For the past several years there has been a major media campaign to end bullying. From the White House to public service commercials we have been told how bad bullying is and that no one likes a bully. In principle I doubt anyone would object to the aim of the campaign. It is not fun to be picked on and the social media age has amplified the damage that comes from taunting.
In reality, though, bullying is not going away. First, what is often portrayed as bullying is a stereotypical image of bullying that comes largely from TV, not real life. In real world situations it is often hard to distinguish playful banter from actual insults, both by the participants and observers. Traditionally boys always give their peers, especially their best friends, a hard time. Further, the social structure of groups is far more complex than the TV portrayals. The role of bully and victim can change frequently and sometimes within the same day. The child that is bullied one moment may bully someone else the next. For example, borrowing from TV stereotypes, Bart Simpson is frequently bullied by Nelson, but Bart in turn bullies Milhouse even though Milhouse is his devoted lackey. Bart has also turned the tables a few times and bullied Nelson. Milhouse has also bullied Bart and other characters when he was given the advantage. Rarely is there actually one arch-typical bully, but bullies vary on who has the advantage in a given situation.
This past week an example of the lasting spectre of the bully emerged on ESPN. It is a common practice for cameramen to pan across the audience of sporting events. Supposedly they are surveying crowd reaction to certain aspects of the game, but in reality they are looking for silly, funny, or dumb people or events to evoke humor on the broadcast. In other words, they are intentionally looking for people to mock. During a Boston/New York game a cameraman found a gold mine. One fan, Andrew Rector, was caught napping in the stands. Not only did the game commentators mock Rector, but they came back to him more than once to mock him. Rector was then put on ESPN's website for further ridicule and became a highlight on multiple sports broadcasts. Further, comments about Mr. Rector from baseball fans have been visceral and cruel. Mr. Rector has filed a lawsuit, but Major League Baseball and ESPN point out that the back of the ticket warns that if you are hit by a ball or mocked on national TV it's your own fault.
But consider for a moment that this is the textbook definition of bullying. An overweight individual was mocked by a group of athletes. Many justify their insults by pointing out that he fell asleep during a baseball game. I would counter, who hasn't fallen asleep in a baseball game? But that is beside the point. I don't know Mr. Rector, but there are many plausible reasons why he may have fallen asleep. He may have narcolepsy or sleep apnea. Both are common ailments for overweight people. If he is diabetic his blood sugar may have been off and that could also have caused drowsiness. Perhaps he has been under a great deal of stress and came to the game to relax. He may have nodded off due to exhaustion. These are possibilities. Bullies don't care about those reasons because they are not being empathetic. Those broadcasters didn't consider any medical or other reasonable explanation for his dozing, instead their childhood tendency to mock the fat kid arose. Instead of being chastened by the rest of the media, who supposedly oppose bullying, news directors and producers piled on for fun.
I doubt Mr. Rector's lawsuit will go very far. ESPN and MLB have plenty of lawyers and written justification for their behavior. They don't have the moral high ground, but legality and morality are two different realms. Besides, the public, which cries out against bullying, has sided with the jocks. Bullying is not going anywhere.
