In All but Name Alone

Bullying is a subject close to my heart and I was interested to hear of the accusations that had been flying around recently of bullying within the Prime Minister's offices. These of course had been hotly denied by Gordon Brown.

The problem is that bullying comes in many guises and is very difficult to define. A little like the concept of art, everyone knows what it is but people are hardpushed to come up with a definitive explanation.

Perhaps it is because bullying can occur for many reasons and in so many circumstances that it makes it just too wide ranging to pin down. However, its effects can be devastating and for this reason alone it needs to be exposed.

Another way of gaining a better understanding of bullying is by itemising some of its traits. For instance:
1. It has to be persistent enough to make the victim/s feel persecuted. The perpetrator/s will repeat their behaviour over and over again until its anticipation alone will have a negative effect on the victim/s.

2. The perpetrator/s will always try to justify their behaviour, no matter how outlandish it has become. This may be simply by lying.

3. To bully is a sign of weakness not of strength as is commonly perceived because the perpetrator is usually in a position of power over the victim.

4. The victim is not necessarily weak as is also commonly percieved but may in fact be very strong. By merely standing up for themselves or their ideals they may make themselves a target for the bully as a result.

I believe this to be a fair summary and consider myself to be reasonably informed.

Of the four points listed above, the first one is the most important. Bullying is a repeated act and it is mainly the effect of its repetition that causes the distress. For this reason alone, the perpetrators are very aware of what they are doing and with practice they can become very good at it. By contrast, the victim/s initially may often not be aware of their status and the negative effects on their self esteem may increase exponentially with each episode of bullying as the realisation dawns.

At its worse the effects may cause symptoms of post traumatic stress which can be very debilitating and there may even be depression that can lead to suicide. The severity of reaction really depends on the circumstances, how long it has been going on for, what the stakes are and how much power the bullier/s have over the victim/s. (I make no apologies for continually using the oblique slash singular/plural to remind the reader that there may be one or many on both sides.)

I have heard a lot of discussion and read several newspaper articles on the subject recently and it makes me cross when people talk about bullying in a trite and condescending manner. Many even go so far as to imply that the victim is a certain type of person who may even have a personality flaw or some other such problem. I am of the belief that the victim can be anyone given the right set of circumstances and I am also wondering if this might be the same for a bully as well. People can react in many ways when they are under stress or scared. If a person who had never bullied before is pressurised by a greater authority and has power over others, than they may well use bullying tactics to achieve the goal. One only has to look around us to see how this efficient method of supressing insurrection has worked for whole nations and races, but never has this method had a positive or good outcome in the long run.

So, if there is bullying in Gordon Brown's offices, then we would be trivialising the serious nature of this accusation by considering it up for debate. At the best of times bullying is very difficult to prove and one would have to know all the facts in order to give it the level of serious attention that it really deserves.