avoid

Bullying

When a obviously larger force tries to influence a smaller the term bully may be applied to the former, whereas when the later tries to influence the former it may be called pestering.

Size or mass do not differentiate the two, although such properties may help to note them. Insects as well as deer are pests to me, whilst I'm cultivating crops. If a human were to ravage my plants they could be a criminal in the theft or damage they action, but the human must have intent. So if the person is starving, in such a case they are a pest, like a beggar, a busker, a charity mugger, a solicitous soul touting for money for use of their body or use of your mind. At this point all advertising is one or the other.

Social Media becomes bullying when enough pests outweigh the target and the influence is acknowledged. Perfect business would respond to a single compliant before it grows to a pester, let alone fester.

Bullying is not confined to the battery of another and UK law does define assault as other than unwanted physical contact. It is the repeated action that is bullying. Physical violence may not be bullying if there is no intent of outcome, whereas continually arguing a point to persuade another certainly is.

As bullying requires a force to be reckoned with, many small voices, which individually can pester, all to easily become bullies, as in trade unions and social media. That such exist shows that the individual who alone is a pest feels bullied.

Employers, are inevitable bullies along with the law in general. In fact anyone laying down the law is a bully as the only criteria for a law is that it can be enforced.

So bullying unlike pestering can only be done with some degree of concious effort, albeit minimal. A bull may not appear as clever as a poor hungry orphan but in defence of it's territory will use it's mass to support it's anger to move an intruder.

Bullying and pestering are not real properties as they represent a polarised view, yet each of us acts out both sides of the argument adding to the notion of at least a relative sense of what is real.

This is early learnt, from a baby crying, knowing it will get attention, maybe food, may be toys. In such years the child can be both a pest at the instant of being demanding and yet a bully in that it quickly learns to control the parents by crying repeatedly and making a fuss or maybe some sort of tantrum. Not surprising then that teenagers, wanting to free themselves from the confines of domestic control 'play up'. Nor therefore should it be surprising that adults, although the main recipients of both are also the greatest perpetrators.

Parents as authorities are bullies, yet there has traditionally been the greater and the lesser, usually the male and the female respectively. However remember the child in each of us, when faced with a kinetic force that a male may use the female will undoubtedly use potential force and is no less a threat and can bully by position. To which degree each gender uses each is no doubt largely customary.

What is sure is that parents are more likely to bully each other than pester whilst the children are more likely to pester. No wonder social media, the love of the young is a hive of pests. Yet the sheer number makes the platform the main playground for the bully. No wonder some parents have taken to shame their children on-line; for pests can be bullied.

It's just pointless to bully a bully as it will surely end in divorce or death. Best a pest be and single at that; but what conduct can I cultivate to ease the bulling and pestering that binds me to consume this world and further not to acquiesce and be complicit in those characteristics in others.