Who Cares About Bullying at Work when they refuse to save the human race?

Public policy is too important to entrust to elected politicians (especially the goofballs currently operating at the state and federal level in the U.S.). Proof positive is the inability to address climate change at COP 26 even though scientists warn that the human race faces extinction without taking appropriate action.

The political mantra is “compromise works for everything.” Wrong. There is no “middle ground” of dithering and incremental responses when we humans have set the earth on fire. Hence propping up fossil fuels makes no sense except that industry lobbyists (who outnumber participants at COP 26) who want to preserve the status quo out of self-interest have convinced the US and UK to not commit to eliminating fossil fuels.

I say all this to make two points related to workplace bullying. First, the uncritical acceptance of an employer’s demand that bullied targets sit with their abusers in mediation is built on the “compromise” model. They make it sound like common sense by calling on our better nature to be “reasonable.” But bullying is workplace violence. There is NO middle ground for violence. Bullying is not about difference of opinions. Hence, mediation is another tool to devastate and demoralize targets.

Now let me zoom back to the level of abstraction where I started. Failure by politicians to do what’s right for civilization (thanks Manchin for ensuring the U.S. is as obstinate as the other rich nations while the Island nations and those with miles of coastline begin are drowning) is the SAME process that has blocked passage of our very reasonable legislation to address bullying – the Healthy Workplace Bill. The bill has become law only in Puerto Rico. It’s been introduced in 31 states multiple times, passed Senate chambers, passed countless committees — yet gets stalled/killed by one or two politicians wed to the business lobby who refused to be swayed by the thousands of workers who bared their souls in public.

It is not the fault of the bill. It’s the fault of a system that rewards cowardly politicians willing to sell their souls to stuff their campaign coffers to keep them in office in perpetuity.

Something has to change, but is unlikely to change, given the government chambers populated by the batshit crazies whose numbers continue to swell.

Not only are the lives of workers subjected to psychological violence at risk, but the human race itself. Continuing as if conditions are “normal” is the very definition of crazymaking.