Since the Neo-Con "Revolution" of the 1980's, Bullying has become expedient in politics, religion, business and American society as a whole. Obviously, those who comment here don't recognize the obvious Bullying inherent in their own submissions to the conversation.
Conservatives are by nature Authoritarian and Hierarchical, comfortable only in a strata of high Authority figures and low Subjects of those "heroic" figures. This sets up conditions in which "Bullying"...those Authority figures using their positions to enforce their Will and Opinions upon others...is automatic. Authoritarian systems depend upon this. The Authorities have to enforce Control and Dominance over their Subjects.
You can see that dynamic reflected in the comments submitted above in the writers' insistence that they are "moral" Authorities and all should bow to their edicts in order to have a Controlled society. And nevermind that in 40,000 years of human community this has always been contested and never worked well, besides resulting in the worst examples of brutal Dictatorships in history. (Name any that come to mind.)
Authoritarians, however, feel more comfortable even in such Dictatorships than they do in more Democratic societies, where each individual must decide for themselves what Values ("morals") they choose to cherish and abide by. Rather than being ordered to adhere to those some Authority figure hands down from "above", and Bullies others into accepting.
Under the neo-Republicon Authoritarian regime of the past 30 years, American society has become a "Top Down" structure that accepts and encourages Bullying as necessary to sustain its Dominance. It is this "dog eat dog/top dog rules" system that has become the norm in business, politics and society in general. This is what our children learn (and all the "clever" snarkiness incorporated in it) from US culture on every level. How else could they then be expected to act?
As usual, I'm appalled by the attitudes expressed here by Oregonian readers; by the cold heartless callousness, aggression, spitefulness, meanness, malice, and sociopathic narcissism people feel so free to express. Not only do they feel free to express it, they are Proud of it! And as I read their snarky opinions, I hear the echos of Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly, FOX "News", and every extreme Right-wing talker, blogger, "newsy", politico, pundit and pimp out there. They march along in ordered ranks, shout their prescribed slogans, repeat their advised talking-points, and insist that anyone who doesn't think, act and believe exactly as they do is a "deviant" who should be punished, restrained, and Bullied into compliance.
And the "News" breathlessly gasps at the audacity of our children's actions and wonders, "Where did all this Bullying come from?!?"
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