How Do I Know if I’m a Bully? – BBC
This blog is inspired by the above piece, found on the BBC website, which asks the question “How Do I Know If I’m A Bully?” It’s an article aimed at young people, and is designed to make them look at themselves objectively and question whether or not they are having a negative impact on someone else’s happiness. Bullies don’t tend to see themselves as bullies because it’s such a negative label. They are also looking at events from a very particular perspective, and will therefore lack empathy.
Maybe David Cameron and the Conservative government should have a look at the article. It might encourage them to peer into the proverbial mirror so that they can get a glance at the reflection looking back at them.
According to the article, bullying behaviour can include “verbal abuse, such as name-calling and gossiping”. This week our Prime Minister, David Cameron, was caught on a live microphone saying “We just thought people in Yorkshire hated everyone else. We didn’t realise they hated each other so much.” You have to hear the recording to identify the venom in his tone when he said this. The PM says that it was “just a joke”, but a bully would say that, wouldn’t they?
Another indicator is “emotional abuse, such as threatening, intimidating or humiliating someone”. The Tories are acting very threateningly towards the working class by bringing in new legislation to restrict unions and industrial action, taking away people’s power to fight for a fair, safe working environment. And there are thousands of families that have had to go through the humiliation of using food banks because of the barbaric cuts that have been made during this reign of terror.
“Ignoring or isolating someone” is also on the list. The government has ignored the youth of the UK, and has isolated groups such as the unemployed and immigrants, often actively demonising them, and using psychological projection to place blame on them for all of the country’s troubles. This links into the next thing on the list of bullying behaviour: “Criticising or spreading rumours”. Of course, the Conservative government puts Rupert Murdouch’s evil media empire to work when it comes to much of this nasty business. Ask Jeremy Corbyn, who is lynched for something as little as wearing a tie “incorrectly” (while Cameron’s Yorkshire jibes are swept under the carpet).
Finally, the government should look at this one: “physical assaults, such as hitting or pushing”. The way the government is handling the NHS is the equivalent of physical assault. Sneaky hidden cuts, privatisation, and plans to make the public pay for healthcare will batter the British public black and blue. See THIS ARTICLE for more on that.
I think you’ll agree that, by these standards, the Conservative Government is a giant bully, strutting around the UK like it’s a supersize playground. Hopefully Jeremy Corbyn will turn out to be the hero this country needs to put the bullies in their place!
Mind the Gap 
Sounds like Ayn Rand is very much alive in the UK as well as the USA! I am about to write a piece on her in the near future. Be looking for it under conehead2015.wordpress.com
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For every point you make about the right-wing of (British) politics, you can say the same (or something similar with different examples) about the left-wing of politics. Protests, are demonstrations of (collective) ‘power’ (An example of this would be the post-election climate change march in London. One person commented that the activists were on the streets whilst Big Oil and Gas were inside Number 10). They’re meant to bring change, but don’t have any form of democratic endorsement, like elections do – I can vote for who I want, without anyone knowing (certainly, in a legal sense) who I voted for.
Its also often said that bullies are bullied themselves. Perhaps Cameron is being bullied by Osborne?
To me, politics is about preferences (you can choose the greater good or the lesser evil) not about what is ‘right and wrong’. What is right and wrong? I kind of prefer what Andy Burnham, Yvette Cooper, Jeremy Corbyn and Ed Miliband have/had to offer. All I can say about Cameron is that I get how he might be joking about the people of Yorkshire, but perhaps he should be more sensitive (regardless as to whether a microphone was on or not). He is probably just rehashing his Dad’s “jokes” from the 1950s. That story largely passed me by, as with the Corbyn stuff. Its just fodder for Newsnight to debate and I much prefer photographing culture (whatever, whoever, for).
I don’t like the self-righteous and twee preachyness of The Guardian (some of their writers seem to frame their comments in a pompous pseudo-intellectual Liberal/soft-left framework, devoid of emotion and a tone of ‘This is really what you ought to think or, why don’t you think this already, stupid?’). Mind you, I don’t have to read it (I read a variety, but mostly news from The Guardian, The Times and FT, rarely The Telegraph (don’t start me on The Telegraph!) and Independent).
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It’s simply disgusting. Another example of a bully is the new $200 million AUD Australian PM who dumped the previous guy overboard to steal his job.
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