| Much ado about Bullying |
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..and rightly so. In our primary schools these posters have been put up on the boards to inform the children about bullying, what a bully is, how bullys behave and what to do about it if they feel they are subject to a bully’s attention. So let’s have a closer look at these posters with some creative analogies and realistic consideration and analysis. Forms of Bullying. [are]: 1 Intimidation and threats This is something the Rann government in particular Mike Rann himself as been saying “bikies” do. He says they intimidate and threaten people. An interesting area of psycholgy says something about “reflective perception”, ie, you see a reflection of yourself in others As Premier he then says he is going to get tough on bikies, he considers them terrorists and the scum of the earth. Not only that, he says he is going to get rid of them. Gee, that sounds like intimidation and threats to me. That is clearly the actions of bullying.. Does anyone remember the spin about how he was going to bulldoze the bikie fortresses? More bully boy nonsense.. Tick.
2 Name calling Ah yes. Mike Rann again. “Scum of the earth”, “terrorists” [in his opinion – yes, I like that he states his personal [re-read “personal”] opinion there..] and so forth. Tick. 3 Spreading nasty rumours Yes, this is nasty. Create a fear or derision in others about your target and get others to side with your bully-boy tactics. Let’s see: “selling drugs to our kids” and “scrapping in public places” and so on. No proof or reasonable substance to those types of nasty statements hey Mr Rann? Tick. 4 Stealing money or belongings This is even nastier when done by a government. The CCA [Criminal Confiscation Act] allows for the DPP to apply for the forfeiture of assets of suspected criminals. No proof is required for this application, only suspicion. Not only that, the application can include assets clearly legally gained simply because they have been or may have been used in the suspected commissioning of an offence. Oh yes, the also DPP gets an immediate freeze and forfeiture of all your bank accounts whilst waiting to get the ruling on the assets. That way you can’t even afford to mount a defence! Tick. Big, BIG, Tick. 5 Blackmail Do this or this or I will dob. In the government’s case it is do as I say, not as I do. Do not associate with your friends or extended family or you will go to gaol. [SOCCA 2009] Gee, I suppose you can’t get any more blacker than that. Tick 6 Physical violence Nasty. But, lets accuse all bikies of using physical violence, all of them. So now we can justify the same in return at every opportunity. Does anyone recall the poor old bystander taking a photo on the side at a Freedom Run organised by the Gypsy Jokers? He said he had a heart problem, was elderly, but hey, no problem for the two STAR force officers who wrestled him to the ground, knee in the back and a headlock. One example there, many many more available. Tick. 7 Damaging personal belongings An all-time favourite of the bully. Your stuff is for my pleasure to destroy as I wish. Hmm.. club houses being smashed at a whim when the keys have been offered in advance for entry at any time. Raids where unreasonable force, and consequential, damage occurs. But, being a government, it also goes to shooting people they don’t like as well. Especially people who have known mental conditions. A few documented cases of that too. Or maybe just crushing your car. Tick. 8 Telling lies to people in authority to cause trouble All the time. “Oooeer, the big bad bikie looked at me”, “Don’t worry ma’m, we’ll sort that out..” Super Blue to the rescue on a mission. I would refer you to the earlier idea posed by the Rann government of providing Grannies with police issued binoculars and a reporting path, all on suspicion! Tick 9 Sending notes, e-mails, text messages etc. Especially to the media, stir the pot a bit, so to speak. Provide innaccurate and prejudicially biased statements so as to incite fear and loathing of your target group. In fact, I personally received a copy of the Finks rap sheets from our ever alert Attorney-General in response to a submission I made way back in the beginning of 2009. The data contained no material evidence of fact and was ALL inuendo, innaccurate, out-of-date [1967 anyone?], grossly exagerated and biased rheoric to support a significantly poor decision. Tick.
So from MY biased perspective I see a tick next to every item to identify the bully here. The SA government.
So why do they bully? According to the poster it could be because of: 1. Difficult home life. Now wouldn’t you like to be a fly on the wall here or maybe a fly just sitting on the bedroom chandelier.. just make sure you don’t get hit with a rolled up newspaper. No further comment. P.S. You would be the fly, not the blood-sucking tic. 2. Jealously of their target Well, we hold freedom and rights for ALL Australians as a tenet. The problem with that is if you hold considerable power, as our current system of parliament does, then it is a hard thing to put down and pass on. For example, by abolishing the Upper House, the Legislative Council, then there would be no checks and balances on what is passed in the Lower House. So maybe there could be jealousy in the lower house? Somehow, I suspect there are a lot more issues here than meet the eye. But, Tick. 3. Insecurity Obvious. Refer prior paragraph! When an individual is feeling insecure they have a tendency to lash out in one form or another. Election looming, screams for an ICAC, suits left right and centre.. Tick. 4. Bullies are the weak ones, not their targets. Indeed..
What they look for: The bully may make remarks about: 1. Weight Big cube bikes maybe? 2. Looks Ah yes, define the target by the clothes he wears, the identification tatoos he has, his lifestyle (which probably also goes to jealousy as well!) 3. Colour Black leathers, must be a bad person. Tatoos. Black helmets. This list goes on. 4. Religion Freedom! Can’t have that can we? We NEED the government to control our lives, tell us if we make an error, help us to raise government revenue and so on. To some, a lifestyle IS a religion. Who are you or I to argue that, or worse, deny that? 5. Family Well, whilst we’re busy targeting a group of bikies, who on official statistics according to the NSW Police Commissioner Scipione, commit around 0.06% of offences, yes, 0.06%, we get their families at the same time by way of heartache, unfair “justice”, hassles, financial losses and so on. 6. Hair colour Does a black helmet count as hair colour? 7. Popularity “You have beeni dentified as a member of a declared organisation and should you associate with any other member you will be guilty of an offence punishable by up to 5 years imprisonment” Where, of course, you can associate with the same person as much as you like IN that prison..” Heck, you must be popular to get such a rating on public notice! 8. Hard workers Ark Tribe. Targeted for doing his job and standing up for what is right. 9. Wearing glasses Well, not glasses in this case, but wearing a Harley-Davidson motorcycle seems to fit this analogy quite appropriately. 10. Disability Someone who does not fit with the “norm” of society could be said to have a disability, be it physical, psychological, cultural, or other form of “difference”. Uh huh. Difference being the operative identifier here. Bullies usually target someone who won’t stand up to them. Now we’re down to tin tacks. Exactly what Rann thought the bikies wouldn’t do and that is to stand up to him. He is on public record of saying they would crawl away and hide under a rock, they would run like rats deserting a sinking ship and so on (or words to that effect). Sort of proves the point of his expectations that he could target a group in society who would not fight back! A trade mark of the Bully, indubitably.
Paul Kuhn. FREE Australia Party January, 2010.
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