At first I cried out and posted a few comments in defensiveness of another, or to be the voice of sanity in a crowd gone wild. In true lynch mob style, I was mowed down by the salmon in those streams that were swimming the other way.
I sat back then, greatly saddened and particularly floored by this herd mentality. There appears to be a certain kind of unspoken granting of permission to join in the energy of a verbal bashing, a written lynching of someone. Come, let us creatively write new insults, new descriptions of physical violence, and what-we-think-they-deserve. Let's hunt them down! Let's find their last name, their phone number, their address... the details of their family! Let's show them, hurt them, make them pay.
Join us, they seem to say. We're all doing it, so it's okay. Like some unspoken agreement that you will be patted on the back for agreeing with an unpopular opinion. As though finally, I can find an outlet for my own frustrations, anger and pain and load up my figurative shot-gun to mow down another in a hail of words that claw and tear and bite.
Taking a look at some of the research that is now being dedicated to the evermore highlighted issue of cyber-bullying, and I find that an estimated 1 in 10 Australians are the victims of some form of online abuse. A 2016 study in America of 3,700 people demonstrated that it occurs more in adults than with children.
If we consider this prevalence of behaviour in adults, and apply Albert Bandura's Social Learning Theory, which boils down to, People learn from one another, via observation, imitation, and modeling, it begins to be no surprise that we are seeing a rise of bullying both in schools, and online. Further investigation into why people are targeted, have merely underlined basic concepts we are already aware of. Standing out in any way increases the risk of being
bullied. This suggests that the social function of
bullying for students is often to ‘enforce’ the accepted
social norms within the peer group.
Armed with knowledge, does not make any of what I am witnessing any easier to mentally digest. I have no wish to join a lynch mob, and feed the darkest part of our human psyche with more fuel. It is enough that this world is filled with murderous rampages, physical violence in our homes, and the harshest social environments.
Instead, my heart calls me to have a directive to only aim to take action, write words and encourage by example to Feed The Light. Create a bonfire of light that is fueled with outrageous things like Compassion, Kindness, Empathy, Wisdom Without Judgement, Understanding, and that most potent and universal energy of them all - Love.
I shall instruct my heart, mind and soul not to respond to the bait of The Dark Side, by writing words that 'return fire' on hot topics of debate. Not even in defence of others who I feel have been wronged by the masses of weaponised comments. Instead, I shall reach out with what may initially sound like the rambling gentle innocence of a naive do-gooder, to just Be Kind. Comments that are designed to be Observed, Imitated by Modelling the kind of Light I wish to see in this world.
My hope is that this light will burn brighter than all those, fully sick burns.
No comments:
Post a Comment