I was bullied as a kid. I hated it. Most kids experience it, and either hate it or embrace it as “how things are done” (most likely both). This is basic human nature across all cultures. It’s how we learn how to conform, or appear to conform, to cultural expectations. In a pre-urban environment, the community could only handle so many non-conformists — that is: close to zero — so nipping it in the bud with the children was a pro-survival/pro-communitarian mechanism. In modern urban environments, bullying still happens because it’s part of human nature rather than being how children learn how to cope with social situations.
We’ve even migrated the notion of suppressing “bullying” to the military, as InfantryDort explains:
Any man who thinks bullying is ubiquitously inappropriate has the survival instincts of a deer gazing longingly at headlights.
For most of human history, communities had weak formal institutions. Public ridicule, shaming, and ostracism were used to enforce norms.
Examples:
> Villages mocking chronic thieves.
> Military units humiliating cowards.
> Tradesmen ridiculing apprentices who refused to learn.The positive effect was often:
> Greater conformity to community standards.
> Faster correction of disruptive behavior.
> Stronger group cohesion.It hardens individuals to harsh environments when properly applied. And enforces societal norms we want and dissuades the ones we don’t.
The lack of bullying is how people grow up to adulthood and say things like “I’m gonna kill you and your whole family” at some political protest. And have it come out of their mouth as normal as breathing.
Because nobody ever stood them down in their formative years.
You’re a JAG. You think every problem has a legal solution. It doesn’t. You don’t understand the way the world works outside of the one the law has carefully curated for you. Made possible by people who’ve been using strength to coerce others for all of human history.
Let me spank the kids while you do the dishes.
