Bullying adults are deep into a "schoolyard dynamic"

When Moms Bully Moms, Online and Off
by Amy Hatch
Parentdish
Feb 4th 2010

...She adds that social media networks such as Twitter encourage bullying because it "facilitates a schoolyard dynamic."

"People nudge each other and whisper to each other and say 'did you hear what she said? Pass it on!'," she says. "Someone reacts to what you've posted or tweeted and seeks out agreement from others, who in turn react, and so on and so forth. It can make bullying viral in a way that it just wouldn't be otherwise."

The culture of bullying isn't limited to the virtual world. An opinion piece in the Huffington Post points out that even being a good ecological citizen can give parents license to talk down to -- and yes, even harass -- parents who have different philosophies about child-rearing.

"A new competition has developed pitting the so-called 'green' parent against the 'helicopter' parent who tends to micro-manage and control every part of her children's lives," writes psychotherapist Carol Smaldino. "Directly or not, the bullying tendency within our culture encourages the 'liberated' and ecologically correct parents to openly snicker at those caught in a web of anxiety that is all too frequently culturally induced."

Lillian Gould tells ParentDish about her best friend, who turned on her once she became a fellow parent.

"There was constant bullying," the Charleston, West Virginia mom writes in an e-mail. "Everything from how much weight I gained to the house my husband and I bought."...

JC Pohl helps Escondido students turn against bullies

When they're ready to get really serious, schools will also do something about teachers who bully students and teachers who bully other teachers.


Turning against bullies
By Rose Marie Scott-Blair
San Diego Union Tribune
October 29, 2009

Have you ever been punched, tripped, kicked, shoved or had a rumor spread about you?” filmmaker JC Pohl asked students at Escondido's Bear Valley Middle School at a special assembly last week. About 350 seventh-graders in were the room, and they all stood up.

“Now, if you have ever done that to anyone else, sit down,” Pohl said.

Five students remained standing.

In three years of taking his Teen Truth Live assemblies on bullying to about 350 schools in 20 states, Pohl said that 99 percent of the 400,000 students his group has reached say they have been bullied or have bullied someone else.

Pohl, a San Diego native who lives in Los Angeles, and his partner, fellow filmmaker Erahm Christopher, were prompted by the 1999 Columbine High School massacre in Littleton, Colo., to create a message for children.

“After Columbine we were frustrated because the media just talked to adults, and we felt that students were the ones who could explain why this happened,” Pohl said.

So they gave cameras to five California students to film their lives for a year.

Using 100 hours of raw video from students and security camera footage from Columbine, they produced the award-winning documentary, “Teen Truth,” the centerpiece of their assemblies.

Bullying can be anything from “a bad attempt at humor” to physical violence, and includes intimidation, teasing, labeling and put-downs, Pohl told the students Friday.

“The result is the same. It causes anger, and if kids hold a lot inside, they can explode and may even kill someone,” Pohl said.

In the past 13 years, 148 students and 27 teachers have been killed in school violence in 26 states and 14 countries, and 195 students have been wounded, according to figures compiled by Pohl. Twelve students and one teacher were slain at Columbine.

“Students are the eyes and ears of the school. If you see it or hear it, report it,” he said. “Start doing something today to make a difference. Be more understanding, show compassion, learn how to love each other.” ...