Great comment, Shawn. I remember having a talk with my grandson, then about nine, about an anti-bullying program at his school. He said he learned that there are the bullies, the persons being bullied, and the passive onlookers. He was self-aware enough to identify himself as an onlooker who witnessed the bullying and knew it was wrong, but didn't do anything to stop it. My theory is that part of the reason for that, in his case, and in general, is that people don't quite know what to do, and need to be taught how they can intervene and stand up for the rights of others. So we talked about a few things he could do until we hit on one he felt comfortable he could do.
I know this might be pie-in-the-sky optimistic, that there are people who just don't care about anything unless it personally affects them, but I do think there are a certain number of people like the ones you describe who, if given some scripts of what to say or specific actions they could do, might be able to gather their courage and stand up to bigots and bullies.
And for sure we should be teaching kids these strategies if we hope to have a future citizenry that is less bigoted and more other-oriented.
Great comment, Shawn. I remember having a talk with my grandson, then about nine, about an anti-bullying program at his school. He said he learned that there are the bullies, the persons being bullied, and the passive onlookers. He was self-aware enough to identify himself as an onlooker who witnessed the bullying and knew it was wrong, but didn't do anything to stop it. My theory is that part of the reason for that, in his case, and in general, is that people don't quite know what to do, and need to be taught how they can intervene and stand up for the rights of others. So we talked about a few things he could do until we hit on one he felt comfortable he could do.
I know this might be pie-in-the-sky optimistic, that there are people who just don't care about anything unless it personally affects them, but I do think there are a certain number of people like the ones you describe who, if given some scripts of what to say or specific actions they could do, might be able to gather their courage and stand up to bigots and bullies.
And for sure we should be teaching kids these strategies if we hope to have a future citizenry that is less bigoted and more other-oriented.