Empathy Essay On Bullying

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I’ve had a lot of experience with bullies – most of my middle school experience was spent locked in an epic, emotionally-scarring battle of the ages against their kind. My case wasn’t nearly as extreme as Nadin’s, fortunately, but it took its toll in a different way. It was mostly non-physical harassment for me, with very light physical harassment whenever teachers weren’t looking (like tripping me up in the hallway, or prodding me with pencils/rulers whenever I sat within pointy-object range). They were very concerned about plausible deniability, the bastards. They never did anything that would get them in real trouble, and it was always my word against theirs.

My tormentors got around their relative harmlessness by turning the situation into a numbers game – they encouraged everyone around
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Remember my post in the very first module, where I made the argument that the human brain is hard-wired to empathize with others? Bullies are no different, but to engage in the actual act of bullying, they can’t afford to empathize with their victims. So, to take up the ancient mantle of schoolyard jerk, you need to suppress your empathy for the target. This isn’t something we can pull off consciously. We can, however, be manipulated into it, through the very same mechanism that makes empathy possible in the first place.

In the study I referenced back in Module One (which I’ll reference again), the researchers suggested we only empathize in the first place because we tend to unconsciously mimic the behavior of those around us. Think of it like this: if two people with different personalities become friends and start hanging out, their behaviors will eventually start rubbing off on one another. A calm person will become slightly more aggressive if they associate with an aggressive person, and vice versa. This subconscious version of “walking in their shoes” allows us to better see things from their perspective, and thus empathize with

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