We have become a nation of epidemics and there is an epidemic in America that we can not get away from or ignore.  There are stories in the news several times a week of victims that are paraded to show the horrible effects of bullying.   A tearful father and angry mother will be in front of cameras demanding that the schools – after all that is where it all starts – and society do something about this epidemic.  Somebody has to do something and it has to be anybody but them.  Well, some of the more savvy parents will start a foundation and mold a career out of fundraising but for the most part they are just used by the media to bully the rest of us.  Suicide is the third leading cause of death among our youth and depending on whose study you read bullying accounts for anywhere from 2% to 50 % of the reason given for a suicide.  Suicide is an emotional topic and it is almost impossible not to feel sympathy for bereaved parents and that is why they have been given a microphone and a camera.  Our news media today is just an agenda driven soapbox for the “progressives” and their anti bullying campaigns are nothing but an attack on free speech and further educating our children that they too are victims. That they do not have any control over themselves so they should turn to the state for protection and to punish those who make them feel bad, never realizing that they by doing so are only empowering the most dangerous bully and becoming a bully themselves.

As a kid I experienced bullying; what kid hasn’t?  Even bullies have had their bullies.  Like everyone else, before we were all made sensitive, I dealt with it.  Boil it down there is but two ways of dealing with bullies.  You either avoid them or confront them.  I avoided many and confronted a few.  The first bully I ever confronted was on Cottage Street in the Tacony section of Philadelphia.  Billy B. was a neighborhood bully/oddball.  He would just walk into houses and look for candy or snacks and would fight anybody smaller.  One weekend he came across me and whupped me which sent me in the house crying.  My father taught me a valuable lesson when my crying disrupted his reading of the paper.  He asked what I was crying for and I told him.  He stood up and started to take his belt off and I thought “Ha!  Billy you are really gonna get it now!”  Imagine my surprise when I was the recipient of his belt.  He then suggested that I go back out and finish what Billy B started which I did when I caught up with him.  One of the many lessons I learned is that fear of something disappears when another fear looms larger.  Any pain that Billy B. could dispense was trivial compared to my fathers belt.  I was able to avoid many incidents by watching and staying clear of those who liked to bully. Back in the ancient times we did not have “social media” to be used as a weapon; the bulling that took place was a more personal face to face happening. My advice to the kids that are “victims” of cyber bullying is to turn it off.  My advice to parents of kids (especially those 8 to 15) is WTF is wrong with you?  You are your kids worse enemy if you allow access to those “social medias” and the fault lies at your feet not some a-hole who likes to be mean.  Instead of buying them the latest smart phone (which is DUMB) spend the time developing their own self esteem that isn’t based on having the latest technology at their fingertips.

Teach them that the meanies who write and say nasty things about you mean nothing.  Their opinions are just that – opinions.  The only opinions that matter are yours.  Teach them to deal with bullies with courage and let them know that you have their back.  This is counter culture thinking at it’s finest; if I say so myself.  In today’s world kids are taught that they must conform to other’s standards.  Then they are taught that they should not defend themselves but rather go to an official and inform on the perpetrator.  By not dealing with it yourself, by making yourself become a victim, THAT is what makes it suicidal.  There is no self esteem and only a “poor me” attitude that takes root and grows when a person does not deal with a bullying problem directly and rely on others to handle it for them. Personal bulling described above is constantly thrown in our faces by the media for their own agenda; the other more insidious, more damaging bullying is what those in authority use to keep the rest of us in line.

When I speak of those in authority I mean the government/corporate  state that currently has control of society. Or so they believe and act.  The education monopoly is included in the governmental part of that dangerous and despicable duo.  School districts have become the haven for small minded petty bureaucrats that have been pushing the boundaries of  sensibilities under the guise of protecting and educating. I will have more to write about the over reaching school districts in another post but suffice it to say that the education industry harbors and train the biggest bullies in our Nation.  I doubt very much that the average legislator that is elected see themselves as bullies but they are just by their incessant need to create laws to “guide” us to a better life.  And God help you if you if you do not agree with the direction that they think is best.  They are in both political parties and all of our corporate offices.  In my earlier life I was a believer in government and thought that the corporate world represented order and “free market” principles that would lead to a more efficient and free people.  It took one economics class in college (of course the last class I had; the previous econ classes being taught by socialist professors) and experience in and observance of the world of business, to understand how wrong I was about economic efficiencies and liberty.  The quality of life is not improved when these people who believe that they know what is best for everyone are allowed to bully the rest of us.  What is it within us that allows that to happen?  A good many Americans have had their pilot lights extinguished.  That pilot light is the sense of individuality and it is what separated America from the rest of the world.

When someone enters the corporate world there are two things that must be sacrificed if they wish to be accepted and successful (titles, money and corner office) and they are their individuality and their brains.  The term “brains” does not refer to book smarts (though that too also occurs) it refers to what is known as common sense and being able to think critically.  Bullies flock to these big companies like sea gulls to some schmo walking the beach eating fish and chips.  The corporate world loves the bully because bullies, like them, are short term oriented.  The bottom line dominates their thinking with no thought to the long view.  And frankly, what I have witnessed from our large corporations they really just are not that intelligent.  And when someone with my level of intelligence can spot that then you know there is a problem!

I was witness to such a degrading act of corporate bullying the other day it really disturbed me.  As a Steward for Local 384 of the Teamsters I was in a meeting with our Business Agent, the district manager and my manager.  We were wrapping up several grievances that were still open and the DM was not having a good time of it.  At one point he turned and verbally chastised, berated and threatened his own manager; it was stunning.  At least to me.  My Business Agent said he see’s it all the time within the large companies.  I have worked in various industries under different  organizational styles both as laborer and management and I have never witnessed such a display of unprofessional blatant bullying than what was displayed in that meeting.  I have known both the DM and my manager for about 15 years.  I got to know our manager when he was the Safety Director for our district.  A good guy who knew his business.  When given a promotion to Location Manager he turned out to be the walking embodiment of the Peter Principle.  No people skills when it came to managing employees it has been four years of frustration and anger.  Watching that display of disrespect and bullying by the DM though helped me understand that he is the perfect fit for the company I am employed at and it is no wonder that disrespect and bullying is shown to the people at our location.  It is part of their corporate culture.  I am sure that if I were privy to meetings with our DM and his boss in Cincinnati I would hear the same thing.

As our society grows more “progressive” it has grown less tolerant, angrier and more confrontational.  A progressive society professes to be one thing but is actually another.  The American Progressive is the poster child for bullies.   The President can wax eloquent on transparency and working with opposition all the while his administration minions cover up, mislead and misdirect and then use their Attorney General and the Justice Department to quietly intimidate and bully banks and other lending institutions to dry up funding to businesses that the administration does not like – the opposite of the Jesse Jackson shake down.  With a shakedown you are bullied into paying someone to leave you alone, usually considered a criminal act, but Jackson became a millionaire by being a bully.

When the Head of State acts in this manner how do you expect the lower ranks to act in the public or private sector?  Bullies all and how to end it appears to be an impossible task.  As a society we have dug ourselves a pretty deep hole, probably getting close to China but nothing is impossible.  Difficult but not impossible.  A start would be to recognize that our future lies in knowing our past and see to it that our government / our employees follow our Constitution in particular the Bill of Rights.  We have allowed our society to be sectionalized by the government and these sections turn on other sections and it goes back and forth weakening all except for the government.  While on a personal level a good hard shot to the nose or throat to a bully will put an end to it and allow you to have some dignity that is harder to do on the level the government perches.  We should exercise our rights, ignore wrong laws and be willing to back it up with the use of “jury nullifications” when other citizens are being persecuted (err – prosecuted).  Jury nullification is the last line of defense for a free people who are being bullied by a political machine that operates only for the good of the politicians.