BullyCheck

[NadiaStar]

An interesting Aussie policy...

[Jennarator]

So who says these people are bullies. What if a bully posted that another person was a bully just to be a jerk?

[NadiaStar]

At first I liked the idea, but it would be a goo idea to better define a "bully".

[unixknight]

No matter how good a definition is of a bully, this is the most blindingly stupid thing I've heard of in recent memory.

...well, second stupidest.

How many more lists shall we create for pigeonholing people so we can feel like we're better than they are? This is especially bad because it marks someone because of mistakes made during their childhood... Does it really make sense to deny someone a job when they're 25 because they were a mean kid when they were 12?

Does it?

Does it even make sense for that kind of information to be gathered and made available? Do we value each other's privacy now so little that we joyfully start adding people to various "bad person" lists so we can feel superior and play at being fine, responsible citizens? "Heh I'm a completely worthless drain on society, but I'm still superior because at least I'm not on BULLYcheck/sex offender list/dangerous dog list/no-fly list/wrote-a-bad-check-list/too-many-DUIs-so-I-have-to-have-special-license-plates-list..."

Edited June 12, 2012 by unixknight

[NeuroTypical]

I don't have a problem with employers seeking out job applicants of good moral character. I wish all employers did this everywhere. But yeah, a public school blacklist database is pretty much the last place I'd want to look for an indication of a student's character. I mean, maybe they do it differently in Australia. But here in the US, I can see various ways that being labeled a 'bully' by the public school system would be a badge of honor, and an indication of good character, depending on how they got on the list.

[Jamie123]

I've often noticed adverts from organizations which claim to be able to be able to find out if a person has ever been arrested (note the word "arrested" - not "charged", let alone "found guilty"), so that potential employers avoid "risking their reputation" by hiring them. I've even seen this advertized the UK, where police records are supposed to be strictly private and viewable only by law enforcement (unless the subject consents). So how private organizations think they can provide this information I don't know - but let's assume for argument sake that they can.

On the one hand it purports to promote safety: an employer can reduce the danger to his business and reputation by keeping out potential troublemakers. On the other hand their are costs to society: if used universally this would make certain people unemployable, deny them the opportunity to turn their lives around and (since they have to be supported anyway) make them a permanent deadweight to the economy. Many may not be guilty anyway; a typical murder enquiry (for example) might involve the arrest of several potential suspects before the real perpetrator is identified. Should those "eliminated" suspects be subjected to lifelong unemployment on the basis of a long-resolved temporary suspicion, simply because they're on the "people who have been arrested on suspicion of murder" list?

But this BullyCheck idea goes a step further: to blacklist people for life on the basis of what they were accused of when they were 12 is nothing short of horrible, and the mark of a truly graceless society. Every one of us has at some time done something which could have been construed as "bullying" (and if your answer to this is "speak for yourself" then I'd suggest you stop looking your past through rose-tinted spectacles). I was sometimes bullied at school, but at other times I was mean and spiteful to other kids. I'm not proud of this. It worries me - particularly at 2am in the morning when I can't sleep. But it does remind me that I'm in no place to advocate lifelong punishments for school bullies. People can change, so why not give them a chance? Isn't it worth taking a bit of a risk?

P.S. Maybe I overreacted slightly - I found another article which said it would only be used up to age 22, so it's hardly "lifelong". But it does still seem pretty mean.

Edited June 13, 2012 by Jamie123
Bit more info.

[Guest]

This is a STUPID LAZY system. I wrote on the comments in that article saying so.

Bullies who have absent parents/adult guidance miss out on their childhood learning on how to be socially adjusted adults.

That's what being a CHILD is all about - learning good behaviors and correcting bad ones by learning from mentors. So that, while you're a kid, it is quite normal to do bad things and your parents have to ground you for it or your teachers have to put you in detention or in the case of extreme bad behavior, you get to go to a child psychologist. When mentorship is absent, then the consequence for bad behavior is absent in a child's formative years and you end up with an adult bully who never learned anything better.

Of course, there are psychological "defects" that may cause saddistic behavior in children. Things like schizophrenia, bipolarity, aspergers, etc. These should be handled by professionals who can correct the behavior and teach the child ways to counter this issue - either by intense psychological training or with the help of medication.

So, BullyCheck is a stupid system. It is a complete dismissal of a child's formative years and how a child learns from mistakes. Of course, if you want to just eliminate parental responsibility, then sure, use BullyCheck to eliminate having to deal with the EFFECT of mentor absence. But, if you're a society who wants to increase the number of productive citizens instead of increasing the number of people that have to depend on others for their survival, then you need to fix the problem at its root - enhancing mentorship in the child's formative years to correct Bully behavior so you can hire Bullies in the workplace.

[Backroads]

A definition of what they're looking for would be darn helpful. I suppose that in the under 21 category, nasty high school personality traits could still be there. Perhaps that's how they're thinking.

But if I got in a stupid fight with my friend and called her a name or shoved her, suddenly I'm a bully.

In fact, in a bouncer-type system, maybe you'd want a bully...