What is a bully?

As a kid we knew them as the big kids. The ones that would tease you and shove you to the ground. The ones who called you "sissy" or "moma's boy". The ones who tried to get you to fight. "Come on you girly boy, put em up". They stold your lunch. They teased you when you had a new hair cut. They met you after school and threw your books into the mud.

In high school they were the super athletes. Sometimes they were burn outs as well. They always got the hot looking chicks while you went home with nothing. They looked for any weakness you had and used it against you. They hid pot in your locker so when the principal would do an inspection it was you that got into trouble.

In adult life there are bullies too. Sometimes they are big and strong, they can be professional criminals, cops, prison guards, extortionists, gangsters and so on. Those types are the same ones who were the school bullies, who grew up and found lines of work where they could put their tallents to good use.

But more often than not they are verbal bullies, abusive managers, bill collectors, tow truck drivers, automobile repossesors, building inspectors prosecuting attorneys and so on. These are people who earn their livelihood by being mean. They are so full of hate that they find a way to put it to use and make money doing it.

I have given it serious thought and come to the conclusion that there are two classes of people, the good guys and the bullies. Who are these people? Well I already said who the bullies are. Now who are the good guys? Those are the decent people. The sensative people. Those who love and those who care.

Now what does this have to do with politics? Well its like this, in the political as in everywhere else there are bullies. These are the demogogs who try to divide people, these are warmongers, those who preach violence, those who insist on prying into peoples lives.

A bully is the sort of politician who will carefully mask his or her hate behind a legitimate concern. They will put carefully chosen euphenisms like "pro family" to cover their homophobia. They will talk about being tough on crime to cover their desire to control innocent people. They will talk patriotism to cover for their own lust for power. This is bully-ism.

I have made it my own personal crusade to fight bullies in all walks of life. This includes police who abuse their authority, politicians who spew hate, cruel bosses, abusive bill collectors, those who are mean to children, who abuse the elderly and all others who make life hard for the rest of us.

I dont see this as an issue of left against right. Liberal, Conservative, Nazi, Communist, Anarchist, Fascist, Libertarian, Green or Socialist. Put any lable you want on it. Hate is hate. Cruelty is cruelty. Anger is anger.

Millions of people died at Auchowicz in the name of hate. Probibly just as many people died in the icey hell of Kolyma in Siberia under Stalins' regeim. It was the same cold blooded attention to duty that killed these people. It was all in the name of hate.

In the Spanish Civil War Anarchists murdered priests and nuns. On the opposite side, Falangists under Franco herded prisoners in bull rings and shot them to death. Moroccan troops made sport of raping spanish women.

In WW 2 Italian Fascists were known to casterate British POWs. Russians raped women in German regions that fell under their control.

Ideology is unimportant when it comes to cruelty.

Its up to the good people to make a stand. We must combat the hate, the cruely, the evil. We must take care though. We must be sure not to use hate as our weapon of choice. We must use the ultimate weapon in our arsenal. We need to use love. Love is a dangerous weapon indeed. It can disarm the most dangerous of opponent.

We must remember this as our leaders urg us on to war.

Love is the answer!

I thought I would resurect this thread... I reread it and found it interesting.