What are people who bully others called? What is the name of such people who feel their superiority over the weak, and direct people against each other

We all have a tendency to make fun of each other. With some, this inclination reaches the point of passion, so that they do not miss a single opportunity in which there would be even the slightest opportunity to ridicule their neighbor. We gladly ridicule everyone and everything, and at the same time we do not spare not only the vices of our neighbors, but also their virtues.

The habit of ridiculing people is not as unimportant as it seems to us. Let the scoffers themselves think that laughing at people is innocent fun; but in reality it is a malevolent and cruel amusement. If we find pleasure in mocking people, then this is a sure sign that we are hostile to people and do not have peace of mind in ourselves. After all, the purpose of our ridicule is to hurt, to humiliate a person: therefore, while mocking a person, we have a direct intention to harm him, to do him harm. What could be more sinful than such fun?

Let us suppose that all human vices deserve persecution, and by mocking the vices, we seem to do them justice. And if the subject of our ridicule really were only vices, no one would reproach us for injustice - neither God nor good people. Ridiculing vices, we would show our hostile feelings towards them and would condemn them in other people as much as in ourselves. But after all, we love to mock not vices, but vicious people, and here we become completely unjust and vicious. Wicked people do not really deserve ridicule, but pity; because every vice makes a man truly unhappy.

Unfortunate is the thief who is punished by the court of man, and certainly by the court of God. Unfortunate is the lecher who grovels on the earth along with dumb animals. Unfortunate is the miser who has none of the joys of life. Unfortunate is the waste that begins with contentment and ends in poverty. Unfortunate is the bribe-taker whom people curse. A vicious person is certainly and really unhappy, and only an evil person can laugh at him, amuse himself over his position.

If our ridicule corrected people, they would still be excusable. But the fact is that personal ridicule never corrects a person, but, on the contrary, hardens him even more.

Should we ridicule people when we ourselves are not better than them? We bring disorder, enmity, misfortune and all kinds of evil into the society of people around us; and those of our neighbors who seem ridiculous to us and whom we mercilessly ridicule, have become so by our own mercy.

What prompted, for example, this man to take up theft? We helped him a lot in this, giving him an example of disrespect for other people's property.

Why did this man become a bitter drunkard? We coaxed him and paid him for our services not with bread or money, but with wine treats, which taught him to drink.

For what reason did this man go into debauchery? We corrupted him by talking shamelessly in front of him, telling seductive examples, presenting vile vice in an attractive way.

Who has planted enmity in this family? We have spoken to the husband against the wife and the wife against the husband, the parents against the children and the children against the parents, and so on. And after all our evil deeds, we also laugh and amuse ourselves over those human misfortunes that we have directly or indirectly caused ...

It should be noted that only the most vicious people are in the habit of mocking their fellow men.

Ridiculing people for their real or imaginary vices, scoffers want to show by this that they themselves are blameless, meanwhile, in reality, it is nothing but their bad conscience that makes them resort to such a crafty method of proving their purity. After all, if someone really does not know anything bad behind him, he does not have any need to assure others, especially in a roundabout way, that he did not do anything bad.

Thus, if any of us likes to publicly ridicule others for vices, do not think of that person as being purer than others; no, he is the most intemperate person, he is the first libertine, the first predator, the first deceiver, gossiper, hypocrite, capable of every dirty deed - in a word, the most vicious, dishonorable and bad person.

Believe that this is really so, and do not support with your participation in ridicule the unjust order of things that has been established among us, so that the worst people betray the best people to shame.

To our greatest shame, we have a habit of mocking good deeds, and mocking virtuous people. As soon as the drunkard settles down, not only his former friends in revelry, but also other malevolent people begin to tease him about his conversion to a good path and, without a twinge of conscience, point their finger at him with the blasphemous nickname "saint". Anyone who decides to break off a lawless connection will not manage with us without sharp and caustic speeches raining down on him. It seems that no true virtue escapes ridicule.

Ridicule of people is so common among us that it is hardly recognized as a moral vice; nevertheless, how much anger is in them, how much injustice!

You acted badly - they laugh at you; and acted well - they laugh: nowhere and never will you hide from the ridicule of evil people. But Christian wisdom shows us the sure means to make ridicule of us harmless to us. The tool is very simple - do not pay attention to ridicule.

Let's not be upset by ridicule - they will stop mocking us. After all, only fervent people are teased. And are the ridicule of evil people worth the honor to be indignant and upset by them?

Let us suppose that the ridicule of evil people spreads a bad opinion about us in society; but it will be formed about us in society in the event that we are upset by ridicule, ardent about them, and thereby give full authenticity to ridicule.

Treat ridicule calmly, coolly - no one will believe them, and they, not reaching the goal, will stop by themselves. Nothing so much encourages ridicule over us as our chagrin at them; and nothing disarms them so much as our calm attitude towards them (from the teachings of the priest Krasovsky, v. 2, pp. 155-161),

Text: Tata Oleinik
Illustrations: Alexander Kotlyarov

Studying humans is much more difficult than studying canaries. Canaries at least don't lie out of boredom when answering test questions. But the good news is that by studying animal behavior, we can also understand humans. It was the observation of some of our neighbors on the planet that made it possible, for example, to understand one very interesting property of our psyche, which for a long time was considered an incomprehensible feature of some human souls - the readiness to wholeheartedly kiss the hand that beats them ...

Let's get to know Miki and others first

At about the same time, two events happened on this planet that only at first glance seem dissimilar.

The first story takes place in Stockholm. August 23, 1973. In the Swedish Credit Bank, a few visitors fill out forms and receive money at the cash desk.

The second story takes place in Cameroon. Again, 1973. A group of Canadian observers have been keeping an eye on Mikey's mandrill, a young male from a group that researchers have been following through the forests for weeks.

In Stockholm, a man walks into a bank wearing a long raincoat, dark glasses, and suspiciously thick hair that looks like a wig, because that's who he is. The man looks around at those present, after which he pulls out a machine gun from under his raincoat and shouting “The party is starting!” gives a turn to the ceiling. Customers and employees fall to the floor, covering their heads with their hands. They still do not know that fate brought them together with Jan Erik Ulsson, six months before this event, a thief who escaped from prison, who fought against the injustices of capitalist society, expropriating various property from others for his own benefit.

Mika is in trouble in Cameroon. Mickey is almost big now. He has grown a mane. He recently got an adult butt in a gorgeous turquoise hue. Miki wants to breed, but he can't. In an unfair mandrill society, only one male, the patriarch of the pack, has the right to breed. The largest and most aggressive mandrill in the group gathers all sexually mature females around him, and the remaining males have the right only to dutifully roam around the perimeter of the pack, fulfilling their civic duty. The civic duty of the young mandrill is to quickly feed himself to him when the mandrills meet the leopard, so that the predator, busy chewing on its bones, does not harm the females, cubs and dad. The dad himself is engaged in the fact that he is vigilant that none of the subordinates come closer to the females than a couple of meters.

In Stockholm, Jan Erik Ulsson ordered all the hostages - three women, a young man and an old man who came to the bank for a pension - to sit on the floor and sit quietly. Ulsson announced his demands to the policemen cordoning off the building: a body armor, a helmet, two pistols, a racing Mustang and three million Swedish kronor in small denominations. Otherwise, all those that are on the floor will quickly turn into bloody minced meat. Oh, yes, let them immediately bring Clark Olofsson here - this is the guy with whom Ulsson once sat in the same cell. Nothing like a pepper, sensible. Drag him here. The unafraid Swedish police, instead of unquestioningly complying with the terrorist's demands or at least imitating their fulfillment before the arrival of the specialists, organized amateur performances: two law enforcement officers tried to break into the bank and free the hostages. One was stopped by machine-gun fire, and he remained lying in front of the entrance*.

« He survived, he survived! Doctors pulled out»

Ulsson ordered the second one, who managed to get inside, to sit on a chair and sing, otherwise it was somehow boring ... The policeman, looking at the expressive muzzle, sadly sang "The Lonely Cowboy".

In Cameroon, Miki decided on a desperate adventure. After waiting for a moment at a halt, when the leader of the pack, puffing full, scratching his belly, looking into space, Miki quietly crept up to one of the females, rustling in the bushes in search of something tasty, and began to show her signs of attention: push her forehead, grab across the back, make cooing sounds, show her your magnificent ass. The female was young and naive, and she seemed to like her ass. And at the most, one might say, crucial moment, when everything was almost done, the tête-à-tête was interrupted. A mandrill, sticking his muzzle into the bushes, saw what was happening and yelled indignantly. After a couple of jumps, dad was here. And half the pack.

In Stockholm. The policeman sang, the hostages sat on the floor. And then the old man started screaming. You see, he did not like that Ulsson allowed himself to treat the policeman so disrespectfully. The grandfather got so unbelted that he made an attempt to kick the terrorist and grab his weapon. Well, at least someone still had common sense and restraint: Ulsson, instead of riddling the brawler, simply opened the door and kicked the grandfather out. And at the same time the policeman - he still sang lousy. Turning to the others, Ulsson sternly announced that he would not tolerate any more circus here and that the first person to open his mouth and blurt out something would be shot in the head. He ordered the hostages to go to the deposit office, behind the armored door, and locked himself there with them. Meanwhile, there was activity outside. A blue Mustang was driven up to the bank. Special Forces pulled up. Communication equipment and water were delivered to the depository. The event was personally led by Prime Minister Olof Palme, he also led negotiations with the terrorist. From the prison, as Ulsson demanded, they brought Clark Olofsson *, who terribly did not want to go to the depositary with his cellmate, but insistently asked to be returned to prison. The police drilled a hole in the ceiling of the depository to let the gas in. The terrorist noticed this disgrace and put on the necks of all four hostages the nooses fastened high on the walls. So it became impossible to launch the gas: the unconscious hostages would inevitably suffocate if they fell to the floor. And that's when a strange thing became noticeable. During the negotiations, the hostages began to interfere in the conversation every now and then. They shouted in unison that their kidnapper was a wonderful, holy man, and all those goats in helmets around wanted to harm them! Do whatever this beautiful man wants and stop mocking us! It's all because of you capitalist goats! When Ulsson, angry at the fact that his demands were ignored, began to strangle one of the girls, Kristin, the shocked negotiators heard her, wheezing and crying, begging her not to torment her. But she did not address Ulsson, but to them.

* - Note Phacochoerus "a Funtika:
« Yes, yes, these Swedes are terribly unoriginal in their names. They are all Olofs and Ullsons. Well, except for the Bjorns and the Svens.»

In Cameroon, at the sight of Papa Mika, he almost lost heart. The tormentor of the entire tribe, the tyrant and despot, towered over him like a mountain, his scarlet nose swelled angrily, and his yellow beard lifted menacingly. But around shoulder to shoulder stood Mika's brothers and cousins, just as humiliated and insulted, just as deprived of female attention. And Miki, feeling their support, found the strength to bare his teeth and throw a handful of dry grass at the leader ... Dad himself did not even touch him with a finger. He simply turned and walked away, shaking his butt importantly. Miki thrashed the whole flock. His hair was pulled out, his arms, legs and nose were bitten, his back was scratched. The most annoying thing is that a pretty female also willingly joined the attackers. When the execution was over, Mickey, who had wet himself and pissed himself, lay motionless for some time. Then, gathering his strength, he got up and limped to the edge of the clearing, away from his relatives. One of his limbs was mutilated. The next leopard will be his.

In Stockholm, the hostages and bandits had been in the depository for 132 hours. Ulsson painted with relish in the intercom how monstrously painful the death of the hostages would be. And only on the sixth day of the confrontation, the police took drastic measures: tear gas was released into the depository. For a while it was quiet. Then Ulsson said that they thought about it and decided to leave. Yes, kind of give up. According to the agreement, the hostages were to come out first. But they categorically refused to do so. They were sure that as soon as they got out, these dogs would kill Ulsson and Olofsson. Finally, the depository was finally freed from the guests. Ulsson and Olofsson went to prison, while the hostages went to a press conference. They told journalists how wonderful these guys are, terrorists, how kind, caring and completely innocent they are. The hostages visited their captors in prison. They wrote letters to them. Paid the best lawyers*. Since then, the term "Stockholm Syndrome" has been coined - the willingness to love someone who hurts you.

* - Note Phacochoerus "a Funtika:
« The lawyers were at their best: Olofsson was found not guilty, and Ulsson received only ten years, of which he served eight. Now, by the way, he lives in Thailand on a rather large pension that Sweden pays him, and willingly gives interviews, cheerfully recalling the old days. Sweetest old man»

Mechanism of the syndrome

This is the logic of evolution for most social species.

Males compete for females, entering into various competitions. This is a profitable evolutionary strategy, because when only the very best have the right to reproduce, beneficial mutations are especially quickly and reliably fixed in the species.

For species that need strength, aggression, and a willingness to defend themselves and their offspring to survive, fighting was such a competition. Often these battles led to the death of one of the opponents. For animals that live in isolation and meet with representatives of their own species only during the mating season, this is quite an acceptable loss. There were ten tigers and eight tigresses in the forest, a couple of “extra” weaklings died in battles with rivals, the rest multiplied and again went on a solitary voyage.

But for a social species, whose individuals exist and act together, in large groups, this is completely unacceptable: extra males do not go anywhere here, do not live alone, and therefore are forced to constantly fight to the death with all competitors.

Therefore, such species developed hierarchical systems of dominance with different variations. Here is the leader, here are the henchmen, here are the outcasts, there is balanced harmony in the pack, everyone is alive and happy. Even the outcasts are also almost happy, because evolutionarily only those survived who were able not only to admit their defeat in time, but also to actually enjoy it - to experience satisfaction from their humiliation and depression, a great desire to recognize the full right of the strong to do with themselves everything that he will want to, just to escape his claws and teeth.

Sexists like to hint that such social masochism is characteristic mainly of females, who have always been the reward of the strong, but this is not true. The ability to obey and adore the strong is no less convincingly sewn into the genes of males. Because the ideal epsilon outcast has just as much, if not more, survival ability than an alpha leader who too often has to prove that he's the first guy in the village. And by the way, passing on your loser genes to the next generation, as long as there are a lot of bushes around that girls go to collect nuts, is also not impossible for an outcast (Miki was just unlucky).

This adoration of the strong, saving the survival of the weak, is described in detail, for example, in the writings of the ethologist Frank Salter. “The most successful approaches to indoctrination challenge self-identity and induce a range of general psychological conditions that push individuals toward identification with a leader, group, or doctrine. This process causes intense feelings of fear, depression, guilt and loneliness, coupled with a state of dependency on a mentor. Together, this pushes the subject to an affiliative relationship with one (or more) representatives of the indoctrinating group. It is this connection, together with the authority of the mentor and the altered physiological or psychological state of the subject, that increases the likelihood of a new identity and instilled feelings of loyalty.

The mechanism is fail-safe

The more a person suffers, the more he is frightened, exhausted, exhausted, the easier it is for him to begin to identify himself with the rapist. He will readily not only demonstrate complete submission, appeasing the aggressor, but will also find consolation in this submission.

You are the owner, protector, benefactor. Your enemies are my enemies. You trample them with your mighty heel and shake the chest of the earth with a lion's roar. Even if you fall, I will die at your feet like a faithful slave...

All these stelae with gigantic kings beating their enemies with clubs were placed not only for the greatness of the ruler. They made his subjects happier.

It was this instinct that made the frightened and exhausted Swedish hostages gaze admiringly at their tormentor. And the same instinct prompted the downtrodden mandrills from the flock to torture Miki, who dared to encroach on the sacred right of the leader.

Not surprisingly, in modern evolutionary psychology, Stockholm Syndrome is referred to as the Common Sense Syndrome. It's easier to survive with him. They survived with him in prisons, concentration camps and torture chambers. Why, entire countries can be covered by this syndrome - sometimes for many generations.

Defiant

Jack and Linda Palmer, authors of the monumental work Evolutionary Psychology, studying the phenomenon under discussion in animals, have created in many cases a composite portrait of a “protestant” who can overthrow the power of the leader or at least successfully counteract the common sense syndrome. It is by no means downtrodden and oppressed, no. The downtrodden and oppressed will join later, when the new leader demonstrates that he has defeated everyone here. This is always an individual strong enough, standing high in the hierarchy. Very often this is a mature female with many children, or an old man with a hopelessly spoiled, bad character, whom everyone tries not to hurt once again, so as not to be left without a piece of tail, or a very strong and large young male, whose testosterone interrupts all other hormones.

Translating to the human image, the leader or the invader will be able not to be afraid of those who do not feel miserable, poor, little people. To see in the sun-faced and god-like bald-headed little thing, and in the heroic Robin Hood - the bastard who shamed his wallet, rather, a person with really high self-esteem can. The educational level here, by the way, plays almost no role, a Protestant can have absolutely any education, at least three parochial classes, at least a couple of Oxfords. But it will always be a person who in life - in school, in the army or in the family - did not have to go through the millstones of the dominance hierarchy with the sad result in the form of recognition of his own insignificance.

In fact, this syndrome is not so bad, otherwise it would not have been with us for millions of years. Thanks to him, you can live in peace, drink tea, raise children and brush your teeth in the morning, even in those situations in which a person would simply not be able to exist without this syndrome. After all, seeing a good deity in a crocodile that regularly devours your children is much more comforting than realizing the true state of affairs.

Teasing, name-calling, threats, gossip, beatings, and spitting can all be part of a repetitive, unwanted behavior called bullying. While bullying usually refers to the behavior of schoolchildren, many are more likely to engage in aggressive behavior to verbally, socially, or physically harm someone who is weaker than them (or appears to be).

Steps

Bullying self defense

Determine if it's bullying. There are several types of bullying: verbal, social and physical. But they have one thing in common, they are unwanted and repetitive (more than once) actions.

Remain calm and tell the person to stop. Look at this person and in a calm, clear voice tell him or her to stop that his or her actions are unacceptable and that he or she is being disrespectful.

Go away. If you're afraid to speak, just walk away. Get out of there to a place where you feel safe surrounded by people you trust.

• If you are dealing with a cyberbully, do not respond to his messages and disable the site. To avoid getting into this situation again, block the bully so that he or she cannot contact you directly.

1. Talk to someone you trust. Go to an adult, family member, teacher, colleague, someone you trust and explain to them what happened.

   • Talking to someone else will help you feel less scared and alone and help you determine what you need to do next to prevent further bullying.
   • If you're afraid or don't feel safe, it's best to talk to someone who has authority over the bully and can take your side, such as a teacher, boss, or police officer.

2. Think about how to protect yourself, emotionally and physically. You don't have to fight back, you always have to share everything that happens to you with someone you trust. However, there are things you can do to take matters into your own hands and protect yourself:

   • If possible, avoid the person who is bullying you or places where bullying has occurred.
   • Surround yourself with other people, especially if the bullying happens when you are alone.
   • If the bullying is happening online, trying to change your profile name and other information about you, update your personal settings so that only friends and family can contact you, or open a new profile. Remove information such as your address and phone number from your online profile and limit the personal information you share in the future. Don't give bullies additional opportunities to contact you.
   • Document where and when the bullying occurred and what happened to you. This will help, and if bullying continues in the future, action should be taken by the authorities. If bullying occurs online, save all messages and emails and take photos of any social posts.

3. Separate those who are involved in this. Get intel and figure out what happened, only when you've separated everyone involved can you talk to them in person. Discussing what happened with both parties in the same room can lead to overstimulation and embarrassment of the victim of bullying.

   Get the school administration involved. All schools have their own methods of dealing with bullying and many also have a strategy against cyberbullying. Solving these problems is up to the school administration, but first they need to know what's going on.

   Enlist the support of a professional counselor or therapist. Victims of bullying can suffer long-term emotional and psychological impacts. Seeking professional help early can mitigate these effects.

   Never advise a victim of bullying to simply fight back. Bullying involves perceived or actual power imbalances—someone is bigger than the other, a group of people team up against one person, someone has a higher position and power, and so on. Fighting may put the victim at risk of more harm or cause them to blame themselves for what happened.

Preventing bullying

1. Look out for warning signs of bullying. There are many indicators that will let you know if someone is being bullied. Looking for these signs will help you identify bullying and stop it.

   1. Injuries or bruises that this person cannot or does not want to explain.
   2. Lost, stolen, damaged personal property such as torn clothes, broken glasses, stolen phone, etc.
   3. An abrupt change of interests or a strong desire to avoid certain people and places.
   4. Abrupt changes in diet, self-esteem, sleep, or other dramatic emotional or physical changes.
   5. Depression, self-destructive actions, or talking about hurting yourself or others. If you or someone you know is in danger or suicidal, don't wait. Ask for help.
   • Signs that someone is bullying others:
   1. This person became incredibly aggressive, both physically and verbally.
   2. Often gets into fights and quarrels.
   3. Hangs out with people who bully others.
   4. Often gets into trouble with significant people.
   5. Cannot take responsibility for his actions, blames others for his problems.
   • If you notice one of these warning signs, talk to that person. Letting others know that bullying is unacceptable and that you are here to help can give victims of bullying the courage to speak up.

2. Find out who is most at risk of being bullied. Some groups of people may be at greater risk than others. It is especially important to pay attention to these groups and look for signs of bullying.

   • Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT).
   • Disabled people.
   • Youth with special requirements, both academic and physical.
   • Bullies may also target their victims based on racism, ethnicity, and religion.
   • When dealing with bullying that targets LGBT youth, people with disabilities, or bullying based on racism, ethnicity, or faith, special attention is required, respectively, to the victim. Information on what to do in these specific situations can be found here.

It's hard to admit that you were wrong. Even harder to admit it after

how long he mocked or, at best, teased the truth with blind zeal,

so cheerfully confident in his own infallibility.

Jennifer Robinson. sword singer

When you see real persecution, you can’t confuse it with anything. It's too creepy.

Mariam Petrosyan. The house where…

Bullying as a quality of a person is a tendency to make fun and insultingly, to act in relation to someone or something, to joke offensively at someone; try to humiliate someone.

A quiet Chinese lived in a communal apartment. Neighbors did all sorts of nasty things to him: they swept the garbage under the door, tore off the buttons from the coat on the hanger in the hallway, and threw dead mice into the pot. In a word, they mocked as best they could. Finally, they got tired of mocking, they confessed everything to him and promised not to do this in the future. - Rate it well! the Chinese said. “I won’t pee in your cai tose bolse!”

Bullying is when someone tries to steal your freedom. When a husband or wife does not fulfill their duties, is this a mockery? Yes. Freedom is taken away from the other side. He or she wants something but is denied. This is a form of encroachment on the freedom of the individual. There is such an anecdote: - In my house, mice mock the cat! - How? - Cheese in a mousetrap is smeared with valerian! Knowing the dependence of a cat on valerian, you can deprive him of freedom of action: to the delight of bullying mice, like zombies, he will stick his muzzle into a mousetrap.

Bullying has many faces. The boss mocks subordinates, using their dependent position in front of him. A mockery of oneself, of one's heart - to seek short-term happiness. A sage is a person who seeks eternal happiness. A fool seeks temporary happiness, and then, when it turns away, suffers and suffers. Passive, inattentive listening is inherently bullying. In the East, this is called insulting the teacher. If the student listens without desire, immediately tries to move on to practice - this is considered an insult to the teacher. A subtle mockery of a woman - to give a lot of money and lock her up in an apartment. A thrown belt is a mockery of a traffic police officer. In the Rublyovskaya secondary school, students throw lobsters, sturgeon and other delicacies at teachers. The teachers' council is at a loss: what is it - bullying or sponsorship? The paratrooper hits his opponent once, the second is a mockery of the corpse. At customs. — Open the suitcase… So… Nothing… Nothing?! You have a duty for bullying customs.

Judge: - And now, the defendant, tell us why, having entered the house, you took old things, but did not touch the money and the collection of diamonds? Defendant: - Well, stop mocking, Mr. Judge! My wife at home already zadolbala this question!

Poisoned bullets of bullying sometimes sit in the heart and subconscious of a person from childhood. Bullying as a preserved evil after many years is found in the form of muscular and mental clamps. A person sometimes cannot understand the nature of today's mental trauma, because its roots must be sought in the nursery. Someone uttered offensive words, and his mind made an instant transfer of the situation from childhood, when he was teased with offensive nicknames, they tried to insult and humiliate him. It seems that in today's offensive words, many did not find anything offensive, but his memory reacts to them almost like physical pain. The human body shrinks and over time transforms into a muscle clamp that prevents the free circulation of energy in the body.

Bullying is a form of self-affirmation, and the spoiled mood of the victim is proof of the effectiveness of their actions. A confident, self-sufficient, condescending person is not easy to board bullying. For him, the poisonous taunts of a worthless person are like the barking of dogs for a caravan. He behaves with mockery as the hero of a folk aphorism: "The man was angry with the master, he was angry, but the master did not know." Once, a well-known film director, in response to a TV presenter's question: “What do you think about Mr. Pinkin, who wrote a devastating article about you?” not at all embarrassed, he answered the question with a question: “Who is Pinkin, in fact, who?” And although he hardly knew or had not heard this sonorous and by no means the worst name in journalism, the very intonation of the answer was absolutely deadly. And the topic was automatically closed.

Psychologist S.Yu. Klyuchnikov believes that it is possible to use several successful strategies for psychological defense against bullying, ranging from reciprocal murderous irony, work on deepening the relaxation of one's body to severe ignoring. So, he writes: « A big role in the reflection of aggressive humor is played by the ability of a person to relax his body. Look at TV presenters and TV stars who have learned to behave freely under the rays of Jupiter and freely fend off any aggressive attacks directed against them. All of them know how to relax their own body well, take free natural postures, and make light movements. In none of them you will find the habit of crouching, taking unnatural positions leading to muscle clamps. Now take a closer look at those who tend to be embarrassed and complex when ridiculed with a mockery. They almost always take unnaturally tight or submissive postures, constrained in movements.

Therefore, work on deepening the relaxation of your body - this will help you feel lighter, more natural and free in situations that carry the possibility of ridicule. It is also useful to change the image and stereotype of behavior. If you always take jokes painfully and seriously, and your detractors know this, you can be sure that they will not fail to take advantage of such a wonderful opportunity to please themselves and play on your nerves. But if you are reputed to be a person of unpredictable reactions, and no one knows how you will perceive someone else's irony: do not notice it, like an elephant does not notice a pug, answer with even more refined, ornate irony or turn over the table at which the offender is sitting, then the joker is unlikely to decide at risk. Whatever answer you choose, try to ensure that all mockery and ridicule does not stick to your aura, like an offensive nickname, but returns to its source.

When Mark Twain was editing an agricultural newspaper, some upstart correspondent turned to him: “Would you be able to distinguish a pig from a journalist?” he asked the writer with a sly smile. Twain looked him up and down and replied: - You know, hardly.

Mark Twain, as a newspaper editor, once printed a devastating denunciation of a certain N. It contained the phrase: "Mr. N does not even deserve a spit in the face." This Mr. sued, which ordered the newspaper to publish a retraction, and Mark Twain showed himself to be a "law-abiding" citizen. In the next issue of his newspaper it was printed: "Mr. N deserves a spit in the face."

The millionaire invited the "cream of the community" to dinner. M. Twain was not ignored either. It was expected that M. Twain would amuse the guests, but this is exactly what M. Twain did not want. The millionaire was disappointed. “It seems to me, Mr. Twain, that even the biggest fool in the world could not make you laugh. - And you try, - suggested M. Twain.

Petr Kovalev