Media Hypocrites promote bullying – Hell's Kitchen

The media is very effective in informing the public about anti-bullying policies in schools and advocating anti bullying messages but the media is one of the biggest offenders when it comes to bullying.

How often do we read about fat, thin, knobbly knee'd, and worst dressed, least attractive celebrities? If the media does not view this as bullying then they are either very stupid or they are hypocrites. Also if you are part of the public who buy this rubbish and read it and for some seem to enjoy it then you should accept that you are also part of the problem in advocating bullying.

We either say that ridiculing people for how they look is wrong and do our best to promote that message through our own actions or we do as the media does and send mixed messages. On one hand saying bullying is wrong and on the other printing articles that cause misery and low self esteem by victimising the people they choose week in and out to portray negatively in their newspapers.

Meanwhile we also celebrate bullies who appear in TV programmes, and worse we give them their own shows and make them very rich. Take Gordon Ramsay of Hells kitchen. He may be very nice and personable out of the kitchen but he has got to be one of the worst work place bullies I have ever seen. He calls his staff names, is personally derogative, and worst of all he has on occasion become physical with them. I have seen (if I recall correctly) him slam a plate of food into a member of his team’s chest, letting the food slide down their uniform. This is physical, it is provocative and confrontational. He could only get away with this because at that moment he represents their boss. He has the power and he abuses it.

As with all bullies, when Gordon Ramsay shows his staff even the slightest kindness they lap it up like little dogs and warm to him. This is how bullies gain control by switching between nasty and nice. The nice is so rare and thus so welcome. A person who is nice all the time may be completely overshadowed in preference for a desire for this bullies attention.

It is a sad fact that Gordon Ramsay has made his celebrity fame NOT from being a fantastic chef but from being a fantastic bully.