Effects of Bullying Last Into Adulthood, Study Finds

[magical thyme]

37. Sorry, you don't get to impose your definition on the world

In this post, you categorically state "that is not bullying" in the title, and then at the bottom of your post you amend it to say "No, that's not bullying by my definition." And then in your next post you try to extend your definition as one accepted by "most people." I'm sorry, but you don't get to tell "most people" what they believe based on your personal opinion.

From Wikipedia: "Bullying can be defined in many different ways. The UK currently has no legal definition of bullying,[4] while some U.S. states have laws against it.[5] Bullying consists of three basic types of abuse – emotional, verbal, and physical. It typically involves subtle methods of coercion* such as intimidation.

Bullying ranges from simple one-on-one bullying to more complex bullying in which the bully may have one or more "lieutenants" who may seem to be willing to assist the primary bully in his or her bullying activities. Bullying in school and the workplace is also referred to as peer abuse.[6] Robert W. Fuller has analyzed bullying in the context of rankism."

For the record, I don't think threatening to hurt somebody (or their animals) or threatening to fire somebody is particularly subtle. And it's not necessarily criminal.

For example, a manager with firing power can be very threatening and intimidating without having to actually resort to blatant threats. I was threatened last year by our lab manager, who makes a point of letting every new employee know her husband is a lawyer, when she started slamming her desk and desk drawers, looking for my file folder and growling legalese at me while she denied our job interview conversation regarding night shift.

And a manager's "lieutenants" (eg cronies) can achieve much mischief by bearing false witness against a targeted peer. None of which is criminal and can be impossible to prove. It simply becomes multiple employee's false words against one.

That said, I agree that we need to depend on an imperfect jury system, and trust that sooner or later repeat bulliers and stalkers will have posts hidden until they are PPRd (or peppered, as I like to call it).

I didn't see the self-deleted post you are responding to, but agree that "calling people out," especially in other threads, is counter-productive (and, imo, is a form of stalking and counter-bullying).