Embracing Difference: Anti-Bullying Week

Hi Friend! This week I’m sharing an exclusive blog post that was initially meant to be published during Anti-Bullying Week last year. However, due to taking a break from writing online, I never had the chance to publish it until today.

This year’s theme for Anti-Bullying Week is ‘Choose respect,’ but do we really know what respect means and how to apply it to society?

We live in an interconnected world where we have easy access to people’s opinions and perspectives. While others have welcomed these diverse perspectives, a minority have seen differing views as a threat.

A society without respect, without the pathos of distance, paves the way for the society of scandal - (Byung-Chul Han, 2017)

Although it’s understandable to be curious about perspectives different from your own, some people on social media have used online spaces to overtly bully those who don’t agree with their views. In the United States alone, an estimate of 64% of adult social media users under 30 have experienced online harassment or abuse, and this doesn’t account for other parts of the world.

But, what really does respect mean?