We’re Living in the Age of Bully-ism
My coworker tried to punch me in the face the other day. I stepped back and told him to calm down. If my other coworker hadn’t been there to witness it and intervene, we both would have been in big trouble. Or worse yet…injured.
My coworker is a bully and he knows it. He goes around telling others about how he did this or that, and how if they don’t do what he wants they just might end up like them.
Fired.
The problem though is that he’s not the boss. My boss actually likes this aggressive employee and keeps him around. One day he took him out to lunch. He’s a temp so he gets all the benefits of someone who isn’t actually employed — the endowment of fucking things up. And on top of it, he doesn’t have to suffer through the rigamarole of our company culture.
He just gets by with doing little and does what he wants until they fire him. Then he’s on to the next victim.
One of my other coworkers told me after the incident happened that our boss likes “grit” and employees who display mild forms of aggression.
He thinks that it adds to company morale and gets the job done quicker.
It’s annoying really.
Nobody cares about anyone
After the incident, my coworker who witnessed it confronted my boss about it and told him that if he didn’t get his act together we would both quit. The company I work with is desperate for workers right now so even if one of us leaves they will be really screwed. To say the least, the employee is still here and doesn’t care about the repercussions because he can get away with it.
It sounds a lot like what’s going on in the larger context of our world today.
You got countries fighting each other for scarce resources. They invade or plan on invading neighboring countries and kill thousands for something that could easily be dealt with by sitting down and talking it over like an adult.
We have rich billionaires spending their time and money on ways to plan for their escape while all they have to do is use their resources and wealth to create a better world. But instead, they want to treat their employees like second-rate citizens which in turn creates an economic catastrophe. They want to boss them around and play the bully because they know that they can get away with it. They know that if they quit they’ll just hire someone else waiting in line who desperately needs a job.
And then you have terrorists who agree on a common religion targeting females because they think they’re inferior. They will stop at nothing until they get their way — until many more are dead or put in religious subjugation.
It sucks.
These wackos are pretty much running around doing whatever they please. They are the ones running the show because mommy or daddy didn’t allow them to have the big toy when they were a kid. Sometimes they get knocked down by bigger bullies but other times they stand up and just do it all over again without any repercussions. They know this because they’ve done it before on the playground and got away with it.
And they’ll do it again.
Except they will do it with fanaticism and religious morale. They’ll do it with race. Or the economy. Or they partake in silly immigration policies that send families to the other side of the playground where they are told to sit in the corner or “else”.
By whatever means they do it, they end up doing it and they do it pretty well. They usually get away with it. Sometimes they don’t.
Sometimes a lot of people get hurt and die. Others are usually just forced into some way of living that begets more pain and violence. And it affects their communities and the generations after them. It impacts the whole world. It’s a ripple effect.
In the end, bullies hurt themselves
At the end of the day, it sucks to be the person that’s been bullied. I know because I’ve been there. I’ve been punched in the face. I’ve been made fun of. I’ve been ostracized. And I’ve felt the pain of someone who was supposed to be there for me and called themselves a friend, but later turned their back on me.
You don’t have to go too far to see and hear the cries of those that have been bullied.
There’s a lot of it on the internet nowadays but it used to be where it was a very present danger that stood in front of your face. You see it in the movies as well. There’s always gonna be a tough guy at lunch who wants your snack and if you refuse to give it to him he might hurt you.
The problem with bullies is that it starts in the home. It’s usually because mommy and daddy weren’t around to help poor little Johnny out. So he retaliated.
Other times it’s because poor little Johnny got the bad end of his stepfather’s belt. So he ends up taking it out later on his wife when he’s an adult.
What goes around comes around.
The bully then grows up and becomes a homicidal maniac. He becomes a terrorist. Or an ex-cop who shoots up the place. Or a politician who can influence legislature the way he sees fit.
We see it all over the news. Just look at the mass shooters.
Maybe one day we will come up with a solution to stop bullying. But until then we have a lot of work to do. I wish I could say it would be easy. But it won’t. We have to go within and look at ourselves in the mirror and contemplate. We have to understand where all this pain and hurt comes from and a healthy way to release that.
It won’t be easy. Because some of us still like to fight. We think that violence is the answer. But we end up hurting ourselves.
Maybe it’s time we all took a gut check and asked ourselves “how are you feeling today?”
Because if we don’t we’re going to end up with a sick stomach and a couple of broken bones.
