We started out our discussion today in Dr. Glassman's class and he asked if there is a difference between being mean and being a bully and like some other people stated I think there is. I don't have an exact number but bullying is repetitive aggression towards someone while being mean is taking your frustration out on someone once. I found an article that sets up two scenarios one showing a girl (Sophie) being mean and another showing a girl (Isabella) putting another girl down and singling her out on purpose.
The article then goes onto talk about how scenario one isn't bullying because this girl gets mad at another girl for trying to sit with her. The girl was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Sophie was mad about a lot of things that had gone wrong that day and she took her anger out on this girl. She was trying to single her out this girl just happened to come up and wanted to sit with her while Sophie just wanted to be left alone. Later Sophie apologizes for being mean and explains it was wrong of her to take her anger out on this girl. The second scenario is about a girl Isabella who purposely puts this girl (Chloe) down because Chloe "stole" Isabella's lead role in a play and is becoming more popular than her. Isabella decided that she would start spreading rumors about Chloe and make sure that no one wanted to be her friend. Isabella took pride out of Chloe being sad. I think this article does a great job of showing the difference between someone who is being mean because they are angry about something and someone being mean and deliberately becoming a bully.
The article then goes on to talk about how bullying is portrayed differently than someone who is just being mean and a bully usually bully's someone because they want to feel better about themselves. Someone is mean usually because they are having a rough day and our taking their frustration out on someone but not on purpose and they usually feel bad about it at some point. Bullies don't usually feel bad about their actions.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/teen-angst/201211/mean-vs-bullying
I agree. I think that there is a difference between being mean and being a bully. Bullying is not a one time mean interaction it is a series of repeated actions that negatively affect another person.
ReplyDeleteBeing mean and being a bully are differing in my opinion too. A bully is something that is an ongoing attack on others that specifically targets someone (or multiple people). But I think, like mentioned in class, drawing the line between bulling and being mean is extremely hard. I don't really think it’s a black and white kind of thing...I think there is a definite grey area which can be hard to define.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that there is a difference between bullying and being mean, we all have days when we're feeling down and snap at people. Who can honestly say they've never been mean? Even bullied victims are mean at times. Bullying is a purposeful act, that heightens the bullies confidence in themselves for 10 seconds or so until it's over for that time.
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