The Radical’s Blog: Bullying Does Not Stop at the Schoolyard

I have been a member of my local PTA since my oldest was in first grade. During this month’s meeting, they gave a presentation on the new “Harassment, Intimidation, and Bullying” program at school. During this presentation, I thought back to a recent sermon my rabbi gave on bullying. He attributed much of it to the “Survivor” culture showcased on television where cut-throat individuals will do anything to “win.” It’s gotten so bad there are competitions on making cupcakes. Really? Cupcake death match?

To some extent, he is right. As a society we do celebrate the people with the most offensive and boorish behavior who will turn against their own mother if it will give them a competitive advantage to win their 15 minutes.

To some extent, he is wrong. The problem is much deeper than which idiot is voted off of the island. Our children do not learn their primary social skills from TV. They learn it from us and what we allow to happen and how we act as individuals. TV absolutely does have an influence but ultimately it is a child’s environment that teaches them acceptable behavior. And unfortunately, bullying does not end at the schoolyard fence or even at graduation. It continues for a lifetime.

Even here on Patch there are people who hide behind fake screen names, lobbing insults at anyone they can. Some are Democratic political operatives. Some are frustrated citizens who lash out against any public figure. This is a form of cyber-bullying—cowards who are too afraid to show themselves because they know their behavior is wrong.

As many of my blogs have been lately, this one is again going to discuss local government in Gloucester Township. As the school guidance counselor was describing intimidation, I flashed back to collecting signatures for the pay-to-play ban this summer. I was not sure I wanted to write about some of my personal observations because I have no documented proof, just my personal observations. However, if you read my blogs and comments and find me credible, you will believe me. If you think everything I do is politically motivated then you won’t believe a word I say anyway.

As a man of conscience, I was taught to bear witness when I see wrong. While petitioning this summer, I heard a chilling story repeated. Over and over I heard people tell me and others they would gladly vote for the ordinance when it is on the ballot but they could not have their name on the petition. I personally had people tell me they were warned against signing the petition. I had public workers tell me they felt their jobs would be in danger. I even had a volunteer on a public board tell me he would be “reorganized” off it if he signed. The details were different—some people were pulled into a back room and others were told more subtlety, but the pattern became alarming. Fear of retribution for participating in the electoral process. These stories were not isolated to just one group of workers but the entire spectrum: municipal workers, county workers, teachers, MUA, police, volunteers, etc. Real or perceived, those feelings by myriad public workers are a culture of bullying and intimidation. There were too many stories for me to dismiss. Most of our petition volunteers told similar stories. I cannot say what percentage of public workers feel this way, but it was too many to ignore. I wish there were individuals with enough courage to step forward and bear witness to this culture, but none of the individuals I spoke to would.

Alone, this blog could be spun as me making up stories to score cheap political points. But this is not an isolated story. The Mayor-Council Team uses contracts as leverage to coerce vendors into donating to campaigns. They use their influence over our sports teams to market their events. Looking at the comment by “Responder” in my previous blog about tax breaks for the connected, you can see the intimidation culture talked about by public workers with the implied threat of a lawsuit. In my opinion, these stories form a pattern of abusing power. No worker should have to feel their livelihood threatened by them exercising their voting rights through the petition process.

When I learned civics as a child, this type of governmental behavior is not what I was taught. My town leaders were people we looked up to as role models of how good citizens behave. Do you approve of this type of behavior and culture?  Does the ruling party in Camden County and Gloucester Township that embraces this type of culture represent you? It certainly does not represent me. I cannot teach my children this type of behavior is acceptable by letting it continue.

Let your voices be heard. Demand a government that teaches bullying is wrong through their actions. It’s your children who are learning from them.