Ijime

Lately I was watching yet another anime (yeah, I watch way too much animes) and noticed an episode that really hit me right between the eyes regarding the issue of bullying or ijime as it is called in Japanese.

For those who are interested to watch that very interesting episode, here's the link.

So anyway, after watching that episode and together with another anime, I've suddenly become very jaded of Japanese culture which I thought was something that I could like. It seems that Japanese culture have these ideals of conformity and "staying within a group". Creativity and individualism is suppressed, conformity and mob mentality is encouraged.

Targets of ijime are basically ANYBODY who differs from the "group" as judged by the bullies of the group, and harassment can range from verbal abuse such as name calling, to mental abuse of silent treatment and alienation, to physical abuse of destroying the victim's properties (bags/shoes/table/clothes)or physical violence itself.

According to studies done, there has been an alarming number of teenage suicides over such cases of bullying in Japan. So why is it that this phenomena has been continuing? The key few plausible causes that keep popping up: the conformity ideals of Japan, resulting in indirect encouragement of the continuation of ijime by the parents and teachers; the fear of becoming the next target of ijime if one steps in to help the victim; and last but not least, a simple lack of empathy.

So, let's discuss this. Conformity ideals of Japan and how that results in the indirect encouragement of ijime.
The idea of conformity is a difficult one to explain. It is hardly that Japanese citizens are identical to each other in personality, actions and viewpoints, but they are encouraged to interact and socialize as much as possible in a group. Flying solo is seen as being something that is uncommon and plain weird, and immediate assumptions of one who flies solo and is independent is that of being an outcast, whether or not the person is actually ostracized or not.

So in cases of ijime, the targets, as per mentioned before, are different from those within the group, although the differences may be petty and subjective (such as having better grades or looks or the direct inverse, having worse looks/grades). As each and every target has their own widely varying reasons for being targeted, the adults (teachers, parents) see it as being: 1) part and parcel of growing up, an experience that everyone should grow through to make them stronger; 2) a way to make the outcast return to the group; 3) something that should be stopped. Unfortunately, the percentage of those who hold the first 2 views significantly outweigh those who hold the latter view. In fact, most parents remain complacently unaware, or unwilling to be aware, of ijime, until their own child takes a long walk off a short pier, so as to say.

Fear of becoming the next victim.
This is not an unreasonable fear, but what I really wonder is, what happens if the rest of the class gathers together and stands up against the bullies? It is quite doubtful that bullies would make up the majority of class, so then if the bullies make up the minority, I don't think they would dare to do anything against the rest of the class if the class is united in such a stand against bullying. Bullies are, quintessentially, cowards themselves, after all.

So then why does this phenomena of solidarity against bullying not occur? The reason is simple. The rest of the class too, are complacently thinking that which adults think, that ijime is a way to return the outcast to the group and that it is a natural process of growing up. And on top of that complacency, they simply do not grasp the seriousness of the pain and the suffering of the victims until they can actually experience it themselves. The mental harrassment can sometimes be more punishing than even the worse beatings, because it goes on continuously, like a torture that never ends. So even if the other students do not contribute to the actual bullying process, the fact that they do not help and avoid the victim like a leper adds on to the mental stress and pain that the bullied suffer.

Simple lack of empathy.
This reason is a follow up from the previous. Some students may not actually fear becoming the next victim, but rather, they simply don't care about the victims. To them, other people's lives are as insignificant as the passing of a mayfly, their survival or death means not an iota to them, only they themselves matter. It is not uncommon to get responses of "s/he was not close enough to me for me to bother to do anything for him/her" when interviewing classmates of those bullied.

This lack of empathy is the one that bothers me the most out of all the reasons that there could be for not helping the targets of bullying. If one fails to understand the reasons to help or fears helping, it can still be said as being reasonable within a limited range of tolerance. Misunderstandings or failure to comprehend is not something that is deliberate, fearing involvement is but an animal's instinctual method of survival. But understanding the need to help and not helping simply because of a lack of care and concern? It is the greatest de-humanization act ever.