Tag: apathy

what is deliberate indifference

Deliberate Indifference: 7 Reasons Bystanders Won’t Help Victims

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‘Want to know about deliberate indifference and the most common reasons bystanders won’t help victims? These are the proven most common reasons victims of bullying need to be aware of.

deliberate indifference

Being bullies is bad enough but when others blatantly do not care to help you or acknowledge that people are abusing you, it’s much worse. Therefore, as someone who’s been on the receiving end of it, I’m giving you all the details about deliberate indifference.

In this post, you will learn exactly what deliberate indifference is and all the possible reasons bystanders won’t help you when others bully you.

Once you learn this value and life-changing information, you will be better able to take the best recourse to deal with and possibly alleviate your situation.

This post is all about deliberate indifference and bystanders’ reasons for failure to help that every victim of bullying must know.

Deliberate Indifference

You not only never forget the bullies, but you also remember the people who were there- the people who had the power to help you but did nothing.

Many times, the bystanders who see people bully you never try to intervene and stop the attacks, nor do they speak up on your behalf.

As much as I hate to say it, I was guilty of the same thing years ago. When I watched people bully a few others, I said and did nothing. Why? Because I thought that my voice wouldn’t make a difference if I did speak up. Additionally, other times, I was just damn glad that, for a change, bullies weren’t targeting me.

I was relieved that, finally, someone else taking the heat for a change.

For this, I am very remorseful and would like to apologize to all the other targets I left to fend for themselves. I’m truly sorry.

With that said, here’s the deliberate indifference definition:

According to the LSD Law Website, “deliberate indifference is a term used in criminal law to describe a situation where a person is aware of a problem or danger, but chooses to ignore it or take no action to address it. It can also refer to a lack of interest or concern about something.”

https://www.lsd.law/define/deliberate-indifference#:~:text=Definition%3A%20Deliberate%20indifference%20is%20a,interest%20or%20concern%20about%20something.

Although it happens during the commission of a crime, which is why it’s a legal term, it also happens during incidences of bullying as well.

5 Deliberate Indifference: Reasons Bystanders don’t help victims of bullying

1. They’re afraid of arousing the bullies’ anger and becoming the next target.

No one wants to be a target of bullying. I get that. Many bystanders fear getting involved, and for good reasons. However, many bystanders do have some power because they’re high on the social hierarchy.

And the higher they are in the pecking order, the more weight their words and actions carry. In other words, if some of the bystanders are extremely popular, chances are good that other bystanders will follow their lead.

Moreover, it’s more likely that the bully will leave you alone. There’s strength in numbers.

So, why won’t they use their power to help you when you’re being bullied?

It’s because they fear that speaking out in your defense would automatically weaken their social position. In other words, they’re afraid of losing their popularity.

Therefore, they either watch the attacks without doing anything, or worse. They join in, hoping to further raise their social status.

2. The bystanders see the bullies’ torment of you as entertainment.

Understand that bullies always bully you in front of an audience. In other words, bullying you is a performance to them.

Your bullies are performing in pubic to show their superiority, strength, and power. Moreover, they wish to to humiliate and embarrass you.

During altercations between bullies and targets, bystanders immediately gather around to watch it go down. Moreover, most witnesses will stand around, laughing and pointing fingers.

Many of them cheer and egg the bully on, stirring it up to get more entertainment. Consequently, all this does is encourage the bullies to continue and even escalate the abuse.

Sadly, as long as it isn’t them or someone they love getting dogged out or having their brains beat in, most bystanders think it’s funny to see it happen to someone else.

Therefore, instead of helping the target, bystanders will automatically whip out their smartphones and record the confrontation. They can then watch it later, send the film to their friends, and have another big laugh over it.

However, it’s not the least bit funny to you. It’s painful and humiliating. It can be devastating to a if you’ve already been a target of bullying for an extended time. And if you’re not careful, it can drive you over the edge if you let it.

It’s sad when the only entertainment people get is to see someone get hurt. It only goes to show that these people don’t get enough of it otherwise.

3. Deliberate indifference: The bystanders themselves either dislike or hate you.

In many cases, bullies run vicious smear campaigns and turn everyone against you. Therefore, when an altercation finally breaks out, the bystanders refuse to help you. Why?

Because they think you deserve the abuse. It’s heartbreaking. However, in a case like this, the bystanders secretly or openly take pleasure in seeing you suffer.

They may stand around snickering. Moreover, the bystanders may join the bullies in torturing you.

The bystanders are probably too cowardly to attack you or they’re afraid they’ll get into trouble. Therefore, the bullies are proxies to them.

In other words, the bullies are only doing to you what the bystanders wish they had the stones to do themselves

So, they get complete satisfaction in seeing other people stick it to you. Bystanders often hate victims so much that they would defend a total stranger before protecting someone they hate so intensely.

4. They don’t want to get involved.

Many bystanders figure that it’s none of their business and choose not to get involved. Again, many bystanders are afraid of becoming victims themselves if they intervene.

Therefore, they figure it’s much safer to just stay out of it and pretend like they didn’t see anything. See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.

5. Deliberate indifference: The bystanders are in a rush.

In other words, they feel that they just don’t have the time. They’ve got things to do and helping you would only slow them down.

These bystanders are so indifferent that they won’t even stop and watch. They will only pass by and keep going because they’re in a hurry to get somewhere.

6. some bystanders are notorious gossips and are just there to have a story to tell later.

People who are gossips are notorious cowards. Therefore, they’ll definitely not help you. Instead, they’ll stand back and watch your bullies pummel you. And they’ll watch with glee!

In fact, they’re the nosiest people on the planet! As soon as these people hear the first sign of commotion, they’ll break their necks, rushing to the scene to see what’s happening.

Realize that these are the kinds of people who constantly wait, with bated breath, for any drama to pop off so that they can have juicy gossip to share later.

Moreover, they won’t leave until the confrontation is over because they want to get everything. Then, once the brouhaha is finished. They’ll run and give their friends and others who weren’t there to see it the latest scoop.

And know this about gossips. They do this because it’s the only way they can feel validated and important. As long as they have the latest gossip to spread, they feel good about themselves.

7. They’re sadistic.

Some people just enjoy watching others suffer and seeing the pain on their faces. Moreover, they love seeing emotional reactions, such as crying.

Therefore, this brings us back to reason number two. They get free entertainment from watching bullies bully you.

Whatever the reason they don’t help. Know that they don’t care about you. Period. It’s all about them and what they can get out of it or not get out of it.

However, understand that, no matter what their reasons are,  bystanders who do nothing to stop the attacks only silently support and encourage the bullies. Not many people think about this.

Any abuse you don’t report, you support. And what you tolerate, you encourage. In other words, these bystanders are just as guilty as the bullies who perpetuate the attacks against you.

However, some bystanders either don’t understand or underestimate the power they have, especially in large numbers.

When witnesses speak up for you, the bullies will likely stop and leave you alone. And the sad reality is that, when it comes to bullying, there are too many bystanders and not enough upstanders.

This post was all about deliberate Indifference to give you all the answers as to why bystanders refuse to help victims when bullies attack.

1. The Horns Effect: Bully-Induced Bias Against Victims of Bullying

2. Bullying by Teachers: 15 Proven Signs a Teacher is Bullying You

3. Why do Schools Ignore Bullying? 7 Reasons Schools Do Nothing

4. Who are Usually the Victims of Bullying? 11 Traits of Bully Targets

5. Social Bullying Examples: 7 Reasons Bullies Destroy Relationships

Sadistic Bullies and Schadenfreude

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None of us want to admit that there are such people out in the world- people who get sick pleasure from another’s suffering. If you’re an empath, you’d like to think that every human being has a modicum of feeling when a another person is hurting. That is completely normal. I too would like to think that everyone on Earth has, at least, some feelings, some empathy, and some compassion- even if it’s a teeny tiny speck of it. However, this is not reality.

In this world, there are a lot of people who get sick pleasure from the suffering of their fellow man- particularly those they despise and don’t see as human. Otherwise, we would never have had unspeakable atrocities like the Holocaust, the Jonestown Massacre, or Waco.

The cold hard truth is that most bullies bully because they enjoy it. They get their kicks from it. In fact, they relish it! Think about it, if they didn’t enjoy it, they would never bully. And let’s face it, nobody does anything of their own free will that they don’t enjoy. Ask yourself this question:

Unless someone held a gun to your head, would you do something- anything at all, that you did not enjoy? You wouldn’t because it goes against human nature.

No one does anything unless there is a payoff of some kind in store for them. Most bullies bully because they love to inflict pain on another person. It gives them a sense of power, control, superiority, and domination. Also, they get a thrill from it. Understand that these four things: power, control, superiority, domination, and sadistic jollies, are the payoffs bullies get from hurting people they perceive as weaker- people they know will not (or can’t) fight back.

Through their torment, the bullies send their targets these unspoken messages:

I can do anything I want with you and there is nothing you can do about it.

You are powerless against me.

I am more powerful than you.

I am superior to you.

I dominate you.

I have control over your life.

I am over you.

You are beneath me.

You can’t do anything without my approval.

You are nothing without my approval.

Understand that when bullies bully, they feel almighty! And they enjoy the rush of power they get from it.

Realize that to people of a sadistic nature, bullying others is like pulling the legs off an ant or the wings off a ladybug then watching it squirm. In order words, physical bullies will beat the target just to hear them writhe, groan, or scream in pain. And the bullies will kick him again and again just to get him to scream louder and more frequently.

Psychological bullies will taught and verbally abuse their targets just to get a reaction from them.

And they do this because they cannot get satisfaction, happiness, control, superiority or… power any other way, so the only other option for these bullies is to inflict harm on others. It’s the only way they can feel good about themselves.

However, normal people do not have to hurt others to achieve power. Normal people feel powerful through making accomplishments and achievements. They get power from being able to control their own lives, not someone else’s.

They get their sense of power through having success in their jobs, their family life, their talents, their finances, and their physical health.  This is why people start their own businesses or do strenuous workouts every day. It’s also why they display their talents and gifts.

Understand that getting power this way doesn’t require hurting others.

Bullies, on the other hand couldn’t achieve these things without hurting others. That’s what makes them, well, bullies. They can’t survive in this world without inflicting pain. Even worse, the pain of others is what they thrive on and they can never get enough of it.

These bullies secretly or openly take pleasure in hurting others. And the more the target looks like they are suffering, the more the bullies harm them. They’re like sharks that smell blood in the water.

This is hard to fathom for many empaths, but it’s better to find out now so you won’t be paralyzed with shock when it happens to you.  Shock can throw you off-balance and slow your response time. And if you aren’t reeling with shock, the better you’ll be able to take care of it and respond appropriately.

With knowledge comes empowerment!

Attitudes You Deal with When You Encounter Bullying Behavior

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When a target encounters bullies and their unacceptable behavior, he/she often feels dehumanized. They also feel canceled- erased- blotted out! To the bullies, the target’s feelings don’t matter because the target isn’t human to them. Understand that once the target is successfully dehumanized, it becomes much easier for bullies and others to brutalize them.

To the bullies, the target shouldn’t exist. And trying to defend themselves against the brutality only leaves the target exhausted and run down. He/she also goes through severe mental anguish and intense emotional pain. Fear grips the target like a vice because there’s always a risk of a brutal physical assault.

Understand that bullies don’t want to hear or understand the target. They only want to hurt him/her and control their life- every aspect of it. All bullying behavior, whether subtle (such as a micro flash of contempt), or obvious (such as a fit of rage heavily sprinkled with horrible names and expletives) only attempts to harm and control.

It doesn’t matter if the behavior is ridiculous and complete nonsense. When bullies have an outburst, they don’t see themselves as being ridiculous and irrational, even if others do. They see themselves as justified and right and the target deserving of persecution and being controlled.

With that said, I want you to see it for what it is- an attempt by the bullies to control, dominate, and harm. It’s an effort to take away your power, autonomy, freedom, and happiness.

And once you see this, it’s imperative that you walk away from these people and not give them one nanosecond of your time. You must do what you have to do to keep yourself safe. As far as you’re concerned, they are dead to you.

With knowledge comes empowerment!

It’s Hard to Feel Empathy When You’re A Target of Bullying

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Targets of bullying often get accused of being selfish and out for their own interests. However, anytime we are hurting so badly, the pain only blunts our capacity to feel for others.

Anytime a person suffers severe and relentless bullying for so long, their pain overrides any ability to empathize with those around them, who may also be hurting.

It’s like lying in the emergency room with both legs broken after a car accident. The pain is so intense that you could care less about the patient in the next room. All you’re thinking of is how soon a doctor will see you and order a pain reliever.

I tell you this because it happened to me. When I was a target of bullying in school, two girls in my class died in a horrific car crash during the eleventh grade, and as much as I hate admitting it today, I could not have cared less about it back then.

Naturally, I don’t feel the same today. Now, thirty years later, I’m sorry that happened to them, but at the time it happened, I had absolutely no feeling for the girls and even had the attitude that it had served them right and that maybe I’d get lucky and a few more bullies would drop dead soon.

I had been a target of the class for so long I just did not have it in me to care.

After a person endures bullying for so long, he/she becomes cold and unfeeling toward other people if they aren’t careful, and it will only bring about resentment from people who might otherwise offer love and support.

If you are a target of bullying in school or at work, never let it take away your empathy, kindness, and humanity. It won’t be easy, but there are ways to buffer your self-esteem from the effects of bullying and hold on to your sweetness.