Grab bullying debate by horns of common sense - The Centre for Independent Studies
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Grab bullying debate by horns of common sense

Most panellists on last Monday’s Q&A were in vigorous agreement about the need to address the behaviour of a group of “toxic men in Parliament” who stand accused of bullying female colleagues.

In the short time Scott Morrison has been Prime Minister, barely a day has passed without loud denunciations and accusations concerning the number of bullies among male Liberal MPs. ‘Bullying’ has become the mot du jour in this heated discourse, which – together with needles in strawberries – has made it extremely difficult for Morrison to stabilise his creaking government. But little effort has been given to defining the kind of behaviour that actually counts as bullying. In Shakespeare’s day, ‘bully’ was, in fact, a term of endearment; but that use is now obsolete.

Much closer to contemporary use of ‘bully’ is the definition given by the Oxford English Dictionary: “a tyrannical coward who makes himself a terror to the weak.” There is a lot packed into that short phrase: terror, tyranny, cowardice, and, of course, maleness. At its heart lies the notion of habitual behaviour intended to intimidate the weak. It was left to Monday night’s Q&A panellist Andrew Neill to point out that such behaviour can also be exhibited by some women – although his observation was quickly eclipsed by others.

Bad behaviour, in whatever circumstances, always needs to be called out if we are to live and work peacefully as neighbours and colleagues with one another. And this demands objective judgement.

The problem with cloaking this issue as being about bullying is that it reduces standards of civil behaviour to the emotional and the subjective. It’s not about what you do; it’s about how I feel. Just when we need our politicians to focus on the costs of housing and energy, and on the clogged infrastructure in our cities, we seem content to leave them to debate their own hurt feelings.

By any measure, Australia ranks very high as a free, peaceful, and open society where neither class nor background nor gender need ever hold back those with determination and discipline. Of course, we must keep an eye on the way we treat one another, calling out bad behaviour and holding ourselves to high standards of civility.

But an unhealthy preoccupation with our feelings can lead to what British author David Goodhart calls “progressive individualism”  – and that, in turn, leads us to ignore the wellbeing of others.