It's striking how the great anti-bullying crusade of the new millennium was immediately followed by bullying becoming the universal instrument for social and political change. Bullying was mainstreamed into adult society, not eliminated from schools.
Judging from the results, you would think the ubiquitous anti-bullying seminars of the past generation were actually training camps for bullies and oppressors. The standard tactics of the schoolyard punk are now employed daily by self-righteous bullies in legacy and social media.
The basic mentality of the bully - preying on perceived weakness, asserting strength and dominance to compensate for insecurities - has become universal. An entire generation has been taught to act like cafeteria shakedown artists.
One gets the sense our children were programmed by people who thought bullies were remarkably effective, and wanted to study and refine their techniques so they could be used for "positive" political purposes. They didn't eliminate bullying - they weaponized it.
The dominant left-wing ideology is deeply invested in harvesting and using power. The power of the lone bully and a couple of his pals terrorizing an entire school mesmerized them. Some grew up with grudges from school and dreams of one day becoming the Big Boss themselves.
The key change in the past generation was the shift away from the time-tested advice for dealing with bullies toward collectivist approaches. The old advice was essentially individualistic: stand up to them, don't give in to fear, band together with your friends.
But now it's all about collective power and appeals to authority. Accusations keep the bullies in line. You teach them to fear the greatest bully of all - the collective. Individual courage and resistance are de-emphasized.
That mentality gave rise to the great menace of the new century: the crybully. People with weaponized grievances treating disagreement with their demands as equivalent to physical assault and using collective power to crush individuality.
The key insight our dominant political culture gained from studying schoolyard bullies is that unpredictability is a major source of their power. Everyone is nervous around them all the time, because there's no telling what will set them off. They delight in being unreasonable.
That's the state of fear everyone is living in today. You never know what will set the Woke off. You never know what ideas will be outlawed next. You can't tell what innocently spoken word might end your career. You must learn to appease them in advance to have peace.
You feel isolated and overpowered. Nobody will help if the bullies come for you. Submission and appeasement are much easier than resistance. Resistance means being on alert every moment of the day, while the bullies can strike at their pleasure. It's exhausting.
Since our new generation wasn't taught how to stand up to bullies individually, they can only think to plead for help from the authorities... who are in league with the bullies. You cry to the teacher for help, and she says Tommy really is entitled to your lunch money.
The old understanding of standing up to bullies included an implicit acknowledgement that the universe is not fair, nor is it comprehensively regulated. It's the first memorable lesson many of us receive on that subject. Sometimes you have to stand your ground alone.
The new approach lines up with the ideology of cosmic justice - the quest to monitor and control every square inch of life. Collective justice, not individual dignity. Power, not courage. Becoming the politically correct bully, not standing against bullies on principle. /end
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