Gordon Ramsey is a Bully

...and he's not the only one. The Media fosters bullying behavior with reality TV competitions that encourage singling out and humiliating the weak and behind the scenes in Hollywood it's a hotbed of bullying behavior. The military calls their demeaning, humiliating, berating and extremely dangerous bullying "character building." Bullying is the topic du jour right now in America. But it will fade away again...until the next child suicide or Columbine type shooting.

How many of us will do something about it besides share a link or two. Unless it's happening in our direct path, most of us will go on with our lives because we all have our own stuff to deal with. And to everyone who has witnessed bullying and done nothing, I say "Do it differently next time." I know it's not easy to step in and confront someone. Few of us enjoy confrontation, especially with the possibility of violence. But come on! Teachers, parents...OPEN YOUR EYES AND EARS. Parents, don't assume because your kid says everything is fine that it is and you can go back to watching TV or working out or whatever. If you pay even the slightest attention to your kid, you'll know something's up and it's your job to get to the bottom of it. YOU are your child's keeper and protector. Teachers, you are PAID to TEACH. That includes teaching them how to treat each other...and, I'm sorry...it's also your job to pay attention and nip any kind of abusive behavior in the bud. I just read the blog post from "Single Dad Laughing" which is linked here. It's a singularly sad and depressing tale of his childhood nightmare of being bullied mercilessly for years and his parents NEVER KNOWING. His mother asked but he always said he was "fine." And sorry lady, you fucked up on the job. He was not fine and I bet it was obvious. But it's such a relief to hear them say they are fine because then we can make our nail appointments on time, right? To be fair, I don't know what his mother was doing but seriously. What I took away from his post was the stunning lack of care from anyone at his school(s) to step in. If you worked on the line at the Ford plant and fucked up that many cars, you'd be fired. These are not robots you're spending your days with people. They are HUMAN BEINGS that will be forever shaped and marked in part by their school-hood experiences. To quote a greatly celebrated bully of our time "You've burned the fucking RISOTTO!!!"