Terminal Velocity

Like many others, I have marvelled at the viral video of Casey Heynes responding to the latest episode of bullying that he has allegedly been experiencing for over a year. After being on the receiving end of several blows and repeated taunts by the younger and smaller aggressor, Casey lunges forward and grabs him in a front face lock before lifting him into the air and slamming him face down into the concrete. A classic case of reaping what you sow.

As a community, we have an expectation that justice will prevail. The public’s response to the video has been of overwhelming support for Casey, more so because the school suspended him and not the bully. It wasn’t until the mainstream media picked up the story that the bully was also suspended. Many approved of the retaliation as natural justice.

An expert on bullying, Professor Kenneth Rigby of the University of South Australia, said he was worried about the possible effect of this incident in terms of thinking that the only way to deal with bullying is to come down very heavily on everybody involved. He said suspending the youth who had reacted to the bullying was the wrong course of action because it risked punishing the victim and feeding the unwillingness of victims to come forward. “He should have gone for help - told a teacher. The problem is that about half of those who do that end up feeling that the situation has been made worse, not better. People don’t tell because they’re not confident that the school will do something.”

A wise man once said that evil prospers when good men do nothing. Notwithstanding the complexities of the case at hand, clearly there has been a failure in the school to appropriately deal with this particular situation from the outset. For an issue to go so long without action is an obvious failing of the policies of the Education Department of NSW, the school administration, and the staff employed there. There is only so long that the victim can be expected to turn the other cheek or to report the incident to teachers. The video shows that the bullying incident was premeditated and co-ordinated with a number of students. They just did not expect the outcome that followed.

Of course, there has also been plenty of PC crap that has been splashed about in response to the video. John Dalgleish, head of research at Kids Helpline and Boys Town, said, "We don’t believe that violence is ever the answer. We believe there are other ways that children can manage this." He went on to say, "The longer term way is about developing better relationships between kids in the school, that will then empower young people to not be passive bystanders when these acts occur but to stand up and say this is wrong. The short term solution is to have individual counselling with each of the children." Inspector Jason Green from NSW Police said posting the video had the effect of glorifying violence in schools. "Whether it causes other incidents or not I don’t know but it seems to be a trend of late," he said. "It may incite other violence but that’s something that we can’t comment on." A NSW Department of Education and Training spokeswoman said the school "does not tolerate any violence and deals with all cases according to its community-agreed discipline code."

I found a rather interesting definition of “violence” in the online dictionary I consulted. It defined “violence” as, among other things, “an unjust or unwarranted exertion of force or power, as against rights or laws.” The video showed the bully use an illegal, unjust and unwarranted exertion of force several times. The victim, acting in self defence, used an act of force sufficient to end the assault on his person, a seemingly just and warranted exertion of force, which I understand is defensible in the court. Casey certainly had the opportunity to stick the boot in while the bully was trying to extricate himself from the pavement, but chose to leave it at that, giving further creedence to his actions being of self defence.

Putting this debate to one side and looking at it in its most appropriate context raises one simple question. Why is this news? This is basically an event that takes place in schoolyards all over the world every day. I was party to a number of schoolyard brawls during my school years, some spontaneous and some organised. Those I wasn’t in, I watched and cheered the participants on. Bullying wasn’t a major issue where I went to school and perhaps this was because we were quick to sort it out. Nowadays, it seems the gentle touchy, feely approach of pacifist do-gooder social work types is the accepted method. Perhaps this is why bullying is so rife today. This is not to make light of bullying in any way. Yes, bullying is a major issue in schools and one hopes that the situation is appropriately managed in the vast majority of them. Anecdotally, one does wonder though.

Sometimes, the bully gets what is coming and natural justice prevails. The bully rarely, it seems, comes back for round two. I do not think that Casey will have any more problems with his particular bully. Even if he returned with reinforcements, the bully would be uneasy in the knowledge that his mates would not be around 24/7. As it is, Casey no doubt has newfound self esteem and a whole lot of respect.