How to make Teenagers understand the process of “Bullying” to help them with their parents to react and stand against it?

Please find here an articles to help to understand the process occurring when bullying happen. Understanding better the process occuring can help us to react with more Social Intelligence helping us to avoid passivity, stress, toxic atmosphere, generated directly, indirectly to everyone. We are all actors and responsible of this type of situation.

This articles permit to understand Bullying as literally transforming “Someone” as a “Lightning Rod” using “Bad or Aggressive reaction” against someone. This Process permit “People who are using Bullying” to continue quietly to lead their own lives and experience transgressions that are “less serious” in their own eyes.

The process of Bullying is basically as transforming someone in “Human Shield” but “Margo Deage” whereas taking “Human Shield” picture in her thesis use the term of “Lightning Rod” which is even more strong and understandable it explain the situation of bullying that is very very complex to resolve when it happen. Because when someone is pointed and transform as “Lightning Rod” it’s quite difficult to deactivate or the current situation.

Understanding this Metaphor permit also ourself when it occur to help people around to realise what is occurring. People are not stupid we are generally all stuck or prisoner of this type of situation.

The Bully that is using process of bullying is finally the person that create a situation where all people become stupid it reduce the social intelligence of the group to very very low level. It’s missing respect for everyone finally.

The problem is also everyone is getting stuck mentally and physically in this toxic situation not able to react and being afraid to be transformed as the next “Lightning Rod” available in the group.

It create Vicious Atmosphere that everyone try to avoid cause of increase of stress and Toxic Atmosphere, the situation basically is often reacting in level “Mental” but also “Physiologic” pressurising everyone and keeping trace post traumatic very long time after it occur increasing Risk of Stress and Depression that is increasing risk of Cancer. (See more information on book : “The Instinct to Heal: Curing Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Without Drugs and Without Talk Therapy” (Rodale Books, 2004) (Link) )

Always try to revert wrong Toxic Process cause if you succeed to revert it, it benefit to everyone, even yourself, Reverting a Toxicity to something Virtuous is for everyone not only few peoples.

Extract from French Newspaper Articles : Liberation Articles By Clémence Mary Publish on the 17th march 2023 :

At the end of December and the beginning of January, the respective suicides of 11-year-old Amber and 13-year-old Lucas, both victims of school bullying or homophobic, highlighted the public powerlessness to curb this scourge. If acts of violence are rare, between 800,000 and 1 million children are victims of bullying at school each year, according to the Senate report released in 2021. For her thesis, published under the title A l’école des mauvais reputations (PUF, 2023), Margot Déage, a sociologist at the Jean-Jaurès University in Toulouse, immersed herself in the relationships between middle school students through a field survey in four institutions in Paris and Ile-de-France. Middle school is a time in life marked by great conformism and extreme social control, she explains. In the intimacy of the school, teenagers judge each other: “Constantly giving your opinion on others fuels conversations.“

What are the mechanisms by which reputation is built at school?

The goal of the majority of teens is not to be noticed, because a reputation at school is often bad. It can be built in the collective unconscious through laughter, nicknames, games; or strategically, through disclosure or defamation. Disappointed in friendship or love, some young people decide to “make a reputation” for others, by releasing one or more “dossiers” to take revenge. Scapegoats guarantee the moral worth of the rest of the group by acting as a “Lightning rod”, behind which others can continue to quietly lead their lives and experience transgressions that are “less serious” in their eyes.

Why is the line between laughter and mockery so blurred?

In order for laughter to take hold, the group must be insensitive to the student who is experiencing the hilarity. This callousness is strong in middle school, where empathy is not welcome. Derision prevails, as does the desire to show that we are there to have fun. Whoever does not go in this direction will be sidelined. In public, students say they are fine, but when we talk one-on-one, many confide that they can’t be themselves or express certain emotions such as sadness. The student may feel that a bad reputation is deserved, be aggressive in front of the group, and as an aside regret his actions and admit that he is playing a role for fear of rejection. Individualized follow-up can be a lever for education staff.