What message do we send our youth about their right to bully others when we support a candidate like Trump?
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I find Donald Trump as the presumptive Republican candidate for the presidency disconcerting for many reasons, the most important being that his popularity stems not from the substance of this policy initiatives – of which he has generated very few – but, rather, from the style and tone of his arguments. Trump has conducted a campaign of attack, innuendo, name-calling, and incessant racist, Islamophobic, and misogynistic bullying and scapegoating. I would not find this so concerning if it had not resonated with a significant majority of the Republican electorate.
…Trump figuratively spit in the faces of minoritized “racial” groups, in particular Latinos and Latinas …
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While some others in contention for the White House on the Republican side understood that their chances hinged on attracting a more diverse electorate in addition to older white people, Trump figuratively spit in the faces of minoritized “racial” groups, in particular Latinos and Latinas, during his off-scripted rambling announcement speech last summer:
“The US has become a dumping ground for everyone else’s problems,” he said. “[Mexico is] sending people that have lots of problems, and they are bringing those problems to us. They are bringing drugs, and bringing crime, and they’re rapists.”
He eventually enlarged his dehumanizing representations to include people in all of Latin America.
He has called for a ban on abortions, and once made illegal, for any woman who continues to have abortions, “There would have to be some form of punishment.”
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Donald Trump, arguably the more prominent of the so-called “birthers,” continually accused President Obama of illegitimacy as Commander in Chief by claiming that he was born outside the United States, even well after the President released his official birth certificate. This along with his supposed investigations into Mr. Obama’s time spent in Indonesia as a child, and inquiries into his African roots on his father’s side coexist as not-so-veiled xenophobic and racist rants.
Trump has demanded “for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States,” which plays into the rising tide of Islamophobia in the United States.
Trump and other the anti-immigration activists connect narratives representing immigrants, migrants, and even visitors to our borders with the language of disease, crime, drugs, alien and lower cultural and life forms, of invading hoards, of barbarians at the gates who if allowed to enter will destroy the glorious civilization we have established among the lesser nations of the world.
In addition, Donald Trump on numerous occasions has verbally attacked women on their physical appearance and their bodily functions. He has called for a ban on abortions, and once made illegal, for any woman who continues to have abortions, “There would have to be some form of punishment.”
I contend that we must not view bullying and harassment as simply youth problems and behaviors, but rather, we need to investigate the contexts in which bullying “trickles down” from the larger society and is reproduced within the schools.
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This is relatively consistent with what we are seeing in the concerted effort, primarily by Republican national and state legislators, to severely restricted women’s reproductive health care options across the country. A number of states offer extremely biased anti-abortion counseling to pregnant women, mandatory ultrasound procedures, and waiting periods for abortions.
In a 2014 National Civility Survey by Weber Shandwick and Powell Tate, with KRC Research, found that about 66% of U.S. citizens believe that we have “a major civility problem” in our country, and 70% believe that “civility has eroded over the past few years.”
We must as a society discuss and examine the social and cultural contexts wherein bullying attitudes and behaviors often stem. I contend that we must not view bullying and harassment as simply youth problems and behaviors, but rather, we need to investigate the contexts in which bullying “trickles down” from the larger society and is reproduced within the schools. Young people, through the process of social learning, often acquire bullying and harassing attitudes and behaviors, and they also often learn the socially-sanctioned targets for their aggressive behaviors.
As young people observe negative role modeling in the society, at home, in the media, at school, and other social sites, they can take on prejudicial judgments and aggressive or violent behaviors. Youth can learn behaviors, like verbal and physical aggression, by observing and imitating others even in the absence of behavioral reinforcements. Psychologist Albert Bandura found that young people can be highly influenced by observing adult behavior, and perceive that such behavior is acceptable, while freeing their own aggressive inhibitions. They are then more likely to behave aggressively in future situations. As Bandura noted, the root meaning of the word “teach” is “to show.”
So, what messages (or double messages) are we modeling to youth as adults and Trump specifically as a highly-visible public figure with significant support within the overall society?
What kinds of messages are we sending young people as state after state and politician after politician attempt to pass punitive, dehumanizing, and, yes, racist and Islamophobic anti-immigration measures?
And what kinds of messages are we sending young people as state after state and politician after politician attempt to pass legislation restricting women’s rights to control their bodies, including needless and invasive inter-uterine ultrasound procedures, while also attempting to defund family planning and medical clinics like Planned Parenthood, which serve the health needs of women from all walks of life?
For as Richard Rogers and Oscar Hammerstein reminded us in one of the songs in their 1949 Broadway musical, “South Pacific”:
You’ve got to be taught
To hate and fear
You’ve got to be taught
From year to year
It’s got to be drummed
In your dear little ear
You’ve got to be carefully taught…
Donald Trump, take note!
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Photo: Getty Images
Goldangit I’m tired of hearing trump bashing as much as Bernie doesn’t want to hear anything more about Hilary’s emails. Y’all are scared that your free ride is coming to an end is what it is. The left has gone too far in its moral righteousness. Learn to compromise for the good of all. YOU, the liberals, created the Trump opportunity. People are fed up with you. You will choose a liar and one of the most corrupt people to EVER run as a candidate to keep it so.
Mark, you are the one who is scared that the rich people, corporations, and conservatives’ free ride is coming to an end. The right wing have been going too far in its evilness while pretending that they are morally right (when they are not). Conservatives have not compromise at all for the last 36 years and even the Republican Part has purged itself of moderates. The conservatives are the ones who created the Tea Party and Trump. Afro-Americsn and other minorities, the American workers and even your own conservatives are fed up with the Tea Bagger, the Republican Party and… Read more »
I get sick and tired of clumping white people into one group considering the different European cultures we have and many school will not allow various European culture clubs at the high school and college level. Yeah, Mr. Brechlin and bullying in the workplace has increased in the last 36 years due to Ronald Reagan firing the air traffic controllers and he gave a green light to the employers that they can do anything they want to their workforce and the government will not help the workers at all. Give thanks to Reagan mandate to Corporate America. Sometimes, Mr. Blumenfeld.… Read more »
“I get sick and tired of clumping white people into one group considering the different European cultures we have and many school will not allow various European culture clubs at the high school and college level.” but what you will commonly see is a “Spanish” club where my kids are half Mexican …. not quite the same. Actually, my kids HS had a French Club and a German Club In so far as “Donald Trump hired illegal Polish workers, refuse to pay them for their labor ” Sometime between 1979 and 1980, Trump hired a contractor to demolish an old… Read more »
“he contractor signed on workers from a local union and, to meet Trump’s tight deadline, also brought on 200 undocumented laborers from Poland dubbed the “Polish Brigade.” Note that Trump hired a contractor but nonetheless paid the settlement 30+ years ago.”
Doesn’t excuse Trump from not knowing about it since he is so hot about illegal immigration and why didn’t he turn the contractor into the INS for hiring those Polish workers?
We should have a European Culture Appreciation Month as well.
You are right though, some who try to help the bullied, at times do get into trouble.
Bullying comes in all different shapes and one that is most commonly used these days is shaming people into submission. That’s what I’ve seen and experienced through the years. Fortunately, I’ve never given in and never will.
“…Trump figuratively spit in the faces of prioritized “racial” groups, in particular Latinos and Latinas” For one thing, where do you get off calling a Mexican “Latino’s?” I’m tired of people lumping a bunch of people into one pot and calling them “Latino’s” The cultures, much less the languages are completely different between Puerto Rico, Mexico, Guatemala etc. “Latino/Latina” is almost as bad as “hispanic” You realize you minimize these various cultures by denying them their various cultures/heritage by clumping them all together as one? That all being said, I recently came across a clip from Bill Clinton who virtually… Read more »
Well, Peter Wilson, who was a US Senator, fought against INS raids against employers who hire illegal immigrants and when he became governor of California, he had the audacity to complain about the federal government not doing its job, when he did everything to prevent the feds from doing their jobs. Politicans like him were paid off by big business from not doing anything about illegal immigration.
It says that when the morally self righteous try to browbeat you and bully you, go ahead and kick their teeth in.
Zemus, and violence begets more violence. When more people interrupt and standup to bullying — when we turn from bystanders into upstanders — bullying will significantly diminish. But when millions of people encourage and vote for those who bully, the bulling increases.
As some states are doing with respect to Obama’s mandate to schools.