Does ESPN Sanction Bullying?

Britt McHenry, via Wikipedia

I just witnessed a repulsive display of stupid, gratuitous cruelty which made my skin crawl.  The episode was the living definition of abusive bullying.  If it happened at school or in the home, anger management teams would descend.  They wouldn't help, of course, because the problem isn't anger.  We all lose our tempers at times.  The real problem with ESPN's Britt McHenry, who viciously attacked a defenseless working woman, the real problem with all bullies, is their lack of character; they are weak, hateful, miserable people who want to inflict pain on those they perceive as targets who can't fight back.  Bullies don't pick on someone their own size.  They're too afraid.

McHenry apologized for her "mistake."  It wasn't a mistake.  Bad behavior is not a mistake.  It's a dropping of the mask which reveals an ugly face underneath.

How many people have lost their jobs because of inadvertent comments that someone considered offensive?  This wasn't inadvertent.  It was a deliberate, personal attack.  And what could be more offensive than deliberate cruelty?

A week off won't help.  It won't replace inhumanity with kindness.  It won't create a conscience where none exists.  It may do no more than remind a perpetrator of the presence of cameras.

ESPN should be appalled and ashamed.  And what have they done for the victim?

Anything?