Chapter 1: Intro

HOW BULLYING AFFECTS OUR SOCIETY







A Research Paper Presented to
The English Resource Center
School of Multimedia Arts
Asia Pacific College
Magallanes, Makati







In Partial Fulfilment
of the Requirements for the Course
ERESWRT – Research Writing





Matthew G. Badillo


April 2014

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Chapter 1

Introduction

A. Background of the Study

Bullying has always been part of culture. As time passes by, the ways and effects of bullying evolve in a number of ways. It has become more sophisticated with the use of technology. Because of that, people can now bully in more ways than one. Some are more subtle while others are more destructive. The possibilities expand with the further expansion of technology. Nevertheless, bullying still continues to run within the veins of society. It continues to exist within generations.

Kerry Kennedy wrote an article called "Changing school culture can end bullying". Here, as the name suggests, he says that the school culture affects bullying and that changing the norms can change the culture.

Kerry recounts ''In my father’s lifetime, manufacturers weren’t even required to install seat belts in their vehicles, and it wasn’t until 1984 that riders were required to use them. But when my daughters get in a car today, putting on their seat belts is second nature. In just one generation, we watched a profound shift in social norms related to seat belts. How many people in 1984 said that Americans would never be persuaded to change an ingrained behavior in the name of public safety?".(http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/changing-school-culture-can-end-bullying/2013/08/11/e41fee0a-fe11-11e2-96a8-d3b921c0924a_story.html)

Almost everyone has seen or experienced bullying in one ways or another. Though it's commonly seen in schools, it actually can be seen in a lot of places other than the schoolyard. It can be found at work, bus or even at home. Even the media can sometimes aggravate the situation and even encourage bullying. Because, though people eventually mature, either they do not mature enough or it becomes one's mentality.

According to G. Kessel in her article "What breeds a Bully?", the trigger for bullying is usually within the environment itself. The victims usually become bullies themselves.

Kessel says, "It becomes very easy for children to turn around and do to someone else what's been done to them because they know exactly how it feels."  (http://www.neverhitachild.org/bullies.html)

It occurs even at work. As stated earlier, this may be because of the mentality. Thus, people tend to vent it out on others. The bad part about this is that some people, especially those who are being bullied by their bosses or higher-ups, may not even realize that they are being bullied. Most likely from the fact that it is their superior and that they think they actually deserve it.

According to Allison Van Dusen in "Ten Signs You're Being Bullied at Work", experts say that there really is a lack of awareness for being by co-workers or bosses, so they may not even notice. 

Allison quotes David Yamada in that "They're sinking into a really bad state emotionally, finding it harder to go to work and it might even affect their work performance." (http://www.forbes.com/2008/03/22/health-bullying-office-forbeslife-cx_avd_0324health.html)

Because of these things, the researcher notices that are may be a pattern or cycle going on. Someone bullies other and in turn, bully others. It continues to influence this generation as well as the next generation. Thus, it starts to affect the mentality and morality of the public.
Thus, if the reader has background information of the effects of bullying on the mentality of the public, that person may be able to do their part and be aware.

So instead of dealing with why they bully, this paper will focus on the effects of bullying in society.

B. Statement of the problem

The study aims to answer these questions

1. What are the ways bullying affects society?

C. Significance of the Study

Parents

Through this research, parents can become aware of bullying and its long-term effects and how it affects their child. Also, this helps stop parents from dismissing it as just a “childhood ritual” and that everybody goes through it. 

 

Teachers

Teachers are the student's second parents. Thus, they have to know its effects so they can help take action on it. This can also help assess the environment of the school if it is a healthy one or not. Also, they would be able to use these information on making lesson plans and instructional activities regarding this topic.

Future Researchers

This research is crucial for future researchers who will make similar studies regarding this topic. This is a generation where bullying can become even more apparent that how it it now. Thus, further study is needed to decipher find a solution to this problem. The information presented here can be used by other researcher for references.

D. Scope and Limitations

This study focuses on the effects of bullying on society's mentality and morality. Bullying has always been able to shape one's mentality. One mentality that will dictate how a person will act for the rest of his life.

Due to time constraints, the study will not cover details on how to prevent bullying or finding a solution for bullying. This is to give focus on the effects of bullying as well as how it affects mentality. The researcher believes that because bullying was around for a long time, thus it has affected a majority of the public. Therefore, this topics would be relevant to this generation where bullying is common.

E. Material and Methods

The research will use data and information from researcher's blog posts as well as the websites within the blog that were used for references. The researcher intends to analyze data from sociological and psychological perspectives, analyzing one by one and classifying it. Examples may also be cited though the gathered facts.

F. Definition of Terms

1. Bullying: unwanted, aggressive behavior among school aged children that involves a real or perceived power imbalance (http://www.stopbullying.gov/what-is-bullying/definition/)

2. Cyberbullying: when a child, preteen or teen is tormented, threatened, harassed, humiliated, embarrassed or otherwise targeted by another child, preteen or teen using the Internet, interactive and digital technologies or mobile phones (http://stopcyberbullying.org/what_is_cyberbullying_exactly.html)

Blogpost 8: Types of bullies

There are many types of bullying. Some are easier to spot than others. Those guys can be identified at a glance. Some others are not easily identified. Those are tougher as they can strike anywhere. But the sad part is that some of them also get bullied. In fact, this lead to fuel their intent of bullying others. 

Most people think of bullying as boys punching a weaker boy. But they have more subtle ways to do it.

Sherri Gordon has an article in About.com called 6 Types Of Bullying. Here, she states that bullying comes in four types. Physical, the most popular and involves physical aggression. Verbal involves using verbal insults to another based on how their differences It is difficult to identify as it happens when adults aren't around. Relational involves manipulating one to increase one's social standing such as spreading rumors and ostracizing. Three others are cyberbullying, sexual bullying and prejudicial bullying, which involves singling out others different from them.

"When prejudicial bullying occurs, kids are targeting others who are different from them and singling them out. Often times, this type of bullying is severe and can open the door to hate crimes."  To be honest, this is what leads to racism. Especially if it continues to adulthood. As people say that we have to stop it while it's still young, this most certainly applies. If we can change this then the racism thing should dissolve. If not, more people will just just become close-minded purists.

The Therapy House has an article called Bullying Fact Sheet by Paul Rohling. Here, he adds to the former's types. He says that physical bullying can intensify with age. In verbal, he says that the effects are more devastating than physical ones. Relational is the worst as it cuts them off from their peer group when they need it the most. Paul adds reactive bullying, which appears as targets. But they basically taunt, fight back then claim self-defense. 


"The bullying does not disappear with age, but rather becomes a highly refined, yet maladaptive means of coping with their own insecurities." This turns to work-bullying in the article "15 years later". Again, its important to stop it at an early stage. This is the culture that we have. It won't be easy but it's important to try. Some people disregard it, causing this to continue. 


A child asks a question about racism: 

They have different colors, but they have the same color of bones right? 

So why do they tease the black one? 

Blogspot 7: America's most tragic school shooting

Columbine High School Massacre of 1999

I'm not an American so I have never heard of it, until now. I was watching certain video reviews about games when I came across one that was stated to be one of the most offensive games made called Super Columbine Massacre RPG. Based on the real Columbine Massacre event in 1999. Here I heard about how two mentally unstable boys shot their fellow students dead and then committed suicide. Here, I was shocked at its impact towards the nation, making "Columbine" synonymous to school shootings and rage.

So what caused all this?

The article in World Socialist Web Site by David North called American Pastoral...American Berserk states that their parents aren't the only ones to blame for this. Apparently, the school administrators ignored the warnings they received regarding the potential violence of the two. It is also not an individual failing, as this is common to all major institutions everywhere. They cannot blame just the parents of the boys like what the media did. Here, people started to search for scapegoats for fingers to point to. The article says how their acts did not just come being oppressed. It evolved from vengeance from their suffering to inflicting as much pain as possible. 

North says that "Something is driving them crazy. Something has set them against everything. Something is leading them into disaster." If they are not steered back to the right direction, disaster is imminent. Unless that something isn't stopped, it leads to destruction.Often the cause and motivation evolve from something painful to something that is monstrous. As such, it's important to identify and stop it.

However, according to USA Today 10 years later, the real story behind Columbine by Greg Toppo, the cause is not fully of being bullied. In fact, their journal writings have them admitting that they bullied others such as fags. Their problems is in being accepted by others, which is one of the reasons in bullying. However, by feeding these impulses, they started to become more monstrous. Deceiving the adults, planning for over a year and getting friends to acquire weapons. They had planned to kill everyone by detonating the school and they were going to shoot fleeing survivors, had their homemade bombs worked. They even rigged the car with bombs to explode in police. The homemade bomb never worked because of the cheap materials used. In short, the lesser income saved thousands. The point is, these things tell us to be careful of what we get. We're like sponges, we absorb what around us and, with a little pressure, oozes out what we absorbed.

Again, Toppo states from an expert that "One of the scary things is that money was one of the limiting factors here." The school was fortunate that only 13 were killed. The attack was the demonstration of what the two boys got. If say the boys (notably Harris from his part-time job) got enough for materials or if the bomb had worked, they would have killed thousands like what they envisioned.

So far, the case still remains a mystery.

Blogpost 6: Culture's role

Sometimes, culture will really have a role to play in today's society. They can range from social norms that we follow to blend in with other people and in society. There is also media of different kinds that influence how we feel, how we act, how we react, how we have fun and especially how we make our morals. 

So what do these articles say about it?

First article is from Livingston County News called Does our culture encourage bullying? by Lou Lombardo. Here, the article explains that bullying has become a part of culture. An example stated is in Livingston where bullying is quite common. Also, research shows that women tend to bully more likely in groups and use more subtle ways such as rumor spreading and such. Boys tend to bully others about "physical" stuff such as "athletes vs. non-athletes" while girls tend to bully about social status, be it in school or family.

Lou quotes (from an anonymous reader) that "Bullying is a culture of Livingston County that runs deep in the fabric, political offices, and heritage here." It says how bullying has been a cultural part of the county from as deep as politics. True, but not just for that county but for many other places as well. Referencing a quote from Obama, we must expel the myth that bullying is part of culture and just a ritual. It would be a problem as there would be wasted potential, suicides and violence arising from it. 

Another article from The Globe and Mail called Does pop culture promote bullying behaviour? by Tralee Pearce states that one recent study found that pop culture may have something to do with it. The study says that it has something to do with some of the shows that show social aggression to viewers of age two to eleven. Thus parents have to be more aware and judge a show not only by its physical violence but also in social violence.

Pearce states a quote by Ramil Briggs that "In society, we have become more and more aware of the importance of bullying, and it's going to become increasingly necessary to understand the early building blocks of social aggression that may lead to this." At this point, it is a must. It's possible to stop it at an early stage with intervention. This is an important step in that we can identify what causes this. Also, this step is important because of the ever growing intensity of culture in regards to entertainment.

Blogpost 5: 15 years later

For four posts, I've been working on the cases of bullying for kids. You know, the ones in schoolyards and places. I've also made one on cyberbullies. But what about the ones at work? Sure, adults may be more mature (they should be), there are a few exceptions where they do that in less subtle ways to those that deal more damage either to one's reputation or career. Sometimes, they don't even notice it.

Okay, I may not have experienced these types of bullying but it's still a pretty prominent example. In fact, there are about 54 million people being bullied at work. That's just for America, how about the rest of the world?

In Forbes.com's Ten signs you're being bullied at work by Allison van Dusen, the author states that 37% of workers, which is about 54 million people, have been bullied at work. The author states that unless you're at the receiving end of all that, you may not notice it. Here's a picture slide post of it.

According to Allison, "Experts say there’s a general lack of awareness about the bullying and the types of behaviors the term encompasses. This often prevents people from realizing that a boss or co-worker is a bully. There’s also an element of personal shame involved." Yes, because often that person is a boss which which is hard to take action on. It may also be another co-worker, usually with friends/cohorts. Sometimes, the person may not even realize it as he may be filled with shame or that he may be thinking about what the bully just said. If this continues, the person may end up being manipulated and controlled by others. He should learn to see when bully takes place.

About.com Human resource segment's How to Deal with a Bully at Work by Susan Heathfield says that you know you’re working with a bully when that person constantly brings out your mistakes, spreads gossip around you or sabotage your work. Susan says that to deal with this, one must have courage to stand up to him. Also, one must not make himself a target as it will only encourage the bully. It involves confronting the bully on his actions and telling him how it affects your work.


According to the Susan, "Remember: You’re the adult dealing with a tantrum. No wise parent gives in to a child’s fit because it just leads to more fits." This statement reminds me of a scene in a film called The Miracle Worker (a film about Helen Keller). A certain scene shows Helen's parents stop her tantrum by giving her candy and Anne (her caretaker) points out why they do this as they only encourage her to continue her tantrums. This gives her a mentality that people will give her something to pacify her. Thus this statement also applies.

Another piece from workplacebullying.org

Blogpost 4: Target Analysis

One of the many things that victims ask is why them. Indeed this shows that there is a reason for that. In fact, observers should realize that there is a pattern of which people pick on. Most of these are either people who are different or people they are angry with. So it's important to socialize and blend. But more important is to accept people for who they are. 

As is the problem with bullying, it is a silent problem, as it often goes unnoticed. These are the common qualifications for being a target for bullying. Here I found two articles showing the usual targets of bullying. However, now it is being researched as shown in my previous posts.

One is from Psychology Today called Are you easy target for bullies? by Ronald Riggio. Here he says that the most common factors are most people who stand out. An example is being different as they are easy targets to find. Another is being nice as they can abuse your trust and start to dominate you. Next is being competent as it gives a reason for them to be jealous and more reason to drag that person down to their level. Last is those who aren't leaders as they are more passive and tend to just obey.

According to him "It is important to recognize when bullying exists, and to provide support for targets of bullies." I agree as we already know of its tenacity as well as its effects on each of us. It's important to stop this as soon as possible. If it continues, the victim will only end up being controlled and afraid. Also the victim should learn to stand up and do something after recognizing a bully, such as asking help from authorities such as teachers. 

Another article is from Education.com called Who are the targets of bullying? by B. Kaiser and J. K. Raminsky. Here the authors say that a factor is the victims environment aids in being a target for being bullied. One is that a child is pampered and thus cannot cope with these situations. Another is manipulative parents who control and thus damage the child's self esteem and confidence. Thus, it is easier to be manipulated by others. Basically the targets are children who are raised to be passive. 

"Being bullied has a devastating effect on self-esteem. It's hard for a child to stop thinking that she deserves whatever she gets" she says. I have to agree as that is the side-effects of being bullied. It crumbles your self-esteem, confidence and personal self. Worse is that some turn to bullies themselves and more victims are made.  But if the child continues to loathe on what the bully said, it will only end up controlling and limiting her. The child must also learn to accept weaknesses and learn to change them, as well as not letting it affect the child or even taking it as a challenge. In the end, the child has to do something as well to change the situation as stated below.



Take this to mind.

Blogpost 3: Cyberbullies and effects

We all know how violence existed for a very long time and still stands to this day. We also know how bullying existed for a very long time and STILL stands to this day.It has taken forms such as intimidation, a slap on the head, pants pulled down, beatdowns and rumors. There is always a victim that has to keep up with these things. It pretty much makes them live in fear as that one person continues to mess with him. 

Humanity made life easier with technology. We went to the age of the internet and social media sites. We also have regular old cellphones to smartphones within the likes of the Android series and the iOS series. We have basically evolved in our lifestyle. But guess what, so did the series of neverending activities of what we call bullying. So there's this new thing. It's called Cyberbullying. 

There this article by Jerry Will and Clim Clayburn of University Business entitled The Psychological Impact of Cyber Bullying. 

They point out that, unlike regular bully victims, victims of cyberbullying are humiliated in a worldwide range within 24 hours as almost anything within cyberspace can be seen by anyone and that anything written or blurted out is virtually impossible to delete or take back such as in chats. This in turn affects their well-being, as well as academics, as it affects their self-confidence especially in class. 

They describe that "cyber bullying can be worse than the traditional school yard variety because a cyber bully can remain anonymous by posting unsigned attacks on his/her online social network."  Yes and because of that, it is more dangerous than schoolyard bullies and anything within cyberspace can be seen by anyone and consider how many people use the internet. 

In another article in About.com's bullying segment by Sherri Gordon called What Are The Effects Of Cyber bullying?, the author states that victims experience these feelings.

Victims are overwhelmed especially when many are in on the trick and because the user doesn't know who did it and may have no idea that many people participate on this act. Also, this could make them feel powerless as the victim does not have a clue on who it is and they won't be able to take action on it.

These could also invoke feelings such as disinterest, in life or school. They could also feel anxiety and depression or anger and hatred from all that. Because of these things, the victim may end up having suicidal thoughts or worse.

One of the quotes, by Liza Belkin, states that "The anonymity of the Internet has a way of bringing out the harsh, judgmental streak in strangers who would never belittle another… in person." It is true as the internet masks the bully offender so that person can hack away at cyberspace as much as he wants. Because it's cyberspace, the results are irreversible and the damages are disastrous. 

I shall end this with a picture quote.