Monday, July 30, 2018

The Way We Live Now, Part Two: How Political Bullying and Intimidation Work--A Practical Guide


Part Two:


How Political Bullying and Intimidation Work: A Practical Guide


Roddey Reid




Source: Michael Valdon; Pixbay.com/photo; Alex Jones: Sean P. Anderson (Dallas, TX)


Author’s Note: this is the second installment in a series on the current public climate of fear and intimidation that since the kick-off of the last presidential campaign in 2015 has dominated national life in the United States to a degree not seen in a long while. In Part One, “The Emotional Toll of Public Bullying and Political Intimidation,” the focus was on the experience of the sheer power and psychological effects of bullying in general and public bullying and political intimidation in particular. Below in Part Two, I now look at how public bullying works as a concrete method and set of political tools: I examine specific devices and tactics that will provide readers something of a practical guide through this potent minefield and a way to anticipate future acts of aggression. As we approach the midterm elections, the hope is to provide readers with some protective mental armor against the daily barrage of assaults.


Roddey Reid is Professor Emeritus, UC San Diego (rreid@ucsd.edu). He is author of  Confronting Political intimidation and Public Bullying: A Citizen’s Handbook for the Trump Era and Beyond (2017) and hosts “UnSafe Thoughts,” a blog on bullying and the fluidity of politics in dangerous times. He is a member of Indivisible San Francisco.
 

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