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why is this such a common meme? curious about any people with experience or observations about schoolyard bullying and fighting https://t.co/oMH8n0vsIr


@AskYatharth quiet is cheaper than justice and schools don’t have the budget for the latter https://t.co/XSlcfR7nYo

@davelocity most ppl just want quiet, and conflate it with peace. working for justice is costly, tedious, uncomfortable, etc. An older female friend was telling me, "if you bring up a problem when previously nobody noticed or cared, now you are the problem to be dealt with"

@AskYatharth https://t.co/opV8lBWEKh

In my experience, lots of people (most?) want quiet, not justice for others. Here’s a depressingly common scenario: something bad is happening, and nobody notices... until someone draws attention to it. The fastest, easiest way to solve the scenario is to get rid of the *person*.

@visakanv @AskYatharth If X’s mom calls the school thirty times and Y’s mom calls the school zero times then the school principal might tell X’s mom that they are wasting school resources. X’s face, OTOH, is a communal resource not budgeted for, which the principal has no particular attachment to.

@visakanv @AskYatharth “That sounds kind of cynical, Patrick.” Yep, and the sociology of this is so absolutely fucked that spelling out the implication causes people to side with Y again thirty years later without even knowing their name.

ok, posting my favourite responses theme #1, exhibit A: >quiet is cheaper than justice and schools don’t have the budget for the latter https://t.co/kK8PcDQkiq

exhibit B: the victim-silencing will continue until the group cohesion is preserved https://t.co/c7vXQNG1Hi

exhibit C: >The warden and guards don't want anything that makes work for them. If you're a victim who has escalated a situation to a point where it must be broken up because you defended yourself, you have created work for the warden. https://t.co/P1qeAfTqfi

theme #2, exhibit A: >bullies really just did bully 100 times 🥴 https://t.co/YVA0P8GSfe

exhibit B: >the kids fighting back are not as sensitively tuned to minimum viable torment, and don't have as much flexibility to execute https://t.co/0KPRI5T2Vi

theme #3, exhibit A: >once you signal the *ability* to exert self control in violent situations, you're expected to maintain it https://t.co/2DXnT5bYRa

exhibit B: >The bully doesn't listen to the teacher or care about a little detention ect, so what's she to do? https://t.co/hfWkVtgz3B

exhibit C: >Rule breakers are incorrigible, and the system has no serious punishments. Rule followers can be cowed by even the smallest reprimands. https://t.co/IxBZLxNZtj