There's been an increase in the number of visits to my post about Kim Lockwood, the criminally incompetent middle school assistant principal featured in the documentary "Bully." I wasn't sure why until I was channel surfing the other night and came across...the documentary "Bully."
Since 4/20/2013 when I originally posted about Kim Lockwood a.k.a. the bully enabler there have been a total of 4069 viewers to her post. I know...that's not a lot, but considering the fact that this is not a heavily visited weblog it's pretty good. And it's far more than most of my other posts.
As always...
No one who is civilized enough to have earned the right to complain about terrorism would be caught dead enabling a bully or blaming its victim.
I’m no psychologist or social scientist, but I can observe.
ReplyDeleteHumans occupy a wider span of individual temperaments than any other animal. What I mean is, one individual’s basic traits can be very different from another, and the extremes are... pretty extreme. Chimps range from maternal to crazy murderous. Their cousin species bonobos range from maternal to horny. Dogs can be yappy, lappy, licky, barky, or bitey with strangers. Sheep mostly graze and occasionally butt heads. The humans race includes all those things and more. Autistics, psychopaths, empaths, rationals, crybabies, machiavellians, heros... You name it we’ve got it.
My point is that anytime anybody anywhere, tries to put any complex type of human interaction into one little one-size-fits-all box, I want to call them ignorant or lazy. When they proclaim to be experts while selling such, I call it snake oil. When they’re paid to be authorities doing such, I think it’s a crime.
Human interactions are complex. And experts should know that what on the surface may look like a personality conflict, could be something entirely different, and that each case requires it’s own solution.
Human animals are not uniform manufactured products, but they all have important behavioral similarities that tend to push them in a common direction. This makes aggregate behavior predictable enough to keep the insurance industry profitable. No one can predict if you are going to die in a traffic accident this year, but the percentage of motorists of your age and gender can be predicted with considerable accuracy. This is why I have no doubt about the cause and effect relationship between experiencing adolescent abuse and becoming destructive or even homicidal later in life.
DeleteI'd say with Bullies2Buddies, at best, Izzy is giving everybody just another tool for the toolbox. At worst, he's describing about 5% of conflict situations and ignoring all the rest.
ReplyDeleteIf I had more time I'd pony up some spare change and get one of his books, then actually read it. I'm curious about how he himself as a so-called school professional, deals with sociopaths once he discovers them.
I got his book from Amazon for a buck plus $3.99 shipping. He likes to pretend that verbal abuse isn't going to be backed up by physical abuse. And of course...victims bring it on themselves by failing to respect the bully.
DeleteI read a little more about Lockwood and "Bully". Apparently she apologized at a movie showing. One of the targets moved to another city and now has a more normal life with actual friends. And some of the bullies have apologized to that target. Interesting what happens when things become public.
ReplyDeleteYes, most victims of bullying don't do anything spectacular like commit suicide or mass murder. But then, the fact that most drunk drivers don't kill anyone doesn't make it harmless.
DeleteSue Lockwood is a trained professional entrusted with the care and supervision of other people's children. If she needs to be exposed as a bully enabler on national television in order to precipitate a luke warm, disingenuous apology then she should find something else to do. The next Timothy McVeigh looking for that final straw won't be any more impressed than I am.