How Low Will We Go?

Well for those that may have missed it, our Commander-in-Chief  once again took to Twitter and called possible presidential candidate, Joe Biden, “Another low IQ individual.”  Bet many think this is cute or funny.  However, this is yet the latest example offered up by our president of the type of cyberbullying that we as parents are trying to extinguish in our kids.

Some may seek to legitimize our President’s Twitter behavior  because they feel that a 73 year old can’t really be considered a cyberbully.  To most, cyber bullying is perceived as only occurring among adolescents.  Consequently they dismiss President Trump’s aberrant behavior and simply laugh at it.

 

However, Parry Aftab, a specialist in cyberbullying, claims that such behavior in adults can exist and categorizes adult cyber bullying as flamers, trolls, or cyber harassers.   He states that, “Flamers use inflammatory language and profanity in hopes of eliciting a reaction. Trolls are a bit more sophisticated, starting full-blown arguments by saying derogatory or offensive things about certain people or groups.  Cyber harassers engage in those same types of behaviors but repeatedly target the same individuals.  Accordingly, Trump has participated, based on my observations, in all three (categories).”

Further evidence that cyberbullying occurs not just among teens, is noted in a recent nationwide poll which found that over 40 percent of adults in the U.S. have been bullied online.  People are maligned in many ways, including name calling, and insults based upon looks, disabilities, race, gender, or sexual orientation.  Unfortunately President Trump loves to focus heavily on three of these types in his tweets.

The societal consequences of President Trump’s cyberbully is clearly evident in the enlightening statements made by Justin Patchin, a criminal justice professor at the University of Wisconsin.  He stated, “If the president believed that his tweets would cause people not to vote for him, he wouldn’t do it.  It’s not just that he’s not worried about political or social backlash, but, more than that, he must think it’ll benefit him in some way.”

And sadly, therein is the problem with our society today, the blanket acceptance of the President’s behavior.  Are we afraid we might offend Trump if we criticize him for cyberbullying?  He is arguably the most important person in the world, more people listen to him, and his words can have far broader consequences than hurt feelings.    I bet if our president often spoke with profanity every evangelical organization in the U.S. would loudly condemn such behavior.

Obviously we don’t accept such behavior in our kids but we give President Trump a free pass.  It’s up to the community to make it clear to Trump, the bully, that bullying is unacceptable.  It’s on all of us.

Even Melania Trump gives her husband’s behavior a free pass.  Our first lady has made it her mission to help eliminate cyberbullying worldwide and yet when she was asked about her husband’s behavior her spokeswoman’s responded, “When her husband gets attacked, he will punch back 10 times harder.”

So I guess the message for all our children should be, “If someone bullies you, bully them worse?”

How hypocritical our latest president has made us all become.  How much lower will we go before we as a society “draw a line in the sand?”  I keep asking this question and still have no answer.