Anti-bullying attitudes and Anti-vax protests: who’s bullying who?

by Jaqueline McLeod Rogers and Fiona Joy Green

A big thanks to Lisa Rosen and Linda Rubin for drawing our attention to October being the National Bullying Prevention Awareness Month in the USA on our P/I/K blog. According to Canadian School Counsellor Magazine, https://canadianschoolcounsellor.com National Bullying Prevention Awareness Month is also observed in many Canadian schools.

Doing a little internet sleuthing, we discovered that in Canada there is an active group of researchers and anti-bullying activists who share information on the PREVNet website

What could be a more meaningful topic at a time when our lives have been altered in ways that limit and change social engagement and human connection? We are all learning how to give and take direction in ways that are generous rather than involving aggression and name calling. Who would have dreamed that anti-vaxers would attack science — but even worse, start bullying the doctors, nurses and health care providers tasked with keeping us alive.

If we play along and say this mob has a right to choose what happens to their bodies, it is still the case that they do not have the right to attack others and shatter not only community health goals but also civility and stability. It’s hard to trust people who throw out absolute words like “never” and “always”, and pretend to know what others “deserve”.

Now more than ever we need public education that tells us not only about our rights but also about our human responsibilities and social obligations.