Nothing But Big Bullies

 We hear about bullying on the schoolyard and we hear about cyberbullying.  But beyond the schoolyard, bullying can be very sophisticated.  Adult bullies may engage in smear campaigns against their targets rather than insult them to their faces. They might also enlist others to bully a target on their behalf.  Such a bully’s end goal is to humiliate or harm other individuals with the intent of ruining their reputation or harming their self-worth.

Bullies victimize others by using tactics including:  Intimidation, threats, insults, intentional exclusion, spreading rumors and lies.  Cyberbullying is: the use of electronic communication to bully a person.  It includes sending, posting, or sharing negative, harmful, false, or mean content about someone else

Cyberbullying can lead to anxiety, depression and even suicide. Teenagers and young adults are especially vulnerable to cyberbullying.

Political, religions, educational, corporate, entertainment, and social and news media leaders all claim to oppose and attempt to educate against it.  The Federal Government via the Dept. of Health and Human services even has a web site (https://www.stopbullying.gov/) designed to prevent cyberbullying.  Teenagers and young adults are especially vulnerable to cyberbullying.

Yet, what else but cyberbullying are the lies, slander, and continuing harassment against Kyle Rittenhouse (and before him Niholas Sandmann). 

In August of 2020 in Kenosha Wisconsin there was a demonstration that turned into a riot.  Seventeen-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse had attended that protest to help keep the peace (there is no evidence to contradict that statement of his intention).  At some point he legally became armed with an AK-47 as he served as guard for some private property. 

Video tape shows that Rittenhouse was attacked by protestors/rioters – one chased and threw items at him, another grabbed his gun, one stomped and kicked Rittenhouse while he was on the ground and a fourth admitted under oath that he pointed a gun at Rittenhouse before Rittenhouse shot at him.  Kyle Rittenhouse shot and killed two men and wounded a third.  He asserted that he did so in self-defense.  Worth noting is that the people whom Rittenhouse shot were not Black.  Prior to the shooting incident Rittenhouse had been seen, in addition to protecting the private property, to be cleaning up graffiti and debris caused by the protesters with whom those shot were in solidarity. 

Within hours, the Left and the media had decided that young Rittenhouse was guilty of murder, was a White supremacist and racist, was a right-wing fanatic and Trump supporter and should be destroyed.  They had no evidence of any of this and still do not.  Nonetheless, it fit the narrative to turn this boy into an evil scapegoat for all of their hate and anger.

Their rush to judgment was arrived at and as evidence came out that began to prove that judgment false, the media and the Left did not back off or apologize but instead doubled down.  The President called Rittenhouse a White Supremacist and to this moment has not withdrawn that unfounded and slanderous claim.  The narrative of the Left demanded guilt, not truth.

Once charged by an over-zealous prosecutor with several felonies that were not supportable with evidence, Kyle Rittenhouse, his family, his defense team and others associated with the case received numerous death threats.  Kyle was called names and threated on social media.  The news media referred to him as a murderer, and someone who should be put away – hopefully for life.  They named him as the poster boy for racism, hatred, white privilege and every other thing that they like to blame for victimhood. 

Again, let’s remember that those shot were not Black.  The Left’s reasoning apparently goes something like this:  The riot had been the eventual result of protests against a police shooting of a Black man.  The protest/riot was against the police who should be condemned for their systemic racism.  Therefore, anyone who was not protesting/rioting and especially anyone who was there to support calls for peace and/or to support law enforcement must of necessity be a White supremacist – the sort of person we need to get rid of.  Anyone with just a passing brush with logic will see the illogic of this thinking!

As the case worked its way through the slow and deliberative judicial system where actual facts were brought forth and actual laws reviewed the Left bullies tried to intimidate the jury into condemning Kyle Rittenhouse.  Then, even when the jury of citizens examined both facts and law (as opposed to narrative) and reached their verdict of not guilty on all counts, the press, the Left, and even the President continue their attacks on and harassment of Kyle Rittenhouse.  They seem determined to ruin his life for the rest of his days.  Many seek federal and civil actions against this young person. 

Why do they continue to bully Kyle Rittenhouse?  Not because there is any justification to do so.  Rather it is just because they did not get what they wanted; they cannot accept a verdict that did not go their way.  It is a threat to their power which they seem to believe is, or should be, absolute.

The attacks and bullying were similar in the case of Nicholas Sandmann whom you will recall stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in January 2019, wearing a MAGA hat while a native American activist stood in his path.  Nicholas, who was 16 at the time, did nothing but was immediately determined to be guilty of some sort of confrontation and of course of White Supremacy.  When video came out disproving the narrative of the Left and the media, again they did not apologize or back off but instead doubled down on their bullying of young Sandmann.

In an interview this past week discussing Kyle Rittenhouse, Sandmann stated that he has found it difficult to return to normal life after watching CNN, MSNBC and others report irresponsibly on his encounter with Native American elder Nathan Phillips.  "It was like a car crash you can't look away from, you are not able to look away. My eyes were glued to the TV watching my character get torn apart.”

He further described what bullying at a national level can do to a teen. “Well, it’s terrible, and I’ll tell you why. As a 17-year-old, in Kyle’s case, and mine 16, your mind is still developing, and so, to deal with an overload of stress where you have this feeling that half of the country, hundreds of millions of people hate you for something that you’re innocent of, but how you are painted, it can do a lot to you mentally. It takes a very strong will to be able to resist that and keep a level head. I know that Kyle is probably dealing with that right now.”

If this all isn’t bullying I don’t know what is.  Like school bullies, the media, the Left, the Democrat administration and leaders irresponsibly rush to judgment, condemn, bully, intimidate, and harass, with no concern for the young lives they are destroying.  It is about their power just as any bullying is about power. 

According to the mental health site verywellmind.com,  bullying is linked to power imbalances:  bullies target those with less power than they have.  “People who engage in this conduct: feel powerless, suffer from insecurity, need to control others, and enjoy the rewards they get from bullying.”

This is all about attacking positions and policies that contradict those put forward by the Left, its media, and its politicians.  They would do away with opposition and hence give themselves more power. 

The political bullying of the Left is, moreover, a bullying of our entire country.  We are a nation governed by law.  The refusal of the Left to accept the legal process, to assert a right to attack that very process when they do not get their way, is dangerous not only to those involved but for everyone of us who benefit from the freedoms we enjoy that are protected by that rule of law.

Bullying is wrong.  We all know it is wrong.  We teach school children not to bully.  And we tell those witnessing to speak up and stop the bullying.  Verywellmind states:

Bystanders can play important roles in ending the bullying they see, particularly if they are in positions of power or have the same rank as the bully. Rather than turning a blind eye to bullying, witnesses can call out the bully or report the bully’s behavior to others. Witnesses can also take the initiative by backing up the target’s accounts about the bully. Unfortunately, many bystanders don’t speak up because they’re afraid they’ll become the bully’s next target.

We are all bystanders to the horrendous bullying of the media and the Left.  Perhaps we are willing to tolerate it when the bullying is between politicians.  But when children are bullied because they stand by their values, follow the law, but take a position contrary to the Left narrative, we must speak up.  Yes, we may very well become the bully’s next target (personal experience tells me that will happen) but that should not stop us. 

We cannot turn a blind eye.  The Left has chosen to bully its way to power.  The media has joined that march, giving up any semblance of objective journalism.  It is up to we the people to call out the political bullying that is going on all around us.  Even if done by a party with whose policies you agree, bullying is not the way to support and enact those policies. 

We all know the saying “If you see something, say something.”  We must speak up or the bullies will destroy our country.

Grown-Up Bullies

Today’s Democrats.  What are they?  They are not statesmen.  They are not leaders.  They are certainly not uniters or peacemakers.  I think they are nothing but grown-up bullies.

Consider:  When you disagree with them or don’t do what they want, they call you names – racist, deplorable, bigot, Neanderthal, and any number of others.  They try to stop you from doing what they don’t like by telling you that if you do that you are [and here they will label you with more name-calling].  They intimidate those who might speak out into not doing so because of the verbal and sometimes actual assaults that they may face.

This is bullying.  A bully is “a person who habitually seeks to harm, intimidate, or coerce those whom they perceive as vulnerable.”  Bullying often occurs out of some form of insecurity, envy of those more secure, and a need for recognition and power.

What better explanation of today’s Democrats?  Consider the current uproar over the Georgia voting law, a law that in reality expands voting rights.  (You can read the full text of the law HERE) 

Despite the reality of the law, the Democrats don’t like it (and apparently then don’t like election integrity) so they seek to punish those who passed it.  First, they call them names:  racist, etc. because they have inaccurately given the law the characterization of Jim Crow.  That not being enough, they move on to boycotts.  The President urges MLB to move the All-star game from Atlanta.  MLB complies. 

But that is not enough.  Now the President and the Democrats urge other large and private entities to threaten boycotts and other actions against other states that are considering similar laws to improve voting security and integrity.  This is nothing more than a bully’s attempt to coerce and intimidate those whose actions the bully does not like.  And those being bullied are indeed vulnerable to the bullying because the threatened actions, just like the MLB cancelling of Atlanta, cost the people of the threatened states millions of dollars in jobs and other income which they need.

This bullying is being used by Democrats as a way to make themselves more powerful, not unlike the schoolyard bully who uses intimidation to rule the playground.

But more frightening than the simple act of bullying that is occurring daily is what it is doing to our country, to our Constitution, and to our Democratic Republic.

Under the Constitution, the federal government has limited power.  Rights are retained to the people and protected from the government.  States have more power than does the federal government and those with the most power are the people themselves.

But look at what is happening.  The Democrats, led by President Biden, are inserting themselves and the federal government into state legislative actions as they attack the legitimate work of the Georgia Legislature and as they intimidate other state legislatures as they try to go about their work.   Democrats work daily to create laws and regulations that will govern every aspect of one’s daily life.  Rather than see themselves as a government of the people with limited power, they try to make themselves into a power structure that creates (and thus has the power to remove) every right and freedom of individuals.

This President and today’s Democrats are turning our country on its head.  They want the federal government (i.e. themselves) to be all powerful, with less power to the states, and virtually no power to the people themselves.  That is not America.

Yes, today’s Democrats are nothing more than schoolyard bullies.  They want to rule.  They want full power – over everyone and everything.  And like a good bully they will intimidate, coerce, and harm anyone that does not cave to their wishes and do what they say.  I do not need to tell you that is not democracy, that is not America.  Most of the migrants crossing our border can tell you what sort of a country that is and why they are fleeing it for America’s dream.  The problem is that the Democrat bullying is making that America truly nothing more than a dream.

We tell children who are bullied to tell an adult.  Well, we are the adults.  It is our job to put a stop to this and save not only our children, but our very country.  We need to no longer tolerate the Democrat bullying.