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
