Political Bullying

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/10/17

I’ve tried to stay away from the political conversations because I believe politics is a personal matter. It’s a matter in which we each weigh the pros and cons of candidates and see where it fits into our current lifestyle and values. That is, unless you’re a party voter, which is one of the things that has destroyed our voting system…but that’s another story.

This post isn’t about debating or arguing politics or which candidate I favor. The reason I decided to post this is regarding bullying. I’ve had to weed through countless adult Tweets, Facebook comments, etc. about politics and people attacking others because they don’t agree with the other voter to the point that I’ve been avoiding social networks for several days now. In one instance, someone remarked, on an author’s political Facebook comment, that “Anyone who votes for Romney has mental disorders” and the author ‘liked’ the comment.

In case anyone wasn’t aware of it, belittling others’ voting choice is a form of bullying. Earlier this month, Tweets and Facebook shares went around about the recent death of Amanda Todd, who was cyber-bullied through social networking. Amanda Todd committed suicide because of bullying. Shouldn’t her death make us stop and think about our actions? The author I spoke of earlier shared her dislike of bullying, stating she experienced it herself in her younger years, yet agreed with someone’s insulting comment. For those of us who are against bullying, it’s time we take a look at our own actions and possibly make changes, if need be. How can we be outraged at the younger generations for bullying when we’re doing the same thing?

The media and political candidates started the political bullying. Media outlets choose which candidate they support and then slam the other candidate in a game of semantics. And then you have the presidential candidates talking bad about each other, accusing one another of lying, and then telling the American people what’s wrong with the other instead of telling us what they’ll do to help this country recover. It’s all bullying—plain and simple. Here’s a link that doesn’t show politicians, media or society at its best - http://news.yahoo.com/u-election-nears-efforts-intensify-misinform-pressure-voters-051420119.html.

If we want the younger generations to learn the horrors of bullying, how wrong it is to bully someone because they’re not like us or don’t think the same way, then we need to start at the top level. If we want to prevent another child from taking s/he life because of cyber-bullying, then we need to start changing our own society and individual ways in how we approach things by demanding politicians and the media to set an example. Stop creating a bullying circus on television and social networks. Children learn by example, and what the presidential candidates, the media, and people all across the social networking world are doing, is showing children how to perfect bullying.

Bullies and Politics,

Bea

It’s all about the Weiner!

By now, we’ve all heard about Anthony Weiner and his admittance to sending out inappropriate pictures of himself on Twitter. Although I’m not in favor of the public stoning, along with other “so-called” journalistic stories shoved in my face, I’m worried where our country is going. I normally don’t like discussing politics on my blog, but I can’t ignore this kind of continued behavior.

The auto and financial industries slapped the American people with greed and power while we continue to accept narcissism and lying from our politicians. This country is in turmoil, people can’t get jobs (including myself), sell their homes, yet we allow people calling the shots on budgets and making life and death decisions to play hide and seek on our buck. Republican. Democrat. I don’t give a crap. What they are broadcasting to the world is that they have no regard for anyone else…that the American people mean nothing to them. America wants respect—well we better damn well demand it from our government. Anthony Weiner is not the first to show disregard for the people and this country and it's time we make ourselves heard.

Our government better start taking drastic measures when it comes to ANY activity not part of a government employee’s job description. ZERO TOLERANCE. American children are expected to uphold zero tolerance policies in schools, so why aren’t our politicians? How can we expect children to follow policy when our own government can’t? They do something outside of what WE pay them for—immediate dismissal.

We need to start at the top—in politics—and should immediately fire individuals doing anything outside of their job. I don’t care whether it’s in their personal time or not, they signed up to be a public figure—to represent ME—so there should be Zero Tolerance. When they resign or retire, then they can do whatever they want in their personal lives. As long as we allow this public behavior, and then public stoning, younger generations will never understand or follow a healthy path.

If you feel strongly about the behavior we’ve had to deal with from our politicians, then click White House and let our government know how disappointed you are in them. Promote Zero Tolerance.