Introduction
Bullying is a major issue affecting children who are at the school-going age and also young people. The discussion of the day is on bullying and whether the bystanders have any role to play when it comes to preventing bullying. A bystander behavior can be identified as Watching someone being harrassed and not intervening,witnessing an argument on the streets and not helping to solve the issue and finally by assisting to join in a bully by ways such as cheering on and laughing.The behaviors could also be positive in ways such as intervening by trying to stop the bullying behavior and by understanding the issues that bring about bullying behaviors.There are various forms of bullying such as cyberbullying,being a witness to someone verbally abusing another person,
Discussion
The talk is about human rights issues in Australia.The focus of the topic of the day is on bullying.The host Mr. Greame is the commissioner of disability and race discrimination.The guests in the studio are Mr. Jonathan who is the CEO of InspireFoundation and Ms. Helen who is the chief commissioner of Girl Guide Australia.
According to Helen, the girl guides undertook a survey called the Girl Guides Say whose aim was to identify the needs of young people.In the report, bullying was identified as one of the major concerns affecting the young people in Australia, and hence they came up with the bystander initiative that aims at employing positive bystander behaviors whenever they witness this occurrence.
In the discussion, Jonathan points out that the major concern that underlies bullying is the issues of mental health among young people. He points out that the number one cause of death among young people is suicide.
Both Jonathan and Helen approve of the bystander action as one of the ways to curb bullying. According to Helen, the Girl Guide initiative has created safe environments for girls such that they can freely and confidently confide to someone in cases whereby they have been victims.Basically the Girl Guide offers a platform for the discussion of the issues affecting the young people bullying being a part of it.
Another issue discussed is the safety of the environment in which the children and young people live.In a typical environment such as the school,students should be able to feel safe while at school reason being if the environment is not safe(instances of bullying), the student might not be in a position to change the environment due to its rigidity. This will lead to the development of feelings of insecurity and powerlessness and hence aggravates the effects of bullying which might have not been severe in the first place.
According to Helen,the role of the media in this issue is that it has acted as a catalyst to destroying the self-esteem of young people.This is evident when they showcase how a person should look like, what type of dress one should wear,what kinds of technology they should have and their body image. This has led to the emergence of cliques among young people which tend to isolate those who don’t conform to their standards.
Jonathan highlights a rare form of bullying which is pegged on a person’s sexuality. He gives a story of a young man in his adolescence who failed to go to school after he was branded gay by his peers.Helen gives a story of the other form of bullying which is rarely detected as that of technology. She highlights issues such as cyberbullying and text message threats. The effect that these technology form of bullying is that they move from the public space and into the private space making it very difficult for a bystander to intervene.
Bullying is a human rights issue in the sense that it affects the freedom of association in ways such as one cannot identify himself/herself with a certain clique, freedom of movement of a young person is interfered with when one cannot go to school for the fear of being attacked by bullies.
The entire panelist believes that the role of bystander action is a noble idea that should be embraced among the citizens of Australia. It is used to prevent or avoid the occurrence of a bullying experience.
It was also noted that the environment that the young people live in should be kept safe from bullies this will go a long way to help improve the morale and boost the productivity of a child.
The issue of the role of the media was discussed and it was found to greatly affect the body image of a young person. It was also found out that the morals learned from the media would affect how the young people co-exist this is in the way they dress and look in general.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the issue concerning bullying would require more than the victims to solve this is why the reason for having bystander action is advocated for. It is important to create an environment whereby every person feels safe.