[Part 3]
Verbal harassment can include epithets, derogatory comments, slurs, and lewd propositions. Physical harassment can include outright assault, impeding or blocking, offensive touching, and any physical interference with normal work or movement. It can also include visual insults, such as derogatory posters or cartoons. The outright threat of harm, physical or otherwise, makes this type of bullying particularly scary to a young person.
Here is an example of how intimidation backfired against a much larger man. While I was in the Navy, I was sent to Rota, Spain for temporary assignment. While I was there, I happened to run across a man who was much larger than I was. I was 5’4″ and 150 pounds. He was 6’4″ and more than 200 pounds. He started picking on me any way he could. He would shove me, cut in front of me in the chow line, or get in my way in the hall and not let me go by. Because of the difference in size I was scared to death of him. One Sunday afternoon, I downed a couple of shots of liquid courage. I decided to make him aware that I was not going to put up with his antics any more. We got to yelling when he said to me, “Go away little man before I step on you.” That did it. When I was finally pulled off of him, he was taken to the hospital, where he would spend the next ten days.
Please understand, I do not recommend this type of action to anyone else. I can almost guarantee you that this incident would not have happened if I had known then what I now know about how to deal with bullies. But sometimes you might get to a point where this is your only recourse. I couldn’t take it anymore. After my response, he left me alone. That’s all I wanted in the first place. He went his way and I went mine.
Sixth, Cyberbullying: Thanks to technology, cyberbullying is a new form of bullying that uses email, websites, mobile texts, instant messaging, and discussion groups to threaten, intimidate, and terrify victims. In some ways, it is no different than earlier forms of bullying—except that technology makes it easy for perpetrators to remain anonymous, for the damage to spread virally and instantly, and for the damage to reach millions.
Cyberstalking, a version of cyberbullying, is a repeated pattern of harassment against a target by an adult or child. Cyberbullying can take place 24/7. In a nanosecond, wireless, always connected society, the children of today have almost instantaneous access to anyone they choose to target. For the victim, there is no respite. You can be the subject of abuse even in your own home. To your son or daughter, cyberbullying can seem endless. And it is.
See “DO Protect Your Children From Cyberbullies” for more on this. Thanks to Bullying Statistics (www.bullyingstatistics.org) for much of the material in this DO. Below is an article written by Jason Simpkins about how cyberattacks can cause physical harm.
“Cyberattacks Causing Physical Harm” By Jason Simpkins, September 21, 2018.
There are many well-understood consequences of Cybercrime. Identities have been stolen. Tech companies and defense contractors have had trade secrets and patents exposed to competitors. And money has been stolen or extorted from banks and financial institutions. But what about physical harm? Because that’s the logical endpoint of all this. Cybercrime, increasingly, poses a threat to people’s lives. It’s not all just about money or credit card info or Social Security numbers. It’s about hurting people. And, in fact, we’ve already seen several instances of Cyberattacks resulting in physical harm. In December 2015, Russian hackers wrested control of Ukraine’s power grid and cut off electricity at three different companies. Some thirty substations were switched off, and about 230,000 people were left without electricity for up to six hours. They didn’t have lights, or, in many cases, heat. Being left without heat in the dead of winter isn’t just an inconvenience, it’s a safety hazard. In 2017, a breach of the UK’s National Health Service caused wide reaching systems shutdowns. And a ransom ware attack against pharmaceutical giant Merck disrupted the production of medicines and vaccines.
Again, the safety, well-being, and lives of innocent people were imperiled by Cybercrime. And it’s going to get worse. Hospitals, power plants (nuclear or otherwise), water treatment plants, utilities, planes, cars and more are at risk. There’s no question that our world is increasingly computer reliant, and thus, increasingly vulnerable. Thanks to Mr. Simpkins for permission to use this article, which originally was published on www.outsiderclub.com.
