Now that our recent election is over, the right wing is free to tell us more about what happened. During the election run-up, the media was too full to allow any reasonable message to get through.
This may be why the initiative to dampen down bullying had a weak beginning. The anti-bullying campaign may strengthen with time. Bullying, vital to campaigning, was the message that got lost in all the clamor. The TV footage of a woman protester in [Kentucky] being trampled by [a GOP volunteer] can stand as an example of how campaign bullying can get out of hand.
Maybe the effort could start all over — but so long as human nature prevails, we look forward with faint hope of somehow seeing an end to bullying.
Bullying evidently needs several ingredients: first, an initiator who intends to become a leader someday; then, a target thought to be weaker or more vulnerable — maybe someone who dresses differently, speaks differently or is somehow
“different”; and, initially, there must also be some name-calling. Of course, a crowd of noisy people hoping for some excitement must gather.
True, name-calling recalls the fifth-grade school yard for many of us. Trouble is, many of us stopped growing about then. Bullying evidently is going to be with us, maybe, for good.
— Allen Thomas
Asheville
