From Ted Cruz on Twitter some days ago, the following:
“Dr. Fauci has done more damage than any bureaucrat in the history of our nation.
✅He led policies that destroyed lives.
✅He elevated politics above science & medicine.
In any sane system, he would go to jail for lying under oath to Congress.”
The Republican Party is at this time primarily a neofascist movement. This Ruth Ben-Ghiat, an expert on strong men governments, repeats with nearly every one of her tweets, or on her television interviews. But what is a strong man, an authoritarian, a despot, a tyrant or whatever label given, other than a bully.
Dr. Fauci has been an irritant to the fragile sensibilities of the far Right for some time now. Perhaps it started with him placing his palm on his forehead in frustration while listening to Donald Trump’s addressing the COVID-19 pandemic in the most incompetent manner one could ever fathom.
Fauci has many strikes against him in the eyes of a Trumpian Republican. First off he was a government employee of many years. To the Right, there is no honor in being a career federal public servant, they consider it blasphemy of their near “religion,” that of the magic of the free market. Second, he is a man of science, an egghead perhaps to some, this from a very anti-science Republican perspective, who cannot grasp the fact that science is an evolving discipline, not always black and white. These are black and white thinking people. Third, he is very renowned and competent, and this goes against their perceived ideas of inferiority which must accompany any career government worker. And fourth, he is articulate within his discipline, and was unwilling to allow politicians of no expertise to misuse their position in spreading misinformation, or possibly disinformation. On stage with Trump he stole the show, showed genuine confidence, didn’t lie, making a president look bad, the ultimate sin to the MAGA movement. As in projection as in Cruz’s assertions as in the tweet, of Fauci lying when standing next to a documented liar of historical significance, if it is actual psychological projection or rather some propaganda technique projection matters little in the end.
The action by Cruz is merely another example of bullying, a behavior that has infected nearly every member of one political party now. There are many examples, and others have set their sights on Fauci, but the bullies were around before Trump supercharged it. Bill and Hillary Clinton have been bullied for decades now. And it’s ironic, and perhaps sad as well that Hillary was bullied as a child. She had experience dealing with the bully before sharing a stage with Trump. We all wish she would have told Trump to back off, and perhaps more, when he was lurking over her in one 2016 debate. But she apparently had bully-handling down from experience, hence she may have handled it correctly. Bullies are very difficult people, and difficult to try and manage, or especially to cooperate with according to everything I read.
The ire from the Right toward the Clinton Family was and still is very extreme. My own thoughts on the reasoning behind some may be that both Bill Clinton and Al Gore were from southern states where one is supposed to conform to certain rules, seemingly set in stone, and a left-over from the Confederate South. The southern liberalism (albeit, not extreme in any way) of these two political leaders was quite upsetting to the natural order. I would fathom to imply that there was the impression of traitorship on the minds of many toward Clinton and Gore. And Hillary was much too outspoken for their sensibilities, a northern liberal feminist in their eyes. This combination was perceived to be toxic, and reprehensible to the Republican Party, essentially a party now of southerners in temperament and culture. The Clinton family was bullied endlessly from their win in 1992 to this day.
There is an aggressive way of politics, which doesn’t necessarily have to involve bullying actions. We know it when we see it, and there is a value to it we can appreciate. Like when getting to the truth or proceeding with a needed and justifiable impeachment. But the bully is very easy to spot as well, as nearly everyone has been around one in one’s life. How it is not condemned from the get go, be nearly every adult has always puzzled me?
A CNN writer described Ron DeSantis style as “pugnacious” in a recent article I read. Using Trumpian “pugnacious” techniques, perhaps borrowed from observing Trump, DeSantis is clearly now a bully approaching Trump’s status in the minds of the current Republican base. Hence it would seem that we must understand it all better, as one can only expect a bully leader now from this political party, into the future until the time that electoral losses become too great. There appears no possible change in direction on the Republican horizon.
I wish to discuss the bully a little more. Studies of childhood bullying and adult bullying show very similar numbers in percentages of bullies and the number of victims in any population, regardless of age. Current estimates, ironically from the CDC, suggest that nearly 30% of American adolescents reported at least moderate bullying experiences as the bully, the victim, or both. Specifically, of a nationally representative sample of adolescents, 13% reported being a bully, 11% reported being a victim of bullying, and 6% reported being both a bully and a victim.
A study in Finland indicated that the bully or the victim of the bully, who also began to bully at age eight was more prone to criminality with age. They found that boys who engaged in frequent bullying, and their victims, some of whom also went on to engage in frequent bullying, manifested a “high level of psychiatric symptoms.” This group was only 8.8 percent of the population, but they committed 33 percent of the offenses in adolescence during the years from 16 to 20.
Narcissist disorders in children and youth are indicative of bullying. Bullying perpetration has been concurrently associated with personality traits reflecting antisocial tendencies including higher levels of psychopathy-linked narcissism and higher levels of narcissistic exploitation. Children and youth who have a tendency to be exploitative and have a sense of entitlement can intentionally harm peers who they feel that they have more power over. Results showed 3–6% of adolescent boys reflected trajectories of high bullying and high narcissism. Tendencies to be exploitative could facilitate the pursuit of bullying over time to obtain status and resources that reinforce an inflated self-image. This Canadian study’s results revealed that a small proportion of individuals who continue to use bullying across adolescence were likely to also demonstrate high increasing or moderate and stable narcissistic personality traits. Researchers found that boys who displayed high narcissism were more likely to follow trajectories of high bullying, whereas boys who displayed high bullying were equally likely to follow the three narcissism trajectories.
The research of children and youth in bullying seems much more extensive than studies with adult bullies. But perhaps the dynamics are much the same for each. This is an assumption on my part, but based upon the relative steady numbers of the phenomenon across children, youth and adults from limited data I found with good effort. But what about adult bullying?
For adults the online survey of more than 2,000 U.S. adults, conducted in October, found 31 percent of Americans have been bullied as an adult. The survey defined bullying as being subjected to repeated, negative behavior intended to harm or intimidate. The poll found a quarter of adults (25%) have experienced the ”silent treatment” from an individual or group on a repeated basis as an adult, while about 1 in 5 (21%) have had someone spread lies about them that no one refutes.
No definite percentage of adults who are bullies could be found from my internet searching but the Bullying Statistics Organization listed five types of adult bullies.
1) Narcissistic Adult Bully: This type of adult bully is self-centered and does not share empathy with others. 2) Impulsive Adult Bully: Adult bullies in this category are more spontaneous and plan their bullying out less. 3) Physical Bully: While adult bullying rarely turns to physical confrontation, there are, nonetheless, bullies that use physicality. In some cases, the adult bully may not actually physically harm the victim, but may use the threat of harm, or physical domination through looming. 4) Verbal Adult Bully: Words can be quite damaging. Adult bullies who use this type of tactic may start rumors about the victim, or use sarcastic or demeaning language to dominate or humiliate another person.
And, 5) Secondary Adult Bully: This is someone who does not initiate the bullying, but joins in so that he or she does not actually become a victim down the road. Secondary bullies may feel bad about what they are doing, but are more concerned about protecting themselves.
Of Donald Trump, in terms of the different types listed above, there is a lack of clarity in my mind as to a pigeon hole of him in only one. I’m uncertain how the classification is conventionally completed. One would have to surmise that he would be a classic narcissistic bully, perhaps not impulsive, although he may have some impulse control issues, he certainly has suggested physical harm at times, and he uses his verbal attacks incessantly. In my mind he is an accomplished bully with a wide range of bullying characteristics.
The Secondary Adult Bully identifies to me a certain number of his staunchest supporters in Congress, especially within the US House. They do not wish to become a victim of his or of his base down the road most certainly.
For adult and children bullying alike, Charles Sophy, DO, a Los Angeles-based psychiatrist and medical director for the County of Los Angeles Department of Children and Family Services defines the bully in this way:
“Bullying is a coping strategy used to assert control when faced with personal limitations, whether intellectual, physical or otherwise… a bully gains power in a relationship by reducing another’s, and shows little regard for the consequences to a victim’s health or well-being.”
Some research of bullies themselves have yielded what to me was some unsurprising data.
a) Many were bullied themselves. Those bullied are twice as likely to become bullies themselves. Often it’s used as a defense mechanism and people tend to believe that by bullying others, they will become immune to being bullied themselves. In fact, it just becomes a vicious cycle of negative behaviors.
b) Most have difficult home life. 1 in 3 of those who bully people daily told us that they feel like their parents/guardians don’t have enough time to spend with them.
c) Many have low access to education. Without access to education, hate-based conversation directed at others may be the norm. They may not understand what hate speech is and why speaking about people in a derogatory way is not appropriate.
And
d) Poor relationships. Those who bully are more likely to feel like their friendships and family relationships aren’t very secure.
In the common knowledge of Donald Trump’s upbringing, of an abusive father and neglecting mother, of which I’ve never closely studied, but from reports of others one could certainly see some possible factors related to the above in the ultimate production of a bully, perhaps even a “super bully.” I have been concentrating upon Donald Trump and not others such as Ron DeSantis for the simple reason that we know much more about Trump. DeSantis seems very comfortable as a bully, I’d expect a similar background, perhaps we will learn more.
An interesting study shows brain differences in those who are lifelong chronic bullies. This United Kingdom study. In this study it is explained that one in four people will show patterns of antisocial behavior at least once during their childhood and adolescence. From stealing to bullying, lying, or even committing violence, most people grow out of these behaviors. But for about 10 percent of the population, antisocial behavior never goes away, persisting into adulthood. In a new study, scientists scanned the brains of 672 people to discover that people who have antisocial conduct throughout their lives have smaller brains than those who do not. Individuals who showed antisocial behavior consistently up to age 45 had a thinner cortex and smaller surface area in brain regions associated with executive function, motivation, and affect, when compared to people who were not antisocial.
Researchers analyzed participants' brain thickness, surface area, size, and other structural details using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. Across the entire brain, individuals who showed antisocial behavior through life had (on average) reduced surface area in 282 of 360 brain regions. They also had thinner cortex in 11 of 360 regions, including in areas linked to goal-directed behavior, regulation of emotions, and motivation, all of which can factor into antisocial behavior. By contrast, the people who had exhibited antisocial behavior only in adolescence did not have widespread differences in brain structure.
From the study:
"It is unclear whether these brain differences are inherited and precede antisocial behavior, or whether they are the result of a lifetime of confounding risk factors (eg, substance abuse, low IQ, and mental health problems) and are therefore a consequence of a persistently antisocial lifestyle," Essi Viding, a study co-author and researcher at University College London, said in a statement.
The results jibe with a 2018 study that showed children with antisocial behavior, or who are diagnosed with conduct disorder, are at an increased risk for incarceration and poor physical and mental health later in life. More research is needed to determine how antisocial behavior plays out over a lifetime as well as in the brain.
Note that as laymen we normally think of brain mass or volume as the possible degree of intelligence. But apparently due to the brain folding, its geometry presents more surface area, and this is the parameter used in brain research, not volume, for comparison of brains. Folding is quite important obviously. For common interest, for an ellipsoid, an egg for example, surface to volume ratio is roughly 6 to 1 depending upon geometry. From what I have read it appears that the brain structure varies rather widely from person to person, I’m assuming more so than most other organs. This is perhaps an evolutionary trait for survival of a group mammal, in which individual differences are important within the whole.
Brain scans of youth who are bullies show the activation of certain areas of the brain, as described in this University of Chicago study and publication.
"Aggressive adolescents showed a specific and very strong activation of the amygdala and ventral striatum (an area that responds to feeling rewarded) when watching pain inflicted on others, which suggested that they enjoyed watching pain,"
Unlike the control group, the youth with conduct disorder did not activate the area of the brain involved in self-regulation (the medial prefrontal cortex and the temporoparietal junction).
The scans showed that when the children saw animations of someone hurt accidentally, the same portion of the brain that registered pain when they are hurt also was highlighted upon seeing someone else hurt. When they saw someone intentionally hurt, the portion of the brain associated with understanding social interaction and moral reasoning was highlighted.
When youth with aggressive conduct disorder watch an individual intentionally hurting another (like closing a piano lead), regions of the brain that process painful information are activated, as well as the amygdala and ventral striatum (part of the neural circuit involved in reward processing. These adolescents seem to enjoy seeing people in pain.
The new research shows that some aggressive youths' natural empathetic impulse may be disrupted in ways that increase aggression.
The brains of the bully’s victims also are affected, as reported in the Toronto Star of a study in Canada. Bullying is not a benign action in any way, and its seriousness is most likely overlooked among many Americans.
Fraser, a Victoria, B.C. resident who’s been researching the effect of bullying on the brain for over a decade, said neuroscience has established that repetitive bullying can leave neurological scars and is associated with a shrunken hippocampus. And a smaller hippocampus, the part of the brain associated with memory, learning and emotional regulation, is associated with depression and Alzheimer’s.
“You might also see an enlarged amygdala in the brain scan of someone who’s been bullied or abused a great deal,” explained Fraser. “And that makes perfect sense, because the amygdala is the part of the brain that’s involved in threat detection and danger.
“If someone’s always on high alert because their brain has been programmed to believe it’s only a matter of time before the next onslaught, the amygdala gets large and takes over more ‘cortical real estate.’”
This from a Psychology Today article information about the seriousness of bullying and the failure to address it toward the whole of society.
While we have coined a new word for the deadly impact bullying in childhood has on youth mental health, namely “bullycide,” few correlate declining brain health with suicidal ideation. Few dare to discuss how bullying is a learned behavior. Few break the taboo on adults who teach and role-model bullying behaviors. Few speak about abuse in the home, sports, church, arts, and schools, and certainly not in the same conversation as high rates of youth suicide. We like to think that bullying is a childhood issue, and we struggle to hold adults accountable who bully and abuse.
And what about the group dynamics in the act of bullying itself. This Dutch study of children indicated some interesting results. I have had the question in my mind for some time, as to will the bullying eventually grow tired within the MAGA movement. My initial thoughts are that perhaps many are bullies themselves so a common bond is felt when they see bullying on display. It has an entertainment value to them no doubt, after all the Romans had their games. And violence and threats of violence certainly attracts its viewers.
We [in the study] define dislike as negative feelings and attitudes toward another person, whereas bullying is goal-directed, harmful, repeated aggressive behavior toward victims who possess less power than their bullies.
Being disliked by peers may lead to aggressive behavior because it causes frustration, social pain, and lessens self-esteem. Dislike can cause aggression if disliked individuals try to regain power and control. Thus, bullying as a form of aggression can be a response to being disliked by peers.
Disliked children who lack supportive peer relationships are also more likely to be victimized because they have low status in the peer group and may not be able to defend themselves.
Several researchers have shown that bullying can be used instrumentally to achieve higher status as bullies are often perceived as popular. In addition to gaining status, however, bullies also aim to avoid loss of affection among peers. Bullies can minimize the risk of losing affection while gaining status in the peer group if they strategically select victims who are disliked by significant others.
Evidence was found for mutual reinforcement between dislike and bullying/victimization. Disliked children were more likely to bully those or be victimized by those who previously disliked them. Over and above these effects at the relationship level, children who were previously disliked by more schoolmates were more likely to bully or to be victimized by other schoolmates. Victims were more likely to be disliked over time by those who bullied them, but not by other schoolmates, whereas bullies were more likely to be disliked over time by not only those they bully but also other schoolmates.
If this dynamic is occurring on a larger scale and in the adult world now after years of blatant Trump bullying viewed by millions and DeSantis and others emulating the same is perhaps unclear. But evidence would indicate that most people may grow tired of bullies over time, and a dislike might develop. A question comes to mind in the comradery of the MAGA movement, is this a group of lifelong disliked people who share this trait and find support in it among their similar peers?
If indeed a dislike occurs in Americans of our bullies translates into change of voting habits, or impetus for some to register to vote to show their disapproval is another matter. An increasing dislike can motivate me in my experience, but for this aspect I’m uncertain and have not researched it. In the case of Ted Cruz we have a man with many reports within congress of dislike for him personally, even among Republicans. And surely there is a dislike for Trump and perhaps DeSantis, but a fear which prevents public comment by others in their party, as per reports of some who have had to accommodate Trump in recent months.
There are treatments for bullies developed by psychologists in which to break or assuage their bullying tendencies. This from Psychology Today.
Psychologist Dr. Lee-Anne Gray founded a school whose mission is “Empathic Education for a Compassionate Nation.” She teaches the art of empathic listening and it is a powerful technique to dismantle normalized bullying in our society.
In this empathic listening therapy the second step of the four steps is as follows:
The speaker shares thoughts, ideas, feelings, stories, on any subject of their choice for a minute or so. The empathic listener [the bully] pays close attention with the knowledge that their role is to repeat back what the speaker has shared. The empathic listener can only listen. They cannot interject, vocalize any sound, offer support, disagreement or any other response.
Then in step three:
The empathic listener repeats as closely as possible what the speaker said and the speaker continues for the next minute or so. Again, the empathic listener repeats as closely as possible what the speaker said. This pattern continues until the speaker says: “I feel heard.”
Empathic listening furthers into adulthood this reciprocal, responsive way of interacting that holds up an auditory mirror to another person who is speaking. Instead of a society that normalizes bullying, imagine homes, schools, sports, workplaces, and political arenas where children and adults provide “psychological oxygen” for one another through empathic listening and compassionate action. Our innate gift of brain plasticity means we can make this dream a reality.
This was interesting to me in that I find this process every day in a twelve step program I belong to, and regularly attend. There are many members with many years of sobriety who still find benefits in empathic listening and sharing their own experiences intimately. But obviously to get a bully to admit their problem and to have them commit to such treatment is where the difficulty lies. And this certainly would be viewed as something “woke” in today’s Republican Party, only a sign of weakness and only a topic for ridicule. Admitting destructive patterns of behavior is not their forte, we can all agree on this.
So ends my exploration in a rational and scientific manner to better know these people who are a direct threat to American democracy. These are humans in general with little self awareness, rigid ideology, close mindedness, etc. Some may have a brain quite like our own, some may have been bullied when young and became bullies themselves in an ongoing pattern, perhaps engrained so solidly to be changed only with great difficulty if at all. This is apparent to nearly all those who observe the MAGA movement, or any similar group which might spring forth from some new pugnacious individual who may overtake the limelight in the months and years to follow. We must expect more bullies from this moment, up and until electoral defeats dispose of them, and their propensity to be schoolyard bullies.
“With ignorance comes fear-from fear comes bigotry. Education is the key to acceptance.”
– Kathleen Patel, from The Bullying Epidemic
“There is no excuse for bullying. Not even in schools. The parents should be arrested. But the most worrying thing is that authorities do it: politicians and journalists. They consider it part of their job. This world is wrong. It’s a crime: Causes traumas to vulnerable people.”
– Maria Karvouni from Pearls Before Swine
“Bigotry, hate, bullying, perversion and discrimination must never be considered to be human rights, because if we do, then we will never in a million years be able to instill real justice, equality and acceptance in the human society.”
– Abhijit Naskar from Operation Justice
And from the bully’s perspective perhaps…
“I was modest–they accused me of being crafty: I became secretive. I felt deeply good and evil–nobody caressed me, everybody offended me: I became rancorous. I was gloomy–other children were merry and talkative. I felt superior to them–but was considered inferior: I became envious. I was ready to love the whole world–none understood me: and I learned to hate.”
– Mikhail Lermontov from A Hero of Our Time
Dr. Anthony Fauci will undoubtedly continue to be bullied in the upcoming months by many Republicans as he has been, as a result of his time of “outstaging” Donald Trump some years back. Fauci is disliked widely by those on the Right, perhaps they perceive him as an arrogant bureaucrat who somehow interferes with their ideas of freedom, that is to ignore science at will, believing it will not affect them ultimately. His advice to them in all candor they seem to take as an insult.
So Fauci is a perfect target for organized bullying. We who are the “non-bulliers,” and who refuse to be their bully victims, must always understand these people, who are not too complex to understand, and keep our guard up against them.
In a not unrelated topic my friend Dave described the three medicine men who knew where to spend the night waiting for a man named Custer to get to a certain hill. They prepared for his demise in a spiritual way, as the genocide was decimating the indigenous. I will read a book Dave recommended by Lakota authors who are descendants from one of those medicine men, one who dispatched the general with two rifle bullets. Dave had met these authors and heard the story from them. I may write about this more.
As for my own experiences with bullying as a young man, I was one who normally choose to become physical rather than be humiliated by bullies. Within a short time, long ago I found myself fighting one time five from a neighboring Montana small town, and in another instance two at a family reunion dance. I know of a man who was bullied in a Montana high school incessantly, he took the abuse, and eventually became addicted to alcohol, mostly because of his bullying. When we compared stories he said he wished he would have fought back. However, I was badly beaten up once for my choice. I would have to say that there are no real good alternatives with bullies, they unfortunately mess everything up.
19th posting, March 5, 2023