The Bullying Experiment
www.youtube.com/watch?v=EisZTB4ZQxY
Friday, January 30, 2015
Can you really ignore bullying?
Today in class we discussed how we would react to public bullying. What is bullying? Bullying is the use superior strength or influence to intimidate (someone), typically to force him or her to do what one wants. Ideally, everyone would say that they would react in a manner that would halt the bully, but I disagree. There are numerous cases throughout the world, in which, people could have stopped a bully, but they chose not too. These people are like me and you. They all see themselves as heroes but their heroism has never been tested. In class, we came to understand that virtues such as courage or bravery are not innate. This means that all virtues are not innate. With that being said , I want people to realize that what they believe they would do in a situation is something different from what they might actually do. A hero is not created on the spot. For someone to stand-up for anything, heroic actions and a heroic attitude would already be in them. So I challenge all commentors to watch the video below and analyze the situation. Would you all honestly take action in this situation?
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I want to start off with a personal experience of my own that I have had. All of my close friends have moved into a house together and share the cost of living and bills with one another, because they trust each other. Now one of my friends had started dating this girl, who herself was in a undesirable living situation. Caring for her, he asked all of my friends if it would be alright if she lived with him. Time went by and just like so many relationships; they would fight and eventually broke up. However, she had no where "safe" to go. So she stayed at the house with everyone. They no longer shared rooms with one another, and she lives in another of my friend's room, whom she is not in a relationship with. As more time went on, my friend started to get upset with her even being there and wanted her to leave. He decided that the best course of action was to repeatedly call her names, such as: Whore, Slut, Bitch, any time that the two came into the same room. Then he would start sharing warped versions of her deep secrets to everyone aloud and yell at her those names. He even took paper and wrote all of these horrible things and hung them on all of the walls in the house. For days he had been doing this, while everyone just sat quietly and watched and judged him quietly. Of course they would say things like if he keeps it up they would stop it. They never did. During a weekend when I stayed the night, I witnessed him doing all of these inhumane things to her and confronted him and stopped him.
ReplyDeleteJust like you said, people will say they cant stand watching these things. It is probably right, they would stop them, but probably when they felt it has gone to far. The real question is not wither of not you will stop it, but when is it too much? When does someone else's abuse become enough for you to see that you will step in and stop it?
As you stated before, everyone wants to believe that they will be the "good guy" or "hero" in situations similar to what was shown in the video. Being a psychology major one of the concepts we study is the Bystander Effect. This psychological phenomenon attempts to explain why people do not help in certain situations like bullying. We often do not want to involve ourselves in a situation where we could potentially be harmed. So instead of helping, in our heads we think "oh someone else will help them". But really the other people are thinking the same thing. This ongoing thought process could be an explanation to why people do not help in bullying situations.
ReplyDeleteFirstly, I have to agree with your definition of bullying, as well as your overall post. It ties right back into what Aristotle's message is at the core- which is that virtues are not something we are born with. It is extremely easy to call shots from the couch, and say that you would do certain things in certain situations. I think that there would certainly be some cases where someone would intervene without having previous experience or knowledge of that particular virtue, the one of standing up for another who cannot stand up for themselves. I think that there is a part of everyone (people who are rational, that is) that has an innate drive to protect those who cannot protect themselves. However, it is relative to the person and the situation, and I also believe we have an innate drive to flee from unfamiliar or frightening situations.
ReplyDeleteNow, to address your question: Would I intervene in the situation portrayed in the youtube video?
I can say with utmost confidence, absolutely. In saying so, I am not saying so without any previous experience with that particular virtue. As a former sergeant in the Marine Corps, I dealt directly with these kinds of issues. I can't count on both hands the number of times I have gone to bat for my subordinates with any number of issues. Standing up for people, dealing with stressful situations, and stepping out of my comfort zone is a regular Tuesday afternoon for me.
Firstly, I have to agree with your definition of bullying, as well as your overall post. It ties right back into what Aristotle's message is at the core- which is that virtues are not something we are born with. It is extremely easy to call shots from the couch, and say that you would do certain things in certain situations. I think that there would certainly be some cases where someone would intervene without having previous experience or knowledge of that particular virtue, the one of standing up for another who cannot stand up for themselves. I think that there is a part of everyone (people who are rational, that is) that has an innate drive to protect those who cannot protect themselves. However, it is relative to the person and the situation, and I also believe we have an innate drive to flee from unfamiliar or frightening situations.
ReplyDeleteNow, to address your question: Would I intervene in the situation portrayed in the youtube video?
I can say with utmost confidence, absolutely. In saying so, I am not saying so without any previous experience with that particular virtue. As a former sergeant in the Marine Corps, I dealt directly with these kinds of issues. I can't count on both hands the number of times I have gone to bat for my subordinates with any number of issues. Standing up for people, dealing with stressful situations, and stepping out of my comfort zone is a regular Tuesday afternoon for me.
I agree with your definition of bullying and I also agree with your statement that not everyone would react as a hero in a situation of a bully harassing a victim. I believe that even though most people say that they would "be a hero" in a bullying situation, they would just watch from the side because they do not want to be possibly harm themselves after trying to save a victim. A lot of people who say that they would help have not had their courage tested in a real life situation, so they do not even know what they would do in these scenarios. One does not know what he will do until he is put in the situation himself.
ReplyDeleteAfter watching the video, I am not surprised with how many people did not help with the situation. I would like to say that I would help the victim in that situation; but in reality, I do not know what I would do. I honestly can see myself just walking away from the situation like how most people did in the video. I have never been put in a scenario like that before, so I am not sure how I would react.
ReplyDeleteEveryone wants to believe they would stick up for someone that was weaker than them. Everyone wants to think they would stop the bully. The truth is most people will just sit back and observe, and this video just proves that. A true "hero" would step up and help without question. We need to protect the weak and the ones that can't defend themselves. I hope that I would personally step up. I know in past situations I have, but I hope that in any situation I would be able to. Most people think someone else will step up and help and they won't have to get involved. We should want to get involved and help. This world needs more proactive people, stoping the bullying, but sadly that isn't happening. Bullying is a serious matter that people need to stick up to. Most will ignore, but this must change. Bullying takes too many lives, it must end. It is growing and growing and becoming harder and harder to ignore with all the lives it is claiming.