Part Two:
How Political Bullying and Intimidation Work: A Practical Guide
Roddey Reid
On Medium.com
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.
