The things we find out when we investigate…

“Humans tend to try to establish a rank hierarchy,” Jennifer Wong, a criminology professor who led the study, told the Post. “When you’re in high school, it’s a very limited arena in which you can establish your rank, and climbing the social ladder to be on top is one of the main ways … Bullying is a tool you can use to get there.”

For me, that was yet another hard lesson I learned in Palm Beach, a town at the top of society which had a very stratified social hierarchy among adults and children alike.  And they didn’t wait for high school either: elementary school was fertile ground for bullying.

Stating the obvious always gets you in trouble, though:

Rob Frenette, co-founder of the advocacy and support group Bullying Canada, emphasizes that bullies usually have some sort of underlying issue, such as violence in the home , suggesting that bullying is triggered, not natural.

“This is kind of stepping backward and that’s concerning,” he told the Post, regarding Wong’s study. “I don’t want parents who have a child who is considered a bully to think, ‘Well, it’s something they’re born with and there’s nothing we can do to adjust their behavior.’ ”

Rubbish.  And I’ll throw in something else: as someone who’s been on the wrong end of bullying, I resent the implication of the LGBT leadership that bullying of their people is the only bullying that matters.  And I’ll also observe that it’s natural that people who have been on the receiving end of bullying adopt the tactics of their tormentors when they get the chance, and we see that everywhere these days.

One thing that would level the playing field is the idea that people have worth that comes from somewhere else.  The best somewhere else is God himself.  But as our society secularises, an eternal perspective on the value of this life’s status will decrease.  That raises the stakes on what happens here, and it will only get more brutal for the bargain.