who get bullied and snubbed by peers may be more likely to have problems in other parts of their lives, past studies have shown. And now researchers have found at least three factors in a child’s behavior that can lead to social rejection.
The factors involve a child’s inability to pick up on and respond to nonverbal cues from their pals.
So the study is saying the reason some kids get beat up is because those kids don’t pick up on nonverbal cues from their “pals.” So it’s obviously the victim’s fault that they are victims. That makes sense. Let me paraphrase another potential situation here:
Women who get rapped by peers may be more likely to have problems in other parts of their lives, past studies have shown. And now researchers have found at least three factors in a women’s behavior that can lead to being raped.
The factors involve a woman’s inability to pick up on and respond to nonverbal cues from men.
That’s only logical of course. Please note that last bit was sarcasm in the highest degree. Cripes!
While I believe the author is correct in what defines certain kids as targets. I think the authority is a large part of why bullying persists.
For all the anti-bully talk, most teachers really support it. Perhaps not deliberately but consequently.
If a kid reports bullying they are told to stop being a tattle tail. Often victims are punished equally with the perpetrator (told it takes two to start a fight even if they never retaliate). Sometimes the bully gets off easier. Because the bullied kid is always in the office they presume he is the problem.
Often the victims become the punished, only further encouraging the bullies into more aggressive action. Then when the victims finally snap and stand up for themselves the world stands astonished.
Perhaps a little spine in our staff, and less BS and more understanding of the dynamics would help reduce these situations.
But I doubt we’ll ever see such changes in the public schools system.
I’ve recently been reading the book Death By Gun Control and in it a very good point is made that also applies to bullying.
One of the tools used to disarm a population is embarrassment. You put laws into place to embarrass those who would purchase guns. This is done in several ways, one of which are through background checks (It’s embarrassing for instance to be denied or delayed).
I think the same thing applies to bullying. The current system is setup to embarrass the victim. It’s funny but humans will do extraordinary things to avoid being in an embarrassing situation. Anyways if a victim of bullying comes for they are called a tattle tail. If they fight back they are reprimanded and told their decision to defend themselves was wrong. Being labeled a tattle tail is certainly an embarrassment for a child and being told what they did was wrong also is.
And of course children are taught not to defend themselves because violence only leads to more violence. This is another tactic the anti-gun crowd love to use.
You know there seems to be quite a definitive connection between the anti-gun crowd and people who blame the victim for being bullied. Imagine that.