Really? So when speaking to your kids you say: don't worry about rapists, society has made rape illegal and hired a police force to deal with them. Have a nice day!Pattern-chaser wrote: ↑January 21st, 2021, 1:11 pmLuckyR wrote: ↑January 21st, 2021, 12:21 pm
Of course bullies should be addressed (as you point out, best by society than by the victim). But I have more empathy for (and thus interest in assisting) the victim, than punishing the bully, so my commentary is slanted that way. That's what I meant by a false choice, it is not either/or, it is both (that is: addressing bullies directly is not an alternative, it part of a holistic plan, that I happened not to comment on).
I wasn't aiming at punishment, but only prevention. If that can be achieved without "punishment", so much the better. But it is not appropriate (IMO, of course) simply to ignore the obvious solution: stop the bullies, and stop expecting the victims to endure or ignore the punishment meted out by their tormentors. We don't expect the victims of abusers, murderers or rapists (for example) to tolerate these criminal attacks. Bullying is less serious than these examples, but it is still an unwarranted and undeserved attack, and there is no reason that I can see to burden the victim with blame (or whatever).
I seriously doubt it. Arming the vulnerable with the tools to proactively and in the moment address aggressors is a common and essential act. I get what you are driving at but your commentary goes beyond what you are aiming for (IMO).