Editorial: Bullying is more than a school problem

Bullying is an idea that conjures images of elementary school playgrounds and high school cafeterias.

We think of mean girls. Jocks ganging up on nerds. The fat kid. The new kid. The weird kid.

But is that fair? Are kids being tagged as the perpetrators when the problem is much bigger — and more serious — than name-calling at recess?

Yes.

Bullying is a big enough issue that it has a federal website managed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It leads to health and mental health problems. It contributes to substance abuse. For some, it can end in suicide.

The consequences are not limited to the victims. The stress and trauma of bullying can negatively impact the bullies and those who stand silent while it happens. The problems — including drug and alcohol abuse, violence, depression and anxiety — can follow them into adulthood.

Perhaps that is why we see bullying behavior from people old enough to know better. Aggressive sports dads and stage moms are obvious examples, but they aren’t the only examples. Sexual harassment is a kind of bullying. So is hazing. So is the kind of divisive, punishing political behavior that tries to belittle, demonize or silence its opposition not with a better argument but with a louder voice.

So when Deer Lakes High School students canceled a planned walkout protesting bullying at school because of bullying in the community, it is an example of how bullying can’t be addressed as a serious problem until it is treated seriously and not dismissed as just child’s play.

When a Mt. Pleasant man tells a judge his revenge porn plea deal is the culmination of a chain of events that started with being bullied by his former girlfriend and her friends in high school, it says the events that happen in youth can have far-reaching effects.

Bullying has graduated from schoolyards and been taken online. It has gone viral. It is everywhere, and it has to be treated like the disease it is. It has to be handled because we know there are repercussions for the victims, perpetrators and bystanders.

The only people who survive bullying whole are the ones who stand up to it.