Emily Konell Paradigm Shift

Before the 1990s the concept of bullying was almost unheard of by society. When the big and mean school yard bad boy picked on a boy half his size, it was merely considered joking around by most adults. When a group of girls called the new girl in school names, it was just girls being girls. The mentality of America, and even the world as a whole, was frequently that children could be immature and cruel; but they grew out of their mean spirited ways as time went on. In todays society the words bully and bullying are on everyones lips. One child cannot insult another child without being smacked with the label of bully. Men and women, and adults and young people alike have joined a mass crusade against bullying. No longer are mean words tolerated, and there are stories of bullying in every part of the media. New programs to stop bullying are being implemented in almost every institution of education and work. This social crime has invaded every aspect of life. As different people mold and change the idea of what bullying is, new consequences for bullies pop up every day. Bullying is one of the most significant social shifts that society has ever experienced, and continues to experience today. The mean words and actions of children caught the attention of Swedish Psychologist, Dan Olweus, as early as 1970. In 1970, Olweus started a significant project to research bullying. That project became recognized as the first scientific study of bullying in the world. In 1980, Olweus began another important study dedicated to the intervention of bullying, which

uncovered several positive effects of bullying intervention programs. Olweus wasnt satisfied with just researching and uncovering the real issue of bullying; he wrote several books that drew the attention of the world to this social problem. Through Olweus research and publications, society started to realize that the words and actions of some children were leaving long lasting emotional and physical bruises on other children. Bullying became an issue that just couldnt be ignored or swept under a carpet ("Olweus: Bullying Prevention Program"). The labeling of the cruel words of children, although important, was not the only reason the crusade against bullying spread like wild fire across the world. Starting in the early 1990s, society began to see school shootings and teen suicides as devastating consequences of extreme bullying. One school shooting that scared America into taking bullying more seriously, was the 1999 Columbine high school massacre, in Colorado. In this horrific school shooting, 13 people were killed by two trench-coat wearing teenagers. At this time the media had started to become swifter in reporting and covering crimes. Better technology allowed the media to plaster the awful images, taken from the schools security cameras, onto every available television. These images spread panic throughout America, and all of the other parts of the world anxiously tuned in to hear about the massacre. After the shooting, many people believed that the two perpetrators had been relentlessly bullied in school, and that the bullying had led them to turn to violence. Even though the theory that the two boys had been bullied was later disproved, the damage was already done and the idea that bullying had been the cause of such an awful event still resonated in the minds of Americans. According to COPS, or the Center for
Problem-Oriented Policing, that idea isnt so wrong, two-thirds of the recent school shootings (for which the shooter was still alive to report), the attackers had previously been bullied. Columbine was one of

the very first school shootings that drew peoples focus unto the dark side of the schooling system and the bullying that goes on within it. Whenever there is a school shooting today, immediately people speculate if the perpetrator was bullied in any sort of way. The worlds profound desire to avoid further violent bloodshed in its schools was, and still is, an important role in fueling the crusade against bullying. Teen on teen violence is not the only kind of crime that has made people think about bullying in a different way; teen suicides have also cast a dark shadow over this social epidemic. The media has gotten a great deal better at quickly covering news stories and spreading the news to as many available receptacles as it can. Media reports often link bullying and suicide, which creates a more urgent call from society to end bullying. So, now that the news is more easily accessed by the masses, it is easier to spread awareness of bullying and to persuade people to intervene in bullying. The 21st century has seen many large social changes, two of which being the increase of tolerance of different kinds of people, and the shifting social standards for men. These two shifts are important in understanding why people are so quick to condemn bullying. Boys of the world have always been taught to stand tall and to have a stiff upper lip. Instead of being comforted when sad, mad, ill, or suffering from any other weak emotion, young boys were told to rub some dirt on it as if their pain needed to be silenced. Society encouraged its boys to stifle emotion and to appear strong. Crying on the school court yard because another boy called you a mean name just wasnt an option for many young boys, nor was telling a teacher. How could a boy fit societys ideal of a real man, if he was caught crying over words. While all of that may

still be true for many men, it is not true for all men today. Rigid gender roles are beginning to become more flexible and changeable, which has led society to slowly allow more men to show sensitivity, emotion, and pain. The world does not expect men to be unbreakable anymore, and that has helped more boys speak up about the array of bullying in and outside of schools. Also, words are recognized to be weapons against both genders, not just women. Now that more men are willing to speak up and society does not expect them to suffer in silence, more occurrences of bullying are identified and highlighted. The men of todays world can now connect in a deeper way with this issue and its possible that that connection pulls on heart strings, and helps bring men into the war against bullying. The fact that so many men are involved in trying to prevent bullying is evidence that the lines of gender roles continue to blur and mix together, so that each gender is not restricted to a set of guidelines or expectations. The new generation of the world has higher levels of tolerance and acceptance that the old generation just did not have. From sexual orientations to religious beliefs, young people are more receptive to the unique qualities of the people around them. This ability to coexist and to feel empathy for others has made intolerance the minority mind set rather than the dominating opinion. This sort of switching over of the generations is a large contributor to the social shift of the way bullying is viewed. The old generation could ignore bullying, or even side with the words of the bully, but now because the new generation promotes uniqueness and tolerance bullying simply has become unacceptable. When society sees something as unacceptable, it is a common occurrence for it to attack the flaw or problem that does not conform to its standards.

The war against bullying is evidence that society is drastically changing its social norms. The idea of bullying has come a long way. Not only has the term bullying been accepted into society, it is now used to label a wide range of crimes and offenses. The word bullying used to be restricted to describing the imbalances of power between school children, but today serious crimes, such as, harassment and hate crimes can also fall under that evergrowing category. It seems that any ill intention, mean word, or immoral act has the potential to be labeled as bullying, and societys crusade against all things intolerant has helped to grow that potential. By calling someone a bully or her act as being bullying, the situation receives mass media attention and swift social justice; but as bullying is used to describe more and more things its meaning becomes clichd and over worn. The seriousness of each individual crime is risked, due to the fact that bullying has yet to become accepted as a true crime in the eyes of the law. This idea that the seriousness of crimes can be jeopardized was brought to light in a recent news story. Richie Incognito, a football player in the NFL, was called a bully after severely harassing a fellow teammate to the point where that teammate chose to leave the team. As soon as Incognito was called a bully in the news, society forgot that this case was not a case of the victim being too soft for the NFL as some people have said, but a case of Incognito committing a serious crime that has serious legal consequences. Even though bullying has transcended age limits, it is still partly seen as a word to describe schoolyard squabbles. By labeling a grown man as a bully, people acknowledge that his crime may be immoral, but some may deny that it is illegal.

The concept of bullying is fairly new and it has a lot of room to grow and change. It has gone from being ignored and disregarded to one of the most serious social offenses in the eyes of society in just a few decades. With the help of diligent research, the media, and societys changing social norms, bullying has become one of the most debatable topics of America; and even the world. Even though calling someone a bully gets immediate worldwide attention and swift justice, the world runs the risk of over using the term bullying. Over using the terms bully and bullying can downgrade very serious crimes and their consequences. It is not horrible that society is quick to help the victims of bullying and to condemn the guilty parties, in fact many youths benefit from this social shift, but it can be detrimental to society to send people on emotion fueled crusades. Sometimes the details and facts of events get ignored when the word bullying is floating around because society is so reactive to that term. When details are ignored justice may be quick, but it isnt always right. Only time will tell if the world can benefit from this paradigm shift, or if it must start over and find other ways to label and deal with bullying.

Works Cited
"Bullying in Schools." Center for Problem Oriented-Policing. Stopbullyin.gov. Web. 4 Dec 2013.

"Effects of Bullying." Stopbullying.gov. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. Web. 3 Dec 2013.

"Olweus: Bullying Prevention Program." Olweus. N.p.. Web. 3 Dec 2013.