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Treating bullying as everyone's problem reduces incidence in primary schools

(phys.org)
175 points PaulHoule | 2 comments | 16 Nov 24 14:34 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | source
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082349872349872 ◴[16 Nov 24 20:16 UTC] No.42158929[source]▶
1984 (1948), a book written by an author who hadn't had the happiest* boarding school experience, can be read as a story in which we skip the fast-forward (part I) to get to the story-within-a-story (part II) which asks a cliffhanger question:

> deeper than this lies the original motive, the never-questioned instinct that first led to the seizure of power and brought doublethink, the Thought Police, continuous warfare, and all the other necessary paraphernalia into existence afterwards. This motive really consists...

which is answered by O'Brien (in part III):

> ...How does a man assert his power over another, Winston?" Winston thought. "By making him suffer," he said.

* Such, Such Were the Joys (1952)

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rawgabbit ◴[16 Nov 24 22:10 UTC] No.42159807[source]▶
I believe the keyword here is "assert". As people have free will, you can either motivate/entice/lead them or you can demotivate/punish/control them or a combination of the two.

"Assert" implies O'Brien has already chosen the punitive route. In other words, O'Brien is not revealing some deep secret of human power dynamics. Instead, O'Brien is giving a self congratulatory self justifying explanation for his wrong doing.

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1. Terr_ ◴[16 Nov 24 22:48 UTC] No.42160123[source]▶
> Instead, O'Brien is giving a self congratulatory self justifying explanation for his wrong doing.

It is at the minimum of very different kind of self-justification than what you'd usually expect from a villain.

When Winston answers with the the expected "for your own good" narrative, O'Brien rejects it and punishes him for it:

> The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power. Not wealth or luxury or long life or happiness: only power, pure power. What pure power means you will understand presently. We are different from all the oligarchies of the past, in that we know what we are doing.

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2. rawgabbit ◴[17 Nov 24 22:22 UTC] No.42167902[source]▶
The first rule of power is those in power want to stay in power. The second rule is that they will only voluntarily give up power if they can keep their ill gotten gains.