The Roles of Bullying | Teen Ink

The Roles of Bullying

June 4, 2024
By Sondos SILVER, Riyadh, Other
Sondos SILVER, Riyadh, Other
6 articles 0 photos 0 comments

Kids are mean, but teenagers are devil-sent. Meaning, that they will rip your self-esteem into tatters and burn what's left.

That is how it always was and that is how it always will be. no matter how many times you try to bring awareness to bullying, the bullies will always be there. And in the bullying scenario, you can only assume four positions—the bully, spectator, victim, and defendant.

 

Let’s start off with the defendant. The defendant is the one who’s going back and forth with the bully instead of the victim. They usually have a sense of righteousness in their hearts, and for that, they will never stand by while watching someone endure the humiliation and embarrassment of bullying. But more times than not, they will not be seen out with the victim, lest they get a rewind of the bullying. This is because the defendant would not hold as much power as they possess if they were always seen with the ‘weak kid’.

 

Moving on to the victim, or the bullied. The victim is the one getting bullied or picked on in our scenario. Usually more times than not, the victim is the one who is exhibiting behaviors that would irk the normal person. Their actions, attitude, and the way they carry themselves scream at a bully to pick on them. They do not stand up for themselves a good lot of the time, thus they are in need of ‘saving’ by the defendant.

 

The spectator. The spectator is a side character, always overlooked but has an important role to play both in the lives of the victim and the bully. The bully who’s looking for a fight thrills at the prospect of a crowd gathering, while the bullied would wish for nothing more than for the people to disappear instead of morphing into their worst nightmare. The spectator could be anyone, they could be a friend of the bully watching the exchange or perhaps one of the people who’d come to witness the ruckus going on. They do not get involved with either party (bully, or the bullied)thus, they think themselves superior in a way unbeknownst to them most of the time. The spectator goes on to tell what they’ve witnessed to another, reciting it in a way that makes out the victim to be a ‘loser’ of some kind while the bully to be ‘hot-headed’ and ‘problematic’. They think themselves better for they are not engaging themselves in any ‘embarrassing’ situations, not knowing that they hold more power than they realize.

 

And finally, the bully. The bully is the one who’s picking on and making fun of the victim. The bully is a complex person, for they project their insecurities on the selected victim. The victim can be selected for multiple reasons, they could remind the bully of their past selves, or they could be showcasing an insecurity similar to the bully’s, or simply because the bully needs an outlet for their negative emotions. The bully gets some sort of sick satisfaction when hurting another, especially if it was the same way the bully had been hurt before. Their own struggles and insecurities are still no excuse for them to be bullying another no matter how hard they’ve had it.

All four of them would grow up to become members of society. And all four of them might get to assume different roles than the ones they’ve once played. Perhaps only then would they realize the effect of each of the roles on the others, and maybe only then would bullying awareness become a new term in their minds that actually has a meaning of importance.


The author's comments:

which role you've once been before doesn't matter, what matters is what role you will be when it happens again. 

would you be the spectator snickering in the corner? or the defendant putting themselves in the bully's way?

it is a choice up to you, but know that whatever one you choose would have consequences.


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